ASUS, as a technology manufacturer how do you follow up such a ground breaking gadget as the Transformer Prime ? You produce a smaller lighter and all-round cuter version of course. The first sightings are speculated to have happened at last month’s CES, with private back room demonstrations given to a select few by ASUS CEO Jerry Shen. Now Taiwanese website NCCC have apparently managed to get some pictures of the new Transformer. Initial impressions seem to suggest this is a 7″ version of the legendary Prime.

While many of the Technorati were distracted by the Apple v Samsung brew ha-ha ASUS managed to sneak up on them all and frankly put both of the headline grabbers to shame. The ASUS Transformer Prime not only captured everyone’s imagination with its catchy name but it also brought with it a number of firsts. By far the most powerful tablet on the market with its NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad core CPU and with useability off the charts thanks to its snap on keyboard with integrated battery the Prime is now the new standard in Android tablets and now Prime is getting a little brother.

Now it looks like the Prime is going to get a little brother. The model number does seem to suggest this new ASUS tablet is part of the Transformer family. The original Transformer used the model number TF101, the Prime was the TF201, logic should hold that the TF300T is a relative to the two original Transformers, but we will all have to wait for confirmation.

Specifics are a little light on the ground at the moment, ASUS is playing its card close its chest on this one. Speculation from CES suggests the TF300T will include the same Tegra 3 chipset as the Prime, it will also continue the Transformer tradition of detachable keyboard. The back case of the tablet appears to be ABS plastic instead of aluminium that the Prime used. This could be to allow the TF300T to be fitted with 3G/4G capabilities or it could also be to keep the costs down making the TF300T a far cheaper option than its Prime brother.

All speculation aside the TF300T should be on show at the upcoming Mobile World Conference later this month. At the very least it seems that ASUS isn’t standing still with its Transformer tablets. Looks like MWC is already building up to a very interesting conference with many Über gadget announcement.

Source NCCC