ASUS Transformer Prime TF700T vs Apple iPad 2: Tablet War Set to Tighten

ASUS has chosen to roll out the next tablet - Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T - in the Transformer Prime series after the predecessor had some design flaw. However, the tablet has to deal with the iconic Apple Inc.'s iPad 2, as the benchmark for design and performance has been set by the California giant.

Added to the specifications of its predecessor, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T comes with a bigger battery, better screen resolution, new back panel, and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

ASUS Transformer Prime TF700T features a 10.1-inch Super IPS + LCD Gorilla Glass display with 1920 x 1200 screen resolution. It is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, ULP GeForce GPU and offers 1GB RAM and 32/64 GB internal storage, which can be further expanded by another 32GB via microSD card.

It sports a rear-facing 8 megapixel LED flash camera with 1080p video playback and a secondary 2 megapixel front-facing camera. Transformer Prime TF700T optimizes Google Inc.'s latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The Asus tablet has a 25 Wh battery, compared to the predecessor's 22 Wh.

Transformer Prime is the first tablet to have the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. Tegra 3 brings a number of significant advancements over the dual-core Tegra 2. Technically, Tegra 3 has five cores and it's the fifth core that really makes the difference. This is called the companion core.

ASUS uses IPS technology in the Prime and maximum brightness is at 584cd/m2. It has a good screen on which to watch high definition movies and play games, delivering excellent blacks and viewing angles because of the Super IPS+ Panel technology packed inside.

Here is a look at how the features of ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T fare when compared to Apple iPad 2:

Size: Transformer Prime TF700T has a dimension of 263 × 180.8 × 8.3 mm, weighs 586 grams while Apple iPad 2 has 241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8 mm and weighs 607 grams.

Display: Transformer Prime TF700T tablet has a 10.1-inch high-definition Super IPS + LCD capacitive display with Corning's Gorilla glass protection providing a resolution of 1920 × 1200 pixels at 224 pixels per inch (ppi) density in 178 degrees ultra-wide viewing angle whereas iPad 2 features 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 pixels LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touch-screen display.

Input Features: The input features in Transformer Prime TF700T are accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, ASUS Waveshare UI, multi-touch input method, touch-sensitive controls with rotating icons, G-Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, Compass and GPS. However, Apple iPad 2 has Fingerprint scratch resistant oleophobic surface, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and three-axis gyro sensors.

Memory: The memory found in the ASUS tablet is 1GB RAM and 32/64 GB storage capacity with a microSD card slot giving an extra 32GB support while iPad 2 has 512 MB RAM with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB internal storage support. iPad 2 doesn't have an external storage space.

Operating system: Apple's tablet has an iOS 5 operating system compared to ASUS, which features the Android OS 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with a layer of the latest Waveshare UI.

Processor: The ASUS tablet has Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, ULP GeForce GPU compared to iPad 2's 900 MHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU Apple A5 chipset processor.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: The ASUS tablet has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 2.1 version with A2DP, EDR, and USB 2.0 version. On the other hand, the Apple tablet has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 version with A2DP and EDR, and USB 2.0 version.

Camera: The ASUS tablet has an 8 megapixel camera with 3264x2448 pixels, LED flash and autofocus features while iPad 2 has only a 0.7-megapixel camera with geo-tagging feature. There is a secondary VGA camera on iPad 2 while the ASUS tablet has a 2 megapixel camera. iPad 2 is capable of video playback at 720p while the ASUS tablet offers 1080p video playback capability.

Battery: When it comes to battery, both the tablets have 25 Wh Li-polymer.

Other Features: Apple iPad 2 has features like E-mail, Push E-mail, IM, HTML Safari browser, downloadable, incl. motion-based games, A-GPS support, digital compass, MP4/MP3/WAV/AAC player, movie playback, iBooks PDF reader, Google Maps, TV-out, audio and video player.

Transformer Prime TF700T will come with HTML, Adobe Flash, Email, Push Email, IM, Assisted-GPS support, SNS integration, micro HDMI port, MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC player, MP4/H.264/H.263 player, microSD card reader, 2-in-1 audio jack and Polaris Office editor. It will also have special applications such as ASUS launcher, @Vibe Music, ASUS WebStorage, MyLibrary, MyNet, MyCloud, File manager, ASUS sync, SuperNote, App Locker, App Backup, and TegraZone.

Must Read: iPad 3 to Debut in March with Faster Processor, Sharper Screen and LTE Access?