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Asus is all set to unleash its Transformer Book Trio device in various world markets this November. In case you have joined in late, the said device from the Taiwanese manufacturer can be considered to be the amalgamation of a tablet, a desktop and a notebook in its various configurations, and hence the name Trio. Japan would be among the first countries that would be getting the device which is slated to hit the market there on 2^nd November for 139,800 yen or $1430. The actual cost of the Trio though is expected to be lesser when it arrives in the US market. The Transformer Book Trio is already available in the French market for 899 Euros which is approximately $1240. Its not known though when the device will eventually make it to the US markets.

For using the device as a tablet alone, the display will be required to be detached from the keyboard leaving the screen portion free as a tablet. This way, the device with its 11.6 inch display will make for a generous sized tablet. Also, a unique aspect of the Trio, apart from its three-in-one functionality, is that the OS in the standalone tablet mode is Android and when the keyboard is connected, it turns into full fledged laptop with Windows as the OS.

For using the device as a desktop, the user would need to connect the keyboard to any external display and the set up turns into a desktop. In such a set-up, the keyboard acts as the CPU and comes equipped with an Intel Haswell processor within it. It also houses a 4 GB RAM along with a 1 TB storage space. The keyboard also includes a battery pack of 33 Whr rating and like most other devices has WiFi, Bluetooth functionality besides also including USB, audio and video ports in it. The keyboard can well be called a laptop of its own accord with only the display screen absent.

The screen part which acts the tablet comes with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and is based on IPS technology to allow for wider viewing angles. It has an Intel Atom clover Trail+ processor at its core. Has 2 GB of RAM and storage of 54 GB. It also sports both front and rear cameras. There are the standard microSD expansion slot, WiFi and BlueTooth. It weighs 1.5 pounds while the keyboard section weighs 2.2 pounds, thereby making the total weight of the entire setup in laptop mode at less than 4 pounds.

Battery life with just the tablet is 5 hours with Windows as the OS but with the keyboard connected, it goes up to 13 hours with Android as the OS.

In first of its kind initiative in the field of new generation of space rockets, Japan has launched a new rocket that it hopes will be a cheaper and more efficient way of sending satellites into space.

Hoping the design will make missions more affordable, Japan has launched the Epsilon rocket which is about half the size of country’s previous generation of space vehicles, and uses artificial intelligence to perform safety checks.

The lift-off was broadcast live on television networks, with footage showing a white, pencil-shaped rocket shot into the sky from the launch pad after spurting grey smoke and orange flash.

The Epsilon cost USD 37m (£23m) to develop, half the cost of its predecessor, says Japan’s space agency Jaxa.

The three-stage Epsilon lifted off from a space centre on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, following a two-week postponement. It is noteworthy, an earlier launch last month was aborted 19 seconds before a planned lift-off due to a computer glitch.

About an hour later, its payload – the SPRINT-A, the first space telescope designed to observe other planets – was successfully put into orbit, said Mari Harada, a spokeswoman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.

Asus Transformer Book Trio to be Launched in Japan in November, No US Launch Date Revealed

Japan launches Epsilon rocket for shoestring space research

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