Asus unveils Transformer Prime Android tablet with quad-core power

Taiwanese computer manufacturer Asus has officially unveiled its Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first-ever Android tablet with the Tegra 3 quad-core processor that allows smart devices to provide stunning graphics and power efficiency at the same time.

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Asus is looking for any advantage it can to fight the Apple iPad 2, the Amazon Kindle Fire and top-tier Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The quad-core power of the Tegra 3, the new flagship processor from Nvidia that will help it transition into mobile chips, might be what Transformer Prime needs because the competition has dual-core chips. The Tegra 3 chip contains four cores plus an additional “companion core” that can handle small tasks and dramatically lower the power consumption of the entire chip.

On top of having a first-of-its-kind processor inside, the Transformer Prime features a 10-inch display with 1280-by-800 resolution, 1GB of RAM, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat and an 8-megapixel camera with flash on the back. It weighs 1.29 pounds, measures just .33 inches thin and Asus claims it will last 12 hours on a single charge. With these sort of specs, it sounds like the most powerful Android tablet yet.

The Transformer will be available in early December at two price points, depending on internal flash storage. The model with 32GB of internal storage will run $499, while the model with 64GB storage will cost $599.