Asus has comfirmed that the official ship date for its new quad core Transformer Pad 300 tablet is April 22. The Android-based tablet - which is being positioned as a laptop replacement - will support 4G LTE connectivity.
The long-awaited tablet boasts a 10.1-inch screen and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, along with Google Android 4.0 (ICS).
Asus has yet to provide official pricing for the device; however, the tablet has been spotted for pre-order online at a cool $399 with 32 GB of storage and 1GB of memory.
The 300 is somewhat similiar to the Transformer Prime, but starts at a lower price. Buyers can opt for an optional keyboard dock that will expand battery life up to 15 hours (standard battery life is 10 hours). The 10.1-inch screen resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels and in addition to LTE, the tablet will support Wi-Fi and 3G networks.
Rounding out the hardware is an eight-megapixel rear camera and 1.2-megapixel front camera. The tablet is equipped with a micro-HDMI output to connect directly to the TV, as well as a microSD card slot for memory expansion.
Frankly, at a $400 starting price this entry-level tablet is probably unlikely to lure a huge number of buyers away from Apple's new iPad, as the cheapest version of the widly popular tablet starts at $500. It's not clear what the keyboard accessory will cost at this time, but will probably weigh in around the $80-$100 range.
