What's up Prizefight fans?
I'm Brian Tong and this is a match-up between two Honeycomb tablets that won't break the bank.
It's a Prizefight punch-out between the Acer Iconia Tab and the Azus Eee Pad Transformer.
Now, our judges for this fight are senior Donald Taco Bell, senior associate editor, Eric "Shake and Bake" Franklin, and myself, Ring-A-Ling-A-Ding Tong.
We'll take all three judges'
blind scores and average them out to the nearest tenth each round.
The final Prizefight score will be an average of all rounds using the same decimal system.
We're putting in 6 rounds of work for this fight.
Round 1 is design.
The Acer Iconia Tab has a smooth body with a real nice metal finish and edges, but pick it up, this thing is the heaviest tablet on the market, weighing in at 1.69 pounds and trust me, you'll feel it.
Now the Azus Transformer has a nice weight to it and a classy design.
There's more screen and less
vessel and that's always a good thing, plus I like it's textured booty, that I could run my fingers on all day.
Azus takes the first round with 3.7 and Acer needs to hit the treadmill with a 3.3.
Next round is controls and user interface.
Both tablets are running Honeycomb so the look and feel is very similar.
The Acer Iconia Tab brings a physical rotation lock switch so you don't have to go into the software settings, plus including Dolby Mobile to tweak the audio settings is a nice addition.
Now, the transformer
has no lock switch but it was a volume rocker placed on the side which is perfect for a tablet primarily used in landscape mode.
It also has a built-in screen shot function so you won't need to download any third-party app and they've changed the navigation icons.
Now, I'm not really a fan of the virtual keyboard because including numbers makes it feel more crimped but it doesn't hurt it here.
Azus takes another round this time with a 4 and Acer gets a 3.7.
So after averaging two rounds, the Transformer now leads by 4/10 of a point.
Next round is features.
These two tablets have 16 gigs of storage, WiFi, and Bluetooth, and you won't find 3G or 4G on either of them.
But Acer brings the most connections you can find with HTMI and audio out, a microSD card slot on top, plus a mini USB, and a standard USB port.
The Transformer is lacking when it comes to ports.
You'll find audio out, a microSD card slot, the less common mini HTMI, and that's it.
But there's a port on the bottom that gives it its best feature.
The ability to
dock it to laptop keyboard.
It's a great option for an additional $150 and you'll get two USB ports, but we're still comparing these guys as tablets.
The Acer Iconia Tab takes round 3 with a 4, and the Transformer gets a 3.3.
Next round is web browsing and multimedia.
Both tablets are using the same browser support flash and have the same multimedia experience, which is a good thing.
HD video looked great on both of them, but what sets them apart is their cameras.
The Aconia
Tab has a 2-megapixel front facing camera and a 5-megapixel rare camera with flash that takes richer and more detailed pictures, but it's a little pickier with multimedia formats.
The Transformer offers a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera, and a 5-megapixel camera with no flash on the back, but taking advantage of the keyboard dock feature gives it a real advantage when web browsing.
We're calling this round tie at 3.7 points a piece.
So after averaging 4 rounds with just 2 left to go, we're locked in
dead heat.
Next round is performance.
These two tablets are snappy performers when you're navigating through Honeycomb and it feels like an identical experience when it comes to speed.
The Acer Iconia Tab was able to pump out 7.8 hours of juice in our test, and the Transformer squeezed 7.3 hours of juice, which is still respectable.
Now, neither of them were able to get close to Apple's 10-hour iPad battery life, but you'll be more than happy with these solid performers.
We've got another tie in this round, and the judges
called it even at 4 with just one more round left to go.
The final round that decides it all is value.
Acers Iconia Tab has specs that go neck and neck with the more expensive Motorola Xoom, but it's price point is a whole different story, $450.
It's $50 less than an entry level iPad 2 and is an excellent price for a Honeycomb tablet, but then there's the Azus Transformer that cuts the fat and brings a $400 Honeycomb tablet experience
with a solid 4 factor; bottom line, this a price point that will make consumers think twice.
The Transformer brings a big bang for the buck and gets a 4.7, and the Iconia Tab gets a 3.7.
So let's average out all 6 rounds and in a throw down, that was dead-even until the final round, the Azus Transformer takes this battle 3.9 to 3.7 and is your Prizefight winner.
Both of these tabs are Honeycomb experiences that do the platform proud, but it's the Azus Eee
Pad Transformer's price that puts it over the top.
I'm Brian Tong, thanks for watching.
We'll catch you guys next time on another Prizefight.
