K - Other: Asus EeePad Transformer TF101 tablet and photography

[Benchista]

This review will be carried out as several posts to cover off different aspects of the tablet and its photographic uses.

Part 1 - the tablet itself

Much has been written about the use of the iPad in photography, very much less about the use of Android alternatives. There are very good reasons for this; the iPad is the clear market leader, and has had much better photographic apps for a long time. However, there are some really good reasons to consider alternatives now.

Firstly, we'll look at the tablet itself. I bought it last July for my wife, and initially, I was going to get her an iPad. I compared the two in the store, and the performance of similarly-specced machines (16GB, WiFi) was close to identical - the Asus seemed to me significantly better than the other Android tablets, and the differences came down more to what was in whatever version of iOS the iPad was running, and the Android 3.0 on the Asus. A couple of points grabbed my attention on the Asus - a micro SD slot and an HDMI slot - but above all, the keyboard attachment that's the key to the "Transformer" name. This houses an extra battery, but crucially has two USB ports and a normal SD slot. Expansion opportunities, eh? Could be interesting... Oh, and the base unit was £50 cheaper than the iPad... well that got me a little excited, but I was buying it for the wife, so decided to get the iPad. Fate intervened, though - they were out of stock, and weren't due in before my wife's birthday, so I didn't hesitate any more, but bought the Asus.

In use, it's been excellent - she uses it as a tablet to play games, watch videos and so on, and as a laptop for emails and so on. The touchscreen is as good as the Apple one, the screen resolution nearly as much so, but the whole package has been way better than I was expecting, in large part to that keyboard unit. Just as a tablet, it's been a lot of fun for her and indeed the whole family.

Recently, though, a couple of particularly interesting apps have appeared for it - Adobe Photoshop Touch, and a tethering app, and these will be the subjects of further posts over the next few days, along with more general photographic uses.

[Barney]

Recently, though, a couple of particularly interesting apps have appeared for it - Adobe Photoshop Touch, and a tethering app, and these will be the subjects of further posts over the next few days, along with more general photographic uses.

Adobe's whole Creative Cloud suite is very interesting, but when I came to look for a photo editing app I found that iPhoto was the best for my needs because it allows to you flag and favourite photos from a range. (I don't have any real need to edit photos, I just use it to run through photos with clients, allow them to choose which ones they want, and show them the effect of different crops etc.)

Also, it's not been the lack of apps that has been the issue for tethering with the iPad, but the hardware instead. Apps tend to tether via wi-fi, which is fine if your camera takes SD cards and you've happy to pay for an Eye-Fi card (and even then you have to jailbreak your iPad to make use of it away from a wi-fi network) but if your cameras takes CF cards you have to stump up for an Eye-fi card and adaptor (if the it fits, not all CF card slots are created equally, so it would fit a D3 but not a D700) and results are not all that consistent from what I've read.

I expect your Anus EeePAd might be different, given it's better approach to connectivity so I'd be interested in whether it tethers via a cable which is all I want to do.

If not, then Cloud FTP looks like it could be the answer. I know someone who was one of the Kickstarter investors and if his feedback is positive I'll be getting one myself.

[Benchista]

Short answer is yes, it tethers via a USB cable - I'm having a play with various different cameras before I review it properly, but it's a blindingly simple app that seems to work really well so far - I find it easier and more reliable than tethering to a PC so far.

[Barney]

Short answer is yes, it tethers via a USB cable - I'm having a play with various different cameras before I review it properly, but it's a blindingly simple app that seems to work really well so far - I find it easier and more reliable than tethering to a PC so far.

Well that's good to hear. I would be really interested to hear how you get on with it.

The iPad does so many things too well, especially in combination with my iMac and iPhone, for me to consider swapping it in for an Android tablet, but the better non Apple devices get the more they'll push Apple to get the little things they cocked up right.

EDIT No matter how well devices work together, the weakest link is invariably the user. I'm just watching a video stored on an external hard-drive connected to my iMac streamed wirelessly to my iPad operating as a second display via AirDisplay. The dog wanted to be let out, so rather than pausing, I picked up the iPad and carried on watching as I went downstairs. Of course I'd forgotten that the audio's still coming from the iMac so I was watching a silent movie by the time I'd got to the kitchen. :blush: