1. Features

The Eee Pad is a tablet computer with a 10.1" IPS multi-touch screen with a resolution of 1280 × 800 and an Nvidia Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip (SoC). It has an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi module, but lacks 3G connectivity. The price at launch of the Eee Pad was £379 (£429 with dock).^[1]

1.1. Docking Keyboard

An optional docking keyboard was available at launch. It features full QWERTY keys, trackpad, two USB 2.0 ports and one SD card reader as well as an additional battery that increases overall battery life from 9.5 to 16 hours.

The USB ports support USB memory of any kind and also NTFS-formatted media with files larger than 4 GB. The SD card slot also supports NTFS-formatted media.^[1]

The units marketed in Canada marked Canadian BI Lingual (CBIL) have a slightly modified keyboard layout in addition to support of accented characters. The Shift key and Enter key have been made smaller to accommodate two additional keys.

2. Software

The Transformer originally ran a modified version of Android 3.1 Honeycomb, but has since been updated to Android 4.0.3. The on-screen navigation keys (home, back, menu) have been skinned to resemble the standard Android phone keys.

The tablet is bundled with MyNet, MyLibrary, MyCloud, Press Reader, MyDesktop and Polaris Office 3, for full document editing.

The first software update was released by Asus on 16 April 2011. This updated the system with extra widgets for MyZine, which is a desktop widget shop, for weather, email, calendar, gallery, etc. It also added MyCloud, a remote desktop app.

As of early June 2011, Android 3.1 was released for the Transformer. It had general usability and speed updates, and added the ability to change the size of compatible widgets, added a large scroll bar to the browser, and allowed scrolling the currently open application screen, allowing many applications to be switched to quickly.

On 16 July 2011, another over the air software update for the Transformer was released. Beside the updates of the connectivity modules of the device, this changed the splashscreen, updated various apps, disabled the auto-rotate feature when the tablet is docked and added the Nvidia TegraZone market, with specific Tegra 2 units apps and games.

On 2 August 2011, the Transformer received updates to Android 3.2 and various minor changes. On 23 August 2011, the Transformer received another update, adding compatibility for the Netflix application.^[2]

Asus originally stated the Eee Pad Transformer will receive the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in mid-February 2012, but when mid-February came and no update was released, Asus said in a statement that they would delay the release until sometime in March, due to the software still having to go through approval from Google.^[3]

On 23 February 2012, the 4.0.3 update rolled out to Taiwan Transformers with US tablets to get it a day later. UK tablets received it on 26 February 2012.

3. Successors

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was announced by Asus in November 2011^[4] as the successor to the Eee Pad Transformer. A teaser video was released by Asus on 19 October 2011, showing a slimmer design and a rear camera with LED flash.^[5] The tablet features a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 (Kal-El) chip by Nvidia,^[6] 10-inch display, micro-HDMI port, SD card slot, 14.5-hour battery life, and has a thickness of 8.3 mm. The US release date was 19 December 2011.^[7]

In March 2012, the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity was announced, which has an upgraded screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels.^[8]

4. Models