1 00:00:07,359 --> 00:00:14,960 welcome to a very exciting unboxing and first look this is the EAD Transformer 2 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:20,119 Prime and based on everything that I already know about this tablet I am 3 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:25,439 extremely excited to have a look at it so I've got a few other tablets here for 4 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:28,320 me with me for comparison so I've got 5 00:00:25,439 --> 00:00:33,840 the uh ASUS Sam the ASUS Sams the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10. one I've got the 6 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:39,239 ASUS transformer original and then I've also got uh an iPad 2 in its little snug 7 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:44,360 case there which I'll take off for a closer comparison check this out so the first thing I notice about the box is a 8 00:00:42,399 --> 00:00:48,199 nice foamy insert which is going to make sure that that screen doesn't get 9 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:51,160 damaged in any way during Transit very very high hopes for this tablet so let's 10 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,520 check out the packaging here rumble's going to help us so the first thing we 11 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:59,199 find here are some of the outstanding benefits offered cool so incredibly slim 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:03,719 yes this is the slimmest tablet yet Ultra performance with the NVIDIA Tegra 13 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:07,960 3 quad core and that's a bit of a misnomer cuz it actually has five cores 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:12,720 one of which is a low powerered core for when the tablet is not really doing much 15 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:16,479 silky smooth 3D gaming HD video playing up to 1080p all on Google's user 16 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:20,200 friendly and upgradeable Android OS it's funny they mention upgradable because it 17 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:24,600 will be compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich moving forward although it does 18 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:31,079 come with honeycomb unrivaled visual Acuity so this super IPS Plus panel 19 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:36,520 actually is according to what I've heard so far even better than what was my 20 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:41,040 previous favorite tablet panel which was the one the uh the PLS panel on the 21 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:46,920 Galaxy Tab 10.1 so I'm very excited to check that out Supreme sound so ASUS 22 00:01:43,439 --> 00:01:49,479 says they've put in uh improved audio 23 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:53,159 performance okay unlimited productivity with the uh yeah with the dock which 24 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:57,399 I'll be checking out later so there's the Transformer Prime doc just like the 25 00:01:54,799 --> 00:02:03,399 original Transformer you can add more battery life as well as 26 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:07,960 a full quty keypad and some additional IO so that's pretty cool hey check this 27 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,760 out this doesn't come with like a a Cheesy microfiber cloth it comes with an 28 00:02:09,959 --> 00:02:15,239 actual proper textured one that's going to like look at this I actually bought 29 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:19,599 one like this number of years back this looks 30 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:24,480 like almost exactly the same as the one I bought way back 31 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,400 when whatever it's very similar this is really really old and ratty and this 32 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:31,000 one's new so you can clean off your tablet with that it also comes with what 33 00:02:29,319 --> 00:02:35,640 appears to be the same charger that comes with the original Transformer so 34 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,720 actually here I have it on hand so we might as well check it out what do we 35 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:44,599 got here h y Jus something or other Yep 36 00:02:42,959 --> 00:02:50,519 looks like the same thing and as you can see it's a potent cat toy which you 37 00:02:47,239 --> 00:02:52,560 shouldn't be playing with that all right 38 00:02:50,519 --> 00:02:55,640 what else we got for accessories I think that's pretty much it so it's a fairly 39 00:02:53,879 --> 00:03:01,720 bare package you got your cleaning cloth you got your little instructional doodad 40 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,159 you got your charger and and you've got 41 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:09,319 what is obviously the most important piece the actual e-pad Transformer Prime 42 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:14,680 so let's check this out first thing we want to do is take off this plastic 43 00:03:11,799 --> 00:03:20,200 shoing so this already looks very familiar to me this looks a lot like the 44 00:03:16,879 --> 00:03:22,560 Zenbook which is just a beautiful piece 45 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:27,680 of computer hardware so I love the finish here it's got kind of a 46 00:03:24,319 --> 00:03:30,159 concentric circle thing going on with 47 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:35,000 like a brushed Metal finish nice shiny ASUS logo right in the middle 48 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:37,920 there overall the machine is quite light compared to the original Transformer 49 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:42,840 that was one of the things that made me sort of less of a fan of the Transformer 50 00:03:40,439 --> 00:03:46,560 because in spite of the of the good form factor it really had some heft to it 51 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:49,200 this one is definitely significantly lighter that's also one of the things 52 00:03:47,799 --> 00:03:54,280 that I don't like that much about the iPad 2 it's a very very heavy device and 53 00:03:52,319 --> 00:03:57,239 for a tablet it becomes very relevant if you're going to be yeah it's actually 54 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:02,239 quite light I don't think it's as light as the Galaxy Tab 10 well maybe hold on 55 00:03:59,879 --> 00:04:06,000 wow this is really light even in spite of the fact that it has feels a little 56 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:13,640 heavier I'll have to weigh them when I do my proper follow-up on this on my ncixcom channel but uh yeah it feels 57 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,760 quite quite light indeed very nice F 58 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:18,040 Factor but yeah okay sorry what I was saying so yeah when you're like you know 59 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:23,800 laying in bed watching a movie or reading a book or whatever the weight becomes very very important so what else 60 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:28,520 we got on the back here we have a flash and the 8 megapixel camera and then 61 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:32,400 we've got one speaker on the Transformer Prime this feels like a bit of a step 62 00:04:30,639 --> 00:04:37,000 backwards to me given that the original Transformer had two speakers one on the 63 00:04:34,479 --> 00:04:41,000 right hand side and one on the left hand side on the edges there but you know 64 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:45,080 what it doesn't bother me that much when I'm using the iPad 2 which only has one 65 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:47,960 speaker as well so I guess I'll let it slide this time let's have a look at 66 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:52,639 what we've got for iio on the device itself there's your standard headphone 67 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:58,320 jack up at the top we find a whole lot of nothing except a microphone we've got 68 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:01,440 our onoff standby button our rocker 69 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:05,120 switch for volume that that looks hold 70 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:06,759 on is that uh that looks like micro HDMI 71 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:10,800 but I could be wrong give me a sec I'll double check that for you guys and then 72 00:05:08,759 --> 00:05:14,039 oh that could be a microphone as well interesting okay I don't know what that 73 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:19,960 is either but this is definitely a Micro SD slot which is awesome because that in 74 00:05:17,919 --> 00:05:24,080 my mind already makes the Transformer Prime aside from the price point because 75 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:28,400 yes the Transformer Prime is more expensive than the original Transformer 76 00:05:26,199 --> 00:05:34,680 but instead of starting at a 16 gig model at$ 3.99 it starts at a 32 gig 77 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:38,639 model at $4.99 which is fine because the Transformer when it launched was $4.99 78 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:43,800 for the 32 gig model anyway so now we see a 32 gig model and a 64 instead of a 79 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:48,160 16 and a 32 so let's actually turn this baby on oh yeah the dock down here at 80 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:51,319 the bottom sorry I wasn't quite done yet oh what are 81 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:55,400 these oh you know what these are probably for uh yeah these are for 82 00:05:52,759 --> 00:05:58,720 docking to the uh the keyboard the keyboard which actually acts not only as 83 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:02,680 a keyboard but an extended battery I think I already mentioned that so there's our serial number here's a 84 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:07,520 little plastic thingy we don't have to leave that on we can get rid of that if we want I would probably not keep that 85 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,560 on the device so it's booting up right now so let's talk a little bit about the 86 00:06:08,919 --> 00:06:15,880 Tegra 3 processor oh yeah we've got our front webcam here as well or our front 87 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:19,319 camera so Tegra 3 processor so it's a 88 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:22,080 quad core CPU plus NVIDIA has also 89 00:06:19,319 --> 00:06:27,720 significantly upgraded the GPU so it is substantially more powerful than the 90 00:06:24,199 --> 00:06:29,639 Tegra 2 which was pretty much the only 91 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:33,319 uh processor that you found in most of the first generation tablets with 92 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:37,759 Android uh honeycomb um right so I mentioned that 93 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:42,599 it's quad core but there's a fifth core so your four cores are going to turn on 94 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:45,919 or turn off or be clocked higher or clocked lower depending on the profiles 95 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:51,800 you set depending on the load that you're running and then there's an additional One Core that can run just as 96 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:55,280 a super low power State and the all the other four ones are off so that's why 97 00:06:53,280 --> 00:07:00,520 it's actually a 5 Core processor NVIDIA has also significantly upgraded the GPU 98 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:05,080 horsepower so CPU is better and more faster and there are more and the GPU is 99 00:07:03,199 --> 00:07:09,039 much more powerful so okay one thing that I've noticed 100 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:14,360 right away about this guy hold on I'm just going to key in the password to my 101 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,360 uh my SS ID 102 00:07:16,319 --> 00:07:22,039 here okay there we go one thing I've noticed 103 00:07:20,599 --> 00:07:26,360 about it right away is I don't know if you can see this in this light but I can 104 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:33,039 see the touchscreen interface a little bit I can see uh the grid of dots it's 105 00:07:30,879 --> 00:07:36,840 not that noticeable it only really you know what it only really comes out if I 106 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:42,520 catch the Light that's up there on the ceiling and it shines directly off the 107 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:46,240 tablet into my eyes I can kind of see the dots around it but it's definitely 108 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:53,199 not as noticeable as something like the Motorola Zoom or the um tashiba Thrive 109 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:58,199 both of those had very very noticeable touch screen overlays so this is sort of 110 00:07:56,319 --> 00:08:02,240 what I would say is about middle of the road in terms of the visibility of it I 111 00:08:00,159 --> 00:08:05,639 I can see it a little bit so let's just skip that let's get this booted up I 112 00:08:03,759 --> 00:08:09,919 just want to check out the overall responsiveness of the unit so one of the 113 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:16,039 things that I've really heard said about the Transformer Prime is that all of the 114 00:08:12,759 --> 00:08:18,159 kind of nonsense slowness that's been 115 00:08:16,039 --> 00:08:21,960 associated with Android tablets is pretty much gone because here I mean 116 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:26,759 come on let's compare it to something like an iPad 2 where the user interface 117 00:08:24,759 --> 00:08:30,879 is so slick I mean look at that it just kind of seamlessly goes from okay the 118 00:08:28,879 --> 00:08:35,039 air video one is at the bottom left oh boom now it's at the bottom right how 119 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:39,519 did that happen whoa holy cow um so it's a very very smooth user interface 120 00:08:37,479 --> 00:08:44,440 experience and that's something that my expectation is that yes throwing more 121 00:08:42,279 --> 00:08:47,760 CPU and GPU horsepower at the problem is a good way to address it and it 122 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:53,120 definitely looks better I mean look at this you can see how quickly and how 123 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:57,600 smoothly it transitions now but ice cream sandwich is also supposed to 124 00:08:55,040 --> 00:09:00,399 address that in a very very big way as well so when you compare that to the 125 00:08:58,839 --> 00:09:04,680 Transformer see you see that leg you see 126 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:09,760 that the first generation uh the first 127 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,440 generation Android tablets really didn't feel uh I mean I'd say the Galaxy Tab 128 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:17,279 10.1 was probably the slickest feeling out of all of them but they didn't 129 00:09:15,519 --> 00:09:22,079 really quite have that same feel as the Apple device and it looks like it was a 130 00:09:19,839 --> 00:09:25,399 combination of hardware and software so now we finally got the hardware that's 131 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:30,480 going to be a lot more competitive with the processor and the iPad 2 we've got a 132 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:35,600 screen that looks very very vibrant and let's actually go ahead 133 00:09:32,839 --> 00:09:39,040 and wow look at that so they've really increased the brightness of the screen 134 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:43,240 compared to the Transformer looks like a very very 135 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:47,079 similar but slightly different uh sort of take on the desktop wallpaper that we 136 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:51,200 were using on the original one yeah so brightness is way up hard to evaluate 137 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:54,959 color just based on sort of my initial Impressions here they have made some 138 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:58,600 significant changes to the menu right here though so we've got a bunch of 139 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:02,959 different stuff including your eco mode so turning on power saving mode turning 140 00:10:00,839 --> 00:10:06,079 on balance mode turning on normal speed mode you can lock your orientation or 141 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:09,880 not lock your orientation look how quickly the response is on this though 142 00:10:07,959 --> 00:10:14,800 compared to previous Android tablets where navigating through menus really 143 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:18,000 feels like a bit of a chore Wi-Fi on Wi-Fi off let's see how quickly it 144 00:10:15,959 --> 00:10:22,360 connect to my can connect to my Wi-Fi is my browser working 145 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:25,800 yet that's nice that's one of the things that I really like about the iPad 2o is 146 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:30,839 that when you are in range of your wireless it's like boom it's on it's on 147 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:35,360 so let's go nci.com 148 00:10:33,279 --> 00:10:38,040 see how quickly that loads up I'm sitting right next to my Hotpot so this 149 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:43,440 should be pretty much a best case scenario I'm on a Broadband 50 so that's a 50 megabit per second internet 150 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:51,959 plan go to The Forum let's read the 151 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:55,399 forums very very nice to look at overall though I mean look at the okay I I 152 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,880 apologize because you guys aren't really going to be able to see this but the 153 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:03,800 contrast between this black and this white is just outstanding like this 154 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:07,839 looks like the deepest of deep blacks it almost looks like part of the frame more 155 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:12,160 than it looks like part of the screen that is just 156 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:15,760 amazing so far I'm very impressed with the screen 157 00:11:13,399 --> 00:11:20,360 though scrolling is nice and quick let's see zooming cuz that's one of the things 158 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:24,920 that I really felt was totally not the best experience with the 159 00:11:23,519 --> 00:11:28,160 uh the first generation of Android tablets so oh there's no internet 160 00:11:26,839 --> 00:11:31,399 connection let's get that address okay just a sec I'll be back guys 161 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,720 okay so here's the Transformer I've got the same page loaded so zooming in 162 00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:39,079 actually feels a little bit better than it used to there was a recent system update I wonder if that kind of 163 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:44,160 addressed some of my concerns but it's still not quite there 164 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:49,519 with something like the iPad 2 which just feels so silky smooth when you're 165 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:52,639 zooming around I mean look at that okay so we're not quite there but that's more 166 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:59,360 like a software thing that hopefully will be addressed with Ice Cream Sandwich uh let's wrap this up with just 167 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:04,200 like a general physical comparison I just love this thing physically actually 168 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:07,639 like I love it physically no no I don't do that I mean it's a machine it's just 169 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,440 it's taboo still you know give it another couple hundred years and maybe 170 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,760 we'll be having a different conversation so let's look at the uh let's look at 171 00:12:12,839 --> 00:12:19,760 the overall format compared to the iPad 2 so I'm just going to lay this down on 172 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:23,000 top of it so the iPad 2 is still not a 173 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:25,920 16 by10 screen which is horrible and 174 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:28,760 needs to just die in a fire um hopefully that's something Apple will address with 175 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:32,920 their next tablet so you can see we do have a significantly more widescreen 176 00:12:31,199 --> 00:12:36,720 screen which is great for watching your media content whether it's on YouTube or 177 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:42,160 whether it's over Network or you put your media files on here on a Micro SD 178 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:45,880 which iPad 2 doesn't have uh very frustrating cuz I do like the iPad oh 179 00:12:43,959 --> 00:12:50,760 let's talk about the glass right Gorilla Glass so uh as some of you know I 180 00:12:48,519 --> 00:12:54,320 recently broke my iPad too so my screen is cracked all the way from here to here 181 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:59,440 and then all the way from here over to here it's pretty pretty wrecked which uh 182 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:03,399 has made me fairly unhappy so so this uses Corning Weare Gilla glass which 183 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:07,920 should make it about as scratch proof and break proof and everything proof as 184 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:11,720 possible so that's uh that's something to bear in mind guys that actually 185 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:16,120 there's a great demo that ASUS has on YouTube of the original Transformer 186 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:19,360 where they take keys and objects and try to scratch the glass and they show you 187 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:23,399 the result at the end so that's that's outstanding and that's something if 188 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:28,160 you've ever had a tablet that's broken then hey it might be a factor for you so 189 00:13:26,279 --> 00:13:31,399 let's have a look at the format compared to the original trans Transformer which 190 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:35,440 is pretty darn similar look at that they've reduced the width a little bit 191 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:39,199 which is really nice although it is a little bit more okay so let's call this 192 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:44,000 the why don't we call this the length so it's a little bit shorter lengthwise but 193 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,880 it's a little bit uh wider okay however the screen size is pretty much the same 194 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:51,079 so what they've done is they've lost some of this bezel space around here and 195 00:13:49,199 --> 00:13:54,920 then they've increased a little bit of the bezel space around the top let's 196 00:13:53,120 --> 00:14:00,199 check out the thickness so thickness was one of the ones one of the things where 197 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:02,759 the original trans forer really didn't 198 00:14:00,199 --> 00:14:06,000 stack up well against its comp so yeah the original Transformer really didn't 199 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:10,560 stack up that well thickness wise you can see compared to the iPad 2 against 200 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:13,959 the original Transformer and then the there's a Transformer Prime against the 201 00:14:12,079 --> 00:14:17,399 original Transformer so I'm going to go ahead and put the iPad 2 next to the 202 00:14:15,639 --> 00:14:21,320 Transformer Prime so you can see the thick oh that's really really close Okay 203 00:14:19,279 --> 00:14:25,000 so ASUS says it's the thinnest I guess I'll have to take their word for it but 204 00:14:22,759 --> 00:14:32,000 these all look really really close to me so here's the iPad 2 Transformer Prime 205 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:35,680 and Galaxy Tab 10 .1 uh so yes this was 206 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:38,399 HDMI over here so that's micro HDMI so 207 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:43,959 what ASUS has done here is they've rece they've produced AA a tablet that this 208 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:48,959 was my favorite Android uh Tegra 2 tablet the Galaxy Tab 10.1 no secret I 209 00:14:46,959 --> 00:14:55,320 love the screen love the form factor love the 210 00:14:50,199 --> 00:14:59,199 weight however no micro SD no HDMI 211 00:14:55,320 --> 00:15:00,560 output done like you lose the the 212 00:14:59,199 --> 00:15:05,759 benefit of going with the Google platform in my in my personal opinion by 213 00:15:03,399 --> 00:15:08,680 removing those features because that's a huge selling point for me versus 214 00:15:07,199 --> 00:15:12,959 something like an iPad 2 where you have to have like a weird dongle to do HDMI 215 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:17,600 output or get a USB port or whatever the case may be so the Transformer Prime 216 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:24,000 takes that form factor fits in a micro HDMI fits in a Micro SD slot and is 217 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,800 still very very lightweight great looking screen so far but I'm going to 218 00:15:25,519 --> 00:15:30,800 spend some more time with it hopefully in the next little bit great piece of 219 00:15:28,639 --> 00:15:34,199 glass and I think we've pretty much got a winner here folks so thanks for 220 00:15:32,079 --> 00:15:37,480 checking out my unboxing and first look at the Transformer Prime don't forget to 221 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:41,480 subscribe C's Tech tips from unboxings reviews and other computer videos