Purchased: 18 August 2012
Expected uses:
Review images from camera while on holidays.
Watch shows while on the daily commute.
Navigation while travelling.
Navigation while 4WDing.
As of 5 Sep 2012:
Watched shows on the daily commute.
Used as netbook while travelling to Hong Kong and China.
Writing up this blog post while in China.
Pros:
This tablet packs a lot of processing power. Enough to watch HD movies without having to re-encode the movies. Which is a huge benefit for me.
It's very portable and easy to carry and use. My laptop is a Dell XPS 16 which is large and heavy so I needed a device I can carry around everyday. The TF700 fits the bill nicely.
It's very easy to transfer movies, music and ebooks to the tablet via the micro SD card. This is actually the main reason why I bought this tablet over the new iPad.
I had an Android phone with a number of purchased apps. With the android tablet I can bring these apps across without much fuss or having to repurchase them.
Very good battery life. I've been using this tablet while travelling through Hong Kong and Western China. The tablet will last me the while day without any trouble. I'm very impressed considering the size of the screen and all the included technology.
Cons:
There aren't many apps specifically developed for android tablets yet. Which means most of the apps I'm using are actually developed for the phone. Which is ok in most cases. It just means some of the interface might not sit correctly. Or look kind of large or kind of small. In other cases it causes the app to crash or cause the tablet to restart. I will give the Android app market some time. I hope devs catch up. But considering android tablets have been out for some time now. I don't think the android market will. Currently iPads dominate the tablet scene so most devs are trying to hit the largest market.
Accessories are few and far between. There are NO accessories being sold in Australian stores for the TF700. I've even gone as far as Hong Kong to look for accessories to no avail. I'm going to have to buy online which is a shame as I wanted to try out the covers before I buy them but I don't have a choice with this tablet.
Not being able to charge from a standard USB port. The TF700 requires 15W to charge. Which can't be drawn from a standard USB port. This means owners of the TF700 need to use the included charger to charge the tablet. Although there's plenty of life in the stock batteries. So you wouldn't usually need a charge too early anyway.
There appears to be a known bug that causes apps to crash on this tablet. I noticed it because I was using Google maps heavily while I was in China. Here is a report of the issue: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30737043#post30737043 The saving grace:Apparently this is fixed in the Jellybean update.
Conclusion:
It's a great device. The hardware specs are great. The thing that lets this tablet down is the software. If the Android ecosystem is to survive they need to ensure only well written software (at least for the hardware drivers) are released. Or they will quickly lose the small market share they currently hold.
