ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 25, 2012 3:00 AM ESTThe Display
At 1920 x 1200 with a 10.1-inch diagonal, the Transformer Pad Infinity's Super IPS+ panel works out to a hefty 224 pixels per inch. That's shy of the iPad's 264 PPI but still a tremendous improvement over the 149 PPI of the previous generation Transformers. 1920 x 1200 is a fully supported resolution under Ice Cream Sandwich, so there's no funniness that has to happen in order to support the new display. It's still a 16:10 aspect ratio, but with a 1.5x increase in the horizontal and vertical dimensions.
The effect on the display is subtle but present. Text looks sharper, icons look clearer, everything just gets better. The browser uses the added resolution to make smaller text more legible when zoomed out on web pages:
Macro shot of AnandTech.com on the Transformer Prime, 10.1-inch 1280 x 800
Macro shot of AnandTech.com on the Transformer Pad Infinity, 10.1-inch 1920 x 1080
High resolution photos look good on the display as well, but the effect is a bit more subtle than I would have expected. It's really text that benefits the most in my opinion.
In going to the higher resolution panel, ASUS hasn't improved color gamut or accuracy. Things are a tad better compared to the TF Prime but not appreciably so. White point is kept at around 7500K across the brightness range.
Where ASUS does deliver is in contrast ratio and brightness. In its default state the Transformer Pad Infinity can deliver, at max brightness, 460 nits. Similar to the Transformer Prime, ASUS offers a Super IPS+ mode for outdoor viewing that drives the panel and backlight to just under 700 nits.
Black levels suffer a bit at the Super IPS+ setting, but otherwise the panel is actually a bit better than what ASUS used in the Transformer Prime. The result is a contrast ratio of over 1300:1, or 1135:1 in Super IPS+ mode.
The brightness and contrast improvements are appreciated as is the increased pixel density. It would have been nice to see an improvement in color gamut and color accuracy with the Transformer Pad Infinity. Let's hope ASUS is saving the best for its Windows 8 tablets later this year.
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Screammit - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - link
sadly, "tinkering" for 90% of the public is to change their background picture.Belard - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - link
" I’m only afraid they will end up being too schizophrenic for that, trying to do it all and ending up doing nothing well enough for people to give a shit."BINGO!
andrewaggb - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
Personally I haven't been able to use either for work. The TF + dock is almost usable, but it doesn't have enough of the apps I use (I don't want lame substitutes) and ultimately the tf+dock is almost a netbook... so I just use my much more powerful laptop. The ipad is not work worthy. And apple doesn't try to market it that way, so I'm ok with that. I love the ipad for what it is, instant-on, relax on the couch.Surface may be suitable for light work, though I'm not sure how it will work in your lap, so the asus version will probably be better. But I suspect it'll take a good year for the apps to be available for ARM, so at launch I'd be looking at an x86 version... and it doesn't look like AMD or Intel has a tablet winner SOC for the fall. Ivy Bridge will do, but haswell would have been better. And an ultra low voltage trinity maybe?
I'm not certain that when the dust settles I'm going to want to work on a tablet with a keyboard anyways. I like the idea of one less device, but maybe it's a dream. I think phone,tablet,laptop,desktop,xbox/appletv, all play a somewhat different role and I'll probably keep buying all of them.
I like the concept of running windows 8 on everything, but I'm currently mixing android,apple,and lots of microsoft and I'm getting along just fine :-)
kmmatney - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
" BUT what disadvantages do you get? On Android I have none, except of voiding my warranty."I have my iPad 2 Jailbroken, and there are no disadvantages - at least none that I've ever come across. The advantage is being able to install RetinaPad, iFile, NES emulators with Wiimote support, and a few UI customization apps.
DeciusStrabo - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - link
My iPad 2 slowed down a lot when I jailbroke it and installed some jailbroken software. It was rather annoying and the reason I went back into Apple's golden cage. No such issue with rooted/custom-ROM Android, where you rather see a stability and speed increase, not a decrease.BabelHuber - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
I miss tests of actual games on the TF Infinity.The TF Prime is a real joy in this regard. Shadowgun, GTA3, Max Payne, N:OV.A. 3, everything is running smooth like butter, but only at 720p.
How does the TF Infinity play these games? With its 1080p resolution the GPU has much more to do, especially the Pixel Shaders.
So, does the higher-clocked Tegra 3 with its enhanced bandwith compensate for the higher screen resolution?
XZerg - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
^^ when?bleh0 - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
I love the form factor of the Transformer series but it needs RT. With Nvidia being the ARM partner for Microsoft at the moment we might see better battery life and performance out of RT then under Android. As always I'll be waiting patiently for the Anandtech review when the device is released.jwcalla - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
Maybe slapping Ubuntu for Android would help seal the deal on this thing. You get the "hybrid device" feel that Windows is going for, plus you have the Android app ecosystem to work with.Quad-core Cortex A15s will be interesting as you could run two operating systems (like Ubuntu and Android) simultaneously. And Ubuntu is surprisingly mature and smooth on ARM w/ GPU acceleration.
riottime - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
it's alright tablet but i'll wait for win8 surface. i own ep121 and it's still working great with i5 cpu. i might just upgrade the os on it to win8 when that comes out instead of buying a brand new 'surface' tablet. as for android, my samsung player 4 is sufficient. :)