So I’ve joined the tablet world with a new ASUS Transformer TF300. It took me a really long time to justify spending nearly $400 on a tablet. (What would I use it for? A lot of times, things like this end up being a really expensive brick.) I’m testing it out right now — so far so good, and I’ve managed to find a few things that have managed to make this tablet more practical. More on that later.
But first, why a tablet, and why an Android-based one instead of an iPad?
Well, despite the fact that I’m relatively gadget-resistant, I’ve been getting used to mobile devices just like everyone else out there. I have an Android phone, so an Android tablet didn’t take long to adjust to. I’m also fairly hype-resistant and am well aware that the tablet world did in fact exist well before the iPad (anyone remember the Apple Newton? Or one of the many bulky Windows-based tablets?), so despite the fact that Apple does indeed make devices of great substance, I tend not to blindly go with them on stuff. There is plenty of other good hardware out there and I like to find it. That and I definitely can’t justify the price premium if I already wasn’t sure about getting one of these things in the first place.
The ASUS TF300 is fairly light (not a big deal for me, but lots of people use that as one of their main evaluating criteria) and has a big screen. My wife has a Nook Tablet that I got for her, and that’s a little smaller than I wanted. Great for reading books, but not if you want to do a whole lot more. So, 10″ it is. The TF300 came with Android version Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), but soon after I got it, the Jelly Bean (4.1) update came down. Like I said, so far so good — none of the freezing issues others have reported with this pad and most of my phone apps come over fine (or have tablet counterparts), except for my Washington Post app (*grumble* *grumble*). Of course, Adobe has also stopped developing Flash for Android platforms, so that stuff doesn’t work. Hasn’t yet hampered anything I try to do, however. I also got the dock, which at least gives me a real keyboard when I need it. Add in the fact that there’s a VPN client for my work SSL VPN endpoint and RDP client, I can actually do work on this thing should the need arise and my laptop’s not available. Casual browsing on a tablet is superior to the desktop/laptop world, in my opinion — so natural and comfortable, even though links sometimes appear small — so all in all I’m pretty happy.
And, by the way, I’m typing up this post on my tablet. Ain’t life grand these days?