Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 Mobile Docking

Ok, so I just received the keyboard/docking station yesterday. I followed the directions in the (very) small manual that came with the keyboard and charged it for 8 hours. I played with it last night and now I'm writing this review with the keyboard itself.Starting off, when you dock the tablet into keyboard is when you notice the weight. It definitely adds some heft to the tablet; granted, the weight is mostly the battery, which is why you get an extra 10 or so hours with the keyboard. This may be a turn off for some people, but it doesn't really affect me.When I put my tablet down last night, I simply closed it. This turned off the screen (and I've set my tablet to turn off the wireless when it is asleep, so that was off too), and when I woke up I opened the tablet/keyboard and it sprang right to the home screen. Now, when I went to bed the dock battery was a around 90%; but when I opened it it was at 39%. That's quite a bit of a drain for just sitting there. The manual stated that it would take a few charging cycles for the battery to handle a full charge, so we'll see how that goes and I will update this review accordingly.Now onto the keyboard itself. This is a 90% size keyboard, so it is a bit smaller than a standard 101-keyboard. I have large hands, so typing on here is a bit uncomfortable. If I had slightly smaller hands it would be more comfortable for me to type. Plus, I usually pound-away on a keyboard (I type anywhere between 80 to 100 wpm, depending on how warmed up I am and what type of rhythm I'm in); since this is a chiclet-style keyboard I feel that I'm going to break it if I type at my full speed & force, so I feel that I need to be careful when typing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I just feel that I need to use a softer touch when typing.The mouse pad is centered on the bottom of the keyboard. You have to be "careful" with it because it is "SUPER SENSATIVE." In typing this review I've had to relocate the cursor a few times from accidentally brushing up against the touch pad. (I am now typing with my hands raised (as is proper) to keep from brushing up against the touch pad again.) Also, if you have not changed the mouse pointer speed in the settings, the default setting may be too fast for you. I know that when I first used the mouse, the cursor moved so fast I couldn't see it. Take a look at the pics I added this Amazon entry on how to change the pointer speed. (I am using Android version 4.0.3.)The keyboard layout itself has pretty much everything you'll need. Tablet controls are at the top of the keyboard (where the function keys would be), allowing access things like Wireless, Bluetooth, Brightness, Volume, etc. At the bottom of the keyboard are the Home and Menu keys (where the Windows and/or Function keys on a standard MS/Win keyboard would be; or the Apple keys for a Mac).There are two USB port, one on each side of the keyboard at opposite corners. This is great as it makes it easy to add two USB accessories. (The only thing is, most cases seem to cover one - if not both - of the USB ports; so be careful on your selection of covers/cases.) The full-sized SD card slot is on the right-hand ("bottom") side of the keyboard. Do be careful if you rest your hands near there - the SD card protrudes slightly from slot, so you may inadvertantly eject it. (I have not so far, it is just a warning.)The charging slot is on the ("upper") left-hand side of the keyboard. (Again, most cases will cover, or partially cover, this port.) There is also a little LED light positioned next to the port to show level of charge. I do think that ASUS could have been a little more intelligent in setting up the function of this light. It is green at 95% and higher; orange from 10% to 95%, and start blinking after that. Now, in my opinion, and 85% range is a rather large range for one color to show the state of the charge. Maybe change it so that the green shows at 50% or 75% and above (I'd prefer 50%, myself), and then go to orange.Now, while it may seem that I have complained about a few things, I am still giving this keyboard a 5-star rating. This keyboard is the reason I purchased the ASUS Transformer (extra battery life, extra SD card slot, and keyboard all-in-one), and there really isn't much of anything that I'd change (basically just the charge-state setting for the charge light). Currently I am very happy with this purchase and I recommend it to anyone that has purchased an ASUS Transformer.*****Update - 04/22/2012Ok, so now that I've had it for a few days and I've been charging and discharging it (leaving running to drain the battery), I am definitely seeing an increase in the battery life! With on & off use throughout the day and leaving it asleep (as opposed to off) at night I am starting to struggle to get the batteries to fully discharge...hehe. I'll be starting some classes in the fall semester (end of August), so we'll see how the batteries hold up to a couple of classes and I'll again update then.(Btw, I'm still trying to adjust to the smaller keyboard with my fat fingers.)

**UPDATED 8/1/2011** Rough Start BUT Now a Great Accessory!As the title states, this is an update to my initial review of the Asus TF Keyboard Dock. You can continue reading below (and the additional comments) for the full back-story, but to summarize:Asus's initial release of this dock had a hardware "defect" (in my opinion) that allowed the battery in the dock to fully discharge. Once discharged, the battery would no longer accept a charge.They have since corrected this using the more recent builds (I've heard serial numbers starting with B06 and higher) - PLUS they've also added a firmware fix that allows the user the ability to choose between longer battery life on the dock or having it constantly charge the TF tablet (while sleeping).With both fixes I am no longer experiencing any issues with my dock and have once again been able to really use and enjoy my Transformer tablet and dock. Having the ability to go so quickly and easily from a tablet to a 'netbook' really makes the Transformer stand out from the crowd. I've tried a few of the hybrids out there (i.e. Dell Duo) and nothing comes close to the Transformer Tablet and Keyboard Dock combo!My only nit is that I wish they had some sort of low level LED light under the keyboard to help better see the keys in the dark, but that's just something *I* would like and doesn't take away from my 5-star rating.It was nice to see Asus actually responding to this issue, getting fixes out there, and support the early adopters that received the first round of hardware.**ORIGINAL REVIEW 5/19/11** "DEAD after 7 days and 2 charges.."As the title states, my keyboard dock "died" after it's first week and only 2 charges.It will no longer accept a charge and the LED just continues to blink orange. Ironically, I am still able to charge the Transformer itself through the dock, but it appears that the battery in the dock itself has gone belly up.To add insult to injury, Asus is EXPECTING customers to pay shipping costs to do an RMA on a brand new product. No thanks! It looks like I'll have to wait for them to come back in stock on Amazon or elsewhere and then just do a return of this one.I really don't like giving out 1 star reviews, but given my own experience with this dock and Asus support - plus anecdotal evidence from others with the same experience in the XDA forums, I think folks should be made aware of the potential build quality.It is unfortunate because the keyboard and trackpad themselves on this dock are WONDERFUL!! The keys feel great for typing and the trackpad is very response (w/o being over-responsive where you wind up with false 'clicks' all the time). Plus the whole concept of being able to snap your tablet in and out of the keyboard dock is brilliant.If it were not for the quality issues - i.e. the battery (or charging system) dying within the week - and the horrible support from Asus, this would be FIVE STAR item. However, at this point it's simply a crap shoot on whether you'll get a decent item or not.*** UPDATE: JUNE 19, 2011 ***Well, my second dock is now dead also..I returned the first one to Amazon (was w/i my 30 days) and waiting to order a new one. Finally caught them in stock and had a new dock shipped on 5/31. I plugged it in to charge when it arrived and over the course of the 8 hours, the LED when from a stead red/orange to green. I docked my TF and everything was fine.Under normal usage everything would worked fine - the battery would drain and then charge - no problems at all.HOWEVER - There appears to be BIG problem with these docks and I feel this is what is causing (or contributing to) my docks dying. These things have a constant drain on them when the Transformer tablet is attached - even if you power the tablet OFF. [...]I believe what is happening in my case is that the dock battery drains to a point where it will no longer accept a charge. In both cases, I had the tablet docked to the keyboard - powered OFF - and did not use it for a week or so. When I went to power it on, the tablet/dock had just enough juice to tell me that the battery was very low (I believe around 1%) and that it needed to be charged - and then it shut down.OK, fine, no problem. I plugged it in to charge and left it.The tablet charged up to 100% with no issues, however 72 hours later and again I have a keyboard dock with a constant blinking orange LED that will not charge. Again, I tried charging it with the tablet attached and without - no change. The adapter doesn't even heat up when trying to charge which again tells me that something in the battery on the dock is not accepting the charge.I'll go ahead and contact Asus per the comment they left on this review, but frankly this appears to be a design issue - where the tablet cannot be stored connected to the keyboard for an extended period of time without use.Unfortunately, I'm sticking with 1 star for this review until this problem is corrected because in my opinion this is a serious issue. Storing your Transformer, powered OFF, closed like a laptop should *not* break the keyboard dock.