Asus Transformer

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

mine is a new batch and with the latest update. the dock drains about 3-5% when the tf is in the dock. without it docked there's almost no drain. makes it's a pretty poor battery back up since it can't really hold the charge well while docked. works fine as long as you like carrying 2 pieces.

hmm... As I understand it the pad gets charged while it is on the dock. So
if it was down a little when you connected it to the dock wouldn't you expect
the dock's battery to go down some? I think it likes to have wifi on whenever
it has power, maybe you would see less of a drain if you set it to airplane
mode?

Just guessing, I only just ordered my dock.

Luck;
Ken

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

OT; While I wait for my new Eee Pad to get its first 8hr charge. It seems
odd to me that with everything being made in China or Singapore and you
(Aus) being so much closer, that you guys would have to pay more?

I know that you are a smaller market, but so is Canada. I know that your
governmental system and financial system have British roots, but again so
does Canada. You have the free market example of Hong Kong nearby what
is holding you guys back?

Luck;
Ken

The sad fact is that Australia has virtually free trade, but we keep getting ripped of by local distributors. Then the big firms overseas who make the goods tell their distributors in USA etc that they can't ship to Australian customers! So everyone buys from EBay or direct from China. THEN the local distributors and electrical shops go howling to the government whining about how they are losing sales.
I just bought a part (not electronic equipment) from a firm in USA who had no problem shipping to Australia, cost $82 AUS inc. postage. Same part in Australia - the cheapest price was $179 and I would have had to pay more postage than it cost to ship from USA. Do they think we are stupid?
So when it's time to buy my Transformer, I'll be doing a very strict price comparison.

[lost101]

The 3G version is due for release in August, [Link]. I'm thinking of holding out for that.

Another review / Comparison video:
Eee Pad Transformer Review, Part 1 – Intro and Comparisons [video] [Link]

[madsquabbles]

it should be expected to go down, but not at the rate that it currently does now. even with the tablet at 100% the dock still drains. standby and off doesn't matter. if the tf is docked the dock will drain quickly.

there's a discussion about it at xda.

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

hmm... As I understand it the pad gets charged while it is on the dock. So
if it was down a little when you connected it to the dock wouldn't you expect
the dock's battery to go down some? I think it likes to have wifi on whenever
it has power, maybe you would see less of a drain if you set it to airplane
mode?

Just guessing, I only just ordered my dock.

Luck;
Ken

[Roos]

I just have my Transformer with dock a few days, but when my charge gets at the 75% mark i connect the dock and the tablet gets recharged real quick, i think there is something wrong with your dock.
I would not be very suprised if it is this exact same bug that held back deliveries of the dock and combination packs in Europe for so long.

[VydorScope]

Ive not seen these battery problems... how are you telling how much charge the dock has?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Roos

I just have my Transformer with dock a few days, but when my charge gets at the 75% mark i connect the dock and the tablet gets recharged real quick, i think there is something wrong with your dock.
I would not be very suprised if it is this exact same bug that held back deliveries of the dock and combination packs in Europe for so long.

Hmm... Makes me wonder if I could make a very light weight solar panel array
that you could swap out with the Pad. You could then have the keyboard/
dock battery charging while you were using the pad, even when away from
a normal power source.

Luck;
Ken

PS; I take a "Free Market" to be one where there are few if any restrictions
on competition, if the situation in Australia is as described that would not be
a very free market as I understand it. Protections for existing companies that
prevent someone from offering goods and services at a lower price would be
the antithesis of a free market.

[Andanzas]

I have received the Acase stand for the Kindle DX that I plan to use for my TF. Since there are so few case out there for the TF, I thought to share my first impressions here.

I decided to order one because my wife owns a Kindle DX and could use a stand for it. (The TF is a little bit narrower than the DX and maybe just a tad larger, but they are pretty much the same size.)

The case is not genuine leather, but the material is soft and pleasant to the touch. I think it looks very nice and it fits the TF well:



Works well as a stand, but only in portrait mode:



It's a very tight fit and the elastic straps can be tricky to put in place:



Because on the TF the power bottom is so close to the corner, the straps cover it. (The elastic straps will turn on your machine; the leather straps won't.)



In my opinion, the only real problem with this cover is the smell: it has a very sharp weird chemical smell. My wife says she doesn't mind it and wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't told her. I find it overpowering. I hope those Amazon reviewers are right when saying the smell wears off after a few days. Overall, I am rather satisfied. Looks good, feels solid, and offers better protection than a regular slip case. But I don't think I will keep using it if that smell remains.

By the way, after receiving my case, I learned about this upcoming case by Roocase (just my luck): http://www.amazon.com/rooCASE-Multi-...QCS/ref=sr_1_1

I also found this bag: CaseCrown-Multi-Pocket-Messenger-Chocolate-Transformer Bag

I am sure there will be more options pretty soon.

[madsquabbles]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Ive not seen these battery problems... how are you telling how much charge the dock has?

they've got few widgets on xda that show the dock percentage - something asus removed from it's final firmware. guess they didn't want people to see how fast their docks were discharging.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1108

just browse the posts and pick whichever suits you.

[VydorScope]

Okay... I up plugged my unit at 530am... and it reads now (11:48) 98% for tablet, and 76% for doc... so it appears is using the dock's battery mainly. I'll watch and see what happens.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Okay... I up plugged my unit at 530am... and it reads now (11:48) 98% for tablet, and 76% for doc... so it appears is using the dock's battery mainly. I'll watch and see what happens.

Tablet still at 98% and dock down to 64% (intentionally leavening it docked right now) which is what I would expect. It is using the dock first to charge itself up, and then once charged, it runs off the dock battery. The dock battery is advertised as much smaller then the tablet, so I would expect it to burn down faster.

Is that the behavior you are seeing?

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Tablet still at 98% and ...

I remember reading early on that the Tablet would not charge upto 100% and now that makes sense to me with what you are seeing!

I've got the dock, but I rarely use it, since I truly enjoy surfing the internet with the tablet, ever so much more thatn on a tiny iPod Touch screen.

| ASUS Transformer vs iPad | Apple iPad vs iPod Touch |

[madsquabbles]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Tablet still at 98% and dock down to 64% (intentionally leavening it docked right now) which is what I would expect. It is using the dock first to charge itself up, and then once charged, it runs off the dock battery. The dock battery is advertised as much smaller then the tablet, so I would expect it to burn down faster.

Is that the behavior you are seeing?

my tf only drains about .5% per hour. started at 100% and down ot 97% right now. my dock drains at ~3-5% /hr when docked - same result as most others in the xda post have seen also. giving that it adds about 6 - 8 hours of extra battery time it sure as heck can't be 10x lower capacity than the tablet itself.

i docked my tf at 100% on both devices last night. upon waking up my dock was at 56% and the tf still fully charged. since my tf should have only been at 92-95% at that time without a dock, the dock should not have lost nearly half it's charge.

the guess is that the dock keeps polling the tablet and causes the drain and should hopefully be fixed by a software update. docked and in use it drains as you'd expect, but standby and off it's excessive.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

my tf only drains about .5% per hour. started at 100% and down ot 97% right now. my dock drains at ~3-5% /hr when docked - same result as most others in the xda post have seen also. giving that it adds about 6 - 8 hours of extra battery time it sure as heck can't be 10x lower capacity than the tablet itself.

i docked my tf at 100% on both devices last night. upon waking up my dock was at 56% and the tf still fully charged. since my tf should have only been at 92-95% at that time without a dock, the dock should not have lost nearly half it's charge.

the guess is that the dock keeps polling the tablet and causes the drain and should hopefully be fixed by a software update. docked and in use it drains as you'd expect, but standby and off it's excessive.

Well I am at 98% and57%now. So tablet is not draining at all.Are you only seeing this problem when idle?

[VydorScope]

OKay I plugged in and tablet is at 98% and dock is 100% before I go to bed I will unplug it, with the lid closed and see what it looks like in the AM.