Asus Transformer Pad 300: Quad-Core Tab Comes With A Reasonable Price Tag

Asus has started shipping its Transformer Pad 300 tablet. The 10.1-inch Pad 300, aka TF300 tablet comes with a price tag of $379 and sports some high-end features like Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and a power-packed quad-core processor.

Although the latest Asus tablet has removed its EEE moniker this time, it sports almost all the similar features and feels just like its predecessor.

Check out the features of tablet in detail.

Size: With a lower price tag than its predecessor, the new Pad 300 (Prime lookalike) settles for a plastic body ditching the original metal body.

The new tab measures 263 x 180.8 x 9.9 m, a little wider and thicker than the original Prime. And, wait a little weightier too! The new Pad 300 weighs 635 grams compared to 586 grams of Prime.

Display: The 10.1-inch display comes with 1280 x 800 resolution and 149 ppi. Although Asus has maintained the same resolution pixel density for both the original and new tablets, the IPS LCD display of the new tablet gives little inferior performance than the original's Super IPS+ LCD display.

The display is protected by the Corning Gorilla glass.

Operating System: Android's latest OS Ice Cream Sandwich, topped with the Waveshare UI, has been packed in with this tablet.

The pre-loaded apps are Amazon's Kindle reader; App Backup, App Locker for password-protecting applications; a shortcut to get Glowball; ASUS MyCloud, My Library, MyNet, Netflix, Photoshop Express, SuperNote, Temple Run and the Zinio magazine store.

Processor: TF300 packs 1GB of RAM and a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and GeForce 12-core, 3D stereo (built-in) GPU. Its chip, however, clocks at a slightly lower speed of 1.2GHz compared to the Prime's 1.3. But the quad-core processor along with the ICS OS, give a decent gaming experience and satisfying speed performance.

Storage: Pad 300 comes with 32 and 64GB storage options. microSD card slot is also present there to expand the memory up to 32GB. The users also get an 8GB of free lifetime ASUS WebStorage.

Camera: The Asus tablet features an 8 megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture capacity at 30fps. A 1.2 MP front camera is also available in the tablet for video chat.

Connectivity: The tab supports 21 Mbps download speed and 5.76 Mbps upload and supports LTE.

Battery: According to the company, the 22Wh battery of Pad 300 can work for continuous 10 hours. With dock, the battery gives five more hours of running time.

Pricing: Price starts at $379 for the 16GB version, and $399 for one with 32GB of built-in storage.

Verdict: With a reasonable price tag and quad-core processor, ICS OS, this tablet is a viable option for all Android lovers out there. But, the situation might change with the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), which is due for next month. The Galaxy tab is also expected to be coming with a reasonable price tag of $399.