Transformer Prime Gets 4.0.3 (ICS) Update

A couple of days earlier than originally expected, ASUS pushed out an update to its Transformer Prime bringing the tablet up to Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). I brought my Prime with me to Vegas just to be ready for when this update went live. I installed the update last night and have played with the platform a bit since then. Tegra 3 definitely does a better job of handling the ICS UI compared to OMAP 4 in the Galaxy Nexus (more on this in our review tomorrow). In particular, bringing up the task switcher on the Prime is much smoother than it is on the Galaxy Nexus.

ASUS kept the quick settings menu in the lower right as well as the CPU governor settings we loved from our original review.

JavaScript performance actually appears to have taken a step back compared to Honeycomb on the Prime. I'm no longer able to get < 1700ms scores with ICS installed (even in the Normal power profile, SunSpider 0.9.1 is up at 2253ms now). I'll be digging into browser performance over the coming days to see if I can find out what changed between Honeycomb and ICS on the Prime. 

I'm very pleased to see such a quick turnaround on the TF Prime ICS port. If we can get similar progress on Tegra 2 based tablets I'll be very happy. 

Gallery: Transformer Prime Gets 4.0.3 (ICS) Update

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Availability: Week of December 19th

If you're waiting to get your hands on an Eee Pad Transformer Prime, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. ASUS is expecting the first etail and retail availability in North America during the week of December 19th (not the 12th as was originally expected). If you're planning on giving the Prime as a gift this year, you may want to have a backup just in case. No word on quantities yet.

Be sure to check out our review of the Prime to tide you over!

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The Summer of Honeycomb, Part 1: Win an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

Android 3.1 on the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

I ran into a number of hiccups in my review of the Eee Pad Transformer last month. Some of the issues were of course due to the early nature of Honeycomb, while others were just problems with ASUS' implementation. Just yesterday ASUS gave me a drop of the OTA (over the air) update that's coming to all Eee Pad users on Monday. This update will give the Eee Pad Android 3.1, the long-awaited point release to Honeycomb that is supposed to fix bugs, improve performance and even enable some new functionality. Xoom owners got access to the update earlier this month thanks to it being Google's launch device for Honeycomb, but ASUS isn't far behind.

I haven't had a lot of time with the update but I wanted to go over some of the enhancements and give you Eee Pad users a preview of what's to come on Monday. Read on!

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Review

ASUS was at the forefront of the netbook revolution thanks to its close partnerships with Intel and Microsoft. ASUS has been all but absent from the smartphone and tablet revolution again, because of its two key partnerships: Intel and Microsoft. Both Intel and Microsoft lay dormant while the smartphone and tablet revolution pick up speed; granted this may all change around Windows 8, but for now it's the truth. If you're a partner of both Intel and Microsoft, you too lay dormant while competitors like Apple, Samsung, Motorola and LG take your cake. After more than enough thumb fiddling, it was ASUS' turn for a slice. 

Read on for our full review of ASUS' first Honeycomb tablet: the Eee Pad Transformer.

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