Asus Eee Pad Slider SL101 tablet review

Asus has followed up its critically acclaimed Eee Pad Transformer hybrid tablet with another Android Honeycomb offering that also aims to bridge the gap between netbooks and tablets.

The Asus Eee Pad Slider combines a 10in form factor with a slide-out keyboard. Although it has some brilliant features, such as the high-quality screen and lavish connectivity, it is ultimately let down by a poorly made keyboard and a high price tag.

Design is hit and miss
In an attempt to differentiate the Slider from other 10in tablets, Asus has rounded the edges of the display, making the device both attractive to look at and  comfortable to hold. With a size of 273x180x17mm and a weight of 960g, the Slider is around 300g heavier than similar sized tablets such as the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. This is hardly surprising given the device's integrated keyboard, and it is impressive that Asus has managed to keep the weight under the 1kg mark.

The Slider's specifications are impressive. The chassis is crammed with high-end components including the ever-present Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 32GB of internal storage. But the star of the show is its LED-backlit display. The 1280x800 resolution screen provides excellent movie playback and crisp, clear images when browsing the web and looking at documents. The display felt very steady after we snapped it into place and the wide viewing angle is impressive, but we would have liked to have been able to tilt the screen backwards or forwards.

The cable connecting the monitor to the chipset is also exposed behind the panel, which is a bit worrying. If something becomes wedged or tangled in this space or if liquid is spilt on the device there could be serious problems.