Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 review

Modern tablets have cameras for many reasons, and taking holiday snaps isn't particularly one of them.

Having a camera gives developers more freedom to develop apps that use image capture as part of their functionality, whether by translating printed text into digital words or taking some quick snaps to manipulate in a casual editing app.

We've seen some truly excellent cameras on tablets recently – the best one being on the the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V, which still hasn't gone on sale in UK Vodafone stores.

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The iPad 2's camera sits further down the order, with its pitiful 0.7MP and 0.3MP efforts.

The Eee Pad Transformer has a 5MP rear sensor and a 1.3MP front-facing sensor for video chats.

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The results from our testing were hit and miss, and to be frank we were rather disappointed with the performance in both stills and video mode. Video is recorded at a respectable HD resolution of 1280x720, although the footage by no means has the appearance of high definition.

Frame rates are awful, too – if you check out our test video you can see that panning slowly produced some incredibly juddery footage. There haven't been many corners cut with this tablet, but the camera is one area we feel has been sacrificed to preserve that attractive price.

The iPad 2's sensors may be primitive, but at least they perform at a level you'd expect from a premium product. We can't imagine ever wanting to use the Transformer to record video.

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Still shots were acceptable in quality without being in any way, shape or form impressive. Colours were washed out, contrast was poor and sharpness was distinctly lacking.

You're not going to want to use this tablet to capture any lasting images, but it's perfectly good enough for app developers to work with. We can't see said developers using this tablet as their reference device, though.