Tag Archives: asus

Personal, Technical

Comments on cnet.com’s prizefight between Asus and Apple

I thought I’d share some of my comments – that I never make – you can see this is my first post on cnet.com’s site.  But the review got me thinking – or rather their “prizefight”.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57405389-94/tablet-prizefight-transformer-prime-vs-new-ipad/

I’ve owned just about every tech out there on both sides. It’s a curse and fun all at the same time. We’ve got iDevices all over the house and I run a Droid Razr – 2.3.6 – Android. As a full-time techie – I appreciate the simple interface to the iDevices for others. My wife and kids can all run them easily. But to me it’s a glorious icon manager. I’ve had original Asus Transformer, Acer iconia Tab and now I own the new ipad. Why? It’s the best production tablet out. But trust me – I’m hankering for the new Transformer with 1920×1200 WIDESCREEN resolution. I’m sick of Asus production problems and getting to market. I was on so many waiting lists back around Christmas and January for the Prime that my head-spun. I finally backed out entirely and was content to wait for the new TF700T or whatever it’s called. However I knew I would struggle with my patience as Asus will most likely struggle ONCE AGAIN to deliver as they have on both Transformer releases. Anyone remember June of 2011 for the original? Ugh. It’s maddening. I have a lot of use for tablets and their apps (multimedia, news, email, product comparisons, and yes, I watch video).

I do think Apple’s market is better – but with patience I can find an app equivalent in Android/Google play and sometimes better apps (Wi-Fi Analyzer anyone??) This is a hard comparison. My plan is to sell the iPad and get the new Transformer or Galaxy or whatever company actually brings a decent android to market. Resell value is off the charts on the iPads so I’m not worried. But I want more than just an icon manager. interactive widgets, CNN mobile, calendar, facebook – and the list goes on of what I can run on my home screens and NEVER open an app to see the content I need. If iOS ever gets a decent option to setup just even one homescreen with widgets – it would be a leap ahead. Notifications are blah and the same to me on both platforms. But when people see MyZine (Asus App) or any of the news apps in widget mode on my home screens – they are impressed. May be one day Asus will launch a product that they have inventory for! For now the iPad is the best one out (can’t stand the 4:3 when I watch video) but everyone will benefit from the increased competition. I’m a part time landscape photographer and I’ve loaded several photo albums on the screen and they look outstanding. Retina does play nicely on some things and others it doesn’t look diff than my bro’s iPad 2. 2048×1536 resolution is great – but doesn’t get engaged in as many places as it should. Plus – make it widescreen apple – you make me grit my teeth when I a see the mass of black bands top and bottom….grr.

woowh.

Equipment, Technical

Quick post on my new Apple iPad (Retina Display)

Well, I wanted to take a quick second and comment on my new iPad.  

Call it what you want – the iPad3, the new iPad, or iPad 3rd Generation.  

Anyway – I swallowed the pill and plunged in – not because I’m a fanboy – but because it has the best screen hands down of any tablet out there.  2048 x 1536 is awesome!  I quickly picked several picture albums from different galleries and loaded them up.  Ok – they were already exported so it made it easy and they were at 1680 pixels on the long side – but still.  Ok, yes, I know it’s still 4:3 aspect ratio and that is really so CRT of Apple to keep that aspect ratio….but boy do the pics look good!  Now I want to go in and specifically do some exports from Lightroom with that pixel set and compare with 72dpi  which was typical for screen presentations – but also bump it up to Apple’s reported Retina dpi for the new iPad which is 264 ppi – pixels per inch…I know I am comparing dpi to ppi – but let’s keep it simple.  http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

I’m thinking I’ll put on a watermark or picture title so I can know for sure which picture and details I’m looking at in order to compare.  What a slick way to show off some of my favorite pictures in my gallery!  The better color saturation of the tablet and the high ppi of the Retina display is really great.  Too bad it’s not a widescreen.  I may still have to seriously consider the upcoming Asus Transformer TF700T with the 1920 x 1200 resolution when it comes out this summer.