Database Users

[Review]My Adam Review

Finally my day off!
This has been a busy week at work and a lot of changes happening so quickly I haven’t had a proper chance to use my Adam as I wanted, but now I can give you a proper review of my experience so far.
First of all I want to share some information about me just so you don’t think im a biased person or working for Notion Ink.
My name is Bruno Alexandre, im 27 years old and im from Portugal, I work in a ISP and in a daily base I deal with equipments of every kind and all kind of applications.
I’m a gadget lover, I simply adore every details that a manufacturer places on a equipment and im very picky about build quality and software design, I prefer a practical design to something with a “bling” effect.
I started following the Adam back on CES 2010, Rohan ideas and vision attracted me, his way of thinking was just what I was looking for, a project that isn’t thought to the “elites” and accessible to everyone, the concept he had back then of the Adam was simple but practical and the way he just showed Slashgear a working concept, instead of just a video or something has we've seen recently on others, shown me he wasn’t there to fool anyone and he believed in it and so did I and that’s how I started to follow Notion Ink. Every update afterwards and the open communication he had with the community was something I have never seen before and I always hoped for from other companies, the project started to get even better with the first sketches of the Adam and continuous information he kept revealing about the hardware and the design behind, to a point I could not stand any more not having it and offered to pay ahead for my Adam, even before the Pre-order was known to public. I think when a project has a future, even coming from a company we never heard before is worth investing it is worth to support, and help in anyway possible.
Hardware & Design
As you have all seen the Adam hardware is no big news, every person that likes gadgets have heard of Tegra 2, Pixel Qi and all the other features, the Adam doesn’t bring nothing new in terms of technological innovation but it does bring a innovation in design.
The way it was built is just great, it was thought to be used on a daily base in any situation imaginable, the golden ratio does make a difference! The past 2 days I have used the Adam as a console, media player, work support and as a organizer, it fulfilled every expectation I had, it felt great in any handling position, feels strong being handled in any situation I came to face during my work, there's no crackling sound or protection caps coming off easily, the fingerprints are as bad as in a smartphone, you even cant feel the real weight it has and balances perfectly even by holding with just one hand while typing with the other! Have you ever tried to use the IPAD like that ? It just wobbles on your hand unless you have a case.
My colleagues at work also tried it and they were astonished how a small company from India was able to produce such equipment, they never even heard of Notion Ink or Adam, and they just loved to work with it. One of the biggest praises was the responsiveness of the touch screen and how smooth it was on Canvas to draw a line compared with a smartphone, the processing power and the speed of opening apps, video playback and specially the sniffer, many of them were Android users and they loved it.
Everything looks too perfect doesn’t it, well now its time for the bad parts, the screen protector first of all was awful, as bad as HTC screen protectors for smart-phones all the glare and reflections plus washed out colours made me rage, so I took it off and it felt much better.
The viewing angles of Adam are not very good either, not when compared with my Asus 1005HA LED Backlit screen or the Ipad, but it wasn’t meant to be looked from the side but head-on to be able to read so I take this as a small drawback.
The screen calibration in terms of brightness to contrast ratio is very bad, you notice it more when using at dark environment like the video shows below, but this is something that I think it could be easily fixed if we had the proper tools to mess with it like a normal desktop monitor OSD. (if there’s such tool please tell me since im a android newbie)
Pixel Qi, well this really does feel great, even tho sun is lacking here in Portugal this past days, ive used the Adam on the outside a lot and I love how the pixel qi works, it feels amazing being able to read everything without any problems, unique experience. Indoors even with low light conditions for example in bed with the night stand lamp it was readable or ( you will lol ) in the toilet !
​
Sound quality was just .. man it was awesome, its louder than the Asus 1005HA and the bass is much better, connected to a sound system is just gives enough juice to make it worth, lacks some equalizer but I think there’s apps out there to do the job.
Camera is one of those things there’s not much to talk about, it's a 3.2 camera like many phones have, the swivel does make it good because you can just point it to what you want, using Google Goggles with it is very cool, the design here helps again, with one hand you can easily stabilize the Adam while the responsiveness of the screen helps out the shooting.
The battery when tested at work was empty after 8 hours of people messing with it, playing watching videos, testing VPN connections, downloading and navigating using the canvas, it was madness the number of fingerprints on the Adam, but it was still very readable. You could only notice the fingerprints on the borders.
​
Software
Well the software is another issue, the idea behind Eden is good and I love the leaves, but not every application seem to have gone under proper testing or QA, they don’t fit well with each other and don’t respond properly sometimes to the commands you give to it, one of the examples is facebook tool, the cramped look of it and the minimized information makes it really annoying to work with.
The lack of Android Market to be able to get some of the Google Apps made the experience even worst, if Genesis isn’t ready yet then the Android Market should still exist in the meanwhile.
Mail app is very good, I enjoy the UI and how simple it looks while having every feature you need, its also very useful in a job like mine where im constantly receiving emails.
QuickOffice is also great, I work a lot with excel, acrobat, word and having the Adam around is a excellent working tool, I can give support to my colleagues in real time without having to go from one side to the other getting the information they need and taking time which is essential in my job.
The browser, I was kinda of disappointed with the UI from the browser, it felt.. wrong.. hard to explain, but once I got to work with the tabs I just loved how it felt, the idea of placing them like that helps a lot when you are consulting online or trying to get updated with the latest news in the gadget world, it was a fast experience with flash always loading in the websites quickly and with no issues.
The Video Player, had some issues, as you may have noticed on the video above, the sound and video were de-sync, I was using .wmv tried also .mkv and other formats, thought it was a issue with the internal SD Card, used my external one Class 6 and had the same issue, must be codec wise.
In the end I just preferred on having the LauncherPRO as my main screen since I could customize with every widget I wanted, with no limitations whatsoever as you can see on the video below, at least until NI can deliver a better interface or Honeycomb is out.
​
Conclusion
I'm not an expert reviewer, nor I have experience in reviewing equipments, some of you may not agree with me on some aspects but in the end this was my experience, and I just wanted to share with you all. I enjoy every day with the Adam I have, and it will be my main support at home and works to organize my life.
Do I regret buying the Adam ? No I do not, the Adam is a great tablet.
Would I prefer the Xoom over the Adam ? I wont pay $700 for a barometer, but … I wouldn’t mind having the quality of its screen. Also I had Motorola equipments before and my experience was bad.. not with 1 but more than 4..
Hope you enjoyed.

Thanks for your review bro. I have been looking for a down to earth review for a while. I am probably waiting for the Asus transformer but I would love to try out an Adam and see if it would change my mind. I guess in the end the question is, will it get Honeycomb?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

jorny32 said:
Thanks for your review bro. I have been looking for a down to earth review for a while. I am probably waiting for the Asus transformer but I would love to try out an Adam and see if it would change my mind. I guess in the end the question is, will it get Honeycomb?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rohan mentioned that they are working on honeycomb. If NI doesn;t bring it, the adam is pretty close to ASOP android, so I'm sure that the developers here will port it to the adam.

Thats what i hope also.

hmm..intresting review. Friend can you post some more of your experiences with Adam in detail. I would like to see how different application like
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi)
2) Laputa ebook reader
3) Google earth
and some good HD Games with motion sensors.

Video Playback
Do you think the video playback de-sync is because of the player?
Meaning that with another player this would not happen?

Good Review

zabaknilesh said:
hmm..intresting review. Friend can you post some more of your experiences with Adam in detail. I would like to see how different application like
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi)
2) Laputa ebook reader
3) Google earth
and some good HD Games with motion sensors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure ill post tomorrow probably.

Thanks for this review man. Appreciated. Looking forward to updates on your ongoing use.

Very nice and honest review. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Have you already rooted and installed market with NIH/XDA root packs? Or just using the update released by NI?

Thanks for the review.
I have been using Eden UI on G-Tab for a few days now, and I agree that it takes a little getting used to...and some of the Apps like Mail'd are good. Browser is so-so...and the keyboard could have used "Autoprompts" for words.

Thanks LeviathanPT for the review. I'll wait to pre-order my NI 3G+Pixel QI for the "general public".
Its good to read e-books and Comics?
Thanks

@ zabaknilesh
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi) - Still has the same desync issue even with rockplayer
2) Laputa ebook reader - Very cool app, i like the flipping pages transition and its very smooth and accurate, the books can be read very well. Also the thick part of the adam is excelent to grab and makes the reading experience much higher.
3) Google earth - Doesnt launch just crashes
4) Some good HD Games with motion sensors. - Is there any free games i could try ?
@tokyobreeze
Yes i have rooted using NIH since genesis isnt out and i dont want a limited (by software) equipment .
@SimonCt
Yeah reading e-books is awsome, comics is something i havent tried as a appbut ive been at some comic websites and its very cool.

Try jjComics Viewer if you can, The main use for me is read e-books and comics....
For ebooks im using Aldiko, that can be conected with Calibre

Thanks for your review. Very informative!

thanks
Thanks for this usefull review!

Very good review!
Did you try to re-load google earth and still crash?
Edit:
I see they got it working on the Viewsonic over here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10100271&highlight=google+earth#post10100271

Thanks for the comments guys, the google earth seems not to be compatible using the web android market and that guy doesnt supply the files needed :|

Flash
Have you been able to use a browser as the Skyfire with flash on it??

Hey guys I have made a review from my new adam with pixel qi! I also added a lot of pictures and two videos (showing eden, hardware, pixel qi outside, also made a comparison from screens of galaxy s and macbook pro, ... pictures and videos are on the second page) The review is in german, but pictures and videos can say more than 1000 words
Adam Tablet PC review with pictures and videos
please click on "gefällt mir" or I like button in the facebook fan box
Thanks!

[DISCUSS] Xperia Play Hands-on, my mini-review

today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again

yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.

its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/

so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??

yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.

I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms

Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say

holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.

Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.

Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.

Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.

Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!

Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.

share your impressions

Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?

People have had issues with build quality but I personally haven't. My TF101 has been fine.
Responsiveness is top notch, no issues here.
Depends on what you're comparing it to, it's benchmarks are above the Xoom and Galaxy tab 10.1, but if this relates to real world performance I don't know.
It plays low profile 1080p flawlessly, and 720p high profile flawlessly. Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
Yes it has turn by turn navigation.
I'd recommend it if you need the extra features it has over the Galaxy tab.

seshmaru said:
People have had issues with build quality but I personally haven't. My TF101 has been fine.
Responsiveness is top notch, no issues here.
Depends on what you're comparing it to, it's benchmarks are above the Xoom and Galaxy tab 10.1, but if this relates to real world performance I don't know.
It plays low profile 1080p flawlessly, and 720p high profile flawlessly. Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
Yes it has turn by turn navigation.
I'd recommend it if you need the extra features it has over the Galaxy tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. Screen is totally mindblowing , btw!
I myself have had absolutely zero issues, like seshmaru, but buy it 4m a store, and open and check it, would be my recommendation. Light bleed is the most common issue, followed by some creakiness issues and speaker balance issues, very rare though
Sent from my cell phone. DUH.

Mine eee pad had serial B5xxxxxxxx. So far no issues with it.
But it's quite heavy to hold the eee pad with one hand and using it while laying on the couch.

I got mine like two weeks ago, and I guess I'm lucky that it's pretty perfect (although there's a slight creakiness on one corner).
I don't have any complaints right now, but I'm scared to get the dock because I keep seeing problems about it (battery, lag, what else??).

seshmaru said:
Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As has been said many times on these forums, it's more about not having to re-encode 1080p movies you already have just to play them on the TF.
Regards,
Dave

I am on my 2nd transformer now, the first one had some light bleeds along with head pixels in the midldle.
The only thing that i suggest is to root it when you get it and throw Prime 1.4 and a custom kernel on it so you see the true speed of it. Im semi please with it, still better then the ipad 2 imo. there are some issues but should be fixed over time. the only really annoying issue is when typing in the browser and how long it takes to show up on the screen.

Then I'll get one. Actually after some googling on iPad 2 I understood that I really wont get one, Transformer has so much better hardware and I love honeycomb. iPad has 0.3 Mpix front camera and 0.9Mpix back camera, lol.
Thank you all for helping.

I just put Prime 1.5 on it, run really smooth..

my only issue is the lack of volume. Its too low for my taste. Other than that i love my TF.

KRolands said:
Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With all the issue pointed out here I was a bit worried about buying one. I have not had any issues except for bugs which are part of honeycomb. When I got my Galaxy S2 there were a lot of people *****ing about various issues but when I got my phone I had none of these so called issues once I tweaked things! So each to their own.
You'll find that most posts are about complaints. Very few people come online and say how awesome something is. Most of the time there are solutions to issues but people don't want to search.
1. I chose it over the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I like how light the Tab is but I love the dock and the extra features that the Transformer has to offer.
2. Build quality on mine is outstanding. I have had a lot of android devices and you can see the extra effort Asus put into the dock and the tablet. I don't have any light bleed or flex on my device. Even the USB docks have magnetic port covers. How cool is that? Keyboard is very nice and the keys don't feel cheap.
3. Very fast device and very responsive. Interesting to see how both the Tegra processor and the Exonys (in my S2) differ in different tasks but both are blazing fast (the S2 is faster at rendering pages on wifi vs the transformer). Make sure to update to 3.1 firmware. Mine came with 3.0 which was not very responsive and sucked [email protected]
4. No idea about the 1080p. It is touchy at playing high def files (honeycomb hardware decoding issue). My S2 plays 1080 no problem. I find 720p MP4 videos plays perfectly fine if encoded with the proper specs for the transformer
5. Yes turn-by-turn works great. I tether with my phone and off I go
My only complaint is an issue with honeycomb and the stock browser lag when typing. Also, no auto correction when typing on the hardware keyboard.
Cheers. Hope this helps

I have used the Transformer for couple of weeks now having previously owned the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch.
All in all, my impressions are very positive and I would definetly recommend the device. The screen's great, device is quick to use, to comfortable hold in hand thanks to clever backside texture and reasonable weight, overall design is good. The keyboard dock has been a true surprise, it is way better than in many laptops and the integration with the tablet is seamless.
My unit (Scandinavian) is faultless, no cranky build quality or light bleeds.
However, there are some things to improve
- Flash performance: Flash being the most obvious advantage over iPad, I was disappointed that my old Galaxy Tab plays Flash better than this Dual Core Honeycomb device
- Browser is a bit buggy (closes unexpectedly once a while)
- Lack of Honeycomb apps evident, no way to sort out Honeycomb apps from all Android Market offerings (not a Transformer issue, though)

KRolands said:
Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my Transformer for just over a week now and am absolutely loving it. I have had no problems with my Transformer apart from when I managed to brick it and then get it working again (my fault not ASUS ). The screen is great (though I wish it was SAMOLED+ because my SGSII has an amazing screen) and the build quality is very good - it feels a little heavy compared to an iPad but also very sturdy.
After updating to 3.1 the tablet is very smooth - with the possible exception of the browser when using the dock. Sometimes it takes a couple of seconds for the tablet to realise I'm typing something but generally not too bad. Using the tablet as a tablet (on-screen keyboard) there is no lag anywhere. Youtube 720p and normal 720p play flawlessly and look great. I haven't personally tried a 1080p video yet. Turn-by-turn navigation works well and it's nice they included a GPS chip in it, though you still need WiFi/3G for it work correctly.
The main attraction for me is the fact the Transformer is basically an Android Netbook! Good sized, clear screen with amazing battery life (I get about ~16 hours with Auto-Brightness and browsing/watching films). The best thing is when you root it and under/over clock it however! Under clocked to ~800Mhz I can browse for hours and hours, it's great! Over clock to 1.6Ghz and it's blazingly fast and everything (and can probably handle full 1080p video).
My only slight disappointment is in the rear camera which despite being 5MP is pretty crappy but it's not very often I use it. Bonus points for having Polaris Office and a Remote Desktop service packaged in for free which means I've been playing Portal on mine through my gaming laptop just for fun!
-X

[Q] Some questions about the Xperia Play

So I'm coming off contract on my current phone soon so I've naturally been checking out the market for a new phone. When the Xperia Play launched earlier in the year, to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it, but I've been hearing good things about it lately. Specifically how SE have continued to support it and fix the little bugs and glitches, as well as providing more functionality in the future and OS updates (crossing my fingers for the 4.0 update). However I am a bit cautious because I am totally new to Sony Ericsson phones, and this will also be my first Android phone. I currently own a Samsung Omnia 2 (i8000).
I realise a lot of things could be gleened from reviews, but the problem is all reviews for this phone were written months ago when it was first launched, so seem hardly relevant now after the recent updates SE have been making. What I want to know is, have these updates improved the phone significantly? Is the phone worth it now?
I am a keen gamer, so the physical controls definitely interest me, but I am also after good functionality in the phone too...making calls, how easy the keyboard is to use, music and video playback, how well the GPS works, how good the web browsing experience is, how customisable it is, how good the camera is etc etc - does the phone perform these functions well?
Also of importance is how is stacks up in performance against other high end Android devices (currently the Galaxy S II is the only dual core device on the Australian market) - how many Android apps and games are actually written to support dual core CPU's? How well does it perform in everyday phone operations compare to say the Galaxy S II?
One feature I'm particularly bummed about is the lack of FM Radio...I use the FM Radio in my current Omnia 2 more often than I expected, so I'll definitely miss that if I decide to go for the Play - has anyone written an app that's able to utilise the radio in the Play's snapdragon CPU? It still baffles me that SE elected not to enable the radio especially when touting the thing as a multimedia device, given the hardware is there already. Course I could stream it but that's a waste of data (and battery, compared to using the radio).
Another feature is the lack of internal storage...for a device that's supposed to be about gaming it seems odd that there is basically no internal storage in it, forcing you to use a microSD card. If anyone in Australia has picked up this phone through Telstra, what size (and class) microSD card do they package with the phone? Need to know if I'll be shelling out more money for a nice 32 GB card or something. Is it relatvely easy (without rooting the phone) to move stuff to the SD card or force it to install to the SD card by default?
Lastly, how comfortable is the phone to hold when gaming? I've noticed the PSP go, which has a very similar basic design, can become uncomfortable after a while as the edges of the device kinda dig into your palms, has anyone found this to be a problem with the Play? I couldn't really tell this from the couple of minutes I spent with one in store while it was covered in security tags and attached to a desk with cables.
Thanks for your time...it's a bit of a wall of text so I apologise in advance for that.

my 0.02$
pros: the tons of emulator support and mind you its improving
the fact that we can convert our own psx titles thanks to psxperia
of course the controls tho the joysticks due need a bit of getting used to
honestly think if SE wouldve designed the joysticks like the psp go it wouldve been alot better
the phone overall feels solid not cheap the controls is like a good lapdance on your bday lol
keep in mind it was marketed as a gaming device not a multimedia etc
the camera is great also the front camera is a bit so so
cons:
basically the storage and no hdmi out which wouldve been the icing on the cake
and like really we all know emulators psx games and all the crap we can run is gonna eat up alot of memory mine came with a pre installed 8 gb which is okay but after all the shi you can do with it it does feel small a nice 32 gb pre installed wouldve been nice
also the battery life is horrible due to all the bloatware installed nothing a little rooting magic wont solve
i used to get about a day out of it but now after rooting and removing all the junk
i get about 2 days of heavy usage and gaming before i gotta recharge
yeah the missing radio is a con to some but others are just like ill just get on youtube
"jerrys final thought" lol
the hardware is decent i mean were not gonna run call of duty on it
the overall functionality as a phone is great
but this thing is honestly lacking SOFTWARE "anyone got geohots number"

Anyone else want to give their opinions? I'm trying to get as much information as I can about this phone before I take the plunge.

I was t very pleased with the keyboard, but I installed go launcher ex and all the extras that come with it, and not only does it give some extra look, but it adds some really good features. I noticed that it gets very low on memory, but that may be because I've got 15 startup apparently or so. Haptic feedback could be a bit better, but other than that I don't have many negative views on it. The hardware gaming pad is very nice, but I wasn't ecstatic about the sensor pads. They are a bit irritating and take a while to get used to. The physical buttons are very very nice. I also like the bottom row of buttons (back, home, menu, and search) are also pleasing. Touch screen is very responsive. Also, it comes with like $25 worth of games pre loaded on it XD but I uninstall most of them, because they were unnecessary. If you like monetary at all, you'll have to buy this phone. If I think of anything else, I'll post again.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App

Thanks for the reponses so far.
I'd still like some more though - please post your experiences with the Play both good and bad...ANY information you think might be useful to know.

As said in other threads like this, it all really comes down to how much you play games that needs a dedicated gamepad to be really enjoyable and even playable in some cases.
The phone is pretty much as other Android phones on the market and it's doing the job as a phone pretty good. There's some bugs here and there, but not anything serious. There's a battery drain bug that can be fixed by manual selecting your network instead of auto selecting (only on the newest FW). The UI is fluent and smooth, the hardware build is ok, could be more robust, snappy response, nice screen, good dev going on etc.
It's not that elegant even though they curved it on the back it' still a bit bulky and if you don't play that much it will be a bad plunge to go for the play. It will be a slightly big lump in your pant's for 'just' a phone. It's not a brick like the Nokia N900 but you can feel it and see it in your pocket.
I think i have average sized hands so for me it's comfy to hold the xperia play while playing and do sometimes play games 3 hours strait without any discomfort.
I don't miss the FMradio even though it's been on all my phones since... Well the last, say 8-9 years.
Haven't really encountered any problems with the low internal storage. You can move apps to the sdcard and the dalvik cache aswell to gain more that way.
Bottom line it's a phone to play games on wich is does with bravour and i'm really glad i got it and i'm not missing anything on the phone side nor the whole experience as an android phone.
Just get it mate and start the gaming
Regards Dousan...

In my opinion we should not be so harsh to SE, they made a rather experimental device. Of course they can do better, but not without your money. Also I think sony is holding this thing back because of the ps vita.
Its rather unique that you can never be truly bored when you are carrying this phone. (I think touch screen controlls are 100% crap)
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

I have some input I can share after my 1 week with my 800x(VZW)... I had an EVO for a year and have a Nexus S as well. When I was looking for a new phone I really wanted a keyboard... but after some play time on an Epic and my gf's EVO Shift, I noticed I'm totally over my soft keyboard hatred and didn't need a physical one.. except it helps for gaming. The XP was the most logical choice for me.
I LOVE having solid control over orientation. The d-pad is perfect for fine cursor control without dragging a handle around. The GPU helps it perform as well or better than my EVO/NexusS. I heard complaints that the screen is terrible in the sun, it looks almost exactly as my EVO does, I'd say slightly better due to the factory screen protector. With the latest OTA the auto brightness problem is gone, thankfully! Battery life is similar to underclocked/volted EVO. I love how the Home key is a secondary power button.
Now for the bad stuff! The front cam is grayed out and underwhelming, but it works well enough. Locked bootloader is a burn for me, but honestly I'm having a much better time dealing with it than I thought. Vanilla Android helps a lot, but the bloatware makes managing apps difficult. I've had to let some phone-only apps go, but thems the breaks sometimes!
Overall, I'm very happy with the XP so far, I think you should give it a week or so trial and see how you like it!
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Edit with some more stuff! GPS has been tight, locks in seconds, and only problem I've had with the controls is that I'm having a tough time with SF Alpha 3, F-D-DF (dragon punch) motion is difficult for me right now. Otherwise it's been butter! I didn't care for the touch pad thingies on Crash Bandicoot, but I prefer d-pad gaming anyway.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App

Thoughts on time spend with a sample Galaxy Note

Hi,
I had a chance to spend some time with a sample version of the Samsung Galaxy Note. Since it was a sample I can not comment to much about that part, but I did write down my thoughts on the hardware and using a 5.3" unit as a phone.
If you feel like reading a bit about it you will find it on my blog, ftechviews.blogspot.com
/Faaborg

Thanks for sharing us, I especially like the part you explained about the UI being scaled up to fit the higher resolution screen
Though now I wonder, does the bigger screen and higher resolution really bring about any "real"and tangible result, for example, when you open the browser, can you see the letters clearly without zooming in? Also, I wonder if the stylus would fall out easily... thanks a lot
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Thanks for sharing that, I'm about to buy either a note or nexus, I really want the biggest screen possible yet still be able to carry it around in a pocket like a phone. You have convinced me the note will be ok

The browser is one one of the few places where the high resolution is put to good use. You can see most of a webpage, but the font is really small. Its readable but hard to read. Zoom ones or turn the phone in to landscape helps.
On the sample I had the stylus was almost impossible to get out, so no I would not say that it falls out easily.

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience! I've been eager to hear about how this device will perform, so news like this is appreciated.
You've already answered one question about the stylus, but how is it secured specifically? Is it magnetic or simply held by plastic? Also, how was the battery life? That's perhaps one of my major concerns so far, and I assume you've had enough time to get a basic impression.

Here is another site where someone owns a Note and has shared his experience:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note/432191-i-have-got-galaxy-note.html

The stylus is not magnetic, but is locked in bu the plastic around it. Battery life was good for such a big device. I could easily use it for an entire work day, including travel time.

Could you also test the audio quality via headphones out. was it excellent, very good, good, average or bad. How was it compared to the best mobile phone player u ve ever heard.

Would there be a 32gb version coming out??? ANyone.?

Regarding audio I primary used it for audio books. The quality is good, and the output volume it better than average. Its not the best I heard, nor is it the worst.

faaborgs said:
Regarding audio I primary used it for audio books. The quality is good, and the output volume it better than average. Its not the best I heard, nor is it the worst.
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Click to collapse
then that means probably it uses the same crappy audio DAC as the galaxy s2. thats very sad !
Sent from my GT-I5801 using XDA App

faaborgs said:
Hi,
I had a chance to spend some time with a sample version of the Samsung Galaxy Note. Since it was a sample I can not comment to much about that part, but I did write down my thoughts on the hardware and using a 5.3" unit as a phone.
If you feel like reading a bit about it you will find it on my blog, ftechviews.blogspot.com
/Faaborg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I planning to buy a New device but you really help me to make a better decision.

Faaborg, did you have any chance to test the videoplayback on the device?
I read somewhere that playing MKV in 720p on the device showed some lagg, which is very dissapointing if it's true...

For some strange reason, what I can't explain, I did not get around to testing video playback. Sorry.

Did you see any lag while using the stylus? And was navigating through the homescreens etc. as snappy as the S II ?

There was a little lag when using the stylus, the experience was very much like the same as the HTC Flyer. All UI navigation was super quick and the same goes for installed apps and the browser.

I was thinking about getting the note, since i want a tablet and want to change my phone. Though they have not yet told anyone what market they are putting it to.
I wish they could say which carrier it would work with in USA.
The size is perfect, its thin and has a what seems to be a great pen to use.

Yes.for sure it will be available in 32GB later.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App