Question for my geek friends in Far Off Lands

[rolanni]

I am in the throes of Gadget Lust.  I've been reading about the Asus MeMo 370T, to be released in the US in the second quarter of the year, and it seems to me to be my Dream Tablet -- good size, good price, Android OS.  The one outstanding question is battery life.

Now, it seems that, in Europe, a version of this tablet is already on sale -- the Asus MeMo 171 -- which Asus does not, for reasons best known to Asus, intend to offer to the US market.

So, my question is:  Does anyone have any experience with this device?  What are your impressions, especially with regard to battery life, but I'm interested in everything you have to say about it -- good and bad.

Abundant Spanish Aunts.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Not entirely helpfully, but perhaps at least somewhat related to your interests, I mention that my husband has what's probably the precursor to that Asus, an EEE, and he looooooves it. He got the whole shebang with a keyboard accessory, and between the keyboard and the tablet itself it's got about, no kidding, 18 hours of battery life. I don't know how long that lasts if you're watching movies all the time and everything, but for moderate use it actually lasts that long.

From *my* point of view, having tried using it as a writing machine--aghglgh. Even usign the keyboard, which I was, there's some kind of weird sensitivity which causes the cursor to jump around, so typing at any rate of speed worth mentioning is very difficult. My Tablet Envy evaporated after one day's use of the machine.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

That's the Transformer Prime, maybe? Yeah, that looked Really Nice. I'm sorry to hear about the wonky keyboard, but I could see why a gadget-lover would adore it.

What makes the MeMo tablet particularly attractive (to me) is that I've been running an Asus EEEPC netbook for four or five years now, and it has never given me a half-second's trouble, until it recently lost its mind and had to have it replaced with Linux Mint (after which operation, it merrily motored on).

I'm also in the position of needing (though I said I Would Never) something to read books on that has backlighting. And before I drop twoannahaf bills, as my friend Jones used to say, and which is the top of my budget, on a Nook tablet (i.e. an ereader that does Other Things), I thought I'd do some Careful Shopping. A device that does Lots of Things and also lets me read books is philosophically closer to what I want.

Besides...it's purty :)

[(Anonymous)]

I'd strongly recommend waiting for tablets containing both Texas Instruments' OMAP5 chip (expected late this year, if it doesn't slip, again) and Pixel Qi's revolutionary new-this-year 1280x800 display that works both like regular backlit LCD screen when not enough ambient light (eats more battery power) and like e-reader screen using just reflectance of ambient light (much lower energy cost -> longer battery life), AND it's easy to read in direct sunlight.

Waiting for tech to mature is sort of like anxiously awaiting next wonderful installment from favorite authors (but you two are MUCH better than ANY tech gadgets I might happen to freak out about).

Jim

MeMo envy

[robert shelley (from livejournal.com)]

Have read about this device and I see why you are intrigued. You have, however, put your finger on battery life as a critical feature. This might be mitigated as an issue if it is easy to swap out batteries and you could purchase a second battery to carry along already charged up. The batteries are trivial in size, so it wouldn't be a burden. An earlier response (which I cannot see since I'm commenting!) noted anomalous responses when an external keyboard was added to an Asus EEE (as I recall). This is why it is valuable to have someone who owns one to verify it works well as you intend to use it. At least, when it becomes available, stop by a brick-and-mortar store and handle it. Plug in that keyboard. Swap out that battery! Me, I sometimes forget these wise precautions in the rush to own (gadget lust is me), so if I get one in the next little while, I'll write. Peace to you from the Ol' Grizzz...