I warned you that I was a tech junkie. I have been waiting to purchase a tablet for over 6 months and finally last week I was able to find and buy the Asus Transformer. I will be the first to admit that I'm a fan of what Asus does and because of this I have waited this long 6 month period researching what is out there, reading reviews and giving multiple tablets a hands on. My best friend recently purchased an Acer Iconia. He loves it and I like it as well, only I really wanted to give the Transformer a try. Am I an expert? No way. I am simply a fan of technology. First off, I love the screen. The size is perfect for reading from my Nook account. Books look great. Magazines look incredible. Portrait mode is almost like holding the magazine in your hand, one page at a time. The user interface is easy and seamless after just a few minutes playing around learning the button placement, the Transformer instantly felt comfortable. The weight of the Transformer is among the lightest in its class. After prolong use the weight has not been an issue in my hands. There is very little lag while typing. I have read many reviews that stated lag issues. Maybe this was before the 3.1 update. I will state that typing on the Transformer takes practice. I have big hands and find that my right hand sometimes causes a menu to pop up on the lower right hand side of the screen. Other than that, no issues. Oh yeah, this thing is a fingerprint magnet. Hard to believe isn't it. It is a tablet and it is expected. Buy a cleaning cloth and some cleaning spray. Simple as that. The pricing on this tablet is perfect from whats out there. As of today the Xoom has dropped $100 in pricing and the Acer Iconia has dropped to $399. I feel that this tablet really is perfect for the price and for my first tablet. I am tempted to purchase the accessories that go with it but I am still on the edge. The dock that makes the Transformer into a netbook is a great idea and will add some battery life to a predicted 16 hours. Unbelievable! Finally the question of all tablet questions...Why do I need a tablet? The answer for me is the ease of use. I can turn the tablet on in seconds and look at news headlines, play a few games, stream my entire music collection from Amazon Cloud and surf the web with a very portable device. I often wondered what the role of a tablet might be in this world of tech. It's my version of a coffee table book with the ability to entertain, educate and nearly replace my laptop. I rate the Transformer a 9 out of 10 for a 1st generation tablet from Asus and I certainly recommend it from a price point. I can't wait to see what advancements happen in the next 6-8 months. Here's to Honeycomb 3.2 in the near future.
