Hanson
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 1998
- Messages
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- Real Name
- Hanson
When first powered on my Transformer Prime almost two years ago, it quickly usurped my smartphone as the center of my mobile world. But as the months went by and I went from one Galaxy phone to another, my smartphone became much more capable for core functions like Web browsing, Facebook, and reading articles in Pocket and Flipboard. As a matter of fact, one of the updates in Pocket rendered it unusable on the Transformer Prime about 15 months ago, and Flipboard was never really all that smooth to begin with. Browsing felt sticky on the TPrime compared to my Samsung phones. But two functions, video and remote desktop, were still better experienced on the TPrime. And so that's what it evolved into, a specialized device that did little else, having lagged behind my smartphone in almost everything else. But after an estimated 400 hours of video playback and likely more than 4000 hours of remote desktop control, I've decided it's time to move on from my stalwart but aging tablet.
I had three serious candidates as replacements. The first was the latest refresh of the Transformer Prime. The second was the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. The last candidate was the Nexus 10 2. I didn't consider any tablet without the 2560 X 1800 resolution and didn't want anything over 1.3 lbs. After looking at the iPad Air and drooling over the 1lb weight (an amazing engineering feat but not one that was enough to cover the myriad of functions and conveniences I would lose by moving to iOS), weight was a huge consideration with my new tablet. Storage was another consideration -- 16gb would be a non-starter. Even 32gb was skating very close to the edge of what I needed. Ideally, 64gb would be my sweet spot.
The Transformer Prime was a prime candidate because of the keyboard dock. Having had one from the start, it was especially convenient to have that netbook style form factor that extended battery life as well. And the SD card slot would get me the 64gb total storage I was looking for. But there was no size or weight reduction to the new TPrime and no release date was forthcoming.
The Nexus 10 2 only had 32gb (and very likely without a memory card slot), but if new Nexus 7 is any indication (also made by Asus), it should be very fast and sport the newest version of Android. However, it is also a no show with regard to release date, and the rumored specs showed it to be the same size as weight as the TPrime.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition had the reduction in size and weight I was looking for (at 1.19lbs, it's the lightest Android tablet with 2560 X 1800 resolution) and it trims .8 inches of width from the bezel. It's also thinner and includes the SD card slot. It even comes with the S Pen stylus with active digitizer (leaps and bounds better than any capacitive pen). But the 32gb model was $100 more than other two (even though it's in line with the 32gb iPad Air) and reviews complained of instances of sluggishness and hanging during normal operation. On the other hand, I could buy it today.
In the end, I decided to buy the Note 10.1, for the most part due to the size and weight. It didn't hurt that it was actually for sale. I am encouraged that Samsung ironed out a lot of the bugs in the original Note 10.1 with updates released after launch (that tablet a few months later was almost a different device than the one that went to reviewers pre-launch). And current owners of the 2014 edition are on the whole very satisfied with their purchase. But I'm pretty sure that this tablet will blow away what I own now regardless.
I had three serious candidates as replacements. The first was the latest refresh of the Transformer Prime. The second was the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. The last candidate was the Nexus 10 2. I didn't consider any tablet without the 2560 X 1800 resolution and didn't want anything over 1.3 lbs. After looking at the iPad Air and drooling over the 1lb weight (an amazing engineering feat but not one that was enough to cover the myriad of functions and conveniences I would lose by moving to iOS), weight was a huge consideration with my new tablet. Storage was another consideration -- 16gb would be a non-starter. Even 32gb was skating very close to the edge of what I needed. Ideally, 64gb would be my sweet spot.
The Transformer Prime was a prime candidate because of the keyboard dock. Having had one from the start, it was especially convenient to have that netbook style form factor that extended battery life as well. And the SD card slot would get me the 64gb total storage I was looking for. But there was no size or weight reduction to the new TPrime and no release date was forthcoming.
The Nexus 10 2 only had 32gb (and very likely without a memory card slot), but if new Nexus 7 is any indication (also made by Asus), it should be very fast and sport the newest version of Android. However, it is also a no show with regard to release date, and the rumored specs showed it to be the same size as weight as the TPrime.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition had the reduction in size and weight I was looking for (at 1.19lbs, it's the lightest Android tablet with 2560 X 1800 resolution) and it trims .8 inches of width from the bezel. It's also thinner and includes the SD card slot. It even comes with the S Pen stylus with active digitizer (leaps and bounds better than any capacitive pen). But the 32gb model was $100 more than other two (even though it's in line with the 32gb iPad Air) and reviews complained of instances of sluggishness and hanging during normal operation. On the other hand, I could buy it today.
In the end, I decided to buy the Note 10.1, for the most part due to the size and weight. It didn't hurt that it was actually for sale. I am encouraged that Samsung ironed out a lot of the bugs in the original Note 10.1 with updates released after launch (that tablet a few months later was almost a different device than the one that went to reviewers pre-launch). And current owners of the 2014 edition are on the whole very satisfied with their purchase. But I'm pretty sure that this tablet will blow away what I own now regardless.