There’s been a lot of discussion about just how bad the Prime’s GPS is, especially for navigation, with some folks claiming theirs is “working.” There have even been claims it works in a moving car and someone posted this pic as proof.
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Six out of nine satellites with a 90’ accuracy while the Prime is completely horizontal on the dashboard and smashed forward against the windshield is piss poor and by no means a realistic example. If that’s the best it can do, it’s unusable for navigation. And that’s using GPS Test, not real navigation s/w.
I took these three vids today using a G-Tab to show what navigation typically looks like. I use navigation a lot while traveling and the Zoom and Jetstream perform identically. In other words there’s nothing special about the G-Tab or its performance in these videos. And I intentionally used different routes that changed directions so that no one can say "but..." Navigation shouldn’t be hard and you should never have to question its performance. It should just work. This also isn't to show how great the G-Tab is, but to help you guys understand what your expectations should be of GPS and navigation on a tablet, any tablet.
CoPilot
1) Cold Boot
2) Flight Mode On
CoPilot doesn’t require either a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to work at any time. All the data it relies on is stored locally. In this example the G-Tab ran solely on its stand-alone GPS from start to finish. The G-Tab’s sitting on the passenger seat which is where it usually is when I use it rental cars on the road. The direction it’s facing changes numerous times so its ability to maintain a satellite fix isn’t dependent on being in a particular position. At 2:35 you’ll see it navigate an S turn. If accuracy was any higher than 15’ that would be impossible. Throughout the video you’ll see how accurately it keeps position and changes direction as the car does. At 6:19 I intentionally go off route. It corrects so quickly you have to look at the orientation of Ash Street to even notice. The same thing happens again at 7:50. And for the finale you can see the tablet fall off the seat of the car in a turn. G-Tab’s are sturdy.
Google Navigation 1
1) Cold Boot
2) 3G On (to download route guidance)
3) Start Google Navigation
4) 3G Off
The maps are cached but Google Navigation needs to download the driving directions via 3G or Wi-Fi. Once downloaded it can navigate from GPS alone. That’s what this vid shows. You can see how accurate the positioning is based on how well Google Nav keeps up with the car’s position; especially approaching turns. The car changes position multiple times and you can see it passing under bridges and overpasses without losing the signal. At 4:19 watch how accurately it navigates a curve. At 5:18 watch the car’s position change at a turn and how well Google Nav keeps up with it.
Google Navigation 2
1) Cold Boot
2) Flight Mode On
3) GPS Test (1:10 – 1:45, 10 out of 10 satellites and 15’ accuracy in 35 seconds)
4) Flight Mode Off
5) Google Nav downloads driving directions
6) Flight Mode On
Like the first Google Nav vid, it never misses a beat. But why would it? It’s maintaining 15’ accuracy consistently.
So comparing against the pic of the Prime on the dashboard you can see just how bad the GPS in the Prime is compared to a G-Tab (and other tablets) So while everyone beats there head against the wall trying to prove it works you can also see how futile that is. Even a 50% improvement would be half of what the G-Tab’s (or Zoom, or Jetstream) capable of. And I use navigation sometimes twice a week in cities in the U.S. and Europe. If the G-Tab was operating at 50% it would be useless to me (and you too). So god's speed to the developers and to those hoping for an ICS fix. In all my time on XDA I’ve never seen s/w fully overcome a h/w problem. And this my friends is a h/w problem. Anyone else that's used a tablet for navigation feel free to share your expereinces and how they compare to what I've shown.
PSA: Spokane's a podunk town. I strongly recommend against shooting video in a moving car on busy streets.
While I agree you pay $500 for a working tablet with GPS... on the other flipside,who the F uses a tablet for GPS. Use your phone or buy a garmin god damnit. It's just not practical to use a tab.
chugger93 said:
While I agree you pay $500 for a working tablet with GPS... on the other flipside,who the F uses a tablet for GPS. Use your phone or buy a garmin god damnit. It's just not practical to use a tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do whatever you want. For me, and probably others, using a tablet for GPS makes sense. Here's some of the advantages:
1) It's got a bigger screen which is easier to see when you're driving.
2) A lot of the tablified GPS apps have a split screen mode which makes it easier to navigate at turns and on expressway on and off ramps.
3) Tablets have better GPS chips and antennas so they're more accurate (ironic, isn't it).
4) The battery on a tablet's a lot bigger than a phone so it'll last three times as long if it's not plugged in.
5) Using a tablet vs. a phone doesn't drain the phone's battery while you're on the road.
6) The phone's free to make and receive Bluetooth calls.
I posted the vids only to give people that even care about navigation something to benchmark against. I could care less what people choose to use for navigation or if they don't care about GPS at all. I'd assume the latter group would have no interest in this thread anyway (hint).
Have you tried using a 7" tablet for car nav? How would legibility fare against a 10"? Seems to me that it would be easier to mount a 7" in a location more in front of the driver, as opposed to a center location where you have to turn your head and look.
oh man not again
we know. I bought it and kept it anyways.
BTW, have an Ipad 3g. Never used navigation on it without it being wired to the internet, 3g or tethered. Will be the exact same with tf201.
AND, now, my phone has google maps. this way, I can still watch old Billy Mays infomertials on youtube whilst navigation with the phone.
just don't buy it dude. put it on craiglist and get something else.
Now is the time to be looking for or finding a solution. Or seeing what Asus is going to do about it. this is beating a dead horse. already known GPS sux, even Asus admitted. So instead of dragging the issue out, which is widely known, lets focus more of solving the problem vs. just keep talking about how bad it is.
e.mote said:
Have you tried using a 7" tablet for car nav? How would legibility fare against a 10"? Seems to me that it would be easier to mount a 7" in a location more in front of the driver, as opposed to a center location where you have to turn your head and look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, 7" is too close to the size of my phone. I mostly use the tablet for video, web, news and stuff like that while I'm traveling so I like the extra real estate. With 5.3", 7", 7.7", 8", 8.9", 10", and 11.6", it really comes down to personal preference.
demandarin said:
So instead of dragging the issue out, which is widely known, lets focus more of solving the problem vs. just keep talking about how bad it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So without an example of "good," how would you know how bad "bad" is and what a working threshold is? Also, people trying to use Google Nav to do some of their own testing couldn't figure it out. At least they can now see how it works. And some people who haven't seen a tablet navigate might find watching one in action interesting.
Again, with no interest in GPS, I don't understand why anyone would keep extending a thread on it just to let the world know (once again) they don't care. It's important enough to some people that they returned their Prime's over it so it's not like no one cares.
Hmm, that's a good demo of Co-Pilot for me. Although, I think I prefer the graphic of Sygic... But yea, pretty accurate demo of GPS navigation on a tablet.
Btw, I noticed some significant lag with your G-Tab....
You've listed Moto/Samsung/HTC as tabs with good GPS. Not sure about the Jetstream, but both the GTabs and Xoom also have dual-band wifi. I don't think it's a coincidence that all these are also phone vendors. Their tablets tend to be better designed, and unsurprisingly, cost more.
Despite the shiny iPad-like shell, the TF201 is pretty similar in build quality and price to the TF101 and other "mainstream" tabs. Even without a metal shell, I wouldn't bank on GPS performance for any of the non-phone vendors' units.
Connectivity is something these tab vendors will need to improve. Most of the issues listed with the Prime (and to a lesser extent, with 1st-gen Droid tabs) are about I/O: HDMI, bluetooth, USB, wifi, GPS.
Some of the blame lies with the OS. Frankly, I'm looking forward to Win8 tabs if only for Windows' proven connectivity.
shinzz said:
Btw, I noticed some significant lag with your G-Tab....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blame me, not the G-Tab. I have a ton of stuff syncing and widgets that dependent on outside data so booting takes a while. It's 3G so it's always connected so it's not an issue in daily use. It's actually worse in airplane more because everything looking for a signal does and has to fail before the UI’s normal again.
Thanks for making this thread, maybe it will shut up those that swear their GPS is working flawlessly lmao.
A lot of people use a tablet for GPS. Just because you don't see yourself using it doesn't mean everyone should also not use a tablet for GPS...
I don't use GPS at all for anything but I could see how many people would like to use it, especially for their jobs.
jzen said:
Thanks for making this thread, maybe it will shut up those that swear their GPS is working flawlessly lmao.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of the issue is everyone seems to have a different definition of "working." The guy with the Prime on his dashboard swears his is "working." If people watch even short segments of the video it shows how important precision is for accuracy. And the difference between 90' and 15' hurling along an expressway at 70MPH looking for an exit is the difference between making it and not.
e.mote said:
You've listed Moto/Samsung/HTC as tabs with good GPS. Not sure about the Jetstream, but both the GTabs and Xoom also have dual-band wifi. I don't think it's a coincidence that all these are also phone vendors. Their tablets tend to be better designed, and unsurprisingly, cost more.
Despite the shiny iPad-like shell, the TF201 is pretty similar in build quality and price to the TF101 and other "mainstream" tabs. Even without a metal shell, I wouldn't bank on GPS performance for any of the non-phone vendors' units.
Connectivity is something these tab vendors will need to improve. Most of the issues listed with the Prime (and to a lesser extent, with 1st-gen Droid tabs) are about I/O: HDMI, bluetooth, USB, wifi, GPS.
Some of the blame lies with the OS. Frankly, I'm looking forward to Win8 tabs if only for Windows' proven connectivity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, can you tell me how dual-band WIFI helps with GPS?
Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip (btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
shinzz said:
Umm, can you tell me how dual-band WIFI helps with GPS?
Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip (btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the point of what he's saying. Asus has far fewer products dependent on far fewer radio combinations than a manufacturer that builds phones does. Motorola, Samsung, and HTC sell tens of millions of mobile devices equipped with multiple radios. It makes sense that their experience makes a difference in the finished product.
>Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
I don't know about the Jetstream, but the Xoom is better constructed. It has none of the build-quality issues that occurred with the Acer/Asus/Toshiba tablets. You can verify by scanning the start of the respective tablets' general forums for complaint frequency.
The GTab has some issues, eg the "Newton rings". But in overall volume of complaints, it's a still only slight second to Xoom. The largest by far is the Prime, followed by Acer A500, then Asus TF101.
There are other models with worse issues, eg the Iconia A100 with terrible screen & battery life, but they aren't as popular, so complaints are fewer.
>Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip
Consumers tend to obsess over chips and specs, eg quad-core. For GPS, antenna and overall system design matters more, or even most. For other aspects, the proof is real-world app performance.
>(btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
Dell sold a phone as well. That doesn't make it a phone vendor.
e.mote said:
I don't know about the Jetstream
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Jetstream's built like a tank. And it's as big as one and weighs as much too. I wanted to like it and Sense on a tablet was cool, but it just wasn't comfortable to carry around or even hold.
The GTab has some issues, eg the "Newton rings".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the biggest complaint. Samsung changed the screen design in October so newer G-Tabs don't have the issue. The other biggest "discussion" is the love/hate relationship with TouchWiz.
the proof is real-world app performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^^
This. Always.
Dell sold a phone as well. That doesn't make it a phone vendor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if the PadPhone fares as well as Dell's phone attempts sell your Asus stock. I love the concept of the PadPhone, just not from Asus.
People who use a tablet for gps, please post a sign on your windshield or something. Cause I would sure love to drive in front of you and when you look down at you tablet gps on the passenger side, slam my brakes and get paid by your insurance. Easy win. "Officer it's not my fault. I bet you he took his eyes off the road to play with the gps on his tablet". CHA-CHING!!
Better yet, why not set up a 22 inch monitor on the dash and have your phone output to the monitor. Instant ultimate GPS!! BAM!!
Of course this is all fun and games
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201
I'm a bit confused by the videos and such. I appreciate you making them, but what are you comparing them to? Is it to the picture of someone's prime?
I don't really see how that is accurate at all. Was the photo shown the best possible accuracy anyone with a prime has ever had? There are so many variables here that are out of your control that is there is no way you could claim this as proof that the prime's GPS in extremely bad.
I'm not trying to argue that the prime's GPS is fine, I just don't see how this test proves anything. Show a prime next to you galaxy tab in these videos to show that there is in fact a difference if you want to claim such, otherwise it doesn't support your argument at all.
unxconformed said:
I'm not trying to argue that the prime's GPS is fine, I just don't see how this test proves anything. Show a prime next to you galaxy tab in these videos to show that there is in fact a difference if you want to claim such, otherwise it doesn't support your argument at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with two different nav programs, GPS Test, and multiple different driving scenarios, you've witnessed what a typical tablet using GPS is capable of without depending on Wi-Fi. Can the Prime pass any of those tests? Until it can, no one can say the Prime’s GPS is “working.” Besides, now that the bootloader’s unlocked I’m sure the devs are going to look at GPS. They now have a bogie. But having used tablets for GPS all over the world, anything less than 75% of the performance shown in the vids isn’t usable for driving navigation. The G-Tab even becomes a bear in thunderstorms.
P.S. - The best performance of a moving Prime is in the pic in my original post. And since it's a still vs. a video I'm guessing that's the best it could do, not the worst.
Related
Guys i pre-ordered a TFPrime from amazon UK and will be getting it shortly (12-Jan). However after watching a few reviews, etc, I noticed the Wifi / GPS seems really buggy which could be a deal breaker for me. Can anyone share their experiences? Any workaround?
Wifi Issues: youtube.com/watch?v=nzCZc3pjtrA
GPS Issues: youtube.com/watch?v=YeiOh09v54I
dereking said:
Guys i pre-ordered a TFPrime from amazon UK and will be getting it shortly (12-Jan). However after watching a few reviews, etc, I noticed the Wifi / GPS seems really buggy which could be a deal breaker for me. Can anyone share their experiences? Any workaround?
Wifi Issues: youtube.com/watch?v=nzCZc3pjtrA
GPS Issues: youtube.com/watch?v=YeiOh09v54I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really?
You can't spit in any direction on this forum without hitting a thread that talks about these issues...why do you need yet another thread? A solution to these, if they are deal breakers for you, is to not buy the Prime.
Yep i guess your post signature leaves it clear... "Asus Transformer Prime (Waiting on a replacement) "
Wifi seems to be fine GPS is wacky but will get fixed
Yes wifi and gps have issues. Be careful about saying anything bad about the Prime in these forums.
A lot of town criers...
The WiFi is working fine, at least with mine anyways. GPS is still broken, but I have faith in ASUS that they'll come up with a fix.
You guys are killing me with this. I was hell bent on purchasing a Prime & Keyboard as soon as stock arrived. I checked all the reviews. I knew about it's pros & it's cons. I was sold. It was just a fluke that I wound up searching about the Prime's GPS accuracy and all of the BS ASUS has been covering up surfaced.
I'm not going to drop nearly $700 on a fancy toy if:
1. WiFi sucks. Especially on a portable device. That simply makes no sense.
2. GPS doesn't work. --I go to UC, so this bad boy needs to be LoJacked. I've seen too many laptops & tablets "walk off and disappear" during lecture.
3. Paying $700 for anything that doesn't have all of it's features intact is a non-starter.
ASUS makes great video cards & motherboards. But they need to get their sh*t together on this device if they plan to stay in tablet game.
Not gonna lie. I got my prime last week thru BB pre order and my GPS and wifi are working great! Not sure why other people $are having issues with this.
Early models did have hardware issues. (especially with wifi)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1394611
This is one reason why you don't want to rush to get one.
A lot of people will state that their wifi and gps is working just fine, but they dont really know any better...
Wifi works but its got a very slow upload and download speed. They may be thinking GPS works but not realize they are using wifi location.
But yes on every unit regardless of what others may say. Wifi does not work as good as it should and GPS doesn't work at all.
And if it is any indication...
TF101 shipped with screen bleed & loose casing defects, to this very day Asus has not bothered to fix the issue.
jzen said:
A lot of people will state that their wifi and gps is working just fine, but they dont really know any better...
Wifi works but its got a very slow upload and download speed. They may be thinking GPS works but not realize they are using wifi location.
But yes on every unit regardless of what others may say. Wifi does not work as good as it should and GPS doesn't work at all.
And if it is any indication...
TF101 shipped with screen bleed & loose casing defects, to this very day Asus has not bothered to fix the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is with bad Internet aka not what I normally use. Through a few walls about 30 from the really crappy router at my mom's house.
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I would say my wifi is fine. GPS is useless though. Don't say people don't know what they are talking about when you don't know them.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
jzen said:
A lot of people will state that their wifi and gps is working just fine, but they dont really know any better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With so many people reporting problems with GPS and WiFi strength it's become almost a complete certainty that these devices are suffering from some sort of severe design flaw.
I wasn't on the design team for this device, so take anything I say with a grain of salt, but I am quite savvy as an engineer so I'll drop my 2 cents on this issue.
From my standpoint it's appears to be DEFINITELY the aluminum chassis. Aluminum is quite good at reflecting/bouncing RF signals at a focal point (receiver). When crafted correctly, aluminum is great at bouncing rf signals. When used incorrectly, aluminum is great at dispersing and blocking rf signals.
However, as frequency increases, so does penetration. This is most likely why people have been able to notice relatively normal WiFi strengths. Even at wireless-g speeds they're operating at as low as 2.4GHz and up to 5GHz. However CIV GPS operate at around 1.1GHz. In this case, the aluminum shell has turned the GPS unit's "moderate voice" into a "whimper" when it attempts to lock & fix on satellites. -- Think tin foil hats, but for your GPS & WiFi
I also believe ASUS outfitted the Prime with 2 WiFi antennas whereas I believe the GPS only has a single antenna. I won't speak for ASUS's design decisions, but I wouldn't doubt they opted for 2 antennas to deal with the interference from the aluminum casing. However, that's simply my speculation. Why they botched this tablet so badly just to conform to a silly aesthetic design boggles my mind. As Spock would say, "their decisions were highly illogical."
jzen said:
And if it is any indication...
TF101 shipped with screen bleed & loose casing defects, to this very day Asus has not bothered to fix the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They'd be wise to rethink that choice.
I'm right now wondering if WiFi on my TF101 is OK, because it doesn't get a lock i a room adjacent to the one with the router while laptop in the same place has 3 to 4 bars! So if people say their WiFi and GPS are fine take it with a grain of sand. It's not easy to check them properly in a short time.
don_cheadle said:
With so many people reporting problems with GPS and WiFi strength it's become almost a complete certainty that these devices are suffering from some sort of severe design flaw.
I wasn't on the design team for this device, so take anything I say with a grain of salt, but I am quite savvy as an engineer so I'll drop my 2 cents on this issue.
From my standpoint it's appears to be DEFINITELY the aluminum chassis. Aluminum is quite good at reflecting/bouncing RF signals at a focal point (receiver). When crafted correctly, aluminum is great at bouncing rf signals. When used incorrectly, aluminum is great at dispersing and blocking rf signals.
However, as frequency increases, so does penetration. This is most likely why people have been able to notice relatively normal WiFi strengths. Even at wireless-g speeds they're operating at as low as 2.4GHz and up to 5GHz. However CIV GPS operate at around 1.1GHz. In this case, the aluminum shell has turned the GPS unit's "moderate voice" into a "whimper" when it attempts to lock & fix on satellites. -- Think tin foil hats, but for your GPS & WiFi
I also believe ASUS outfitted the Prime with 2 WiFi antennas whereas I believe the GPS only has a single antenna. I won't speak for ASUS's design decisions, but I wouldn't doubt they opted for 2 antennas to deal with the interference from the aluminum casing. However, that's simply my speculation. Why they botched this tablet so badly just to conform to a silly aesthetic design boggles my mind. As Spock would say, "their decisions were highly illogical."
They'd be wise to rethink that choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An aluminium shell like on the Transformer can only distort the signals a bit but not completely block it (like many are experiencing with GPS). That is probably because of a manufacturing defect and not because of the aluminium shell.
WiFi on this device is fine. I get over 11 mbps speeds on a 15 mbps cable connection.
GPS also locks within a reasonable amount of time when view of sky is unobstructed.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
flight777 said:
An aluminium shell like on the Transformer can only distort the signals a bit but not completely block it (like many are experiencing with GPS). That is probably because of a manufacturing defect and not because of the aluminium shell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually aluminum can do quite a bit to obstruct an RF signal. Depending on thickness, resistance can be quite high. While I somewhat agree it shouldn't be able to block a strong signal, the major function of GPS is to "listen", not to "talk." What I'm trying to say, is it is not producing strong signals, it's trying to receive them, and it's ability to listen is only as good as the ability of such signals to penetrate whatever is obstructing them. In this case, it's Aluminum.. which has quite a high resistance to RF.
mrljt said:
WiFi on this device is fine. I get over 11 mbps speeds on a 15 mbps cable connection.
GPS also locks within a reasonable amount of time when view of sky is unobstructed.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YOUR GPS also locks....
If you look at the poll in the GPS Problems thread you'll see that it's about 80 working GPSs to 50 non-working.
Just because yours locks, don't assume everyone else's does. Especially when there is a large amount of evidence to the contrary.
Col.Kernel said:
YOUR GPS also locks....
If you look at the poll in the GPS Problems thread you'll see that it's about 80 working GPSs to 50 non-working.
Just because yours locks, don't assume everyone else's does. Especially when there is a large amount of evidence to the contrary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got those numbers switched. It's around 50 working, and 80 not.
>However, as frequency increases, so does penetration
Higher frequency = shorter wavelength = less penetration. 5GHz wifi has shorter range than 2.4GHz wifi because it can't penetrate as well. Public hot spots only use 2.4GHz. More articulate explanations here. That wifi in the Prime is more functional than GPS is probably because wifi signals have more energy than the weak GPS signal.
I do agree that the Al shell is the main culprit, probably exacerbated by mediocre antenna design. I generally see better wireless performance from phone vendors (Moto, Samsung, HTC) than non-phone vendors (Acer, Asus).
>I'm right now wondering if WiFi on my TF101 is OK
Wifi on most mobiles will be less than that on laptops, because their antenna is usually much smaller and lacks diversity. Size isn't the only determinant in antenna gain, but it's a big determinant. Here are the GPS and wifi antennae on the OG Transformer.
Here is one (of many possible) design for laptop dual diversity antenna
You're right. I got the 2 switched. I distinctly remember writing that on the top of my cheat sheet in Phys. I'm sorry it's 2 am, and I can't brain.
Anyway, as for the signal strength, that's what I was saying earlier. I assume when you take into account considerable distances, even though routers are usually only pumping out around 250ma per antenna, they probably still yield much better signal strength than GPS satellites after the signal has reached the ground.
However aside from ASUS simply not attaching an antenna to GPS mod, it really can only be the aluminum shell creating such resistance. And the fact it seems to affect WiFi as well, although to a lesser degree, means it's most likely not a symptom faulty workmanship on part of the internals.
But as mentioned in other threads, it would be nice if someone tore the aluminum backing off of their brand new Prime to see if it's the real culprit.
Okay- I've been pretty into android for awhile- have a nexus one and LOVE it- but have an iPad 2 and like it quite a bit. I prefer android to iOS5, and have a sudden windfall of about 800 bucks, and am looking at updating to a new tablet.
I was pretty dead set on the Transformer Prime- from its reviews it looked breathtaking- but then I decided to check XDA- and- wow. Problems everywhere, wifi dead, dead pixels... wow.
So- now I'm unsure. I know the HD will fix a lot of the problems- but there is always the possibility it'll be laggy with the higher resolution- plus I cant STAND dead pixels. And, as I use my tablet full-time- that would not be ok.
Is this all overblown? Should I get the HD when it comes out? Honestly, really not trying to troll, but the fruity tablet has no problems, and this one appears to have a whole bucket of them.
Can a user who wants a tablet to use full time, with no dead pixels, use the prime or the prime HD?
Thanks!
My Prime has only one flaw: the GPS. Other than that, I have no light bleeding, no dead pixels, the wi-fi works well, etc.
You may want to read the following article to get some perspective:
edit: Apparently I am too new on this forum to provide you a link. Do a Google search for "cnet putting the transformer prime in perspective" and you'll get the link to the article.
In the end, I would suggest that if you really want the Prime, go ahead and buy one from a vendor with a good return policy. If you end up not liking it, simply return it.
OmniLemur said:
Okay- I've been pretty into android for awhile- have a nexus one and LOVE it- but have an iPad 2 and like it quite a bit. I prefer android to iOS5, and have a sudden windfall of about 800 bucks, and am looking at updating to a new tablet.
I was pretty dead set on the Transformer Prime- from its reviews it looked breathtaking- but then I decided to check XDA- and- wow. Problems everywhere, wifi dead, dead pixels... wow.
So- now I'm unsure. I know the HD will fix a lot of the problems- but there is always the possibility it'll be laggy with the higher resolution- plus I cant STAND dead pixels. And, as I use my tablet full-time- that would not be ok.
Is this all overblown? Should I get the HD when it comes out? Honestly, really not trying to troll, but the fruity tablet has no problems, and this one appears to have a whole bucket of them.
Can a user who wants a tablet to use full time, with no dead pixels, use the prime or the prime HD?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately it is plagued with issues. What proves this is the many people that have had multiple tablets all with the same problems. I've had three alone myself, all displaying BT/Wifi issues.
I dont use GPS at all- Ha- one reply telling me exactly what I wanted to hear, one exactly what Im dreading. I really dont know what to think.
I love mine. (Yes I have an iPad 2 to compare it to). Only issue is GPS. It works but not consistently. Other than that its perfect. Wifi is the same if not better than my Droid x. And can't ask for a nicer screen, especially for outside
Sent from my Droid X using xda premium
I suppose my biggest worry is screen issues- whats the chance I can get a perfect screen? I mean- does anyone have a flawless screen?
OmniLemur said:
I suppose my biggest worry is screen issues- whats the chance I can get a perfect screen? I mean- does anyone have a flawless screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm an N of 1 but my Amazon.com Prime was riddled with issues. Most notably several groupings of bright white pixels on the panel that were unforgivable defects. I returned it for a full refund and grabbed a cheap used TF101 w/dock (locally) that I love. There's nothing it can't do compared to the Prime. I am 100% happy using it for a while as I sit on the sidelines to see what shakes our over the next 6-12 months. Its pretty awesome.
I reccommend doing the same. If you are intoxicated by the Prime you'd better make sure you can return it for a full refund just in case.
Best.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Accidental post that I deleted
OmniLemur said:
I dont use GPS at all- Ha- one reply telling me exactly what I wanted to hear, one exactly what Im dreading. I really dont know what to think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I returned mine today, both TFP and the dock.
I am into technical adventures, especially when it goes against mainstream.
I own a Zune HD - it is a great device, and there is probably nothing better if one is after an MP3 and Video player.
But this is not why I got it - it was supposed to be an all-in-one device, similar to iPod Touch,
but it never became that - after 2 years of disappointing support and mediocre updates Microsoft just killed it.
Let's call it an unfulfilled promise
I also own a G Tablet - and it is a great device too, viewing angles aside,
but what makes it great is (1) being a very solid in terms of hardware and (2) unbelievable support from XDA and other forums,
from the online community.
The manufacturer - well, it is not really manufactured by Viewsonic, it is pretty much Malata ZPad with a Viewsonic logo on it
- so the "manufacturer" turned its back on it within a year or so after the "release".
Let's call it another unfulfilled promise
I am happy with what I learned about Android while NVFlashing this thing back and forth,
but I would be just as happy having a fully functional and supported device and a whole set of accessories and updates
- even a dock for it I had to order from China.
I purchased TFP because I told myself - no more experiments; I want something from a well-respected company
- for as long as it is not Apple, because that would be too mainstream
- something well designed and well executed, and functional, working fine right out of the box, and TFP seemed to be it.
I have heard about the GPS issue, but I thought that either it was a minor software bug that would be taken care of soon, or those unfortunates got faulty chips, and I would be luckier.
Well, I was wrong - while beautiful and with a lot of great functionality, the device has a number of hardware and/or software issues,
namely GPS, WiFi versus BT, playing 1080P - I named those my tablet had, but others complained about battery life, sleep of death, reboots and lockups.
What is upsetting is not even a number of issues but perceived weakness of ASUS to identify, admit, and PROPERLY FIX them.
For example, I never had WiFi versus BT thing on OTA .13, but I started having it as soon as I upgraded to OTA .14.
The same upgrade killed GPS completely and worsen 1080P video playback.
This tells me something is wrong not just with hardware and software, but also with ASUS development/QA/release management processes.
And the fact that the development community cannot really develop ROMS for the device because of the locked bootloader is not making things easier.
Yes, ASUS promised an unlock tool, but when will we see it?
And even then - so we will rely on the online community not just for getting brilliant ROMs to play around in leisure, but even for basic necessities the manufacturer is supposed to take care of?
I do believe that at the end ASUS will fix all the bugs and the signal strength aside will make it into a bulletproof device.
I just do not want to be a beta tester once again, I do not want to add another unfulfilled promise to my collection.
So as soon as I see that TFP is stable - I will buy it again... or that newer 1080P version with fixed GPS ASUS recently announced.
Hope this will help,
Okay- so- its looking like the TP isn't going to be my tablet of choice- I suppose I'll continue fruity choices!
Thanks for your help, I guess *dissapoint*
I have a prime right now...and it's not usable......I would say "wait"
OmniLemur said:
Okay- so- its looking like the TP isn't going to be my tablet of choice- I suppose I'll continue fruity choices!
Thanks for your help, I guess *dissapoint*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, selection bias. People who have problems with their prime are 1) more likely to be on XDA searching for solutions and 2) more vocal in their opinion.
From that CNET article, about .5% of primes have been returned for some reason.
I haven't gotten mine yet, but I have heard from lots of people who have a Prime and love it.
+1 on love my prime, no issues getting great wifi and my gps locks fine.
Love my Prime. Rooted and laid out with the Hubs Nav. Works great. Wifi is sometimes spotty but other than that it's quite excellent. Got the dock too, never looked back.
I leave my laptop at home now.
Dunno, maybe I just got lucky but I don't really see the issues that others do. Screen is flawless. There is a -slight- light bleed on the right side upper corner but not so noticeable that it's offensive or anything.
Overall I love my Prime, it's a great piece of engineering.
OmniLemur said:
Okay- I've been pretty into android for awhile- have a nexus one and LOVE it- but have an iPad 2 and like it quite a bit. I prefer android to iOS5, and have a sudden windfall of about 800 bucks, and am looking at updating to a new tablet.
I was pretty dead set on the Transformer Prime- from its reviews it looked breathtaking- but then I decided to check XDA- and- wow. Problems everywhere, wifi dead, dead pixels... wow.
So- now I'm unsure. I know the HD will fix a lot of the problems- but there is always the possibility it'll be laggy with the higher resolution- plus I cant STAND dead pixels. And, as I use my tablet full-time- that would not be ok.
Is this all overblown? Should I get the HD when it comes out? Honestly, really not trying to troll, but the fruity tablet has no problems, and this one appears to have a whole bucket of them.
Can a user who wants a tablet to use full time, with no dead pixels, use the prime or the prime HD?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-----------------------------------
Buy Ipad 2 if you want a good working tablet, buy ATP if you want the best working tablet.
had my prime for 3 weeks now.
never had any wifi or gps or screen issues.
rooted fine, battery life with the .13 firmware was a little iffy but .14 is
much much better.
a very happy ATP owner.
(I had won an ipad and still gave it away to pay for prime tablet. best thing I ever did tablet wise.)
I agree with thenuge.
I've had a Prime for over a month now and I'm absolutely in love with it. I don't think I can go back. I should probably give a little background -- I've owned an iPhone since first gen through to the 4S. Owned a 4S for about a month but, after being sickeningly disappointed in how slow iOS is evolving, I took the plunge over to Android and bought the Galaxy Nexus (custom ROM / kernel, etc)... I had been waiting for ICS before making the switch (for both tablet & phone).
The prime replaced my iPad 2 within a few hours (the LiveWallpapers, I'm a sucker for them... especially the Phase Beam one!) and the Galaxy Nexus had my iPhone up on eBay within about a week.
When I first got the Prime, I upgraded to ICS right away. I then waited a week thinking I could do without rooting, but, like an addict, that commitment didn't last. Rooted, threw on Sixaxis, bought a mini-HDMI cable, and now I play a lot of games on the TV... and, sadly, at work.
There have been many days where I've been sent to different sites for 8-11 hours and, with the dock, I'll come home after literally the entire day with the screen on doing something, with 0% dock and ~30% prime battery levels. This thing is an absolute beast.
My prime just has a lack of GPS, which doesn't bother me... That's what my Nexus is for. I never purchased a tablet wanting GPS, so... I guess it's just a waste of a chip in there.
At any rate, that's my positive story for the device.
When I'm at home, my MBP often sits unused as the Prime does a lot just as well... especially browsing or laying around watching TV episodes.
Obviously, it doesn't have Skyrim, Saints Row, etc. on it, but as that sofa computer where you can sit with your gf and read the news (News360 is epic, btw... so is Pulse), it can't be beat.
Also, I agree -- I'm a little bit weirded out about a tablet with a higher resolution than my computer's monitors (1080p) -- yet with far less hardware to move those pixels. I think I'll believe it when I see it running smoothly in a game like Infinity Blade, until then, I have this sneaky feeling something's going to need to drop (like hq shadows or hq reflections and the like) in order to maintain 24-30fps in high quality games. I wonder if an iPad2 will still look better than the iPad3, in some cases (obviously not stills)? Nothing worse than lag.
EDIT:
I just wanted to add one thing: The aspect ratio. Coming from an iPad2 to the TP, I was really kind of... eh, about using it in widescreen or with such a slim portrait. However, in the last month (my gf still has an iPad2), I've found myself actually very much enjoying the 16:10 ratio. Even in portrait, I find it easier to use.
OmniLemur said:
Okay- I've been pretty into android for awhile- have a nexus one and LOVE it- but have an iPad 2 and like it quite a bit. I prefer android to iOS5, and have a sudden windfall of about 800 bucks, and am looking at updating to a new tablet.
I was pretty dead set on the Transformer Prime- from its reviews it looked breathtaking- but then I decided to check XDA- and- wow. Problems everywhere, wifi dead, dead pixels... wow.
So- now I'm unsure. I know the HD will fix a lot of the problems- but there is always the possibility it'll be laggy with the higher resolution- plus I cant STAND dead pixels. And, as I use my tablet full-time- that would not be ok.
Is this all overblown? Should I get the HD when it comes out? Honestly, really not trying to troll, but the fruity tablet has no problems, and this one appears to have a whole bucket of them.
Can a user who wants a tablet to use full time, with no dead pixels, use the prime or the prime HD?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine works fine, even GPS isn't an issue. No random reboots. no manufacturer flaws. C10K serial # if that helps.
Take a look at this n you'll easily see most don't suffer from issues or more than satisfied with device:
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Also look at this thread. All various testimonials of happy Positive prime owners. People with issues can't muster up these kinds of numbers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1409910
Answer easily clear what's the best out right now.
I love my prime. I'd recommend it to anyone. But you should ask yourself what you want to use it for. The prime really shines in gaming (full gamepad support) also with fully working Emulators. It's also totally awesome for watching videos, with the perfect screen size and format (16:10). You can also watch high quality flash streams...
And then there's the dock, which takes it to a whole other lvl. I use it as a full laptop replacement, even able to use it for presentations with the HDMI-VGA adapter.
But if you just want to use some dedicated tablet apps and some browsing i guess the ipad will suffice.
About the issues? I have none. GPS is not the strongest but i always got a fix when i tested it. WIFI/BT are fully working and i got max speeds on my network. Screen is perfect as well. No bleeding or anything.
+ Asus is very fast with updates! + Bootloader is gonna be unlocked. I dont see any tablet being better than the Prime.
This is for the people Satisfied with their device. People that are happy with device. THE ones who were glad to make their purchase and would do it all over again. Basically for those with a more Positive outlook on life n doesn't let little things get to them
This thread will be an expansion of the Positive Transformer Thread going in a more detailed direction. I'm sure a majority of you, like myself are tired of all the complaint threads about what Prime doesn't do well or not at all. Soo.....
This thread is to list "What does work great on your Prime". Also how does Prime help you in day to day functionality? Like examples of the Prime being very useful or coming in handy in everyday scenarios. How do your friends, family, and peers react when showing off the power of Prime? What are some standout features on Prime? Positive stories n testimonials fully welcomed. All others will be Charbroiled! Lol
So you can see the direction this thread is trying to take. To expand on the great form factor and functionality of a device that works well for you. With so many issue threads, its time to expand on the flip side, the Majority side, that most here in Xda actually love their device and keeping it.
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There's more than enough complaint threads as there is. This is another way of letting new people know that things on the surface aren't always what it seems. There's a flip side to every story.
"EVERYTHING IS NOT AS GOOD AS IT SEEMS AND EVERYTHING NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS, SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN, REALITY FALLS" Remember that with anything in life
Update: We now have Official Bootloader Unlock Tool. More reason to be happy to own a Prime. Custom roms will be here b4 you know it!
Everything works on my prime except GPS. Serial # BC, still running .11 stock.
I sit at a computer all day for my job, so I really just wanted a device that I could plop into bed with to surf the web and watch videos. In that respect, the Prime is perfect. Web browsing is as fast or faster than my netbook, and I really like physically interacting with web pages - a touch interface is the way to browse the web, IMO.
Considering I have yet to use my prime while not laying in bed, functional GPS is obviously a non-issue for me. This is a good thing, since the GPS on mine is entirely broken.
My biggest concern was WiFi performance, but I have to say I've never noticed a problem. I sit fairly close to my router in my small studio apartment, so it's possible I've never gone far enough away from it to notice signal degradation. However, I can routinely achieve speeds of > 15Mb / 5Mb down/up anywhere in my apartment, which is more than sufficient for my means.
Gaming was another big selling point for me, and not much needs to be said about the Tegra 3. Thing is a beast. We all know Android doesn't even fully utilize that horsepower, so I'm pretty excited to see what the dev community comes up with after we unlock the BL
Finally, I love the form factor. The thinness and lightness of the TP astounds me every day. And signal attenuation aside, I love the spun aluminum case. It looks and feels premium, durable and high quality. I may be an Android fanboy, but I have to give Apple props for their solid build quality - now I have to give Asus props as well, because the TP is probably the prettiest piece of Kit I've seen in the Android world so far.
I've been very happy with my unit so far. I know I got lucky by avoiding many of the most serious problems - lockups and whatnot - but in many ways I'm impressed that ICS has as few problems as it does, what with being brand new and all that. In contrast, I had to engage in a much greater level of hackery with my Epic 4g to get it to a workable condition, and that was after Froyo had already been out for almost a year.
Picked up my C1-serial Prime end of January at BestBuy.
Mine basically has no usable GPS to speak of. It works outdoors for geo-location to about 50', but loses lock as fast as it gets it. Navigation is impossible. But, I knew that going in and didn't care that GPS might be problematic. I looked at it as a "value added feature that might not work". My box doesn't state GPS as a feature anyhow, so I can't complain too loud.
Beyond that, everything else is pure awesome. I have a 17" widescreen laptop that is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop, and it's definitely not that portable (The battery dies in about 90 minutes of use without being plugged in, even on the "power saving" setting in Win7) so having the prime for web surfing and reading on the couch or in bed is awesome.
I haven't come across a task that I couldn't perform on the Prime that I could on my laptop. Sure, some things are more difficult to accomplish on the tablet (Especially since I don't have the keyboard dock for it ... yet) but I could still do them in a pinch. I even used TurboTax online on it and managed to get my taxes done.
I like that Polaris Office is installed as well, as it gives a quick way to view MS office documents out of the box when needed. I usually just import them to my Google Docs, but if I'm even in a location without 'net access, it's nice to have something that works offline.
The other thing I REALLY appreciate is OTA updates. My Galaxy S phone never had that until I migrated to CM7, and I'm missing OTA horribly on it too since I moved to CM9. Not having to tether to keep it updated is pure awesome.
I can't say enough good things about this device.
anti09 said:
Everything works on my prime except GPS. Serial # BC, still running .11 stock.
I sit at a computer all day for my job, so I really just wanted a device that I could plop into bed with to surf the web and watch videos. In that respect, the Prime is perfect. Web browsing is as fast or faster than my netbook, and I really like physically interacting with web pages - a touch interface is the way to browse the web, IMO.
Considering I have yet to use my prime while not laying in bed, functional GPS is obviously a non-issue for me. This is a good thing, since the GPS on mine is entirely broken.
My biggest concern was WiFi performance, but I have to say I've never noticed a problem. I sit fairly close to my router in my small studio apartment, so it's possible I've never gone far enough away from it to notice signal degradation. However, I can routinely achieve speeds of > 15Mb / 5Mb down/up anywhere in my apartment, which is more than sufficient for my means.
Gaming was another big selling point for me, and not much needs to be said about the Tegra 3. Thing is a beast. We all know Android doesn't even fully utilize that horsepower, so I'm pretty excited to see what the dev community comes up with after we unlock the BL
Finally, I love the form factor. The thinness and lightness of the TP astounds me every day. And signal attenuation aside, I love the spun aluminum case. It looks and feels premium, durable and high quality. I may be an Android fanboy, but I have to give Apple props for their solid build quality - now I have to give Asus props as well, because the TP is probably the prettiest piece of Kit I've seen in the Android world so far.
I've been very happy with my unit so far. I know I got lucky by avoiding many of the most serious problems - lockups and whatnot - but in many ways I'm impressed that ICS has as few problems as it does, what with being brand new and all that. In contrast, I had to engage in a much greater level of hackery with my Epic 4g to get it to a workable condition, and that was after Froyo had already been out for almost a year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, Tegra3 is a beast.
m3t4lw01f said:
Picked up my C1-serial Prime end of January at BestBuy.
Mine basically has no usable GPS to speak of. It works outdoors for geo-location to about 50', but loses lock as fast as it gets it. Navigation is impossible. But, I knew that going in and didn't care that GPS might be problematic. I looked at it as a "value added feature that might not work". My box doesn't state GPS as a feature anyhow, so I can't complain too loud.
Beyond that, everything else is pure awesome. I have a 17" widescreen laptop that is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop, and it's definitely not that portable (The battery dies in about 90 minutes of use without being plugged in, even on the "power saving" setting in Win7) so having the prime for web surfing and reading on the couch or in bed is awesome.
I haven't come across a task that I couldn't perform on the Prime that I could on my laptop. Sure, some things are more difficult to accomplish on the tablet (Especially since I don't have the keyboard dock for it ... yet) but I could still do them in a pinch. I even used TurboTax online on it and managed to get my taxes done.
I like that Polaris Office is installed as well, as it gives a quick way to view MS office documents out of the box when needed. I usually just import them to my Google Docs, but if I'm even in a location without 'net access, it's nice to have something that works offline.
The other thing I REALLY appreciate is OTA updates. My Galaxy S phone never had that until I migrated to CM7, and I'm missing OTA horribly on it too since I moved to CM9. Not having to tether to keep it updated is pure awesome.
I can't say enough good things about this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The constant OTA updates is a luxury we enjoy more compared to other makers or devices. We have seen more updates n a lil over a month compared to others in a whole year..lol. always good to have tthe latest firmware and drivers on device. It is good we have a way to roll back to a previous version if needed.
The battery life is great on Prime and will only get better as more updates roll out and custom roms arrive. Even overclocked prime gets good battery life. Plus like you said, there's nothing out there to really even make the Prime bust a sweat yet. So power of Tegra3 hasn't even been really tapped into yet. As far as these newer more powerful chips on the way, I'm not worried or pressed at all. As long as i have overclocking, we can easily match or surpass power of those chips.
The mobile scene may about to change up big time with the Announcement of Ubuntu Desktop OS being introduced into Android. Plus it will be officially supported and brings a true desktop experience to mobile devices. This might be the start of the home PC disappearing. Can't wait till we get this integrated into Prime. Its not even a hack. Ubuntu officially supporting Android and hopes this will integrated into 2012 and later mobile solutions. So Win8 better watch out. Android about to officially have Ubuntu desktop support and experience.
Some might say the constant updates are a symptom of a problem at Asus. I say they are a company trying their best to fix users problems.
I really don't believe there's some grand conspiracy going on.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
What i REALLY like on my Prime + dock:
- Great battery life
- keyboard very usable
- Fast
- I am able to print and scan on my Canon Pixma (using PrinterShare and Canon apps)
- Instant on (awesome)
- Bright and colorful screen
- Comes with some good useful apps (Backup, MyNet, Polaris, etc)
- Thin and lightweight
- Android ICS and Google Market (definitely not an iOS fan here)
- I can use my QNAP torrent with the QGET app
Unfortunately my unit has a bright spot on the LCD and I am sending it back to the store. Also has weak WiFi and BT+WiFi dropout. I don't need offline GPS.
Things that could be better on Prime:
- Speakers, trackpad must be disabled to avoid cursor jumps
Things that need improvement on Android:
- Chrome, Docs.
I love the screen on my prime. During bootup I can see a couple spots of light bleed but during any use it is completely invisible. The screen is bright and clear and just looks generally amazing. I have zero dead or stuck pixels, no bright spots or any discernable defect whatsoever when using it.
I love its abilities to play video, it has chewed up and swallowed absolutely everything I have thrown at it so far including 14gb 1080p move files without a single problem.
I love its portability and take it with me to the university and use it all the time. Locks onto wifi without a hitch in the multitude of places I use it there. With it and the dock it is very useful for SSH into the universities Linux system to do some light Java and c programming in VI. I do wish there was an eclipse ide available for android and cannot wait for it to be available.
I also love to use its Bluetooth abilities to sync up my PlayStation controllers and play all my favorite oldschool games through its amazing ability to run many emulators. It also plays new games built for android some of which have tegra 3 specific versions and simply look amazing.
Lastly, I love how fast I can type on a screen holding it in portrait view and using thumb keyboard. The touchscreen is extremely responsive and I can type long posts, such as this very one, with speed and ease.
There are many other things use it for that i cannot recall from my very taxed brain at the moment but it goes without saying that I have no need for a laptop since I can carry this around and easily vnc into my home desktop Linux for any heavy lifting and use dropbox to easily get to any powerpoints or documents I may need on the go.
One last thing, its pure contentment for me to lay back on the couch while the wife does her thing and I can sit and browse the web with ease using boat browser. Never have I had a more satisfying way to consume the ol www.
rand4ll said:
I love the screen on my prime. During bootup I can see a couple spots of light bleed but during any use it is completely invisible. The screen is bright and clear and just looks generally amazing. I have zero dead or stuck pixels, no bright spots or any discernable defect whatsoever when using it.
I love its abilities to play video, it has chewed up and swallowed absolutely everything I have thrown at it so far including 14gb 1080p move files without a single problem.
I love its portability and take it with me to the university and use it all the time. Locks onto wifi without a hitch in the multitude of places I use it there. With it and the dock it is very useful for SSH into the universities Linux system to do some light Java and c programming in VI. I do wish there was an eclipse ide available for android and cannot wait for it to be available.
I also love to use its Bluetooth abilities to sync up my PlayStation controllers and play all my favorite oldschool games through its amazing ability to run many emulators. It also plays new games built for android some of which have tegra 3 specific versions and simply look amazing.
Lastly, I love how fast I can type on a screen holding it in portrait view and using thumb keyboard. The touchscreen is extremely responsive and I can type long posts, such as this very one, with speed and ease.
There are many other things use it for that i cannot recall from my very taxed brain at the moment but it goes without saying that I have no need for a laptop since I can carry this around and easily vnc into my home desktop Linux for any heavy lifting and use dropbox to easily get to any powerpoints or documents I may need on the go.
One last thing, its pure contentment for me to lay back on the couch while the wife does her thing and I can sit and browse the web with ease using boat browser. Never have I had a more satisfying way to consume the ol www.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I love about my TP...
Screen > clear, sharp and very bright
Battery > Outstanding especially when you combine it with the dock
Design > clean, light and sturdy. I love the choice of colors
ICS > runs smoth and quick... the only issue so far after upgrading to ICS is the flickering screen
GPS/Wifi > Works very well and consistent... I don't understand all the hoopla surrounding the issues with GPS... if I really need to use GPS I use my Thunderbolt
Apps > Polaris Office, Backup, Cloud
My TP is like my Amex... I don't leave home without it!
I really hope Gary and Asus can fix the flickering screen issue
Well, I've had my Prime since 12/21/11, and to this day I have no complaints. In fact, I look back on the HC days and realize how killer this thing runs on ICS. Good support from Asus with consistent updates too.
Tegra3: Lag? Never heard of it. Impressive graphics, what more could you want from a tablet.
Screen: IPS+ is great, even in the sunlight (much better than I expected!) and is not fatiguing after extended use. I personally leave it on IPS+ mode with Auto Brightness and it's perfect.
Form Factor: This thing is so well conceived and executed. Quality build, everything just fits so well, especially with the dock.
Connectivity: Especially with the dock, having the USB and SD. HDMI out has turned out to be a better alternative than the built in USB on my TV, better image and sound quality.
Is it perfect? Maybe not, but as close as I could have really hoped. The things that matter to me are: 1) Highly useful day in and day out; 2) I enjoy using it day in and day out.
I was one of the lucky guys getting a solid TP since day 1, I honestly don't have complaints, this is a wonderful piece of technology in every aspect, it has everything I wanted on a tablet. The GPS isn't great yes, only performs outdoors, but hey, I don't really care, as I only used it to test for feedback here on XDA, I own a specialized navigation device for my car and a smartphone when walking in case I need, therefore, I don't need a tablet for such tasks. I wanted a Prime for other things, email, notes, video, surfing and most of all, a portable yet powerful machine to carry around. The flexibility is incredible and the battery life ridiculous, please name a device on the market with this characteristics?! Yep, the TP is unique, enough said...
Cheers
Another happy camper. I have not had any problems with my prime at all. I've used it 60' from my router with BT enabled and disabled. Made no difference.
It works great for me, no matter where I take it as long as there is a wifi signal.
I just wish my keyboard dock would show up after being on backorder for over two months.
I use my Prime mainly for watching worldwide cams, listening to radio/police scanners in my local area, reading emails, cloud printing, drop box, remote access to my PC and other client PC's.
I wouldn't trade this Tablet for any other available on the market at this time. I love it. It's fast, great resolution, handles every app that I've thrown at it. I'll hang onto it until ASUS comes out with a 6 or 8 core Tablet.
I love my TF PRime!
demandarin said:
This is for the people Satisfied with their device. People that are happy with device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my prime since the 4th of January, and just recently found a dock in stock. Mine is one of the early BCO* machines. (BCOKAS005) but works like a charm. No screen bleed through, the speakers after rooting and applying the help here are far better.
First, I absolutely love ICS and the ASUS' screen quality. It's outstanding! The GPS on my unit has the usual issues, but why would I want to lug around a tablet for GPS! I also looked at is a value-added feature. It works, good. It doesn't, that's fine too.
What astounds me is the sleek design of the slate. I have mine Docked most of the time and love the "netbook" look. It's the center of conversation whenever people come by.
I've used it as a VNC client and server. I ran FTP servers, IRC clients, even a bittorrent client. I absolutely love it's ability to not only stream from DLNA, but actually run as a DLNA server. There's so much this little piece of kit can do, and so elegantly, it daily points out to me just how far personal computers have come from their humble beginnings in the late 70s.
I LOVE MY PRIME. If I was to change something, I would get the 64gig model, but I spent a few minutes moving large media files to microSD and USB connected drive, and have much more memory for software.
Long posts like this one would be difficult using the virtual keyboard. I touch type and the base's keyboard, even though it's chicklet is more than enough to type well.
This slate was a gift from my wife. I bought the dock; and have been loving my little netbook ever since
I love my Prime, like no other
I love my Prime, like no otherself, really. I use it CONSTANTLY, pretty much most of the day at work (I had to justify the cost by doing SOME work with the thing) I basically take all my meeting notes with it, and I have all my company appointments come through using Google Sync to Outlook on my desktop.
Thank God for ICS we use a Cisco VPN solutionat work, and on Honeycomb, getting a VPN connections was never gonna happen. I knew the solution was in ICS, so I was super happy that Asus got it out even earlier than scheduled.
I do get pissed about GPS, and will never let Asus off the hook for that screw up, but that does not negate the fact that My Prime is a stellar device. I take it down to breakfast at work and read news (News 360, News Republic, Pulse, PressReader, USA Today and Google Currents. That enough NEWS for ya?
The only current issues are that .15 blew away whatever GPS I had (it comes and goes with these frequent updates.) While that makes me a bit grumpy, as I don't have any major issues, it's a necessary evil, as Asus busts their collective butt to fix the serious issues that affect some users. These are almost a "rite of passage" for the first Tegra 3 Tablet in existence.
The other issue I see is stuttering/freezing on Riptide and Shire Runner. I am still trying to get a fix for that. Best I can do is reboot just before playing as a workaround for the present.
Why mention these things in a "What works great on your Prime" thread? Easy one. BALANCE.
It's not all a bowl of cherries running at the bleeding edge, sometimes the teething pains are quite dreadful, but a small price to pay to "boldly go where no tablet has gone before".
And no stealing my slogan there, Demandarin! Excuse me while I go see about rolling back to .14. Maybe. I have to decide on that still.
SmartAs$Phone said:
I love my Prime, like no otherself, really. I use it CONSTANTLY, pretty much most of the day at work (I had to justify the cost by doing SOME work with the thing) I basically take all my meeting notes with it, and I have all my company appointments come through using Google Sync to Outlook on my desktop.
Thank God for ICS we use a Cisco VPN solutionat work, and on Honeycomb, getting a VPN connections was never gonna happen. I knew the solution was in ICS, so I was super happy that Asus got it out even earlier than scheduled.
I do get pissed about GPS, and will never let Asus off the hook for that screw up, but that does not negate the fact that My Prime is a stellar device. I take it down to breakfast at work and read news (News 360, News Republic, Pulse, PressReader, USA Today and Google Currents. That enough NEWS for ya?
The only current issues are that .15 blew away whatever GPS I had (it comes and goes with these frequent updates.) While that makes me a bit grumpy, as I don't have any major issues, it's a necessary evil, as Asus busts their collective butt to fix the serious issues that affect some users. These are almost a "rite of passage" for the first Tegra 3 Tablet in existence.
The other issue I see is stuttering/freezing on Riptide and Shire Runner. I am still trying to get a fix for that. Best I can do is reboot just before playing as a workaround for the present.
Why mention these things in a "What works great on your Prime" thread? Easy one. BALANCE.
It's not all a bowl of cherries running at the bleeding edge, sometimes the teething pains are quite dreadful, but a small price to pay to "boldly go where no tablet has gone before".
And no stealing my slogan there, Demandarin! Excuse me while I go see about rolling back to .14. Maybe. I have to decide on that still.
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Good post. Last part made me grin..lol.
I think you should just stay on .15. The stuttering in games not caused by update. I had that happen randomly even on honeycomb and early ICS builds. Not sure what exactly causes it. I know once it goes away or I get it to go away, it usually doesn't come back. I had same deal happen with 9mm game. As soon as i started up the stage, I could play for a few seconds then screen/game would stutter n start flashing. Happened several times in a row. I was about to give up on it but tried a few things first. First I made sure I had no b.s. apps or anything running. To make sure game had as much ram as possible to run with. Then I rebooted the tablet. Issue went away and has been good ever since. Even beat the game. Similar thing happened with my shadlwgun THd that came with prime, since I bought it at Gamestop. I could play for a while then game would stutter n freeze. I just exited out the game completely then relaunched it and everything was well. All my games play very good now n i have alot of them.
Have most of all the heavy duty, good graphics games. Like 9mm, Asphault6 HD, Dead space, Madden 2012, new sonic(not b.s. sonic cd..lol), Sprinkle, Backstab HD, Samurai 2 vengeance, Shine runner THD, Riptide GP THD, air attack HD, Grabitron, Osmosis HD, Sentinel, Neo Geo emulator, PlayStation emulator, Snes emulator, genesis/Sega master system emulator, OnLive....and lotz more...lol
Gaming is a blast on this device. I have the iControlPad a bluetooth gamepad for mobile devices. Works beautifully, and the popular emulators work just 100% perfect on the tegra3 while having great battery life.
I can even output it to a TV and play all those great classics like FF7, Zelda OOT, Tony Hawk 2, Starfox in HD.
Also i think point and click adventures are perfect for a touchscreen device. I hope devs see this as well and release lots of them to the market
My wife and i really love to play stuff toghether cuddled up on the couch, and adventures are the perfect games for that.
Browsing of course is superb and i like it even more than on a regular PC.
And its just something else to watch movies wherever i want. I mean yeah i could hook up a laptop to my TV before, but ah its always a hassle. Then the battery runs out after you're half way through, you need to look for a cable, then the cable is not long enough etcetc. Having the screen just in your hands, is something else.
Oh btw i dont have any issues so far. GPS works as i expected - gets a lock everytime but wont be usable for navigation. Wifi is strong all over my place.
Oh and a little bonus - my electric bill is cheaper because i dont use my PC all that much anymore
And when i'm using the prime it feels like the future has arrived. If you know what i mean
Most of you probably don't recognize my name because I only posted while we were waiting for the release of the Prime.
I generally don't post because almost everything I would post about already has a thread. And we all know how congested this forum is with useless posts.
This time I was prompted to post because I wanted to share a nice experience I had, albeit small compared to what others have posted in this thread.
This morning I spent two hours playing Riptide GP. I usually play this on balanced mode, but today I forgot to change the setting and it was in power saver mode as I played. To my surprise the game functioned great, even in power save mode! I played for a good two hours straight and I took less than 20% of my battery.
Like I said this is a small thing but as I use my Prime more and more I am realizing just how premium this device is. I'm soooo happy with my purchase.
Dock is on its way to me is a couple if weeks! Icing on the cake at that point.
desert_mouse said:
Most of you probably don't recognize my name because I only posted while we were waiting for the release of the Prime.
I generally don't post because almost everything I would post about already has a thread. And we all know how congested this forum is with useless posts.
This time I was prompted to post because I wanted to share a nice experience I had, albeit small compared to what others have posted in this thread.
This morning I spent two hours playing Riptide GP. I usually play this on balanced mode, but today I forgot to change the setting and it was in power saver mode as I played. To my surprise the game functioned great, even in power save mode! I played for a good two hours straight and I took less than 20% of my battery.
Like I said this is a small thing but as I use my Prime more and more I am realizing just how premium this device is. I'm soooo happy with my purchase.
Dock is on its way to me is a couple if weeks! Icing on the cake at that point.
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I recognize the name but yes, games play great on prime in power savings mode also. I think I remember seeing that the power settings doesn't exactly apply 100% to playing games or watching movies. The processor will scale as needed to push the games. That's why you played game with no issue on power savings mode. Also why you can throw any type of HD movie at prime and it'll play fine even on lowest power setting. I've seen it actually recommended to play movies in that mode for the longest battery life.
No experience is too big or too small. Glad this thread made you come out and post on the experience. We need more positivity or good experiences being let known to others. Lots of people tend to think its just issues surrounding this device. Which is far from the truth. We have this thread and the Positive transformer thread to show the flip side to this madness.
demandarin said:
I recognize the name but yes, games play great on prime in power savings mode also. I think I remember seeing that the power settings doesn't exactly apply 100% to playing games or watching movies. The processor will scale as needed to push the games. That's why you played game with no issue on power savings mode. Also why you can throw any type of HD movie at prime and it'll play fine even on lowest power setting. I've seen it actually recommended to play movies in that mode for the longest battery life.
No experience is too big or too small. Glad this thread made you come out and post on the experience. We need more positivity or good experiences being let known to others. Lots of people tend to think its just issues surrounding this device. Which is far from the truth. We have this thread and the Positive transformer thread to show the flip side to this madness.
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Oh yeah I remember reading about that as well, regarding the scaling when gaming. More important was the battery life it took while playing. Impressed that it didn't suck away more.
I'm one of the very pleased with this Prime who doesn't post much but reads almost everything here. I'm annoyed that GPS doesn't work and principally I think Asus should be accountable for this. With that being said, at no time have I ever considered returning my Prime. This thing blows away anything out there.
I wish it were bigger..
My primary goal for a tablet is to read technical PDFs and its just a tiny bit
too small for my old eyes. close though and better then my ipad.
But that aside everything works great on this beast. My device never had
any wireless or gps issues. It can see as many gps satellites as my phone
does. Playing games is fabulous on it. I stream my media collection to it with
'emit'.
battery life is great with .14 and .15, no complaints at all with the thing.
Have noticed the occasion game stutter but only in "stupid zombies"
everything else even graphically intense games dont have the issue.
still need a jabber client that supports muc..
Serial BCOK - bought online at office depot mid January update .14
My biggest complaint is that the TFP has WiFi connectivity issues. I go to the university and there are areas where other android tablets and the iPad have signal allowing people to use the internet and mine simply refuses to connect or has random slow connections.
Hi,
this morning someone sent me a link from Tom's Hardware about this tablet. The articles mentions that some people have modded their case to improve GPS signals.
I wonder why Asus don't revise this product to address this issue.
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
You DONT even have to do all that anymore. Asus is offering free GPS dongles to people who purchase a prime. Offer ends in July. Just take a look in my GPS dongle test thread. Then take a look at the link in my signature THST says positive transformer thread.
Prime is a great device. Get one asap
Well first of all, I find it hard to believe that the aluminum case is causing 100% of the problem. Because, if it were then like you said, why not just change the design of the backplate? My guess is that simply adding a plastic strip to the top of the backplate would not improve GPS performance that much. And personally I think the plastic strip look is ugly as hell. What they could have done is kept the all aluminum finish and just relocated the antenna to behind a speaker grill, which is similar to what other devices with metal casings have done. I am sure the GPS still wouldn't be 'professional grade' but it would at least be better than what we currently have.
Either way, the whole GPS problem was something that was obviously not 'caught' until really late in the production process. If it were caught earlier, I am sure something more pro-active would have been done about it. But by the time they found out, they were in too deep to make a hardware change as they were most likely already in mass production. The early regions of where the device was released they had already advertised the thing as having GPS, both on the box and on the official spec sheets. Then when it was released these people found out that GPS was virtually non-functional and ASUS had to quickly back track and pull GPS as a feature from the spec list. My guess is their lawyers told them they need to do something to avoid a class action law suit and any further bad press around this whole situation. So their options were:
1) Recall the device and then modify the hardware in some way to fix the GPS problem (whether that be done via a newly designed back pate or whatever). And then any new ones produced would obviously have this hardware change incorporated as well.
2) Offer a free addon that improves GPS performance.
As we now know, they went with option 2, which I am sure was also the cheaper route. Also, option 1 would imply an admission of guilt in that they messed up. The GPS dongle option allows them to say: "Although the TF201 is not a professional GPS device, as part of our unwavering commitment to our customers we are offering all customers who purchased a TF201 system a free external GPS extension kit, called a dongle, which may help improve signal reception and optimize the user experience".
Honestly I do not care about GPS in a tablet and I will probably only ever use my dongle a select few times in the entire span that I own and use the Prime. I do think it is good that ASUS is doing something about it though. Other companies may very well have just brushed this thing under the rug and moved on with life (which is what I assumed ASUS has been doing until we found out about the GPS dongle).
jordache16 said:
Well first of all, I find it hard to believe that the aluminum case is causing 100% of the problem. Because, if it were then like you said, why not just change the design of the backplate? My guess is that simply adding a plastic strip to the top of the backplate would not improve GPS performance that much. And personally I think the plastic strip look is ugly as hell. What they could have done is kept the all aluminum finish and just relocated the antenna to behind a speaker grill, which is similar to what other devices with metal casings have done. I am sure the GPS still wouldn't be 'professional grade' but it would at least be better than what we currently have.
Either way, the whole GPS problem was something that was obviously not 'caught' until really late in the production process. If it were caught earlier, I am sure something more pro-active would have been done about it. But by the time they found out, they were in too deep to make a hardware change as they were most likely already in mass production. The early regions of where the device was released they had already advertised the thing as having GPS, both on the box and on the official spec sheets. Then when it was released these people found out that GPS was virtually non-functional and ASUS had to quickly back track and pull GPS as a feature from the spec list. My guess is their lawyers told them they need to do something to avoid a class action law suit and any further bad press around this whole situation. So their options were:
1) Recall the device and then modify the hardware in some way to fix the GPS problem (whether that be done via a newly designed back pate or whatever). And then any new ones produced would obviously have this hardware change incorporated as well.
2) Offer a free addon that improves GPS performance.
As we now know, they went with option 2, which I am sure was also the cheaper route. Also, option 1 would imply an admission of guilt in that they messed up. The GPS dongle option allows them to say: "Although the TF201 is not a professional GPS device, as part of our unwavering commitment to our customers we are offering all customers who purchased a TF201 system a free external GPS extension kit, called a dongle, which may help improve signal reception and optimize the user experience".
Honestly I do not care about GPS in a tablet and I will probably only ever use my dongle a select few times in the entire span that I own and use the Prime. I do think it is good that ASUS is doing something about it though. Other companies may very well have just brushed this thing under the rug and moved on with life (which is what I assumed ASUS has been doing until we found out about the GPS dongle).
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+1...although the solution of a GPS dongle really kills the idea of a TRANSFORMER prime...cant use it with the keyboard dock, and its not as flush and they said it is..you wont be able to use majority of the leather cases and etc when you are using the dongle
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
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Same here.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
kwazytazz said:
+1...although the solution of a GPS dongle really kills the idea of a TRANSFORMER prime...
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Not really - now it can TRANSFORM into a 'professional grade' GPS device! ;-)
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
jordache16 said:
why not just change the design of the backplate?
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They are, for the 300 and 700 series, back to plastic where the radios are going. iPad tried behind the speaker grille and it still has issues. Its better than nothing but def not perfect.
Yes, the black strip doesnt always look as appealing, however you could cover it with a case or carbon fiber sticker or whatever, i'd much rather go for plastic strip over no radio reception.
And also yes, the interference can definately be 10000% caused by the metalic back plate. Both by blocking the signal and RF noise. Everything pretty much is grounded to the metal back and it, in turn, has a lot of RF noise associated with it. If i attach a lead to the gps or wifi contact inside the tablet and have the wire run outside the tab i get excellent reception. Once that wire goes within about an inch of the tablet the signal drops dramatically. Even if the access point is on the proper side of the tablet so its not blocking the signal.
Asus knows how to make killer electronics. they did an amazing job on the prime, however the demand caught them off guard. They tried to do something different with the metalic design and got caught with their pants down. They will get it right eventually and in the mean time we are at least getting SOMETHING (free dongle for gps, why not?)
The prime is a great tablet, awesome for watching movies, playing games, browsing the internet. ya, the wifi is not that great, i look forward to mods for using the dongle for wifi instead of GPS, but in the mean time this is the best we got, and its good enough. When the 700 comes out i may sell my prime for that but i got money in my pocket. if your on a budget, buy the TF101, its still better than any other tablet (aside from the 201 IMO), or wait for the 300 series which will still be a cost efficent tablet.
Asus is doing their best to remedy this situation. They are a big company and big machines move slow. Considering their track record i will still continue buying their products. I have been impressed overall by the prime, and the 101 before it, and look forward to the 700 when it comes out. Continue doing your research and determine what is going to be important for you (and if you do go Prime make damn sure to test it every way you can before accepting it).
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
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Same for me.
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
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SoTacMatt said:
Same here.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
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texstar said:
Same for me.
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same here..lmao
my wifi been been performing great where ever i go. whether at home, traveling and tethering, or some where else and hooking up to another public or private network.
The worst problem with the prime is the constant freezes it has...
It`s frustrating.
Tried all the browsers people recommend and the problem persists.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
It would make sense that they would update the faulty hardware when they found the problem. I'd still like a TP 201 but GPS is a necessity for aviation navigation. If the problem was fixed in later batches, I would buy one.
Well, if GPS is a necessity... don't go for the TP... it's a fantastic device, but not intended to be used as a GPS device... it's a design fault more than a hardware fault... perhaps if the TP Infinity has GPS it would be better...
prime will work fine for navigating now that asus is giving away free external gps dongles..read my gps dongle test thread for more details
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1602789
Is the dongle only for people who bought a TP before the GPS was removed from the specifications?
Would a person who bought a TP today get a dongle?
skypony said:
Is the dongle only for people who bought a TP before the GPS was removed from the specifications?
Would a person who bought a TP today get a dongle?
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yes..dependent on where you live though. most places can get them
I bought a Prime 1.5 weeks ago. After rooting and apply the aGPS fix, my GPS works great. I haven't waited longer than 10 seconds for a lock. Maybe they did improve it.....
I would not trust a non dedicated GPS system for aviation. That is just asking for trouble.
I have a later TFP (C1 series) and my GPS is functional but not great.
The Asus TFP aluminum case (product design - good for appearance and sturdiness) imepeeds GPS and Wi-Fi in some cases.
I ordered the GPS dongle and anticipate this will bring GPS reception up to the level of my smartphone.
jlabrat said:
I have a later TFP (C1 series) and my GPS is functional but not great.
The Asus TFP aluminum case (product design - good for appearance and sturdiness) imepeeds GPS and Wi-Fi in some cases.
I ordered the GPS dongle and anticipate this will bring GPS reception up to the level of my smartphone.
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recent testings, including mines and other members, show prime gps dongle performing better than smartphone gps
Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.
Mr Zulu said:
Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.
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please post back after you receive the dongle and test it on your flights. i bet you will be surprised as to how well and accurate the dongle performs.
Mr Zulu said:
Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.
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Yes the free GPS Extension Kit; this is what Asus calls in the packaging it does help the GPS. What the Kit does is it disables the built in GPS and uses the dongle GPS. Works good, I tested to see indoors. I have the C3OK serial TP and the GPS kind of works outside, but with the dongle, it finds your location within 30 seconds after the first time. I prefer not to have the dongle, but at least I can use it if I ever wanted to really use the GPS. I have my TP rooted, so I might try the GPS hack that has been really working. Here is a quick view of the dongle.
demandarin said:
please post back after you receive the dongle and test it on your flights. i bet you will be surprised as to how well and accurate the dongle performs.
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It came in today and while I haven't flight tested it yet I think I have to say color me not impressed.
When I first got the tablet with Honeycomb still on it, I could get and lock onto GPS with it sitting on my dining room table near a window with an accuracy of 90 something feet. Outside was a little better... maybe 40 feet or so but I have no doubt that if I was diving (or flying) that the lock would be lost but I never tested it.
When the tablet updated to ICS, I lost ALL GPS function. Never could see a satellite inside or outside even when left for hours under an open sky.
Well, with the dongle, my GPS now see satellites again... but not as good as I had with the native GPS and Honecome operating system. Sitting here on the same dinning room table near the same window, I mostly do not have lock. Occasionally it will grab a lock but the best I've seen is accruacy o 143'. The last lock I had was to 757'. Currently as I type, no lock. Outside after setting for a long time, I got a lock to 70 or so feet. As I walked around the yard, accuracy fluctuated between that 70' and 125' but was mostly between 90' and 125'.
I'll have a chance to test it in a small aluminum cockpit going 200mph tomorrow and see how it does... not expecting much.
---------- Post added at 03:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 AM ----------
Woops, sorry. Nevermind. It didn't occur to me that it might perform better after restarting the prime (since it's hardware and the software has been restarted several times since the last update).
In any case, it's actually impressive now. Inside it's a solid 40 or so on the accuracy. Outside walking around the back yard, it holds a solid 12' or so. Best I've seen.
I'm feeling better about it's chances tomorrow. We'll see.
Finally got a chance to post back here. It worked flawlessly in the airplane. 17' to 20' accuracy when the Prime was sitting on the seat next to me. Would go to less than 10' accuracy when I held the Prime in front of me where it would normally be when I'm working on it and that's going at about 200mph. Nice feature added to the charting software.
I still regard it as just a 'nice feature' though. It really is easy enough to just swipe the chart to your location without GPS. Most airplanes have GPS in the panel now (mine has three) so you already know your location and most GPS units built in the last 12 years or so contain most of the information you'd need on a typical flight in the database so we don't even have to look at these charts during the actual flight that often anymore... and some of the more recent ones have the charts actually loaded into them (mine does not and is what I use the Prime for). When we douse a chart in flight, it's not to see where we are (since we already know that), it's to look up some detailed information that's not in our GPS databases, or perhaps the most common reason... to look up the spelling of an assigned intersection (spellings are typically very odd) so that we can access that intersection in the panel GPS.
Now, there are SOME older planes where the owners may not of updated their panels to have a GPS in them. For those, I'd want to buy a tablet with a good working GPS. In that case, a GPS would be a HUGE benefit.