We’ve been following the Asus line of Transformer products ever since they were released, from the first Honeycomb tablet to include a keyboard dock, to the Slider, and then to the Transformer Prime, which set new benchmarks for the Google OS line of tablets. Now, we have the latest model – the Asus Transformer Infinity.
- Anyone up for a quad core high definition super bright super-slim tablet?
This release is an important one, not just for Asus, who have been flexing their innovative muscles in the Android tablet domain since the introduction of the category, but for the tablet market as a whole. Why? The Asus Transformer Infinity can truly go up against the new iPad, the incumbent market leader in this category, and offer a substantial answer to all of the iPad’s propositions.
As you’ll see in the following videos, the Asus Transformer Infinity has great hardware, software, a robust operating environment and is supported by a maturing app store in the form of Google Play. Asus have addressed areas like wireless connection issues and GPS performance to produce a tablet all-rounder.
- The Asus Transformer Infinity has a plastic strip on the top rear to maximise GPS performance.
The hardware component of the Asus Transformer Infinity is far from flimsy, with a metal casing ensuring no flexing or bending on any part of the device. Despite the screen upgrade (which we’ll get to in a moment), the tablet on its own does not gain any weight, staying at 586 grams, exactly the same as its Prime predecessors.
The Asus Transformer Infinity also retains the ports that made the Transformer series so attractive, with Micro-HDMI and Micro-SD slots on the tablet body, and a further full size USB port and SD Card slot on the keyboard dock component.
- The usefulness of a tablet with a keyboard cannot be fully appreciated until you have to type an full length article about one.
Inside the Infinity is an upgraded quad core Tegra 3 chip, quoted at 1.6GHz but benchmarked at 1.9GHz. The OS is snappy, with Android functions and App commands all working unhesitatingly.
Just in case we thought we were being a little biased because of our fondness for the Transformer line up, we thought it prudent to quantify this and to see just how the Asus Transformer Infinity could handle the pressures of the job compared to another fairly popular tablet… say, the iPad?
This is where we became REALLY intrigued. Not only did the Infinity beat the iPad in many benchmark tests, but some by a huge margin. The graphics test, which saw the Prime pale beside the iPad in our earlier experiences, still showed Apple to have a command in that particular area. When it came to browsing, Java script handling and computational processing, the Asus Transformer Infinity swept the field.
The other big news was the high definition display. The big visual test was to see (literally) if there was a marked difference in the Infinity’s screen and the iPad’s highly praised display. And yes, there was a huge difference – the Asus Transformer Infinity was way brighter. Other than that, at normal viewing proximity, both screens delivered great detail and clarity. At massive zoomed enlargement, the iPad didn’t stray from its perfected image, and the Infinity showed some signs of pixelation. But that’s not how we view a tablet in normal circumstances.
If we seem a little lathered up in our praise of the Asus Transformer Infinity, it’s because this release shines a bright light to a competitive market across ecosystem platforms, where hardware vendors are creating innovative new products. As we always say, competition is a great thing for the industry and the smartphone, tablet and Ultrabook markets are hotbeds of design and technology fusions.
- The future of mobile computing in our hands?
If you have any questions, please leave them below and we’ll find out the answers for you.
Until next time!
This sounds fantastic! Looking forward to purchasing one soon!
Are the keyboard docks backward compatible with the Transformer Prime?
Nope.
You can use the TF700 dock with Prime too, but according to Asus the T201 Prime dock doesn´t work with the TF700 Infinity (even if some sites stated that it worked)!
To confirm read official Asus website, very last sentence on speccs-site.
How is bluetooth performance (with headphones or speakers) when the Infinity is streaming over wifi? (- this was one of the issues that some users found with the Prime) .Also, how have you found compatibility with the Infinity’s higher resolution display? (i.e. size of buttons in apps and text size).
We haven’t tried bluetooth but that’s a good test to perform. Interestingly, the hi-res display doesn’t yet have hi-res icons on the sample we used. We’ll do more hi-res testing and get back to you.
Thanks Richie, looking forward to your follow up articles with interest. 🙂
Can you also confirm with Asus what the overall specs of the Tegra 3 chip installed in the Infinity should be for shipping models. Their site says 1.6GHZ, you said you are seeing 1.9GHZ. Is that a correct reporting or is it related to the number of active cores or possibly some sort of anomily with the benchmark you ran?
The other question I’d like to ask is compared to the Prime, does the micro SD card stick out any less i.e. how prone is it to be accidentally ejected (- this was a bit of an issue on the Prime but viewing the video it looks like possibly the profile on the edge of Infinity is a bit less sharp so less of the edge of the micro SD card is sticking out).
Also, perhaps you could also clarify exactly what is the situation with keyboard dock compatability. It sounds very much from other reporting that the Prime keyboard dock “should” work on the Infinity model and possibly vice versa? But that perhaps the keyboard dock for the Infinity is a new revision with possibly a smaller capacity battery? Any information you can shed on that from your own perspective would be welcomed.
I’ve had my Infinity for a few days now, and quite like it. Streaming video/audio over wifi, and listening to it with my Nokia Bluetooth headset works great. No problems!
Awesome! I remember the thread was a little different when the Prime first came out – looks like Asus have got it right for this tablet!
Hello
Can you please tell me step by step to do this? I have paired my nokia headset with the device, but all apps with voice, aka skype and audio files and stil playing from the speakers itself and not the headset.
Please help!
I am waiting for a long time to buy it.
Is it released in Sweden?
When’s the tablet due to release? Is it still late June?
Is the new Infinity compatable with the Prime’s keyboard dock, or would I have to buy a new one of those as well?
I heard that it was incompatible, but I also heard this one might come packed in with one. We’ll have to see, I suppose.
Good question. I’m also interested which keyboard dock is being used. Or is it a total new one?
have a 3G?
Please let us know if the Infinity and Prime use the same keyboard.
They use different type of dock.
“The Infinity is compatible with the Transformer Dock ($149) from the TF Prime as long as your dock has firmware 207 or later on it.”
It’s the exact same part number. No idea why people are spreading the lie of the new dock.
my dock is at firmware 206. is there any way to get it upgraded to 207 or higher?
Well I answered my own question yesterday when UPS delivered my TF700T. I charged the tablet alone first, turned it on, set up wifi as well as my Google stuff and turned it off. Got out my TF201 dock keyboard and inserted the TF700T into it. The first thing that happened was my dock got an upgrade from revision 206 to 207 without my initiation. After the upgrade was finished the TF700T tablet turned on and recognized it was docked to the TF201 dock keyboard and notified me of that fact. The TF700T works perfect with the TF201 dock. The dock charges from AC, charges the tablet when the 70% threshold is reached. All of the items I tried in the USB port worked fine, mouse, external 500gb hard drive, micro SD card in reader, memory stick and a USB hub with all of the above attached. The functions of the dock all work with the TF700T. As for the color issue, my wife says there is a bit of a difference between the two but for me they look the same.
Nothing like real life situations to answer a question. Thanks for the feedback Robert!
I wish really we could get a definitive answer on this… I’ve read lots of opinions saying they are the same and some that say they are different. The keyboard dock for the Prime and Infinity look to be the exact same in the photos and video I have seen, but I may be wrong. Ritchie, can you please tell us what the model/part number is on the Infinity keyboard dock is, and if it is the same as the Prime’s keyboard dock?
You said it … “a stereo speaker” … like in “one speaker to ignore them stereo effects”.
After Prime and TF300 here we have another Asus Transformer without good stereo sound without external speakers or a headphone.
Asus… what are you thinking. Are all your sound engineers half deaf?
It’s tricky to get good stereo separation because of the size of the tablet and also that it needs to be usable in both portrait and landscape. The Prime is stereo, but it’s two speakers side by side and output through one speaker grill. I’ve suggested to Asus in the past that one idea would be to put two speakers and a down-facing sub-speaker in the keyboard dock. So at least you’d have an option.
I’ve heard that the Infinity should be compatible with the Prime’s keyboard dock, but at this point I’m not sure if they have done any revisions. It’s probably a little academic here in the UK as in the recent past, Asus have only sold the bundled version of the tablet/keyboard dock together.
I don’t think that seperated stereo speakers are a “must have” in Potrait mode. But they are important for viewing videos in landscape mode.
The acer A510 does quite a good job with its seperated stereo speakers. You feel like the sound is coming from the middle of the screen and not annoyingly only from one side like with asus transformers. The Transformers sound more like the speaker on one side is broken.
The A510 (and the upcoming A700) are both heavier/thicker though – it’ll be interesting to see if Asus’ upcoming Windows 8 tablets use the same single physical speaker design as on their Android tablets models.
I’d love to know when we can pre-order and what the price will be for the 32 and 64 wifi versions.
Question:
Do I see right that there is just ONE speaker?
Does Infinity Pad got just ONE speaker?
It would certainly be a great device for the consumer IF THEY WOULD ACTUALLY GET ONE OR MORE ON THE MARKET! All this information and not a single confirmed release date for the USA. After watching the Apple Developers Conference presentation, it’s a wonder anyone has ever heard of ASUS!!!
How about the battery life compared to the Prime?
Other sites seem to be reporting about an hour less than the Prime typically i.e. quite a bit better than the less expensive Pad 300 model.
I’m very sick of seeing crap posted that sings the praise of the Infinity! It all does nothing. Where in hell is the device? When will it be available?
Mid July in the US apparently:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/25/3115655/asus-transformer-pad-infinity-tf700-wi-fi-release-date-price
When will we see the full review?And how do u get hands on asus products way before others??
“Android tablets “getting close” to iPad performance…” Smoke crack much Ritchie?
I try not to, I hear it affects the ability to understate in blog articles. I meant that as a general term. The Infinity is the exception currently and I hope more are able to step up the way the Infinity has.
What is with that comment?? It sounds like that you are the one who needs to stock up on crack if you want to keep believing that Android is never going to catch up and even (oh the horror at the thought!) surpass the current and future generations of iPad in terms of performance!
Is it released in Canada?
How is the web browser experience?Does it have the same “not responding” issue as the prime? Also does the tablet lag when zooming in and out of web pages and overall does it have any lag?
Performance is entirely limited by the firmware that Asus offer on the Prime. It felt like a big step, but I recently unlocked and put on a third party ROM/Kernel and performance is markedly improved. It feels like a completely different tablet to be honest. While benchmarking never tells the full story, it does offer something that’s repeatable. So these are my scores for the same tests that Ritchie ran on his sample Infinity (Performance scores in brackets @ 1.7GHZ). Third party developers are still tweaking their code, so I think further improvements are still possible.
Geekbench: 1,608 (1,916)
BrowserMark (Chrome): 125,347 (155,190)*
Sunspider (Chrome): 1,721 (1,400)*
GL Bench Egypt Standard: 44fps (58fps)
GL Bench Egypt Pro: 51fps (60fps)
* I also tested my usual web browser which I primarily use because it runs Flash (Quick ICS Browser) and got scores 18-25% lower than Chrome.
Robert
Hey Robert,
The graphics scores are very interesting! They show a marked increase in gaming/video performance. The Browsermark and geekbench are also wildly high, it shows what can be done wit ha focused environment. As you said, hopefully developers take advantage of this. Thanks for your feedback.
Is there a 3G sim card?
Not in this model, but there is a 3G model coming that uses a Snapdragon dual core processor.
Still waiting to hear/see how it performs with WiFi and GPS since those were ASUS’ major blunders with the
Prime. Absolutely inexcusable engineering mistakes.
What about WiFi & GPS performance
when will this be available in ukraine, and if you don’t know then when will it be available in the europe region?
Is the Infinity going to get the Jelly Bean update??
Yes, that has now been confirmed by Asus.
And we can’t wait until it does so we can take it through its paces!
Does the new transformer infinity capable to support Microsoft Xbox controller receiver to use the 360s controller?
As the Transformer Prime was able to use the controller, the Infinity should be able to as well as the software pretty much identical, with the resolution and processor the biggest changes.
Does it have a SIM card slot? thanks…
So the glorious Eastern Morning Herald publishes old news…what a waste!