Review Asus Transformer Pad TF701T Tablet

The case of the Asus Transformer Pad TF701T is primarily made of sturdy aluminum. The display is protected by a dirt-repellant layer of Corning's Gorilla Glass, which improves the gliding capabilities as well. The result is a very good torsion resistance.

A thin polycarbonate strip at the top of the back cover ensures a decent WLAN signal that is not affected by the aluminum back cover. The overall build quality is decent, consistent gaps and well-integrated ports support this impression. 

With dimensions of 263 x 180.8 mm and a height of 8.9 mm (18.9 mm with the keyboard dock), the Transformer Pad TF701T is one of the biggest devices within the comparison. Compared to the predecessor Transformer Pad TF700T, the review device is 14 mm thinner and now weighs 584 grams. Some competitors are noticeably lighter, only the Gigaset QV1030 is heavier. The keyboard dock is made of polycarbonate and weighs another 578 grams. The build quality is once again very good, although the keyboard dock is not quite as torsion-resistant. The overall weight of 1162 grams is comparable to some subnotebooks, for instance the Apple MacBook Air 11, but our review unit should be superior in terms of battery runtimes thanks to the additional battery of the dock. 

As usual for tablets, the maintainability and upgradability are very limited: You cannot open the tablet, only the internal storage can be upgraded by micro SD cards (up to 128 GB) in the device itself or memory sticks and SD cards at the dock.

Software

The Asus Transformer Pad TF701T is shipped with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and an update to version 4.4 KitKat was not yet announced. Similar to the predecessor Transformer TF700T, Asus once again uses a customized user interface, which is just a slightly modified version of stock Android.

Asus also installs useful software additions, for instance, its own password manager App Lock, a simple file manager or Polaris Office, YouTube and all important Google apps. You also get the option to launch some apps in the Floating App mode, some kind of multitasking for the browser, calculator and other apps.

Communication & GPS 

GPS in combination with aluminum cases usually results in problems. However, the predecessor Asus Transformer Pad TF700T had no issues with the GPS signal, and our review unit has no problems, either. We even got a signal indoors, but the accuracy of the Transformer Pad TF701T is even better outdoors. 

The wireless equipment with 802.11 a/b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR as well as Miracast support is complete. A version with UMTS or LTE was not yet announced. The performance of the WLAN module is good; our review unit still had a decent signal through several walls and with a distance of around 10 meters from the router.

Operating the device with up to 10 fingers via touchscreen works intuitively and fast with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The virtual keyboard is conveniently sized thanks to the large 10-inch display and enables quick and accurate typing even in portrait mode. The touchscreen itself is very precise into the corners and executes inputs without delays. The gliding capabilities are very good thanks to a special coating. The integrated gyroscope works reliably and rotates the picture after a small delay.

Another alternative input device for the Transformer Pad TF701T is the optional QWERTY keyboard dock. It can convince us with large keys, decent stroke and sufficient key travel. The keyboard dock also has an integrated battery and additional ports. Contrary to the predecessor Transformer Pad TF700T, the dock is made of plastic and the whole construction is not really torsion-resistant. Otherwise, the two inputs are identical. Inputs are quick and accurate; there are also several special buttons, for instance, direct access to the WLAN settings or shortcuts for the browser, Bluetooth and screenshots. The touchpad is comparatively small but works very precisely.

The highlight of the Asus Transformer Pad TF701T is the 10-inch IPS display with a high resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. It also has a decent luminance of up to 373 cd/m².

In a direct comparison, the Transformer Pad TF701T can only beat the Gigaset QV1030 and HP Slate 8 Pro and cannot keep up with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 or the Apple iPad Air. The Transformer Pad TF700T is also significantly brighter with 563 cd/m², but the luminance of the review unit is subjectively more than sufficient. The brightness distribution of 82% is only superior to the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, but the human eye cannot see any deviations. 

The picture is very sharp and can convince us: Pictures, videos and fonts are very sharp, and you almost get a vivid impression.

We use the colorimeter X-Rite i1Pro 2 and the software CalMAN 5 to test the colors and the grayscale. Our review unit shows a good grayscale performance with an average DeltaE value of 2.75. Gamma curve and color temperature of 6819 are also okay. The color calibration is decent ex-works, although the deviation of magenta is clearly too high; blue is slightly deviated as well. The saturation shows a clear deviation for blue colors. Subjectively, you can hardly see these deviations, but picture enthusiasts won't be completely satisfied with the panel.

Asus also installs the app Splendid, where you can change the color temperature and color enhancement. However, the default setting is already the best compromise and results in subjectively rich colors and a good contrast.

Similar to the Transformer Pad TF700T, our review unit also has an additional feature for an increased brightness, which is called Outdoor mode. This is Asus' attempt to compensate for the highly reflective display surface and that works pretty well. This means you can use the tablet outdoors, although direct sunlight still creates annoying reflections.

As expected for an IPS display, the viewing-angle stability is very good. Asus is able to maintain the high level of the predecessor Transformer Pad TF701T. Even very impractical extreme viewing angles of almost 180 degrees do not change the color presentation. We can only determine a slight brightness and contrast reduction.

Asus' flagship Transformer Pad TF701T is clearly a high-end device with an Nvidia Tegra 4 SoC clocked at 1.9 GHz, which is faster than the competition, an integrated GeForce GPU as well as a high-resolution IPS display. The CPU is currently one of the fastest chips on the market.

Similar to every other reviewed tablet, the test sample has to face our benchmarks, so we can assess the performance objectively. Let's start with the synthetic benchmarks. 

The system performance is very high, which is supported by the high AnTuTu Benchmark v4 result of 32,335 points. Only the Wi-Fi version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 can beat our review unit. Linpack shows a better performance for the contenders, although only the Apple iPad Air and Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 can manage a clear lead. Smartbench 2012 also shows the good performance of the SoC; only the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is better.

Our next section covers the graphics performance. GFXBench 2.7 shows that both the Apple iPad Air and Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 are once again ahead, but the Gigaset QV1030 falls behind. The Transformer Pad TF701T can show a really good performance in 3DMark Ice Storm and is faster than the rivals in almost every test – even in the very demanding Extreme scenario. Only Apple's iPad Air can take the lead in the standard GPU test. 

We could not launch the GFXBench 3.0 due to the missing OpenGL-ES-3.0 support, and Geekbench 3 also crashed repeatedly.

Let's get to the verdict. We really like the Asus Transformer Pad TF701T: Asus offers a convincing package with its new 10-inch flagship device, which cannot beat the great Apple iPad Air or the Samsung Galaxy Pro 10.1, but it can definitely keep up with the competition.

One highlight is certainly the fast Nvidia Tegra 4 SoC that ensures high performance for applications and games – even QFHD/4K video playback is no problem for the tablet. The high-resolution IPS display with wide viewing angles and a subjectively very good picture as well as brightness can also convince us. The accurate touchscreen is a joy to use and works reliably and fast. We also like the nice aluminum case and the good build quality. The internal 32 GB storage offers a net capacity of 25 GB for the user, but it can be quickly expanded via (micro) SD cards or USB.

The provided keyboard dock is a real enrichment for the tablet since it improves the already very good battery runtimes as well as the handling and offers additional ports. You can currently buy the review unit for around 480 Euros (~$668) – a very fair price for the tablet. 

There is not much to criticize. There is still no word about a UMTS or even LTE version, which is unfortunate for a flagship device. It does at least support the WLAN standards 802.11 a/b/g/n. We are not really thrilled by the cameras, either: Dark environments in particular result in bad pictures. 

Because of the many positive aspects we can fully recommend the tablet. The Transformer Pad TF701T with the keyboard dock might also be an interesting choice for business users.