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CNET Reviews Android Atlas Asus Transformer Prime review: The best Android tablet yet? by Eric Franklin December 2, 2011 5:29 PM PST Follow @nidopal The Asus Transformer Prime connected to its keyboard dock. Never has a purple(ish) tablet looked so sexy.

(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)

Since the launch of theiPad 2, I've been waiting for the Asus Transformer Prime. While I didn't know it existed until a few months ago, just the thought of a powerful, robust, and sexyAndroidtablet has invaded my dreams for months now.

Well, maybe not my dreams, but at least my thoughts. The moment tablets start invading my dreams is the moment I'll know I'm spending too much time with tablets.

So, is Transformer Prime the tablet of my dreams thoughts? Its quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU definitely gets me excited, but it takes more than just raw speed to truly impress. Thoughtful design as well as well-implemented and useful features don't hurt either.

Throw in that intangible, "it just feels right" quality and you could be truly on the road to something special. Something that could be considered the best in its category.

Check out the Transformer Prime's full review to see how we considered it.

Transformer Prime's camera put through its paces (photos) 1-2 of 14Scroll LeftScroll Right

The Asus Transformer Prime in all its glory (photos) 1-2 of 8Scroll LeftScroll Right

Shop for products mentioned in this post on CNET.com:

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, gray) — $499.99

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, champagne) — $499.99

Eric Franklin Eric Franklin is senior editor covering monitors and tablets and also manages CNET's San Francisco testing lab. When not reviewing the latest products in his categories, he's usually gaming, system building (you know, desktop PCs), working out, or imagining himself as one of an interchangeable cadre of super-powered individuals performing really cool-looking actions in slow motion.

Follow @nidopal Topics: Reviews, Tablets Tags: Asus Transformer Prime, Tablets, Transformer Prime Review, Asus Transformer Prime Review, Tablet Reviews

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:30pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - "We are young despite the years," Michael Stipe sang 25 years ago in "These Days," trying to sound like an older man trying to sound younger. That line surely has a lot more resonance for the R.E.M. frontman now that he can sing it and mean it.

Meanwhile, fans have a fine excuse to return to the album that contained it, "Lifes Rich Pageant," a 1986 milestone that's getting the quarter-century anniversary deluxe treatment. Its defining alt-rock pageantry doesn't sound a day over 15 ... honest.

For fickle fans, "Lifes Rich Pageant" may be the easiest R.E.M. album to like -- and there are good reasons why it became their first gold record -- though diehard partisans would surely pick one of the later efforts as a favorite.

As the quartet's fourth album, it more or less marks the End of the Jangle Era. There's a deceptively forwardness to the opening track, "Begin the Begin," which, besides de-punning Cole Porter's pun, introduces the harder-edged guitar tones and more cutting vocal style that would replace their signature sound by the end of the '80s.

But for most of the rest of the original album's tracks, you still get Mike Mills' sweet background vocals and Rickenbackers galore. And what a glorious -- if, sure, slightly dated -- Roger McGuinn-goes-new-wave signature that was.

If the promise of a remastered "Fall On Me" isn't enough, the principal lure here is a bonus disc of demos recorded on the fly at an Athens, Georgia studio, well before some of the songs had been completed.

Stipe hums most of "I Believe" in place of actual lyrics, though that's not entirely different than his mumblecore vocal approach on preceding albums. You also hear Peter Buck experimenting with a wider variety of guitar sounds than he did on the finished album -- plus a few tracks that didn't make the final cut, and a lot of charmingly muffed chords on the ones that did.

So do you want to hear this seminal batch of material polished, or punky? This "Rich" two-fer gives you a choice. Ironically, the looser demo material is closer in spirit to the rougher sound the band has cultivated on underrated recent albums like 2008's high-spirited "Accelerate." They were so much older then, in the Rickenbacker years...they're younger than that now.

View the original article here

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:30pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - "We are young despite the years," Michael Stipe sang 25 years ago in "These Days," trying to sound like an older man trying to sound younger. That line surely has a lot more resonance for the R.E.M. frontman now that he can sing it and mean it.

Meanwhile, fans have a fine excuse to return to the album that contained it, "Lifes Rich Pageant," a 1986 milestone that's getting the quarter-century anniversary deluxe treatment. Its defining alt-rock pageantry doesn't sound a day over 15 ... honest.

For fickle fans, "Lifes Rich Pageant" may be the easiest R.E.M. album to like -- and there are good reasons why it became their first gold record -- though diehard partisans would surely pick one of the later efforts as a favorite.

As the quartet's fourth album, it more or less marks the End of the Jangle Era. There's a deceptively forwardness to the opening track, "Begin the Begin," which, besides de-punning Cole Porter's pun, introduces the harder-edged guitar tones and more cutting vocal style that would replace their signature sound by the end of the '80s.

But for most of the rest of the original album's tracks, you still get Mike Mills' sweet background vocals and Rickenbackers galore. And what a glorious -- if, sure, slightly dated -- Roger McGuinn-goes-new-wave signature that was.

If the promise of a remastered "Fall On Me" isn't enough, the principal lure here is a bonus disc of demos recorded on the fly at an Athens, Georgia studio, well before some of the songs had been completed.

Stipe hums most of "I Believe" in place of actual lyrics, though that's not entirely different than his mumblecore vocal approach on preceding albums. You also hear Peter Buck experimenting with a wider variety of guitar sounds than he did on the finished album -- plus a few tracks that didn't make the final cut, and a lot of charmingly muffed chords on the ones that did.

So do you want to hear this seminal batch of material polished, or punky? This "Rich" two-fer gives you a choice. Ironically, the looser demo material is closer in spirit to the rougher sound the band has cultivated on underrated recent albums like 2008's high-spirited "Accelerate." They were so much older then, in the Rickenbacker years...they're younger than that now.

View the original article here

Singer and songwriter Colbie Caillat arrives at the 59th Annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, California May 17, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:58pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - What's the most improbable duet pairing of all time? Probably Bing Crosby and David Bowie...still. But coming close behind would have to be the sun-drenched songstress Colbie Caillat and the socially conscious rapper Common -- unlikely bedfellows who join forces for "Favorite Song," a frothy tune on Caillat's third album, "All of You."

If Selena Gomez and Mos Def hook up next, we should not be surprised.

Mentioning Gomez in this context is not completely random. Caillat has been marketed as adult-pop, but the boat may have been missed in not making her summery music a staple of the tween- and young-teen-oriented Radio Disney playlist, even if she's a sweet older sister and not peer to that audience.

She's an evangelist for positivity; one number is even titled "Think Good Thoughts," and it's not being ironic. Even when what passes for romantic tragedy strikes, the blues hardly penetrate her SPF15 sunscreen.

On the scale of sunniness, this quintessential Malibu gal makes a fellow beachcomber like Jack Johnson look like Trent Reznor.

"All I want is for my dream life to be my real life," Caillat sings. "How could that be wrong? Oh yeah, this is life -- let's make it be what we want." These are sentiments well positioned for "Camp Rock 3," but instead of anthemic rock, you get the strummed acoustic guitars and double-tracked harmonies that recall the lighter side of the SoCal sound her dad, Ken Caillat, helped forge as Fleetwood Mac's producer in the '70s. When a Lindsey Buckingham-style lead guitar line drifts into the outro of "Shadow," it's a dead giveaway that this is one of the four songs co-produced by father and daughter.

John Shanks, who produced half her previous album, is back again, along with some hitmakers who are joining her for the first time, like One Republic's Ryan Tedder and Toby Gad. The plethora of producers doesn't mean there's much stylistic variation in the album, beyond the Tedder-co-written leadoff track, "Brighter Than the Sun," which has the kind of quickly strummed acoustic guitars and handclaps that suggest somebody's been ingesting some "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard."

Then there's the Common-ality of the reggae-flavored "Favorite Song," where the hip-hop artist either rises or reduces himself—depending on your viewpoint—to her effervescent level, not adding much more than an occasional "Turn it up, y'all." It's a cute enough earwig, like most of the dozen songs, though by her third album, you might be hoping for signs of depth.

You hate to forever define an artist by her breakout song, but Colbie Caillat's eternal "Bubbly"-ness doesn't leave much choice other than to worry about how easily the slightest sharp edge might pop the musical air ball in progress.

View the original article here

Singer and songwriter Colbie Caillat arrives at the 59th Annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, California May 17, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:58pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - What's the most improbable duet pairing of all time? Probably Bing Crosby and David Bowie...still. But coming close behind would have to be the sun-drenched songstress Colbie Caillat and the socially conscious rapper Common -- unlikely bedfellows who join forces for "Favorite Song," a frothy tune on Caillat's third album, "All of You."

If Selena Gomez and Mos Def hook up next, we should not be surprised.

Mentioning Gomez in this context is not completely random. Caillat has been marketed as adult-pop, but the boat may have been missed in not making her summery music a staple of the tween- and young-teen-oriented Radio Disney playlist, even if she's a sweet older sister and not peer to that audience.

She's an evangelist for positivity; one number is even titled "Think Good Thoughts," and it's not being ironic. Even when what passes for romantic tragedy strikes, the blues hardly penetrate her SPF15 sunscreen.

On the scale of sunniness, this quintessential Malibu gal makes a fellow beachcomber like Jack Johnson look like Trent Reznor.

"All I want is for my dream life to be my real life," Caillat sings. "How could that be wrong? Oh yeah, this is life -- let's make it be what we want." These are sentiments well positioned for "Camp Rock 3," but instead of anthemic rock, you get the strummed acoustic guitars and double-tracked harmonies that recall the lighter side of the SoCal sound her dad, Ken Caillat, helped forge as Fleetwood Mac's producer in the '70s. When a Lindsey Buckingham-style lead guitar line drifts into the outro of "Shadow," it's a dead giveaway that this is one of the four songs co-produced by father and daughter.

John Shanks, who produced half her previous album, is back again, along with some hitmakers who are joining her for the first time, like One Republic's Ryan Tedder and Toby Gad. The plethora of producers doesn't mean there's much stylistic variation in the album, beyond the Tedder-co-written leadoff track, "Brighter Than the Sun," which has the kind of quickly strummed acoustic guitars and handclaps that suggest somebody's been ingesting some "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard."

Then there's the Common-ality of the reggae-flavored "Favorite Song," where the hip-hop artist either rises or reduces himself—depending on your viewpoint—to her effervescent level, not adding much more than an occasional "Turn it up, y'all." It's a cute enough earwig, like most of the dozen songs, though by her third album, you might be hoping for signs of depth.

You hate to forever define an artist by her breakout song, but Colbie Caillat's eternal "Bubbly"-ness doesn't leave much choice other than to worry about how easily the slightest sharp edge might pop the musical air ball in progress.

View the original article here

Singer Blake Shelton performs on NBC's ''Today'' show in New York July 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:40pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - Everybody knows winners on TV music competitions have their albums rushed through production to capitalize on instant notoriety. But Blake Shelton may be the first judge on such a show to require his own rush job.

He wasn't scheduled to record his new album, "Red River Blue," until July, after the first season of "The Voice" wrapped. But the success of the NBC series -- or, more accurately, his success on the series -- meant pushing the release date to Tuesday, when he'd originally planned on entering the studio.

The process couldn't have been more hurried if he were your new American Idol. Which maybe he is.

Judge or no, Shelton might be the worthiest beneficiary of a TV talent show since...well, since his bride, Miranda Lambert, finished third on Nashville Star eight years back.

He's already been a borderline-superstar in the country community -- that is, most everywhere between San Bernardino and Hackensack -- but this, his eighth studio recording, might as well be his debut in country-resistant climes like Brentwood and midtown Manhattan.

It's a pretty decent starter course, and/or career summation, depending where you're coming from.

Newcomers may be slightly confused. Is he the lovable rogue who delights in the most politically incorrect gags and bawdy postings any mainstream star dares type on Twitter? Or the gentleman groom recently seen looking courtly on wedding-themed magazine covers? Both, of course, at least on record, where Shelton enjoys playing country music's Goofus and its Gallant.

His rascal side -- let's call it "Rake" Shelton -- gets a workout on "Get Some," the album's pickin'-est and grinnin'-est nod to irresponsibility. (Sample lyrics: "You get gas/You get beer/You get weird/You get drove home/You get up-thrown.") But some songs that threaten rambunctiousness disguise a morally conservative core.

"Drink On It" is not one of Shelton's rowdy odes to getting plastered, but a reasonably polite suggestion to a girl that they get to know each other over libations. (It contains one of the album's more memorable rhymes: "We can talk rocket science, Jesus, or politics/Hey, your boyfriend cheated on you?/Man, he sounds like such a prick.") "Good Ole Boys," a musical homage to Waylon Jennings, doesn't champion outlaw behavior but rather good manners, knocking baggy pants-wearing kids who "don't say ma'am or sir no more."

The ballads abandon these regional tropes. (The best, "Addicted," is only available on the iTunes/Walmart deluxe edition.) Lambert adds guest harmonies to the pleasingly rueful title track; apparently these two aren't afraid to jinx their honeymoon with a breakup lament.

Less successfully, Shelton indulges in a rare flirtation with goop on "God Gave Me You," a cover of a Christian rock power ballad that renders divine providence particularly bland. Naturally, it's the album's next single, but you have to wonder what Shelton's shadow Twitter side really makes of the song.

Is his sweeter persona taking over to cater to newfound TV viewers who might not care to kiss his country behind (to paraphrase a recent Shelton anthem)? Or is it a natural continuation of his late success with romantic ballads like "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking"? Has wedded bliss had a settling musical effect, too -- or did he just have too abbreviated a song-picking window to find any new rowdy classics?

If he's mellowing, it's hardly a fatal shift: Even a slightly tamed Shelton is still gratifyingly Goofus-y by other country hitmakers' standards.

View the original article here

Singer Blake Shelton performs on NBC's ''Today'' show in New York July 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

By Chris Willman

Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:40pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - Everybody knows winners on TV music competitions have their albums rushed through production to capitalize on instant notoriety. But Blake Shelton may be the first judge on such a show to require his own rush job.

He wasn't scheduled to record his new album, "Red River Blue," until July, after the first season of "The Voice" wrapped. But the success of the NBC series -- or, more accurately, his success on the series -- meant pushing the release date to Tuesday, when he'd originally planned on entering the studio.

The process couldn't have been more hurried if he were your new American Idol. Which maybe he is.

Judge or no, Shelton might be the worthiest beneficiary of a TV talent show since...well, since his bride, Miranda Lambert, finished third on Nashville Star eight years back.

He's already been a borderline-superstar in the country community -- that is, most everywhere between San Bernardino and Hackensack -- but this, his eighth studio recording, might as well be his debut in country-resistant climes like Brentwood and midtown Manhattan.

It's a pretty decent starter course, and/or career summation, depending where you're coming from.

Newcomers may be slightly confused. Is he the lovable rogue who delights in the most politically incorrect gags and bawdy postings any mainstream star dares type on Twitter? Or the gentleman groom recently seen looking courtly on wedding-themed magazine covers? Both, of course, at least on record, where Shelton enjoys playing country music's Goofus and its Gallant.

His rascal side -- let's call it "Rake" Shelton -- gets a workout on "Get Some," the album's pickin'-est and grinnin'-est nod to irresponsibility. (Sample lyrics: "You get gas/You get beer/You get weird/You get drove home/You get up-thrown.") But some songs that threaten rambunctiousness disguise a morally conservative core.

"Drink On It" is not one of Shelton's rowdy odes to getting plastered, but a reasonably polite suggestion to a girl that they get to know each other over libations. (It contains one of the album's more memorable rhymes: "We can talk rocket science, Jesus, or politics/Hey, your boyfriend cheated on you?/Man, he sounds like such a prick.") "Good Ole Boys," a musical homage to Waylon Jennings, doesn't champion outlaw behavior but rather good manners, knocking baggy pants-wearing kids who "don't say ma'am or sir no more."

The ballads abandon these regional tropes. (The best, "Addicted," is only available on the iTunes/Walmart deluxe edition.) Lambert adds guest harmonies to the pleasingly rueful title track; apparently these two aren't afraid to jinx their honeymoon with a breakup lament.

Less successfully, Shelton indulges in a rare flirtation with goop on "God Gave Me You," a cover of a Christian rock power ballad that renders divine providence particularly bland. Naturally, it's the album's next single, but you have to wonder what Shelton's shadow Twitter side really makes of the song.

Is his sweeter persona taking over to cater to newfound TV viewers who might not care to kiss his country behind (to paraphrase a recent Shelton anthem)? Or is it a natural continuation of his late success with romantic ballads like "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking"? Has wedded bliss had a settling musical effect, too -- or did he just have too abbreviated a song-picking window to find any new rowdy classics?

If he's mellowing, it's hardly a fatal shift: Even a slightly tamed Shelton is still gratifyingly Goofus-y by other country hitmakers' standards.

View the original article here