Welcome back to another edition of tablet wars. This is where we pin two of the high-end tablets against each other. We don’t keep it to just Android either. We’ve done the iPad and iPad Mini as well as the Microsoft Surface Tablets. Today we have the Google Nexus 10, with all it’s pixels going up against ASUS’ budget Transformer pad, the TF300. These are both some great tablets, and you can’t go wrong picking either one of them. But in just a few minutes we’ll show you why one is better than the other, or they might be a tie. Let’s check it out.
Specifications
Google Nexus 10
The Nexus 10 is built by Samsung for Google to showcase it’s latest version of Android, which is Android 4.2 – Jelly Bean. The Nexus 10 is actually made out of plastic, does not have a removable battery, but there is a section around the battery that pops off. It appears that you can add a type of cover for the screen that snaps on from that section. You also have both a rear-facing camera and a front-facing one. On the front you’ll see two speakers on the left and right of the amazing screen. The screen has almost 300 pixels per inch. That blows Apple’s Retina display out of the water. And that’s just the hardware side.
Pros:
- The screen; it’s a 2560×1600 resolution giving you almost 300 pixels per inch
- Android 4.2; one of the first tablets to be running Android 4.2 – Jelly Bean
- Light weight, but not easily broken
Cons:
- The pixels; while that many pixels is nice to see, most apps are not configured to handle that high of a resolution (at the time of writing this)
- Battery life; while it is a 9000mAh battery, pushing that many pixels does take its toll on the battery
- No 3G or LTE version…..yet
ASUS Transformer Pad TF300
The little brother of the Transformer family. Not sure why it’s the “little” brother, but it is the cheaper brother of the Transformer Prime and Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700). The TF300 was launched as a “budget” version of the Transformer line. So it does have a keyboard dock that you can buy with the tablet that has a USB port and another battery inside. You’ve got two camera’s similar to the Nexus 10, along with the typical 10.1″ display. But it doesn’t not have as many pixels as the Nexus 10, about half actually. The TF300 is running Android 4.1 – Jelly Bean with ASUS’ custom skin which is not all that different from stock Android. It has a few customizations but not much.
Pros:
- Keyboard dock; that thing is pretty great and also extends your battery life to about 18 hours
- Quick updates; maybe not Nexus quick. But ASUS is still pretty quick about updating their tablets
- Android 4.1 – Jelly Bean pre-installed
Cons:
- An “okay” screen resolution
- Battery life is adequate
- Getting close to the end of its life cycle, unfortunately
Winner…
Is the Nexus 10, of course. It can do just about everything the Transformer Pad TF300 can do and more. It also has a much better display for around the same price. Not to mention that the Nexus 10 is running Android 4.2 which is the latest version of Android available. So double the RAM, double the pixels, and a much faster qual-core CPU, it’s the Nexus 10 hands down. But these are both great devices, so the choice is yours.