The eagerly awaited Asus Eee Pad Slider will finally be available in the US before the end of the month. According to Engadget who got some extended hands-on time with the tablet hybrid, the device will start at $475 for the 16GB model with the 32GB model jumping a hundred bucks to $575.
The Asus Eee Pad Slider features a 10-inch 1280×800 resolution IPS display, Android 3.2 Honeycomb and none of the heavy manufacturer skinning we’ve seen from OEM’s like Sony or Samsung. Is anyone still interested in this tablet? Still waiting for a quad-core Android tablet or has Windows 8 taken away some of the glitz and glamor of Honeycomb?
Asus’ upcoming Eee Pad Slider was up for pre-order for a few short moments via Amazon.com only to be yanked down once word got out. The 10.1-inch Honeycomb slider still doesn’t have any official launch date as of yet but more than one page on Amazon was pre-ordering the device giving more weight to that rumored September launch. According to Amazon, the 16GB version will run you $480 and $580 for the 32GB version. Unlike the older Asus Eee Pad Transformer, this Slider has a keyboard built right in so you wont have to worry about dropping down any extra dollies for a QWERTY attachment. Anyone else excited about this device? Or will you continue to hold out for that rumored quad-core Kal-El tablet later this year?
Our sister site Mobilissimo.ro had the opportunity to take some very impressive pictures of the ASUS Eee Pad Slider that we reviewed for you here. In case our detailed analysis wasn’t enough, you can feast your eyes on the photos below and some more in this gallery.
On a red background, you can see the sliding mechanism of the 10.1 inch slate, as well as its back side with the 5 megapixel camera and some exquisite close-ups. They also reviewed the device and they’ll publish it in a matter of hours and you’ll see our connection with the sister site, once you get a look at the WordPress app they showed, logged into Tablet News.
As far as the tablet is concerned, it looks like a solid buy, maybe even more appealing than the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. The choice is up to you, especially considering that the device weighs almost a kilo and it’s not that portable, being more close to a laptop than a tablet.
For a moment there I believed that this new Tegra 2 ASUS Tablet was better than the Transformer model I’ve previously reviewed. However, when realizing that this is almost a kilo of machinery in my two palms, it’s hard to call this a very portable device. What’s more, it’s possible that the sliding keyboard is not to everyone’s liking.
However, I really, really liked this device and appreciate what ASUS is doing for the tablet segment, that is innovating its every aspect. They’ve delivered the Transformer, with its detachable keyboard and huge battery life, now the Slider and soon the PadFone, a combo between smartphone and tablet. Moving back to the Slider (unboxed here), this device comes with a 10.1 inch display, a dual core Tegra 2 processor and a 5 megapixel camera at the back.
You also get a full USB port, that I used to connect a wireless mouse to the tablet and an USB drive, that allowed me to see the media on it. There’s also a camera upfront and this model measures a pretty big 17.7mm in thickness. The full QWERTY keyboard is a breeze to use, but its drawback is that when closed, the speakers hidden at the back are covered and the volume goes down a notch.
As far as the display is concerned, we get a 10.1 inch LCD with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and the other specs include the usual microSD card slot, 32GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM and Android 3.0. WiFi and Bluetooth handle the connectivity, while a HDMI port is also present for duty. ASUS customized the experience on this device, especially in the web browser, where you can view the entire screen without that address bar. It only appears as you’re typing the name of the website you’re searching.
Also, ASUS implemented an unique menu that appears on the side of the web browser when you keep it pressed. It’s a semicircular blue area with all the usual options of a browser: new tab, refresh, back, bookmarks and other such feats. Another customization is in the virtual keyboard on the Eee Pad Slider, that received a numeric row about the alphabetic one. Plus, you get a cool MyZine widget to have fun with. Other than that, it’s pure Honeycomb experience.
The movie playback is shown in HD on the device, but no .mkv support for now, in case you’re wondering. The physical keyboard is comfortable to type on and you’ll get used to it really fast, in spite of the strange angle that the screen has next to the keypad. A thing I didn’t quite like was the seemingly fragile sliding mechanism from the back of the slate. If you want, you can compare the idea of the slide part with the Nokia E7, which is good thing honestly.
The 5MP camera does its duty, but don’t expect the most beautiful shot on Earth from it. However, for a vacation, it’ll have to do. In the end, this tablet is excellent and if you don’t mind carrying a kilo of tablet with you, it’s the perfect choice. I wouldn’t even trade it for an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer.
It’s nice to be a member of Tablet-News.com these days, since we’re one of the few sites in the world to have received an ASUS Eee Pad Slider unit to play with. Courtesy of ASUS Romania, we can have fun with the device seen here and its nifty sliding keyboard.
The whole sliding part reminds me of a bigger Nokia E7 to be honest, not that this is a bad thing. What I noticed from the start is the fact that the box of the tablet is GIGANTIC and the tablet is big as well and rather thick and heavy. My hand hurt even during the 2 minutes of the unboxing, as the device weighs a bit too much for my liking.
Inside the box you’ll find the USB cable, charger, adapter for charger plus manual (I seem to have misplaced mine). We’ll be back with a received of this Honeycomb 3.1 tablet, but for now we’ll leave you with this: it’s a huge device, but it’s got promise. Will it sell as good as the Transformer? We’ll see…
The ASUS Eee Pad Slider is yet another unique product for ASUS, that already has a hit on its hands: the Eee Pad Transformer, selling 400k units a month. This time we’re getting a treat that consists of a product that should have come earlier, the Eee Pad Slider, the slate with a sliding QWERTY segment.
This device has just popped up in the August catalog for Portuguese electronics retailer Phone House. The device is listed with 349 euro price tag and it comes with the classic specs of a Honeycomb slate: dual core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS and mini HDMI. This model debuted at CES together with the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, that’s already known success.
I’m not yet sold on the whole slide and tilt idea, that reminds of a Nokia model or two… Speculations say we might also see an Intel Oak Trail version of the device, but nothing has been confirmed just yet. The price mentioned above translates to $467 and it comes with a ZON contract, while off contract, you’ll pay $684 for the slider slate. Will this 10 incher also sell well?
