Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 1.1 x 7.3 inches ; 1.4 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
- ASIN: B004U78628
- Item model number: TF101 DOCKING
List Price :
Price : $133.95
You Save : $26.04 (16%)
Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Some things are meant to go togetherEasily switch between tablet and PC mode with the docking station designed especially for the Eee Pad Transformer. The station not only extends the tablet's battery life up to 16 hours1 but also features added functionalities which include a near full-sized QWERTY keyboard, a multi-touch touchpad, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and a 4-in-1 SD card reader.
Key Features
- Enhance productivity with the docking station's 92% sized QWERTY keyboard that adds additional 6.5 hours of battery life, to instantly turn the Transformer into PC mode with up to 16 hours of battery life. 1
- 4-in-1 SD card reader lets users transfer files between their devices and the tablet quickly, easily and safely.
- Large sized multi-touch touchpad is not only comfortable to use but supports intuitive gesture inputs.
- Connect mice, keyboards, USB memory sticks and USB HDDs to the tablet with the docking station's 2 USB 2.0 ports for enhanced computing experience.
Relax, ASUS Has You Covered Ranked as the 1 most reliable PC brand by 3 independent sources2, readers and editors alike choose ASUS as their trusted notebook and netbook. We tirelessly strive to exceed expectations of quality to ensure you an unmatched peace of mind every time you start your PC.
We also back our commitment with the industry's most comprehensive warranty.
- 1 year North America warranty
- Free one-way standard shipping
- 24/7 tech support
What's in the Box
Specifications
- Input/Output: 2 x USB 2.0
- Card Reader: 1 x 4-in-1 Card Reader / MMC / SD (SDHC/SDXC)
- Battery: 24.4 W/h Li-polymer battery (up to 6.5 hours)1
- Dimensions: 10.67" x7.28" x 1.1" inches (W x D x H)
- Weight: 1.41 lbs (with battery)
- Color: Espresso
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Asus Keyboard/Docking Station for Eee Pad Transformer easily switch between tablet and PC mode with the docking station designed especially for the Eee Pad Transformer. The station not only extends the tablet's battery life up to 16 hours1but also features added functionalities which include a near full-sized QWERTY keyboard, a multi-touch touchpad, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and a 4-in-1 SD card reader.
Technical Details
- Transform your Eee Pad TF101 Into A Netbook Size PC with keyboard, extra ports and extra battery life
- Attaches securely to the Eee Pad TF101 via a 40-pin docking port
- Chiclet Keyboard (92% of full size = netbook size); Multi-Touch Touchpad; 2 x USB 2.0 Ports; SD Card Reader
Costumer Reviews
I've had this keyboard for 2 days now. The build quality on the keyboard itself is great and really makes your transformer look like a netbook. There is no flex in the keyboard which I have seen on my expensive laptops. It is only 8% smaller than a standard keyboard so it's been pretty easy for me to type on. In fact I'm typing this review from my keyboard now. The chicklet keys are great and make it much easier to figure out which key your finger is on. The usb ports recognize my ntfs formatted usb hard drive. I don't have an SDXC card to test it out but from what I'm seeing it should be able to read those cards to giving you a big boost in memory in case you could only pick up the 16gb Transformer like most people so far. The trackpad is nice and responsive but a bit too sensitive. I have found my thumbs inadvertantly hitting the trackpad, but you can disable the trackpad and use a usb mouse or bluetooth mouse with your transformer, pluss the touchscreen still works great. There are plenty of dedicated android buttons. Including a screenshot button brightness, volume, media player wifi, bluetooth, home screen, internet, and menu buttons. Having the ctrl buttons are great when I'm using splashtop to control my PC from my Transformer. Too bad it's missing a recent apps key, but that's always on your screen to click anyway.
Now to the software glitches that keep me from giving this five stars. There are times I've had the keybaord stop responding and have had to remove the transformer and put it back in to get it back on. Also it inadvertantly disables wifi even though my finger was nowhere near that key. Others are having this issue to, and disabling the trackpad seems to reduce the frequency by which it happens, and we're hearing Asus has already heard of the issue and is looking into it. This should be able to be fixed with software considering the keyboard itself even has it's own firmware.
Also another thing to note is that since the Transformer is heavier than the dock it is a bit screen heavy but Asus seems to have alleviated most of this issue with the way that the whole part that connects to the transformer itself also protudes out the bottom to act as a stand to angle the keyboard and help shift some of the weight.
Overall it's a great accessory. Adds 7 hours of battery life, holds your screen up for you, has 2 usb ports and a full size SD card slot. It's obvious Asus really thought about the design of this dock, and it wasn't simply designed to be an added keyboard, but to give your Transformer that netbook feel with a screen that is better than any I've seen on a netbook.
Update 5-9-2011
I've been using the keyboard for 5 days now and wanted to post an update to the software issues I mentioned. For some reason mine have seen to gone away. I can leave the trackpad enabled and have no issues with it losing keyboard or trackpad connectivity, and it's stopped randomly disabling the wifi, so I upped my rating to 5 stars.
Update: 6-11-2011
Been over a month with the keyboard. Asus has an update to the keyboard firmware that fixed a few issues the keyboard was having. I wish there was a battery meter built in on the dock, but there are some widgets out over at XDA that handle this. Keyboard still types very solidly. The battery on the keyboard is great. Sometimes I'll charge just the dock so I can use the tablet away from the wall, then when the dock is done charging plug the transformer into the dock and charge while typing away with buddies on google chat. I probably dock and undock my keyboard over 3-6 times a day and the mechanism is still solid and works very well. This is a great sign since Asus has said this keyboard dock will work with future transformer tablets. That's great knowing I can use my most expensive and favorite accessory going forward.
I finally got my Transformer companion piece, the TF101 Keyboard/Docking Station. I preordered it on amazon.ca and memory express and the latter called me yesterday to let me know it had arrived. I heavily used the tablet itself for 2 weeks before having the docking station, and I've been using it docked for 2 days now.
The docking station turns your tablet into a netbook that weighs a bit under 3 pounds (the keyboard weighs 1.4 pounds by itself). The two fit together easily and there's a slider lock that locks it into place. Even when docked, you can still use the touchscreen for everything except the touchscreen keyboard. The Function keys are all optimized for Android OS and boy, they're handy. You can toggle Wi-fi and Bluetooth on/off, adjust the screen brightness, access your browser, search on Google, access the Settings, all with its dedicated key. The chiclet style keyboard is 92% of full-size keyboards and the keys are very responsive. Same goes for the trackpad. Sometimes it can be a bit too responsive depending how hard you press against it.
There are 2 USB ports that are accessible via a piece that flaps open but it seems to be a magnet-like piece, so be ready to use your nails to pull it out. I bite my nails and it was a bit hard to get to them, but nothing major. I tested the USB ports with various devices: USB portable hard drive (1TB) and a 16GB USB drive. I posted a few pics on this page for you to see.
I also used a bluetooth mouse (Logitech M505) and it worked flawlessly. The external drives were recognized immediately and icons pop up at the bottom of the screen to inform you that an external hard drive has been plugged in. You can either access it right away (and that will take you to File Manager, which is the Windows Explorer of Android) or unmount them. But you need to remember to unmount the drives before disconnecting them, at all times. If you unplug it without clicking on the unmount icon, Honeycomb might freeze up for a few seconds. It looks like it's a bit lost, hehe. So make sure you always unmount your device before unplugging it and all is well. This is something that can be addressed in future firmware updates.
I want to emphazise that having the option to attach all these external drives and being able to access them in File Manager makes the tablet a device for creation. You're now able to copy, paste, move all those files from the tablet to the drives and vice versa. You can have a Word or Excel file saved on the USB and you can quickly open them using Polaris Office (pre-installed on the tablet). You can edit these files and save them onto your usb drive, your external hard drive or even a SD card. If you don't have any of those and you want to save it onto the microSD card, that's fine too. This was one of my pet peeves with the iPad, since it's a device that allows you to access and play media and stuff, but you can't alter, edit, move, paste, etc (unless you are connected to iTunes via a PC or Mac). The Transformer gives you the option of using it on its own with no strings attached.
All of a sudden I'm able to back up files from my USB onto my external hard drive on-the-go, without the need of a PC or Mac. I must say there's a bit of a learning curve for some people when accessing File Manager since the folder system might look confusing to some in the beginning. But it's something you can grasp within hours, if you're an iOS person who's not used to Android. That freedom of being able to edit files that easily, that's pretty neat.
Bluetooth/wireless mouse worked without a problem, but I haven't used it that much. I heard it stops working sometimes and you need to undock the tablet in order to make it work again. That has not happened to me yet. We shall see. A lot of the issues that people may face with Honeycomb will get fixed with firmware updates in the coming weeks or months. But these minor issues don't affect the overall experience. It just shows a promising OS that's still maturing. The Motorola Xoom received its Android 3.1 update today, and we'll be getting the same update in a week or two.
I still need to mention one of the most important features imo: battery life. The keyboard has an extra battery that will add 6.5 extra hours to your battery life. So now you got 16 hours of battery life with your netbook combo. Other devices like the Blackberry Playbook are now getting keyboard docks because Asus came up with this idea but I don't think they'll have a battery built in. And this feature is really, really important, especially if you don't like charging multiple devices all the time, you know you can count on those extra hours if you get stuck somewhere in the boonies where you can't charge it. Fyi, the tablet will always be 100% charged and the docking battery will be the one getting depleted, provided they're always connected.
Minor issues with the keyboard: the keyboard stopped working a couple of times when I was scrolling down the trackpad using two fingers. It also disabled wi-fi while I was doing that same thing. I was reading an article and doing 2 finger scrolling and I experienced a few glitches, and I've read that others have also experienced similar things so it looks like it will need a future update to address this issue.
Ok, so recapping:
Pros: Physical QWERTY keyboard, responsive trackpad that can be toggled off if you keep bumping into it, Honeycomb-specific function keys, 2 USB ports, 1 SD Card reader, connector between Transformer and dock, "net-tablet" on the go, portability, and another battery that adds 8 hours to get a total of 16 hours of battery life.
Cons: keyboard might be a bit small for people with big hands, it might be difficult to dock/undock, Shift Key is a bit small, no Alt key on the left side, it might feel heavy for some people, 2 finger scrolling can disable wi-fi, the arrow keys can't be toggled off.
I tried to think of all the pros and cons that came to mind, if you have more, please add them in the comments section below. I do think this device adds lots to your Transformer, so I gave it 5 stars.
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