Asus to sell $250 Transformer Prime, ICS for 10-inch Prime rolling out now By Will Shanklin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Milton, Delaware, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 25, 2012 -- If you thought that Amazon’s Kindle Fire was the most you could hope for in a $250 tablet, you may want to think again. Last night at CES, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang took the stage and gave us a couple of nice surprises. The first bit of news, that the Transformer Prime’s Ice Cream Sandwich update is rolling out now, was a good start. But the real whopper was that Asus will be releasing a seven-inch version of the Transformer Prime that will retail for a mere $249.

The smaller Prime doesn’t yet have a release date (or even an official name), but we do know that it will be arriving later this year. Like the full-sized Transformer Prime, it will pack a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and will have a resolution of 1280 x 800. When you consider that the smaller tablet will have the same number of pixels spread out over less real estate, it will have a sharp display. Its 216 pixels per inch will have it holding its ground against the upcoming generation of Retina display tablets (likely ushered in by the iPad 3).

The budget Prime will be the first device to run Nvidia’s new DirectTouch tech. Integrated into the Tegra 3 chip, it will take analog touch input (vibration, pressure, or heat) and directly convert it into digital input. This eliminates the middleman, so to speak, which should improve touch sensitivity and lead to a smoother overall tablet experience.

The smaller Prime’s real killer spec, though, will be its price. Many customers see the $500 Transformer Prime as a bargain, but a seven-inch version for $250 will be a steal. Millions of customers will still turn to the familiarity of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but this quad-core beast should easily outperform either of those budget tablets.

As for the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the original Transformer Prime, it was scheduled to arrive on Thursday, but is rolling out several days early. If you’re an owner of the tablet, you might want to check that software update menu option to see if your device is getting the OTA. If Asus (or the development community) releases a direct download, we’ll update to let you know. http://quickbiznet.com/minijobz.html