Asus Eee Pad Transformer unboxed

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Youtube link for mobile viewing

Hoping to be the first kid on your block with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer? Sorry, but this guy beat you to it. Eight minutes of the slick little Android Honeycomb tablet that snaps into a full-size keyboard. We get a great look at what's in the box, and of the tablet itself. Looks like it's got a great textured back, the overly large bezel, and we see the proprietary charger (boo). And finally, it's booted up, and sure enough, there's Android 3.0.

Still no word on when those of us here in the states might be able to get our hands on one, but we're starting to get more than slightly excited for it.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
41 Comments
  • Worst unboxing video ever. Jesus Christ, I've heard more emotion from Kimi Raikkonen's press conferences.
  • and guess what the micro SD card works. why is that? I thought it was a goggles issue or is it a MOTO issue afterall.
  • One of the reasons I thought this was a Honeycomb issue is that I believe Honeycomb sees the /data and /sdcard pathes as the same thing. Whereas the phone versions of Android see /data as the internal phone based storage and /sdcard as the external sdcard based storage. So on stock Honeycomb, which the Xoom has, the data pathes are the same thus no sdcard will work until Google changes the Honeycomb source code. Since Asus added a different UI, they could have potentially changed some of the coding to enable /sdcard to point to the sdcard. I'm not supporting Motorola/Google/Asus here, just throwing out some possibilities. To be honest, I still think I would rather than the Xoom - stock Honeycomb with forever updates straight from Google like the Nexus series of phones is pretty valuable to me.
  • Are you sure about the custom UI? I've been looking into this tablet fairly heavily in the last few days, and as far as I can tell from the various hands on videos, the ASUS customizations appear to almost entirely be custom widgets and a live wallpaper or two. Although there may be some under the hood hackery to make the keyboard docking procedure slightly smoother (for instance the trackpad controls a mouse pointer). But the launcher/UI seems to be untouched, from what I have been able to determine.
  • At the very least, they changed the button icons. They probably did some more as well, though it looks very light.
  • Good catch. What an odd minor detail to change -- I've been unable to spot anything else during this half hour walk through the device (unfortunately in Swedish) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ms-oD11NCI I wonder if the change is related to the android version on the tablet being 3.0.1? Or is that what the Xoom shipped with as well?
  • I think you may be right- it could be Asus added code not in 3.0 to deal with the SD card, or perhaps they have a newer 3.0 than currently on the Xoom. We just don't know. Your analysis of how it handles the card is right on, and that probably explains the EXTREMELY IRRITATING inability of 3.0 devices to use USB mass storage mode. Being stuck with only MTP ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol ) sucks and I hope this isn't the way Google is moving. I REALLY liked the ability to plug in my Android devices into *any* computer and transfer files without special drivers, subsystems, manual mounting, etc. If the EEE Pad supports USB mass storage as a client, I am going to be very angry with Motorola and/or Google.
  • Rename the title to " BOXING" like put that guy in a box. Totally dead.
  • This one is pretty awesome too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrdHe__tt3U
  • That was without a doubt the most epic unboxing video ever. And a psa on top.
  • The perfect repost, Loved it. Thanks
  • This is a good Review ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJvmpDWZM8
  • And somehow It still manages to be more engaging than the "real" unboxing.
  • Wow....that was a, waste of 7 minutes. The first 2 minutes were a video of the guy's forearm hair and hands.
  • worst unboxing video i've EVER seen. jesus christ, why the hell do braindead guys like this one get the sweet stuff first? :(
  • Gross- no USB... proprietary 40 pin connector. Hello Apple EEE. I guess the keyboard is also not included. I agree- this is the worst unboxing. I mean, do we really need to watch him read the writing on the charger, read the owner's manual, play with baggies?
  • I think ill stick with my Xoom.
  • Makes the xoom look like junk overnight. And it doesn't have that tiny charger sot the xoom has that always falls out......micro sd works WOW!
  • It makes it look like junk because of a proprietary cable for data AND charging instead of just a tiny proprietary charging cable? Or just because of the SD slot.... hmmm
  • you must own a xoom.
  • And you must own neither. So perhaps I speak from experience...
  • I returned the xoom after 5 days. It was junk and a waste of money.
  • I would like to know what makes you think that the Xoom is junk based on this tablet? Was it the 2 inch bezel around the device? How about the skin? Cause it couldn't possible be anything the tablet has cause it is just like the xoom only built by Asus probably the cheapest PC maker around. Believe me there will be much better tablets this year that make the Xoom look like junk, but this Asus tablet, any made by samsung, or the LG one on tmo isn't it. The Xoom is the better buy even with missing features as soon enough it will have verizons LTE and a working SD card.
  • All unboxings suck. For Christ's sake, just hit the record button once everything's out of the box, and spare us two minutes of fluff. But yeah, this guy was terrible--a perfect case study in what's wrong with unboxings. That said, I'm still jealous. Props to the guy for scoring the Eee Pad. As far as the proprietary charger, we're probably going to have to get over it. I'm no EE, but AFAIK, there's no way to charge batteries as large as the ones on tablets in a reasonable amount of time with any connector that's been standardized.
  • So Asus, want to clue us in on the release date and price so I can plan on whether to buy it or not? Sooner or later if you dont give me hope that I can get my hands on one soon, I'm just going to buy one of your competitors' products...
  • I can't play the video. It says the video is private.
  • From the rest of the comments here, it doesn't sound like you're missing much.
  • The bezel is shit. Makes my eyes bleed!
  • Double post-
  • Not another unboxing!?!?! Who cares about this crap. I just wanna see the thing in action. I don't care about what kind of plastic its wrapped in! Bleh!
  • Could you speed things up a bit on the product review please realparadyne! That was so slow I could hear my hair growing. BTW, why didn't you buy the keyboard version? That is the main advantage in this device.
  • Please do not post these unboxing videos they are pointless no one really cares about the box i just want to see whats inside...
  • so this unboxing was only good at the end of the video
  • Ac i love u guys buy these unboxings are a wast of ac space i dont care about the box i care about wats inside thank you
  • They are gonna come out with an entirely new tablet by the time this guy starts using this one... but the tablet does look nice
  • I agree with everyone else, that was the worst unboxing I have ever seen. That guy was about as interesting as watching paint dry. I noticed that comments weren't allowed on the youtube link, I wonder why? Haha, I bet that guy was getting torn apart!
  • watch the 1st and last minute. everything else in between is crap. "mumble mumble question?"
  • Did anyone notice the information on USB charging on the back of the "Tips Card"? It actually DOES charge via the standard USB port but only when it's in "sleep" mode. So it WILL charge via standard USB as long as it's screen is turned off. Good enough for me! Just leave the regular wall charger at home and use all the available standard usb cables and chargers to charge it with screen off. I barely use it when I'm charging it anyway...
  • This guy acts like he's going to have sex with it! What a douche!
  • TIL Mr.Bean has an android device.
  • Dear Guys and Girls, last week I went to softex show in Taipei to buy the new Asus eee pad transformer but they already sold out the first day the Tablet, I was not so happy and I did the review without tablet on hands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJvmpDWZM8 (anyway was fun because all the spec are real even without device :))
    Then yesterday I received the real device and here you can find my first review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbtEPVu1Sts
    Leave a comment or ask a question on youtube!!!
    Bye
    Rickyprose