Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Kindle Fire tablet and pondered if it would be the first tablet I owned. Because of its price, it certainly is enticing. Yet the smaller screen and some of the limitations of Amazon's interface would be compromises for my needs. For those who read ebooks or watch a lot of online video, it is a great choice. That just isn't something I do much.

Another powerful contender for my tablet money is the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. It is priced at $499, the same as the iPad 2. The screen is a tad large (10.1 inches to 9.7). It is higher resolution (1280 x 800 vs. 1024 x 768). It comes with more memory in the base model (32 GB vs 16 GB). The weight and size are very similar. Battery life (rated for 12 hours) isn't quite as good in the Transformer Prime, but I'm sure some of that comes from the quad core processor that makes it faster. It comes with a Micro SD card reader and a Micro HDMI port. If you get the docking station, you get a keyboard, USB port, more battery power and an SD Card reader. Right now it uses Android 3.1, but is upgradeable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in the very near future.

In short, this is one amazing tablet and I'm very tempted to order. Right now it is WiFi only and I'm thinking I want a way to connect via a data network. That is probably the only thing keeping me from ordering and I may still go through with it.