ASUS ADDS FULL-HD TO ITS KEYBOARD-TOTING, QUADCORE TRANSFORMER TABLET TEMPLATE, BUT AT AN EYE-WATERING PRICE...
THE SCREEN'S THE STAR: the Infinity’s crowning glory is a 10.1-inch, 1920*1200 pixel screen. At 224ppi it doesn't quite match the Retina Display, but hey — it still looks great to us...
The ace
Transformer Prime and even-better Nexus 7 have rolled off the Asus production
line in the past six months, but that hasn't stopped the Taiwanese firm taking
another pop at tablet perfection in the form of the Transformer Pad Infinity. Brandishing
a full-HD display and Asus' familiar tablet/keyboard dock design — the typing
sidekick is now included rather than an optional extra — it's another
high-class contender, even if its near £600 price tag seems a tad excessive
compared to the new breed of budget tabs.
Going
back to the original Transformer, Asus has always delivered clear, bright
displays, but the Infinity's screen is something else. The first to host a
1920x1200, slightly-better-than-HD screen, its brightness and
sharpness are noticeable instantly, with the added clarity particularly helpful
when reading text on the home screens and websites, though app icons are not
optimised.
It's
video where the screen really delivers, though. A Super IPS+ mode allows for
wider viewing angles — note: using this will drain your battery at a slightly
faster rate. The 224ppi is some way off the new iPad's 264ppi, but it would
take a keen eye to note a major difference in overall quality. This is
definitely the best screen yet seen on an Android.
For all
the display's splendidness, overall multimedia experience is let down by poor
audio performance. Despite the presence of Asus' SonicMaster tech, the sound
distorts if you try to crank it up, and when held in landscape it's virtually impossible
not to cover and muffle the single speaker.
Fan of
the Transformer Prime's aesthetic? You'll be chuffed to hear that Asus
has blessed
the Infinity with the same brushed metallic finish,
matching the iPad for slickness. The 10.1-inch tab is also
impeccably slim; measuring 8.5mm it's
significantly more
slender than the new iPad (9.4mm), although it loses that advantage when the
keyboard dock is attached. It's a bit more portly than the Transformer Prime
(8.3mm), but weighs a similarly baggable 598g.
A power
switch and volume rocker sit on top of the device in landscape mode,
with microSD, USB and a combined headphone/mic socket on the left edge of the
device and charging/ sync/keyboard-attaching port at the bottom. The Infinity's
main attraction, that killer screen, is protected by toughened Gorilla Glass.
The
Transformer Prime was the first tablet to get an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice
Cream Sandwich, and it comes as no surprise that the Infinity is pre-loaded
with it. Asus' custom settings add some slight variation to Google's vanilla
OS, such as changing the way you can take screenshots.
Tablet-optimised
Android apps are beginning to appear on Google Play, but they are still few and
far between. Asus attempts to push you to what it considers to be ideal content
for the Infinity, including the @vibe Fun Center, an iTunes-like store where you
can buy music, books and apps. Unfortunately, this not only has a horrible
name, but also sports a dreadful interface, lacking the polish lavished on the
hardware entirely. It's also worth noting that some of the allegedly
"free" premium apps are actually just trial versions.
Thankfully,
there's no problem in the power department with the zippy Nvidia Tegra 3
quadcore processor running at 1.6GHz. An extra fifth core picks up the slack,
performing less demanding tasks and allowing it to run as quickly and smoothly
as the Transformer Prime and more so than the smaller Google Nexus 7. You can
play graphically demanding games with barely any frame rate issues.
Adding
to the high-end feel, the Infinity wears an eight-megapixel camera on its rear.
We're loath to advise people to use their tablets as cameras, but if that's
your bag, the addition of autofocus, LED flash and a f2.2 aperture that allows
extra light through the lens for clearer photographs make this probably the
best snapper on a tablet to date.
The
1080p full-HD video recording can also be rewarding in the right conditions,
namely brightly lit locations — footage shot in more demanding environs can
look washed out. There's also a front-facing cam with a
two-meg sensor. HD
video calling is its main benefit, but it also takes decent self-portraits.
One of
the key selling points of the Transformer series has been its superior battery
life. From the cheaper Transformer 300 to the Transformer Prime, they've all
rocked Connery-like longevity. The numbers are a bit down on the Infinity,
though:14 hours when docked against the 18 hours of the Prime. We'll put that
down to the new, higher resolution screen, which caused a similar battery life
dip for the third-gen Apple iPad.
With
tablet and keyboard dock fully charged we managed three or four days
general use. Remove the keyboard and you're looking at closer to seven
hours, which is perfectly fine for most of us.
The
Infinity is a product of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" design
school, with many specs identical to the Prime, from the dock to the quadcore
and storage options — 32GB or 64GB plus microSD, although, at least initially,
only the
64GB model will be available over here. The battery life is also
shorter, so the one trump card here is the beautiful full-HD
screen. Is that enough to warrant a trade-up?
When you're
paying this kind of money it's easy to quibble about the lack of USB charging,
the ropey speaker and the half-arsed proprietary apps. However, if you're after
a tablet that offers laptop-I ike power, with excellent portability and
specifications, the Infinity is worth your attention. It's basically an Asus
Transformer Prime with a better screen, and there's nowt wrong with that.
{ SPECIFICATION }
OS Android 4.0
PROCESSOR/RAM 1.6GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quadcore / 1GB
SCREEN 10.1-inch,1920*1200
REAR CAM 64GB 8-meg / 1080p
FRONT CAM 2-meg / "HD"
CONNECTIONS N Wi-Fi, micro HDMI, 3.5mm audio in / out. Via dock: USB, SD card
QUOTED BATTERY 8 hours / 14hours with dock
{ DETAILS }
1 MICRO HDMI
The Infinity can easily be hooked up to a compatible HD screen using this saucy micro HDMI port
2 KEYBOARD
The chiclet-style keyboard adds standard USB and SD slots, as well as boosting overall battery life
3 SCREEN
Scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass protects the 10.1-inch, full-HD screen, whilst also helping to keep the screen thickness down
4 FRONT-FACING CAMERA
This
two-meg snapper is an improvement on the Prime's 1.2-meg one and also adds HD
video calling
LOVE: Sharp, bright, full-HD screen. Well made keyboard
dock. Good storage option
HATE: More expensive than the equivalent iPad. No USB charging. Optimised apps are lacking. Slightly reduced battery life
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