There are plenty of 10' Android tablets coming onto the market this year, and a handful of Android 'netbooks' with keyboards.
The rather clever Asus Eee Pad Transformer gives you the choice of both, plus extra-long battery life.
On its own, the 10.1 WXGA tablet (which has a resolution of 1280 by 800 for the extremely glossy and fingerprint-attracting screen) will get eight hours of battery, thanks to the dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.
As well as the usual Wi-Fi n and Bluetooth it has GPS and multiple sensors (including ambient light). Connect it to the QWERTY keyboard base and you get an extra eight hours of battery.
The Eee Transformer connects to the keyboard through a docking port on the bottom of the screen, and there's a high lip at the back and a lower one in front to hold it in place and act as the hinge; when you want to grab it back off again, you slide the large latch and it pops out.
CONNECT: The Transformer is thin and sleek, with a central docking port to connect to the keyboard
This seems reasonably sturdy and robust and we had no problem sliding it in place and popping it back out. The lip at the back also helps balance the weight of the screen so it doesn't all tip over backwards.
The curved corners and slightly angled bezel match the sleek lines and curved corners of the tablet section, which has a waffle-patterned back to give you more grip (the less obvious dot pattern around the edge of the screen echoes the texture).
HINGE: The tablet slides between these two supports - on the left is the sliding latch
Asus doesn't have the final weight for the keyboard; it feels similar to the 680 gram screen (a little heavier with 3G) but even together they're lighter than many netbooks (which these days are packing a hard drive and fan to weigh them down, as well as a hefty battery). Even with the keyboard attached, the Eee Pad Transformer is still thin (it's 13mm on its own) and the keyboard also protects the screen handily when it's in your bag.
EIGHT HOURS: The keyboard base doubles the battery life
The 1.2 megapixel camera is placed so it's on the top of the screen when it's docked in the keyboard and the 5 megapixel camera on the rear is behind it; that may not be as convenient for taking photos but it makes sense to use the keyboard as a stand if you're doing a video call rather than having the tablet shake around in your hands.
TEXTURE: With the keyboard in place, the Asus Transformer looks rather like a netbook with an extra camera
The keyboard base also has more ports; the Transformer gives you a microSD slot (which supports SDHC), mini HDMI and the docking port, but the two USB ports are on the keyboard (hidden away behind covers), along with a full size SD/MMC memory card slot.
As well as the physical volume and power buttons there's a rotate button - but no sign of the physical buttons some OEMs like Toshiba still have on their Honeycomb prototypes. Of course the familiar Home, Back, Search and Menu buttons are still on the keyboard.
BUTTONS: Power, volume and rotation
There's also a touchpad on the keyboard base, which may be more convenient than reaching across to the touch screen all the time, and a row of function keys above the number keys, to turn Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the touchpad on and off and control volume and media playback (the keyboard on the Asus Slider is similar, but doesn't have the touchpad or the function keys).
What you don't get - and what you'll tend to find yourself expecting because of the netbook form factor and the fact that there's a Ctrl button on the keyboard - are keyboard shortcuts like copy and paste.
SLIDE IN: The Transformer slides into place and locks
Unless you're Motorola, the Honeycomb tablet you're showing off at CeBIT is a prototype. That's certainly the case for the Transformer that we got to try out; the hardware looks very polished but the software isn't finished and still had a number of bugs and issues; it wouldn't run the Zinioe Reader software or most videos (although the Transformer will have Flash and play 1080p HD video when it ships) and didn't have final features like Android Marketplace or the 3D Google maps.
3D MAPS: Honeycomb will come with a new version of Google Maps but it's not on the prototype we looked at
What Asus was mainly showing off was the ability to customize multiple home screens with widgets, using Asus's standard oak tree background image, the new on-screen taskbar and the automatic rotation as you turn the tablet.
TASKBAR: The new look of Android 3, with taskbar, on the Asus Transformer
Asus marketing manager John Swatton told TechRadar that the Asus Eee Transformer UK release date would be in the second quarter (maybe as early as April but probably not before Computex in May) with Honeycomb, although he suggested that it might also get a subsequent update to give it a custom Asus interface.
CUSTOMISED WIDGETS: Honeycomb home screens in action
While the Asus Eee Transformer price hasn't been finalised, he told us it's likely to cost between £379 and £399, depending on the amount of storage (16, 32 or 64GB) and whether it includes 3G or just, with a probable £479 price tag for a bundle including the keyboard.
FUNCTION: The extra functions on the keyboard, including switching to an external screen
COVERED: The cover protecting the USB ports on the keyboard
NETBOOK: Transformer and keyboard together
SD CARD: The full-size SD slot on the keyboard
ON SCREEN: The Android 3.0 keyboard fits the screen
TWO IN ONE: Transformed back from netbook to tablet
