The shop assistant asked me did I want a bag for my new purchase, normally I do not take bags - environmental/waste sensitive I am. However, he insisted, from a security perspective to take the bag, after all it is a Pad, just in case somebody along the street has designs on it.

The ASUS Eee Pad is boxed nicely, looks premium. I got into my car and immediately cracked open that box to remove a sleek looking piece of kit. Tried the on button and yes, it did work, some power is in the battery for us who want immediate gratification.

From the get go I was comfortable with the UI, certain familiarity because I also own a Samsung Galaxy S.

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer uses the latest iteration of ANDROID called HONEYCOMB or Android v3. I immediately added some apps I have on my Galaxy S. Particularly WORDFEUD, a scabble type app my Wife uses. With that done I drove home, my Wife arrived in from work .. unfortunately that was the end of the Transformer for me for the night. My wife is addicted to it. Loves the ease of browsing, email, Facebook and of course the “odd” game of Wordfeud.

As with most/all pads and touch screen devices you will need to clean the screen regularly. This is more noticeable on a bigger screen. Out of the box the Eee Pad Transformer DOES NOT come with a thin leather look ”book cover” type protector. One might need to buy something like this, I have found most tech/phone shops DO NOT stock cases for Pads yet.

Very happy with the battery life – about 9 hours of use out of a charge. The initial charge is 8hours, something to be adhered to in order to condition the battery properly. The charger is a seperate affair, a plug into which one connects a USB cable. The other end of the USB cable connects to a feature connector at the underside of the pad. SO, connecting to the outside world is via USB. Standard, useful & not proprietry.

This device does not have 3G/4G data plan capability, at the moment it is WIFI only. However I have heard a 3G/4G capable version is in the wings for release. Personally I am happy with WIFI only in a PAD, if one needs to, one can tether your pad to your data capable phone. The caveat with this is tethering can drain battery power in your phone faster AND it can eat your data plan more.

Their are two camera’s on the Transformer. Front and Back. This puzzles me where pads are concerned. I do not see any need for a 5mp camera in a pad. They are too big a device to use as a camera proper. The only use, maybe, is to take shots/video of little joe/mary for facebook purposes, if that is your thing. The front camera, as usual, is low res and aimed at Skype type of activity.

Two interesting things come with the Eee Pad Transformer.

First their is a nice bit of software to allow you have your Laptop/Desktop computer desktop virtually displayed and accessible from the pads screen itself. I have tried this within my WIFI network, works a treat.

Second, you get unlimited storage with Asus Cloud based service, Webstorage. The pad seemlessly links to this via your WIFI connection.

Specification wise the ASUS comes with an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor,16GB of storage and a microSD slot to increase this with up to 32GB MSD cards. Sound is fine, not full stereo system fantastic but not unpleasant either. Their is a jack for your headphones, as you would expect. An optional extra is the funky keyboard docking station. This turns the ASUS into a Netbook. It also increases the battery life up to 17 hours.

SO, in conclusion, as you may have guessed – so far – myself AND my wife are happy campers with this purchase. Is it an IPAD Killer? I am biased, I would say YES, at least on par with the IPAD. I cannot think of anything on the IPAD that could not be done on the ASUS. OK, some argue that ITS THE APPS that make the IPAD, but I have all the APPS I could need on the ASUS/Android Platform. Angry Birds, Facebook, Google, Sat Nav, Browsing, Virtual computer feature, Cloud access. What more could you need?

I have heard that the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is like Gold Dust in the USA. Every batch sells out. Not a bad sign at all.

This figure of €3 Billion spent online by Irish Shoppers came from a report by VISA CREDIT.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0516/breaking58.html

“A total of €2.96 billion was spent at ecommerce sites, according to estimates from Visa Europe.

That’s an increase of 39 per cent compared to 2009, the research found. According to the study, the average shopper spent €1,550 online last year, higher than €1,450 recorded in the previous year, but still below the average of €1,700 spent in 2008.” ( Quote courtesy IRISH TIMES – 16 May 2011 )

Adding a shop to your website is now essential in order to tap into a market of this size.

With any Ecommerce / Online Shop solution -

- you get an online store where YOU can update / add your products at will. Do stock control, special offers.

- YOU do not have to hold the Credit Card numbers by using a common pay service such as PAYPAL.

- An Online Shop / Ecommerce solution can be integrated into your OFFLINE ACCOUNTS if required.

- An Online Shop / Ecommerce solution is flexible, scalable into the future as your business grows.

- You control the merchandising & promotions.

- An Online Shop is open 24 hours, 365 days – all year long.

NETACTIVE SOLUTIONS can provide your company with an Online Store / Ecommerce solution. Please call us for details.

Heres a video of the UNPACK at CTIA 2011: ( Direct Link to this youtube video )

A quick GOOGLE of ”Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Ireland” gives this link:

Phonesonline.ie Pricing 

Price as you can see here is €729 (incl. VAT), though this is for the SIMFREE version. Still seems saucy enough if they are placing this in competition with the IPAD?

I know that VODAFONE Ireland will be offering this unit, probably at a subsidized price with Bill-pay:

Vodafone Ireland Expression of Interest

MY TWO CENTS: For Android pads to compete with the IPAD they will need to be substantially cheaper WITH on par functionality. At prices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 people will just opt for an IPAD.

By that I mean, you pay a monthly, 6 monthly or yearly fee. For that fee you get access TO THE WHOLE Catalog of training rather than the one subject you were looking for initially. In most cases it is real good value.

Here are some sites of this nature I came across recently. Where you see (F) it indicates FREE:

- LIVEMOCHA: (F) Learn a language online – http://www.livemocha.com/

- ALISON: (F) An Irish site. Online courses, varied subjects inc certification – http://alison.com/

- LYNDA: For more computer focused courses – http://www.lynda.com/

- DIGITAL TUTORS: For GRAPHICS/3D based courses – http://www.digitaltutors.com/

- BLENDER COOKIE: (F) Courses Specific to BLENDER 3D Software – http://www.blendercookie.com/

These are but a few, the internet is awash with such sites on all sorts of subjects. Particularly in these “recessionary” times, these sites are generally good value, self paced and might be of great use to get the skillset upgraded.

Aidan will populate this blog with things of interest in the tech world. On the social network side Aidan is very active on Twitter so please Follow. A facebook page is being developed and a Linkedin Page is active also. All the Social Networking features are accessible via the icons top right ..