We're still waiting on a definitive launch date for ASUS'second-gen Eee Pad Transformer tablet, but it looks like it's expected to arrive very soon now. A new report, however, reveals that it will come in at a slightly more hefty price point to the first Transformer (currently carrying a base price tag of $399 US). Word is that the Android Honeycomb running Transformer 2 will start at $499, not unlike Apple's iPad 2 actually.

What we are lead to believe about it at this stage is that it uses a 10-inch touchscreen and is powered by NVIDIA's Kal-El (Tegra 3) 4+1-core chip. ASUS has an expectation on its tablet shipments for this year to reach between 1.5 and 2 million.