X-bit labs

ASUS R1F – First Tablet from ASUSTeK Lab (page 3)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 07/03/2007 | 10:36 AM ]

Exterior Design and Ergonomics

The characteristic traits of ASUS notebooks can be spotted in the front view of this device. The gray plastic case grows thicker towards the display hinge. The angles are all smoothed out. A silvery band goes around the notebook, creating an impression of visual lightness.

A metallized logo of the manufacturer is set in the middle of the lid.

The display lock is double-sided and is opened by means of a push button.

The lock looks aesthetical and it has to be double-sided due to the necessity to fix the lid when the notebook is closed (with the matrix down) as well as in the tablet mode (with the matrix up). The display hinge is stiff, so the notebook is unlikely to unfold on your pressing the push button accidentally. The lid wobbles just a little bit, but this is a common problem of all tablet PCs we’ve ever dealt with.

The rear part of the lid, closer to the hinge, is painted a darker shade of gray. There is an external group of indicators there (from right to left):

• Power (alight when the notebook is turned on; blinking when in power-saving mode; off when the notebook is turned off or in sleep mode)
• Battery (alight when the battery is being recharged; off when the battery is charged or fully discharged; blinking when the battery charge is less than 10% and the notebook is not connected to the mains)
• Bluetooth (alight when the Bluetooth interface is enabled)
• Wireless (blinking when the integrated WLAN adapter is sending or receiving data packets)