CHEAP USB Extension cable for the ASUS Transformer

The usb cable supplied with the ASUS Transformer is very short . Ive found that in order to use an extension cable you need to have a USB 3 spec cable.

Easily found on Amazon I got this one(2M USB 3.0 Extension Cable, Blue) for £3.39 delivered and it works a treat. One end in the power pack and one end connected to the ASUS USB cable and..... Bob's yer uncle and Fanny's yer Aunt.

EUREKA......A spare cable and power pack for the ASUS Transformer.

Great news , Asus are finally stocking spare connector and power pack for the ASUS Transformer. Price is £25.99 if you use the code SUMMERSALE which gives £5 off. Thanks to the guys on the MoDaCo forums for posting this info.


Its a real relief to have the connector as it means that a possible point of failure , the breaking or loss of the cable could
have bricked the tablet , has gone away.






The spares can be found at this link to  the ASUS site

We are going to Greece on holiday at the weekend , so not wanting to risk my Asus Transformer to the flight , the suncream , lager and sand I fired up the Samsung Netbook NC10 to load it with movies .

You know I really like the netbook, no compromises or dicking about with apps and video codecs , just load it up and it works

Video players

The stock video player is a bit choosey over which formats it will play. It doesn't like DIVX it doesn't like MKV. The video player is hidden inside the gallery and  only shows thumbnails for the video format which it supports, in my case a disappointingly small number.  I had visions of having to re-code all of my videos.

But not at all I installed MOBOPLAYER and QQPLAYER from the Android market and thankfully they work well DIVX and MKV work faultlessly.

A slight problem is that neither Moboplayer nor QQPlayer allow the user to select the MicroSD card as the media folder. They wont browse to the microsd card.

 

The work around is to use a File explorer (I use ASTRO file manager) to set up some short cuts and to navigate to the files.

 

Then tap the file, a drop down menu appears choose from the list of players and launch the file.

Using the HDMI

To attach the ASUS Transformer to a TV you will need a miniHDMI cable. I got mine from EBAY and it works well. I'm of the opinion that digital cables are much of a muchness .As it’s a digital signal you don’t need a big fat pure copper cable that the HIFI zealots insist on for good analogue reproduction. The advert on EBAY said that the cable was 1.3 HDMI specification and as its on the internet I believe that its true.

I actually ended up buying two cables as the first one was 1.5m which is ok to play movies onto the Plasma screen with the tablet sitting next to the TV ,but not so good to play Angry Birds on the big screen whilst still holding the device, you are just too close. Do yourself a favour get a longer cable (3m )  , turn the volume up sit back from the screen so that you don’t pop your retinas ,and see Angry Birds on a 42 inch screen.

I love EBAY the cables cost £1.99 for the  1.5m and £8.95 for the  3m. (search for mini hdmi cable)

Plug one end into the socket on the left had side of the tablet and the other into a spare HDMI socket in the TV , the tablet automatically dims its screen and sends sound and picture to the TV. It works really well with movies playing as smooth as a Fishes chin. 

You have to try Angry Birds on a big screen , wait until Mum or the wife is out and crank up the volume

Headset connector :Connect Microphone and Headset to Android Tablet

The ASUS Transformer has a 3.5mm  socket to allow a headset to be connected. Your bog standard headphones connects as usual . However the socket  is the same hole that you would use to connect a microphone. So to connect both headphones and microphone, such as the two 3.5mm jacks found on some Skype headsets , you need an adaptor.

It took me a while to find one at reasonable price there are a couple a white connectors and one called the Headset buddy which are around £10 to £14(no buddy of mine)  Be careful most of the adaptors available are designed to split the headphone output into two, and so allow two headphones to listen to the same music, this wont allow mike and headphone to work together.

I found this one on amazon costs around £5 delivered, called the Sandberg Headset convertor and does the job.

SKYPE new version NO VIDEO what a bummer.

I have waited with interest for the new version of SKYPE to be released. The existing version supports audio calls and although the format of the screens do not make full use of the tablet screen resolution , the audio calls do work.

So today I downloaded the update from the Android market and I am absolutely gutted and disappointed to discover that it doesnt support video calls on the ASUS Transformer. The ASUS transformer has a forward facing camera and a large screen but no apps available support video calls .

The tablet is designed to be an ideal mobile conferencing platform  and the fragmentation of the market and the immature development of applications is choking the format.

My windows netbook runs Skype with video it cost me £200. My HTC phone runs Skype with audio why do I want to use a bigger device to do just the same.

Another example of an own goal by Android

What a crock of Eartha Kitt .