What Do You NOT Like About Your TF300T

[SEMIJim]

Howdy All,

My wife and I about a year ago bought a pair of Visio VTAB1008s. They have served us well, but we're thinking that we've found tablets sufficiently useful so as to justify upgrades.

Doing our homework, over the last 12 hours or so, it looks like the Asus TF300T is the price/performance tablet to beat. However, there are some things that give us pause:

• The plastic case is said by some to be "flimsy feeling." Tho nobody's reported a significant problem with it, other than creaking sounds when you hold/squeeze it in certain spots.
• The two speakers being on the back, and under your hand when you hold it certain ways. (Tho this is not such a big one for us.)
• The display not being terribly bright, and the glass surface being highly reflective. How's the visibility/readability in bright, direct sunlight? (The VTABs are just barely readable.)
• People reporting spots of backlight bleed-through around the edges of the display, which sounds to me like poor display QC or a result of weak case design?
• Poor customer support from Asus?

Thoughts? Experiences?

One thing that's really bad with our VTABs is the front-facing camera, for video chatting. It's horrible. I'm wondering how the TF300T's is for that?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[leeshor]

For the price I'm not certain what's not to like. The plastic case certainly looks and feels a tad cheap but I wouldn't call it flimsy just because it's plastic. As for the display you just can't beat the IPS+ of the Transformer Prime outdoors. I know 2 people who have purchased 300Ts in the last 2 weeks and it seems to suite them well but you do give up that IPS+ and the camera flash and a few other things. It's about the cost.

 

[Frederuco]

Glad you joined us here Jim!

I am going to go ahead and hit each of these:

• The plastic case is said by some to be "flimsy feeling." Tho nobody's reported a significant problem with it, other than creaking sounds when you hold/squeeze it in certain spots. I would not worry about this one too much. Reports are very few and far between
• The two speakers being on the back, and under your hand when you hold it certain ways. (Tho this is not such a big one for us.)You could get an iPad instead! Just kidding. My TF101 has separate speakers, but they are not that loud. The Prime and TF300 have better volume
• The display not being terribly bright, and the glass surface being highly reflective. How's the visibility/readability in bright, direct sunlight? (The VTABs are just barely readable.) If it is anything like the TF101, it is not really usable in direct sunlight. The TF201 (and upcoming TF700) are the best on the market for this. In the shade on a sunny day my TF101 is still OK.
• People reporting spots of backlight bleed-through around the edges of the display, which sounds to me like poor display QC or a result of weak case design?Backlight bleed is an issue on ALL IPS displays, even the iPad. Any device will have some if you crank the brightness, put up a dark screen and go in a dark room. But, who watches a movie with black borders in a dark room with the brightness full? My TF101 has some bleed, but not enough to bother me.
• Poor customer support from Asus? ASUS has horrible email support. Phone support is spot on. RMA's mostly go without an issue. I have heard 2 issues in the UK from damage at the service center that was blamed on the users, but the users claim they did not inflict. These issues are rare and I know hundreds of users who sent in their TF101 keyboard dock for a battery drain issue and I can only remember 1 who had an issue.

If I were buying today, I would get the TF300. But, I rarely use my TF in direct sunlight, and I have a DSLR so I almost never use my TF for a camera so a flash is not an issue. For $100 more you can get the TF201, but then you could (maybe 5-10% chance) of having WiFi or GPS issues because of the back. For $100 premium (rumored) for the TF700 that should be out in late June or early July in some markets. It has a faster processor and higher resolution screen. It should also get the IPS+

Some quick side by side specs:

The bottom line: Be sure to get your new tablet from a retailer with a good return policy. That way if you have issues, or do not like something, you can return it without worry.

 

[tazz3]

the 300 feels like the Tf 101 its light aand very soild iam posting from it right now .its a great tablet i got it over the 201
the wfi works great and the tablet is very stable....i got mine from amazon and i got the 32 gig for 380 dollars
but i wish it was 299 in stead of 399 thats the only down fall......