Asus Transformer Prime vs Sony Tablet S: How Do They Stack Up?

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which is the world's first tablet to have Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, is getting rave reviews from critics and an Engadget review hails it as the best Android tablet on the market.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which recently upgraded to Google's Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) operating system, features a 10.1-inch Super IPS + LCD Gorilla Glass display with 1280x800 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 32/64GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded to another 32GB via microSD card.

Transformer Prime, which weighs 586 grams, competes with another top-notch device from Japan's Sony in the form of Tablet S. The Sony Tablet S, which weighs 598 grams and has a 9.4-inch screen, includes infrared technology, and can be used as a fully customizable remote control for multiple home devices including television, Blu-ray Disc player and home theatre set-up.

Let's see how Transformer Prime fares against Sony Tablet S:

Display: Transformer Prime tablet has a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixels Super IPS + LCD capacitive touch screen display with Corning's Gorilla glass and offers resolution at 149 pixels per inch density. On the other hand, Sony Tablet S has a 9.4-inch capacitive display providing a resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels at 161 pixels per inch density.

Size: Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime has a dimension of 263 × 180.8 × 8.3mm, weighs 586 grams (pad only) / 263 × 180.8 × 8-10.4mm, weighs 537 grams (dock only). On the other hand, Tablet S has a dimension of 241.2 x 174.3 x 10.1-20.6 mm and weighs 598 grams.

Operating System: The Asus tablet, which originally featured the Android OS 3.2 (Honeycomb) operating system, has been upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the future. Sony Tablet S runs on Android Honeycomb operating system.

Camera: Transformer Prime sports an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus and a secondary 1.2 megapixel camera for video calling. Transformer Prime offers 1080p video playback capability. Tablet S has a 5 megapixel camera on the rear and 0.3 megapixel camera on the front and shoots videos at 720p at 30 frames per second.

Processor: Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet has Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, ULP GeForce GPU while Tablet S has a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 T20 1 GHz Cortex-A9 chip and ULP GeForce GPU.

Connectivity: The Asus tablet supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 version with EDR, and USB 2.0 version. Sony's tablet supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and v2.0 microUSB, USB Host support.

Memory: Asus tablet has 1GB RAM and 32/64 GB storage capacity with a microSD card slot giving an extra 32GB support. Tablet S, which also has a 1GB RAM, has 16/32GB internal memory and expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.

Battery: Eee Pad Transformer Prime pad (with dock) has a 22 Wh Li-polymer battery that is expected to give 18 hours of battery life on video playback. Tablet S's Li-Ion battery is expected to provide about 430 hours of standby time and up to 31 hours of music playback.

Pricing: Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is likely to cost $499 for the 32GB version and $599 for the 64GB version. The Tablet S costs $399 for 16GB model and $499 for 32GB model.