Posted August 22, 2012
I'll be honest: my Transformer has become my "go-to" travel computer. It's light, the battery last for freaking ever (after a year, I get about 12 hours of continuous usage or, realistically two to three days without charging). The most recent Google Drive updates have made GDocs actually *work* on Android, although it lacks functionality (like offline mode).
The two main problems with my Tranformer (and mine is the Transformer Classic, the brown one they launched the line with) are:
1. Email: if you're a power user for email, you'll find Android is rather lackluster. I have about 30,000 work emails from GOG--and another 100,000 other emails--and storing them locally on my Mac or PC for fast searching is essential. You can't do that with Android.
2. GDocs: There are some perfectly good writing apps on the Android system, but GDocs still isn't one of them. It's gotten to the "acceptable" level (in that it works at all now), but it's not great.
Oh, and if it matters for you, I suppose:
3. Spreadsheets. God, no. No one I've found does these right on Android.
On the other hand, what I use my Transformer for (light writing, productivity tracking, light email, IMs, gaming (Thanks, Android HIB 3!), internet browsing, and Skype calls) is a pretty good spread of thin client computing, and the long battery and durability of the Transformer--I treat the thing terribly and it's yet to give me a problem on the hardware end--make it an excellent choice for certain uses. Also, the built-in GPS is great when I'm travelling, since if I load up a map into the cache before I leave my WiFi connection (the tablet has no 3G radio), I can use GPS all day to track where I am and it looks much less "touristy" than wandering around lost with a map in hand. :)
I'd also offer that i type about 90 wpm (sustained rate) and neither the Transformer's keyboard nor the processor have ever seemed to have any problem keeping that up, although when I'm typing into GDocs (instead into a word file stored locally) the connection lag sometimes bollixes things up to a point where I have to wait for the keyboard to catch up.
There's your pros and your cons. Make your own mind up. :)
The two main problems with my Tranformer (and mine is the Transformer Classic, the brown one they launched the line with) are:
1. Email: if you're a power user for email, you'll find Android is rather lackluster. I have about 30,000 work emails from GOG--and another 100,000 other emails--and storing them locally on my Mac or PC for fast searching is essential. You can't do that with Android.
2. GDocs: There are some perfectly good writing apps on the Android system, but GDocs still isn't one of them. It's gotten to the "acceptable" level (in that it works at all now), but it's not great.
Oh, and if it matters for you, I suppose:
3. Spreadsheets. God, no. No one I've found does these right on Android.
On the other hand, what I use my Transformer for (light writing, productivity tracking, light email, IMs, gaming (Thanks, Android HIB 3!), internet browsing, and Skype calls) is a pretty good spread of thin client computing, and the long battery and durability of the Transformer--I treat the thing terribly and it's yet to give me a problem on the hardware end--make it an excellent choice for certain uses. Also, the built-in GPS is great when I'm travelling, since if I load up a map into the cache before I leave my WiFi connection (the tablet has no 3G radio), I can use GPS all day to track where I am and it looks much less "touristy" than wandering around lost with a map in hand. :)
I'd also offer that i type about 90 wpm (sustained rate) and neither the Transformer's keyboard nor the processor have ever seemed to have any problem keeping that up, although when I'm typing into GDocs (instead into a word file stored locally) the connection lag sometimes bollixes things up to a point where I have to wait for the keyboard to catch up.
There's your pros and your cons. Make your own mind up. :)
Post edited August 22, 2012 by TheEnigmaticT