Asus Eee Pad Transformer, More Than Meets The Eye.

April 26th marked the U.S. launch of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.  The cheapest Honeycomb Tablet to hit the market yet.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101

Spec for spec, this is near identical to the Motorola Xoomand the Acer Iconia A500, even besting them by having an IPS display, the same kind of display found on the ever popular Apple iPad 2.  But I'm not here to compare apples to honeycombs.  At a price of $399.00, this tablet hits at what some say is a sweet spot as far as price ranges go for tablets (especially non-Apple tablets) to become more of a mainstream commodity.  Add to that the fact that this thing has a docking station that, for $150.00 essentially turns it into an Android netbook, and you have a very promising package.

So do I have a shiny new Transformer in my hands?  NOPE!  Calling around the day before it came out, I knew it was going to be interesting to actually get my hands on one of these.  The Best Buy near work said they were hoping to get in a few but still hadn't received anything.  The Best Buy near home said they had 2 in stock.  Fry's said they had 3 or so, but weren't very willing to confirm with me.  Given that I had a meeting the following day, I knew I wasn't going to be making any mid morning runs to the store to get some hands on time with this.  I was not alone it seems as everywhere, reports of shortages came through.  Amazon, and Best Buy both currently show it as out of stock.  There have been reports that the UK launch was such a hit, that Asus diverted some of their shipments that way to make up for demand, thus, cutting the U.S. short of our original shipment.  So is this possibly the hit tablet that Android fans have been waiting for?  The numbers seem to say so.

As for me, what are my plans?  Well, for the time being I think I am over the whole tablet thing.  There's a slew of tablets on the horizon.  As much as I hate manufacturers skinning operating systems, I'm interested in seeing the HTC Flyer when that comes out just because I like the stylus interface option.  I like drawing and that seems like it would be AMAZING to have.  Many other tablets are on the way as well in various sizes, prices, and hardware and software configurations.  I am still interested in the Transformer, but I'm also interested in what the future has in store.