Asus MeMO, Transformer n Eyes on Asus

We didn't neglect to check out the Transformer, which when undocked was perhaps the thinnest tablet at CES. But the little MeMO's stylus-driven operation really caught our eye.

The silver bulge beneath the screen is actually a pop out stylus, which is not an active pen. But it does make for a fun doodle session on the MeMO's included paint app, especially with the pressure sensitive screen. In the paint program, a hard press results in a thicker stroke, while a light trace produces a thin line. It's simple and addictive. Though, TPCR was tempted to make the thickest stroke possible with a mighty press. We didn't for fear of getting breaking the screen and getting booted from the Asus suite.
Asus was coy in regards to text recognition, even though they are promoting the MeMO as having "hand writing capabilities." We didn't see much beyond the paint app, because once again, this was a preproduction unit. Perhaps the MeMO will ship with new-and-improved note-taking tech, something more than found on the Ipad and current Android tablets. We'd love to see it.

Eyes on Asus
We'll be watching the Taiwanese Eee Pad maker very closely in the months following this CES. With these devices, it seems Asus is poised to compete with the big names in the tablet game through the promise of innovative design choices and a commitment to capactive touch and pen input.