ASUS VivoTab RT TF600T-B1-GR 10.1-Inch 32 GB Tablet (Gray) 2012 Model

When I asked my Mom if she wanted a refresh of her iPad for Christmas she said, "refresh yes, another iPad not so much". We looked at all the new tablets and she picked this Asus Vivo Tab. I played with it for about a week before Christmas so I would be able to help her with any problems, (she is 75) and was totally impressed with the build quality and design--I would go as far as saying they are outperforming Apple here which is obviously not easy to do. The design and build quality are that good.The removable tablet/keyboard dock form factor is spot on IMO. The tablet was fairly easy to attach and remove from the base, it feels a little awkward at first as you get used to it. It vibrates and plays a chime tone when you have attached it correctly which helps. It takes both hands to dock/detach which is fine with me as when it is attached it really feels attached--I only mention it because it is not as effortless as the cute little magnetic click covers. Over our Christmas visit, (4 days) I noticed my Mom tended to just keep it attached to the keyboard dock so I mentioned and demonstrated several times that the tablet could be removed--she finally just told me she actually preferred it with the base attached for most uses as it "held itself up perfectly". I think she felt more secure being able to set it on her lap or the table and even preferred holding it by the base as it felt "safer". I was able to type pretty well on the chicklet style keyboard even though I have quite long fingers. I could match the 20-30 wpm I type at on my desktop keyboard without any problem. My wife who has very small hands but can type at 80-100 wpm took to it instantly. Tactile feedback for key presses felt very good to me. Key layout and spacing is well thought out. My only complaint would be the lack of back lighting--something I tend to like. Not a deal breaker by any stretch as the keyboard is obviously pretty close to the screen and it does cast some light on it. Touch typists won't care at all of course.The screen is great with excellent brightness/contrast/viewing angles etc. I did not see any ghosting or artifacts so refresh rates are good. No pixelation in movies during action sequences and explosions and playback was smooth as butter.I forgot to check the NFC "tap to share". Sorry.The gyroscopes and accelerometer seemed to work fine in the few games I tried. The screen oriented pretty rapidly when rotated. The closer it was to "upright" the faster it seemed to register--as with all tablets.Sound was better than any other tablet I have used but still lacks enough volume for all uses IMO. Headphones and my Nu Force UDAC 2 sounded excellent.The wireless NIC was great. I got 4 of 5 bars out on the front porch, about 30 feet from a typical Link-Sys home router, and her house has a brick exterior. Anywhere inside I usually had 5 of 5 bars.I really liked the Windows 8 live tile Touch UI --Metro or w/e they are calling it now. I also found the "desktop" portion of RT to be quite usable, especially with the touch pad and pointer on the dock. It was usable (but just barely) with a finger. I would miss the button I was aiming for about 40% - 50% of the time. My Mom already uses a stylus on her iPad so I was able to try one in the windows/desktop environment and it makes it a LOT more usable. The included office apps were all excellent. Being able to use files and folders was also very useful/comfortable for me, especially with either a stylus or the track pad and cursor. The track pad seemed fine to me but to be candid I detest them and am NOT a laptop person, so it could be awesome or horrible compared to other products and I would not know. My Mom uses a lap top and liked the track pad, as did my wife who also uses a laptop. I tried my Logitech Performance MX mouse with it's tiny little USB RX and it was detected and worked fine. I also tried various USB memory sticks and my Galaxy S2 phone and all were auto detected and worked without issue.Windows joined my Moms home network without any problems and adding a printer was going fine...right up until we got to the HP drivers list and her laser printer model was not listed. To be fair to HP the printer is older than dirt and my Pops has to run Windows XP on all their machines because he can't find printer drivers. The drivers list had a LOT of printers so I doubt most people will have a problem. When I was "testing" the Vivo Tab RT at home the week before Christmas I was able to print to my Canon color printer which is about 5 years old, and the Wife's HP 3 in 1 Photo Smart.The Windows 8 App market is not as filled out as Apple's or Androids--not sure what she will do without 50,000 Baby Shaker and Fart Apps--but she had all her Board Games and Bottle Cap type games loaded in about an hour. Think Yahtzi, (SP?) Bejewled, MahJong etc. She also had her Cook Book program and Kindle App and all her Solitaire games. The news paper and magazine selection seemed pretty good to me. She liked the FaceBook and Skype Apps. Her Yahoo email worked fine and the live tiles are actually kind of useful/cool. The mult-tasking is functional...not so sure about the way they split rhe dual view as a third of the screen...though everything seemed to re-size itself correctly when it was in the "little half" of the screen.To sum it up for Windows 8 RT: I really like the Metro touch UI a lot, (can't wait to get a windows 8 phone in fact) and the more traditional desktop portion of the OS is quite familiar and usable with either a wireless mouse, the track pad, or a stylus. Not so much with a "clunky" finger. My only complaint would not be with either environment, but the clunky way Microsoft dumps you from one to the other. The duplicate programs like IE for example. There is a Touch version and a "windows" version. They may have done that for people who are going to spend a lot of time in one or the other I guess, meaning if I was "plugged into windows" and had a mouse running and was working in office the windows version of IE might be more useful then the times I was on the couch just tooling around the web. I could use this OS as is right now without too much trouble and be very productive (and happy). I think it feels about 80% polished and I feel comfortable that future versions will cover that last 20% pretty quickly. I also think that the App store will fill out pretty rapidly for those needing more specialized apps like medical charting, pilots, engineers etc.I took advantage of the free dock deal Asus was running and I have to say that their customer interaction is not great by any stretch. The online form I had to fill out was pretty clunky and I could not get logged into my "VIP" account. Getting any information from their FAQ and forums was a waste of time and getting a person on the phone took a while. Once I did get a person, (who surprisingly spoke English) they were competent and got me squared away pretty quickly. Asus makes exceptionally good products in my experience, but their PR, and customer support still have a ways to go. I got the Dock 15 calendar days after I filled out the online form which seems reasonable for a rebate type "free" item.The hardware from Asus is just flat out WONDERFUL and I am very satisfied with this purchase. I will be buying their Transformer Book in 14" or 15" the minute it is available. Running pure windows programs (with a wireless mouse or stylus) on a beautiful ultrabook/tablet sounds great to me!

Hardware:The style follows after ASUS' experience with the Transformer series, giving the tablet an overall high quality minimalist design.Screen:The screen uses the new manufacturing process of having the capacitive interface as a thin film on the under side of the cover glass which is bonded directly to the LED. The result is that screen looks brighter, and sharper in settings with more ambient light.The 5 input capacitive touch is responsive and accurate, it also supports using a 3rd party capacitive pen for taking notes.Expansion:The micro-HDMI slot is a welcome addition for attaching to a secondary screen. A micro-HDMI/HDMI cable is not included but can found cheaply on the internet. Windows RT supports using a larger screen for desktop mode while using the touch interface for navigating through the Modern UI (Metro). There is no USB port on the tablet itself; USB functionality on the tablet is created through a dongle that is attached to the power port. I find the dongle to be an elegant solution, however with the inclusion of Bluetooth for peripherals, and a micro-SD slot for storage I did not miss having a dedicated USB connection. The micro-SD slot is an SDXC with support for up to 64GB. I do not have a SDXC card to test, however my 32GB SDHC card is readily recognized in the desktop explorer.Bluetooth works very well. I've tested a Logitech speaker, I/O gear keyboard, Logitech mouse, and Beats head phones without any issues.Camera:The 8MP rear facing camera does above average in indoor/low light settings and delivers nicely saturated although soft colors in outdoor settings. The front facing camera is acceptable for Skype video chat but not much else.Speakers:The sound from the tablet speakers are acceptable for casual listening, and do not distort at the higher volumes. Similarly to the Surface RT they are not as loud as other tablets but a louder than the single speaker TF700.Keyboard Dock:The optional keyboard dock creates a clam-shell form-factor from the attachable dock is sturdy - with a hinge that is more firm than the TF700 dock. The dock adds a full sized USB port. If another USB port is needed the dongle can be used on the keyboard's power port to create a second port. The combination of the tablet and keyboard dock is both stable and light weight. The keys are small but comfortable and compare favorably with the Transformer series.Battery:Battery life is what is expected from a ARM based tablet. The tablet itself with light "coffee shop" usage has lasted about 10 - 12hrs over the past few days. I have not had time to test battery life with the keyboard dock.Software:Windows RTREMINDER: This version of Windows 8 has broad hardware support for bluetooth and USB devices. However, it does not support x86 windows software. The only method for adding software is via the Windows Store. In addition the desktop mode in Windows RT is only usable by Office 13 and a few other parts of the operating system that have yet to be converted to a Modern UI (Metro) style. As a customer if you buy an RT device (VivoTab RT, Surface RT, ATIV Tab, XPS 10, etc) with this in mind - you we be very happy with the experience. If the assumed or intention is to run a preexisting library of software or to install new desktop UI applications then this is not the operating system or family of devices for you. The VivoTab, Surface Pro, ATIV Smart PC, Envy x2 are what you seek.The operating system itself is well put together, and Modern UI has a strong cohesive design style that Android tablets lack. This makes navigating the operating the operating system and applications very enjoyable to use.The speed is adequate and is comparable in responsiveness the the iPad2 and Transformer Infinity Pad.Presently the Windows Store section while large has few big name applications that people used frequently. This should change in the near future as more applications are announced and developed.