Review of the tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T)

ASUS Company has the right to call himself the founder of a minimum of two classes of devices. While netbooks have outlived their own, then the unit 2-in-1, namely, to such devices it is possible to carry all models of ASUS Transformer, are just in the beginning of his career. In this case, despite the youth of the class as a whole, ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is already the fourth (!) Generation of a family of transformers, received a 10-inch IPS-screen ultra-high resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels, and the latest quad-core NVIDIA Tegra platform 4.

Options and accessories

Model ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is supplied in a compact cardboard box with a plastic tray, where you can find the tablet, a miniature battery charger with detachable cable and the accompanying proprietary documentation. In the version with an extended (and of course more expensive) will also be offered a complete set of keyboard docking station with built-in battery. Subsequently, the docking station can be purchased separately, but at the start of sales, it will be offered only as part of a kit, do not miss out on this question during the selection. Closing the issue with modifications tablet should be noted that at present there is only one gray color options and two versions of a data warehouse with a capacity of 32 and 64 GB.

If desired, you can also purchase branded accessories and adapters. In particular, micro-HDMI video output is available just two full-size adapter for D-sub and HDMI. USB 3.0 connector can be used not only for the connection of portable sources of information, but also for the organization of a wired network access using proprietary cable USB/RJ45. Well, to the proprietary 36-pin port on the bottom of the tablet can be connected not only supplied cable, but corporate card reader and adapter 36pin-to-USB 2.0.

The tablet

Making the front of the tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) traditionally minimalist, but 10-inch screen you can find just the front webcam of 1.2 megapixel, light sensor, as well as the manufacturer’s logo and the arrow-pointer to plug the charger. The border width is the same all along the sides of the screen and is about 2 cm, which allows you to easily and false positives and hold the tablet in a vertical or horizontal position.

The back of the tablet, and three of its four sides are made of aluminum gray color, decorated with radial texture typical of the top models of ASUS. To avoid shielding the signal of wireless modules upper bound of the case and a small portion of the back panel is made of dark gray smooth plastic. Thus the design of the panel much more attractive than its predecessor ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) .

On the “back” ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) bore the 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, but no flash, the only speaker SonicMaster, as well as the lock key and volume control. Both keys are noticeably above the surface of the panel and display distinct edges, making them very easy to grope blindly. Also note that the key lock is integrated LED that glows red when the battery power and green to achieve a full charge. 

The upper bound of the housing is free, on the right you can find a single microphone on the left – a slot for memory cards MicroSD (without cap and “slide”), video micro-HDMI, and a combined audio port for headphones and headsets. On the bottom edge of the body handed two holes to secure the docking station and a proprietary 36-pin connector for charging the battery, and connect to a docking station or a PC with the bundled USB-cable.

Docking Station

Unlike the first generation ASUS Transformer Pad keyboard dock new items almost entirely made of plastic, metal hinge left only for the striker. Mounting plate to the docking station is carried out by the usual scenario with two pins for the physical and connector for electronic communications, and the tablet to release just pull the little slider.

The base housing dock ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is a part of complex shape made ​​of smooth and textured sides in the rest of the plastic. To design did not slide on the table, glued to the bottom of the four rubber feet, but it should tilt the display / tablet is a little further and the distal portion of the dock will be based on a fairly slippery plastic inserts on the hinge. However, even in this situation Android-laptop propensity to roll over is not observed, as the developers have managed to improve the weight distribution of both parts of the transformer (tablet is lighter and heavier than the dock).

Almost the entire back face of the dock is the hinge and the front edge is too sharp, to put on it useful items. On the left side you can find the connector for the charger and a miniature display on the right – the card reader for SD cards and full-port USB 3.0.

Operating panel dock ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) of opaque plastic contains a small island keyboard and wide touchpad without dedicated keys. The keyboard layout is typical for Android-based Transformers, in addition to standard character and number keys, you can find doubles familiar interface buttons Back, Home, Search and Menu buttons as well as brightness, volume, playback control, and run popular applications.

Display

To protect the 10.1-inch matrix tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) uses the “anonymous” tempered glass, which is quite strange for a flagship device. Recall that for the same ASUS Zenbook Infinity (UX301LA) the manufacturer has not regretted Gorilla Glass 3 full-cover display and operating panel. However, if the glass is able to cope with the operational damage, the owner of the tablet will not care how well-known company manufactured it.

Under the protective glass and 10-point capacitive touch layer hides a great 10-inch Super IPS matrix with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels, which corresponds to the density of pixels 300 PPI. The matrix is ​​made by Sharp on the new technology IGZO, which allows you to create screens with ultra-high resolution and low power consumption.

The viewing angles ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is not less than 178 degrees, so the image does not lose its properties under any reasonable view angle, and color gamut exceeds the space of Adobe RGB, allowing you to display the maximum number of shades of color. Those who are not satisfied with the default settings screen can adjust the color temperature, hue and saturation according to your preferences. Lighting system operates in two modes, Normal allows you to adjust the brightness of 10 to 220 cd/m2, while designed to operate under the bright sun rises Outdoor maximum brightness up to 360 cd/m2.

Functionality

The tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is based on the latest hardware platform NVIDIA Tegra 4, built on the proven precursor to the scheme “4-plus-1″. For processing-intensive tasks meet four productive core ARM Cortex-A15 with a maximum operating frequency of 1.9 GHz, and during downtime in the case enters the fifth companion core. Responsible for handling the graphics core integrated graphics subsystem 72 NVIDIA GPU. The RAM is 2 GB, and built-in data storage, depending on the modification of the tablet will have a capacity of 32 or 64 GB, plus an external MicroSD-card with a maximum capacity of 128 GB, plus 5 GB of cloud storage for life ASUS.

The tablet is equipped with a module Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n Dual Band with support for Mirocast, module Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR and hardware navigation unit GPS + GLONASS. Primary battery is 31 Wh, the full charge of the tablet which is able to last up to 13 hours of video playback as 720p. Connect the dock with an extra battery on the 16 Wh add another 4 hours of autonomy, that is all you will be able to view the 8.5-hour video.

Currently ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) – this is one of the best equipped and productive tablets, which can be clearly seen on the high results in synthetic benchmarks and quality of graphics in today’s 3D-games. But for playing movies had to use a popular MXPlayer, as a video player system could not cope with some of the codecs and audio tracks.

Interface

The tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is running Android 4.2 with the company’s software shell.

The revised system notification bar contains a solid amount of additional information and references. At the top is a string mode switches with status display, and you can easily turn off unwanted items and arrange the rest in any order you like. What follows is the usual brightness slider on both sides of it are buttons activate the Outdoor sensor and light sensor. For them there are icons tuning mode wireless networking, voice presets Audio Wizard, activation technology Miracast, and a shift in the system settings menu and clearing notifications. Note that the notification list contains not only the standard information about the events, but also additional features and data, for example, when you connect an external drive, you can quickly learn of its scope, the file list or even turn it off, and the transformation in notebook mode you will be advised of the possibility of typing with a keyboard and prompt residual charge its battery. Very informative and systematic widget that displays not only the charge of each of the two batteries, but also the source of this charge – AC adapter or docking station.

At the bottom of the main window interface ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) is an additional panel which can be taken eight icons of frequently used applications. The characteristic ring in the center of the application window opens, in which with the help of tabs you can switch between widgets and programs, the latter not only can be sorted alphabetically, but also by frequency of use and nature of the installation (pre-installed or downloaded by yourself). Also note that in addition to the three usual Android-keys on the bottom there is another button that activates the panel with a “floating” applications. The proposed default list can be extended and thin out according to your preferences. Such software is interesting because it allows you to get a semblance of multitasking, displaying floating applications and widgets in one window with applications already running classic. Finally, we note that a long press on the Home button launches a convenient panel with a list of favorite applications and system operations.

Operation

During the operation of special claims to the ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) have arisen. Evolutionary improvement over the previous top-end transformer company received a slightly updated design and radically improved hardware stuffing, including IPS-display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels and a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra platform 4 with 2 GB of RAM. Ease of use The device remained at the same high enough level so that the combined performance is still the best Android-tablet with a keyboard dock. 

The results

As a result, ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T) – is updated to the current technological level of the flagship Android-transformer, which boasts an excellent IPS-screen and quad-core platform Cortex-A15. The model can be recommended to those who are seeking a device with ultra-high resolution display, as well as all the fans tablet with keyboard docking stations.

Liked

+ Fresh hardware platform NVIDIA Tegra 4
+ Great Super IPS (IGZO) display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels
+ Updated design, improved weight distribution
+ Keyboard dock with extra battery and a USB 3.0 connector

Do not like it

- Dock of plastic, not metal
- The only speaker

Review of the tablet ASUS Transformer Pad (TF701T)