transformers

Last week the Asus Transformer Pad 300 -- the follow-up to the acclaimed Transformer Prime tablet that drops the "Eee" branding, as well as about $100 from the price -- started popping up on some retailers' sites for preorder, with an anticipated available date of April 22.

Now, as of this morning, the Transformer TF300 is listed as "In Stock" on Amazon, with three different merchants -- including Amazon itself -- saying they'd be happy to sell you one.

Of course, if you're thinking you can order one with your Amazon Prime account and … Read more

It looks as though we'll have another new big-name tablet hitting stores in a little more than a week as a new Asus Transformer Pad 300 has started popping up for preorder at some online retailers.

The Taiwan-based tablet maker has apparently dropped the "Eee" from the name, and the new Transformer will join the Galaxy Tab 2 to make its debut on April 22, according to a report from PC World.

Like its predecessor, the Transformer Prime, the new tablet features a quad-core processor and snaps into a keyboard dock (sold separately) to become a full-fledged Android laptop, but at a lower starting price than the Prime. … Read more

A roadmap of Nvidia's next chip, the Tegra 4, could also be a blueprint for the internals of future Android and Windows tablets.

If VR-ZONE's (in this case, VR-ZONE's Chinese-language site) sources speak the truth, then we've got plenty of tablets packing quad-core A15 chips to look forward to.

What's an A15 you ask? That's the next chip design -- officially the Cortex A15 -- from tablet and smartphone chip design powerhouse ARM.

Think of it this way: Four A15s are faster than the four Nvidia Tegra 3 Cortex-A9s now found in the Asus … Read more

According to a post on the Transformer Prime XDA Developers forum, Asus will soon release an attachment for the Prime that will "address the GPS function and be a fully usable GPS that will lock onto many satellites and keep their lock with Wi-Fi active."

The post goes on to indicate that the proposed dongle will be offered for free and will arrive in mid-April.

Though the original post was copied from an e-mail exchange with a purported Asus rep, no official announcement has been made by Asus.

Back in Feburary, we gave Asus the chance to address … Read more

I had the chance to briefly play around with the latest Transformer Prime update. My impressions are thus:

System bar lock By enabling the system bar lock, the system bar (which lies across the bottom of the screen) will be unavailable until unlocked by the user.

This could prove especially useful if playing a game like Riptide GP where your fingers are usually locked into position at the bottom corners of the screen. With the lock on you'll no longer waste precious nanoseconds instantly popping back into the game after you accidentally tap the Settings icon. Say "thank you" gamers.

Not to say it works perfectly, though. Periodically, after locking the screen, it would revert back to an unlocked state after a couple seconds. … Read more

Zhu Kefeng could be the biggest Transformers fan you'll ever see.

Inspired by the robots in the popular Transformers franchise, the 49-year-old Chinese artist led a team that built more than 600 giant sculptures using recycled automobile parts.

These sculptures, created over a period of 10 years, now reside at a theme park in Jiaxing City in China's Zhejiang province. Also known as Mr. Iron Robot theme park, it has since become a tourist attraction that's popular with kids. … Read more

Hasbro has lost a round in its effort to protect its "Transformers" territory from encroachment by tablet maker Asus.

The toymaker claimed in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court in late December that the electronics maker was creating confusion by blending the "Transformers" and Optimus Prime names. Hasbro accused Asus of counting on consumers associating the new tablet with children's toys to sell the Transformer Prime.

However, a judge denied the toy maker's request for a temporary restraining order preventing Asus from selling the tablets under the Transformer Prime name.

"There … Read more

Truth be told, if I purchase a tablet in the next few months, I'll be buying Apple's new 2012 iPad. Haters gonna hate, but from Bluetooth 4.0 support to the improved camera, incremental changes like this will likely lead to the best tablet on the market getting even better.

Even without the "I am the alpha and the omega" 2,048x1,536-pixel-resolution screen, I'd still choose the latest iPad. The ecosystem, app availability, and smooth and fast performance make it an easy choice for me.

That said, people have different tastes, and the new iPad, despite the hype, doesn't do everything. In addition, not everyone can afford to pay a minimum of $500 for a tablet, and even if you can, you may want a few features Apple doesn't natively provide.

That's where these five tablets come in. Each tablet on the list is a quality tablet that sports at least one feature the new iPad doesn't, be it a more affordable price or better port or feature support. … Read more

Editors' note: This list was originally posted on March 2 and is updated regularly. If sifting through long HTML tables isn't your thing however, skip over to our top tablets list or check out all our tablet reviews and features.

The tablet market is like that kid in school who, at first, no one really noticed. Then, a year later he starts the school year a foot taller, with a new wardrobe, and suddenly everyone wants to be his friend. But, does he deserve his newfound popularity?

I really don't know. Personally, I've yet to purchase a tablet, and I've still not seen a compelling reason to do so. Still, millions feel differently and have already dived full on into the tablet sector.

Yet, every day there seems to be a new announcement of another manufacturer's plans to release a tablet. It's getting confusing and a little crazy out there, and we at CNET wanted to provide you with a snapshot of not only the current tablet landscape, but a look into the near future and how it's evolving.

We've compiled a list of all the major U.S. released current tablets interwoven with all the tablets yet to be released in the U.S. Enjoy, and if there's any other information you'd like to see on this list, let us know in the comments or via e-mail. … Read more