As expected, ASUS today formally announced the Eee Pad Transformer Prime (after teasing it at last month’s AsiaD conference). It looks set to be the world’s first tablet to be powered by NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor (codenamed Kal El during development). Despite offering up to five times the performance of the Tegra 2 processor, it does not use up any more power.
The look of the tablet has been changed and comes with a brushed aluminium back (along with matching aluminium dock). It is also coated with a hydro-oleophobic coating which should help cut down on fingerprint smudges.
- Processor: Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3
- Operating system: Google Android 3.2
- Cellular connectivity: None
- Other connectivity: GPS, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- Display: 10.1-inch WXGA (1280×800) Super IPS+
- Input: Capacitive touchscreen
- Memory: 1GB RAM
- Storage: 32GB or 64GB internal and microSD card slot
- Rear-facing camera: 8MP AF with f/2.4 and LED flash
- Front-facing camera: 1.2MP
- Connectors: 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, microHDMI
- Dimensions / weight: 263 x 180.8 x 8.3 millimeters / 537 grams
Rumours that it would be delayed to have Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) have proven untrue. It will ship with Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) with an OTA upate to ICS to come soon after the release.
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime will be available starting in early December. The 32GB model will sell for US$499 and the 64GB one for US$599. The optional keyboard dock will sell for US$149. ASUS will also continue to sell the original Eee Pad Transformer starting at US$399. There is no word on Canadian availability yet.