Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 Review

Here in 2012, the tablet market has been getting increasingly complicated for buyers. Not long ago, your main choices for a non-Windows-based tablet were either an Apple iPad$519.99 at Amazon, or one of myriad Android offerings in 7-inch or 10-inch screen sizes, with display resolutions much lower than the latest iPad's.

Around the start of summer 2012, though, we've seen Toshiba's Excite 13 take things up a notch (literally), with a 13.3-inch screen and a higher resolution (1,600x900) than most other Android tablets. Then, Microsoft revealed its own take on the tablet with the upcoming Surface line. It's not clear when Surface tablets will be available and at what price. But with their two flavors of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system and a nifty removable combination keyboard/cover, the Surface tablets certainly look promising, especially for those looking for a device that can also handle productivity well.

If productivity on a tablet is important to you, however, you're probably already familiar with Asus' Transformer line of tablets. With the addition of an optional keyboard dock, these tablets can convert, when needed, into something much more like a laptop, with battery life well beyond what you'll get from most Windows-based machines.

We liked previous versions of the Transformer tablets a lot, including the previous high-end model in the line, the Transformer Prime$311.49 at TechForLess, as well as the budget-friendlier Transformer Pad$350.09 at Amazon. With its latest high-end Transformer tablet, the Transformer Pad Infinity$499.99 at Datavision, Asus has fixed some previous reception problems found in the Prime by replacing part of the metal back with a plastic strip. Plus, it has improved both the front- and rear-facing cameras, and kept the price the same as the Prime's: $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for 64GB. (The keyboard dock is also still $149.)

The real star of the show here, though, is the Transformer Pad Infinity's screen. An IPS display with a resolution of 1,920x1,200, it packs over twice as many pixels into the same 10.1-inch form factor as other 10-inch tablets. It's also extremely bright at its highest setting, making it more usable in direct sunlight.

The screen on Apple's latest iPad might be a little better, thanks to its even higher resolution. But if you're looking for the best screen you can find on an Android tablet, the Transformer Pad Infinity delivers that, plus many other features that make it our new favorite Android device. You'll just have to hold off on buying a bit. Asus says it won't be available in the United States until mid-July, 2012.

Design

The plastic strip houses the camera and flash.

Just like its predecessor, the Transformer Prime, the Transformer Infinity both looks and feels like a solid, well-constructed device, and it's housed in a mostly aluminum shell. We say "mostly" because the aluminum covering on the previous model gave Asus some problems. Some reviewers and many buyers reported Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity issues that, because they were caused by the system's design, couldn't be fixed in a software update.

This time around, Asus has seemingly rectified the problem by replacing some of the aluminum back with silver plastic (specifically, a strip along the top that also houses the camera lens and its companion LED flash). The design still looks nice enough, and it doesn't feel at all flimsy. More important, we didn't notice any connectivity problems when testing the Infinity. Wi-Fi signal strength was generally slightly better than on the Toshiba Excite 13, and the built-in GPS module was able to find and maintain a signal, even inside a large apartment building.

As far as build quality, the Transformer Pad Infinity feels about as good as any tablet we've handled. Everything on the outside of the device, other than the previously mentioned plastic strip, is either Corning Gorilla Glass (specifically, Gorilla Glass 2, this time around) or metal.

The tablet's 1.31-pound heft feels substantial, but not heavy. Also, at 0.33 inch thick, the Infinity is pleasingly thin while still quite rigid. We especially appreciate that the screen's glass goes all the way to the device's edge, where it meets the metal frame. Toshiba's Excite 13, on the other hand, has a plastic strip that runs around the device between the screen and the metal back. This not only doesn't look as nice, but it also creates a small lip or shelf where dirt can (and will) accumulate at the edge of the screen. These kind of design elements might seem minor, but if you have children around (or just adults with grubby mitts), you'll definitely appreciate the Transformer Pad's seamless front face.

Port Selection

The port selection hasn't changed from the previous-model Transformer, but the layout is definitely different on the Infinity.

Holding the tablet in landscape orientation, you'll find the power button up top (in the left corner), and a volume rocker on the right...

On the bottom, there's only the proprietary dock connector and the two anchor slots for connecting the dock...

The left edge houses a headphone jack, a mini-HDMI port, a microphone pinhole, and a MicroSD card slot...

You won't find anything on the right edge, apart from a second microphone pinhole.

The back of the tablet houses a single speaker, which does a fairly good job of outputting reasonably loud sound that isn't overly distorted or terribly tinny. That being said, the speaker here can't match the sound output from the four speakers on the larger Toshiba Excite 13. Neither device outputs the kind of ear-pleasing audio that would make us consider ditching headphones for anything more than the occasional YouTube clip, though.

Around back, you'll also find the lens for the tablet's 8-megapixel camera, accompanied by an LED flash. This camera, plus the separate front-facing 2-megapixel shooter that sits up front, behind the glass screen, are updated from the previous Transformer Prime. Asus says the rear camera has an improved infrared filter and aperture settings, and better software options, such as dynamic auto-focus and color enhancements.

In our testing time snapping pictures with the tablet, the results were pretty good—for a tablet, anyway. You can probably leave your low-end point-and-shoot camera at home, and even opt for this tablet's camera over your midrange smartphone's camera. Still, don't expect shots approaching what you'd get from a dSLR, of course.

As for the optional $149 keyboard dock, it's the same hardware option that was sold for the previous Transformer Prime. That's good for those who already own a Prime and are thinking about upgrading. You may need to upgrade the dock's firmware, but Asus says after that, the dock will work with both models. If you own the keyboard dock for the lower-end Transformer Pad (TF300), however, it won't work with this newer device.

In short, though, the dock feels as solid and well-built as the Transformer Infinity tablet, and it adds significant features beyond just the obvious (the tactile keys). The dock pushes a touch pad, a full-size USB port, and a full-size SD-card slot into the mix. Atop that, an internal battery in the dock boosts battery life significantly. Asus claims 9.5 hours for the tablet alone, or up to 14 hours when used with the dock.