Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review

We take a detailed look at the top-level Transformer model from Asus, the '700 series' Transformer Pad Infinity.

Form

The Transformer Infinity is pretty much exactly the same device as the Transformer Prime, the only difference is it has a true HD display and a slightly faster processor.

That means you get the same excellent materials and build quality, with some beautiful brushed aluminium and a solid unibody construction.

For its size, a substantial 10.1-inches, it’s surprisingly light and easy to handle too. The tablet is a mere 8mm thick with a minimalist back panel and an evenly proportioned bezel around the touchscreen.

The detachable keyboard dock is equally as thin, light and robust as the tablet itself, while the keys themselves feel solid the feedback is a bit spongier than we’d like. But spacing between keys is nice, better than many laptops in fact, meaning it doesn’t feel crowded.

The trackpad on the front is well-implemented as it supports multi-touch and registers taps as mouse clicks, just like a regular laptop. The cursor keys also allow you to quickly jump between homescreens and there's a dedicated home, back and search key, as well as numerous other control keys for things like brightness, mute and volume.

Some key combos users might try and implement from Windows PCs, such as Ctrl+V for 'paste,' do work on the Infinity but we couldn't get any others to register unfortunately – even Ctrl+C, bizarrely.

The tablet docks and detaches with the keyboard very easily and smoothly. It also boasts a full-size USB port which will support a mouse and it boosts the battery life to around 14 hours.

As usual with Asus hardware, we've very little to complain about in the design and build department.

However, as Columbo might say 'there is just one more thing.' Just the same as other Asus tablets in the range, and the products of many competing manufacturers, the Transformer Infinity frustratingly requires the use of a proprietary charger, despite the fact it has a MicroUSB port for data transfer.

Considering it's now been made a European standard to have mobile devices chargable via MicroUSB it would've been good to see it implemented here.

Display

The display is the main factor which differentiates the Infinity from earlier Transformer models and the reason that this device has usurped the Transformer Prime to the top of Asus' Transformer portfolio.

It's still a 10.1-inch Super IPS + capacitive multitouch LCD, just like the Prime.

However, not only does this one sport Corning's thinner Gorilla Glass 2 (which explains why it feels a bit lighter) for added protection, but it also has a true HD resolution of 1920x1200 pixels.

This means you get a brilliant 224 pixels-per-inch pixel density, which is not at all far off the iPad 3's Retina quality in terms of sharpness, clarity, brightness and colour depth.

It's also got great range in viewing angles, should you be the type of person who likes viewing their tablet from the side.

Hardware

Again, we can't really discuss the hardware without mentioning the other Asus Transformer devices which have come before - the Prime and the Tablet 300 - as all of them use virtually the same setup.