earlier this year I was planning to buy the prime but the negative feedback stopped me (wifi issues, GPS issues, different software issues)
now I'd like to know if the current batches like buying from bestbuy
are they working fine?
or there are better option? preferred teg3 10" tablets?
primes seem to be working fine. primes from launch were working fine also. I got my unit 12/22 and works fine. my first n only one. no needing to return or exchange. so changes very high you get a great working one now. plus there won't be any other tegra3 devices for a good while. unless you feel like waiting till June
plus take a look at this thread. it has overwhelming results and give you a great Guage on Primes that work well n people being satisfied with it. over 80%.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1491431
also look at the Positive transformer thread in my signature also
demandarin said:
primes seem to be working fine. primes from launch were working fine also. I got my unit 12/22 and works fine. my first n only one. no needing to return or exchange. so changes very high you get a great working one now. plus there won't be any other tegra3 devices for a good while. unless you feel like waiting till June
plus take a look at this thread. it has overwhelming results and give you a great Guage on Primes that work well n people being satisfied with it. over 80%.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1491431
also look at the Positive transformer thread in my signature also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you seem like you are one of the lucky prime owners
how is GPS, wifi works with u?
and any dates for Lenovo or Acer's teg-3?
or the high res prime?
M_HaFeZ said:
you seem like you are one of the lucky prime owners
how is GPS, wifi works with u?
and any dates for Lenovo or Acer's teg-3?
or the high res prime?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wifi works great. GPS is so so but I use a program called Bluetooth GPS To use the GPS on my atrix phone to with prime. alot have GPS that seems to work decent. just depends on what exactly you want to use GPS for.
no date on Lenovo tablet as far as i know. or the Acer one. the high Res prime, the Tf-700 aka Infinity, is said to be released in June, hopefully. I think the Lenovo and Acer ones will release around that same time or right afterwards.
plus its not so much of being a lucky prime owner now. alot are coming out buying new devices recently and they seem to work well. just look at those links from other post n you will see. there have been alot of people who were kinda scared off and skeptical but went for it and turned out to work great for them. so yes, there are some problem units. but chances are really high the newer devices are defect free. now if you looking for the prime to use primarily for navigation or something, then this might not be the best solution for you. just putting that out there although plenty have good working GPS. just depends on what exactly you want to use it for. plus there are solutions to connect external GPS devices or phones if you need a more powerful GPS solution. but once again my wifi works great and hasn't failed me once yet.
thanks for your hones feedback
now I've checked bestbuy and it is not availabe for shipping, and in amazon it is very overrpiced, I live abroad and got nice deal of customs for 3 days
and I dont find a good online store to buy from with its 500$ original price
just keep searching. they out there. they usually sell out so fast online. check any stores in your area to see if they have any in stock or can order one for you.
I'm from egypt pal
it is not officially launched yet ! :|
I'm have a Prime being delivered tomorrow. I bought it on Amazon when they had it available to ship at a later date...I had to wait ~2 weeks. I did not buy it from one of Amazon's partners at exorbitant pricing; I bought from Amazon itself. Keep searching the Amazon website 'till you find it a normal ($499 & $599) pricing! It may be delayed a couple weeks in shipping but that was fine for me...I refuse to pay more than retail.
I'll post tomorrow how it is build quality/performance wise.
I bought mine on 12/23, the purple one. Aside from the known gps issue everything else on mine is fine.
Bought mine earlier this week from best buy. manufactured in January. Had one of the originals, but returned it and waited for a new batch. This one seems to be working great. across the house from router and wifi working enough to surf and post this. GPS works. Little hard on locking on when not on wifi too, but it works good enough for geo location, which was my only concern. Over all happy. Didn't want to wait till June for the same thing with just a little higher res screen.
How can you tell when it was manufactured?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
By the s/n...those starting with C1 are Jan. 2012, C2 Feb etc.
send from my DINC2 using XDA Premium
M_HaFeZ said:
I'm from egypt pal
it is not officially launched yet ! :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might enjoy the fact it has proper Arabic support, In everything except the chrome beta browser. google itself always drops the ball on Arabic support (although it has an Egyptian VP :-\ )
On your topic,
I have a newer (c starting serial ) prime, it doesn't do GPS, and wifi is unreliable. since I can return it, I'm not stuck in a bad deal. In your case, I'd suggest waiting till they have a solid product.
—————————————
Sent from my sgs2 Skyrocket
Mine and a friends are working like a dream.
Okay, I received my new ATP yesterday, it has a C2 s/n. The battery was dead when I un-boxed it so I charged it up and here is what I found: The unit found my wifi and immediately went through 2 updates, to ICS and I am not sure of the second. I have a couple of spots of very very slight screen bleed by the bezel but certainly nothing that will bother me at all. Wifi signal icon seems weak (1 bar 30-40 ft from my router, thru 2 walls & a closet) but it d/ls and surfs without problems...as fast as my Droid Inc2. GPS located me within seconds inside (wifi on). I took the Prime outside and let it sit for a few minutes (wifi off), it found 11- 14 satellites and locked on 7-8 of them within first 5 mins. No. of sat. locks varied as did accuracy, mostly between 18-48 ft. I didn't try navigation, I wouldn't use it for that anyway...or I'd tether it to my phone. Battery life seems good so far, I expect it to improve after a few charging cycles. I'll post screen shots of GPS if I can figure out how.
I guess I have to link to an uploaded screen shot so that will have to wait.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
My C1 seems fine also. GPS is spotty but really who here bought it to be a 10" navigator GPS? WiFi seems better then my Thrive, my Inspire 4G, and my desktop with three antennas. Had it for a day so maybe it will explode and maim me next week but so far haven't seen any manufacturing defects. Also I just found out the keyboard has some form of swipe.
Sent from my awesome Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
Related
So I have good news. I have been e-mailing back and forth with a helpful ASUS Engineer for the past few hours. Gary Key put me in touch with him. Taking a cue from a comment the engineer made about pre-shipping and shipping versions of the hardware I sent the Engineer a photo of my label with Serial Number and all that fun stuff.
In previous posts I have speculated that I had a unit from the rumoured borked WiFi batch. You may recall some time back that one of the major reviewers got a bad WiFi review unit, and then was shipped a fixed WiFi version. Then a day or so later rumours of a production delay due to the WiFi issue arose. Then Amazon cancelled a bunch of orders that seemed to be all for the 32GB Grey version, the version I ordered, and the version I have. I had my suspicions and he confirmed them. I was shipped a unit that is of the "old HW". He is offering to exchange it. I plan to report as soon as I get a new unit.
This is bittersweet news for all of us with crappy Primes. I don't know if the version that was meant to ship has better GPS, but I know it is the version the Engineers say has no BT/WiFi issue. This means that an exchange should solve BT issues!!!
EDIT: I'm putting my part of my SN here for statistics.
TF201 Grey 32GB BBOKAS042XXX
BAD GPS
BAD WiFi
BAD BT
I urge others to list theirs. Perhaps we can determine bad batches. As I did, put the Color, Capacity and SN. Perhaps there are people who don't use BT who have one of the bad units who might want to exchange for the newer HW.
Is there any way to distinguish the two hardware versions by serial number or somesuch?
kristovaher said:
Is there any way to distinguish the two hardware versions by serial number or somesuch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's what he's going to report once he gets the new one...
Serial Number. The following is from the e-mail.
Hello David,
*By your TF201 serial number “BBOKAS042XXX”, I checked with our factory, it is not equipped with latest HW.
*Use latest HW, I cannot re-produce this issue.
My idea is: we replace your ATP by a new one that is equipped with latest HW. Do you accept my idea to resolve the bad situation you are suffering?
Thanks a million!
Regards,
XXXXXXX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a champagne-gold version (32GB + dock) received yesterday, will check serial nr when I get back home, but wifi is crap on that one too... Going to contact asus about this as well.
Can he say if the UK Prime's have the new hardware? Since they are just arriving in UK and it's a 'new' product, having tablet and dock in one.
i just tested wifi & bluetooth on my german grey 32gb+dock transformer. download speeds were definitely slow as hell while i was transferring a file via bluetooth.
TF201 Grey 32GB BCOKAS067XXX
could you please ask that engineer if i got one from the fubar'd batch as well? my serial number is quite different from yours, but you never know..
I looked in settings but don't see the serial number. Where do you find it?
mine is bcokaso22 My wifi works but as well as my 6 year olds original prime, and a lot worse than my old samsung 10.1.. Mine is gold, and I have 6 pixels that are lighter in color and only noticeable on light screens and I have light bleed on dark screens. I got my prime on the 22nd and have gps labeled on my box. So I will wait it out little while before I go for an RMA. Its hard to keep with all the complaints on the tablet I hope I dont miss the solution when one is finally reached. I do love my prime its sexy and runs well, just wish the wifi was a little stronger and my screen problems. Have not tested the bluetooth
Well here is information I sent to him today.
TF101 WiFi On BT Off 52ms Ping | 18009kbps DOWN | 6702kbps UP
TF201 WiFi On BT Off 59ms Ping | 17372kbps DOWN | 6877kbps UP
TF101 WiFi on BT On 58ms Ping | 7805kbps DOWN | 6502kbps UP
TF201 WiFi on BT On 76ms Ping | 2895kbps DOWN | 3160kbps UP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He had me test both my Transformers. Once with Wifi On and BT Off, and then With Wifi On and BT On/Paired/Playing a local MP3.
So in a bad unit you can see the problem. With BT Off the TF101 and TF201 are identical, TF201 even surpassing TF101 on occasion in my many many MANY speedtests. With BT On both devices suffer immensely but there is more to it. Not only does BT make the TF201 go from identical to performing at about 40% of the TF101, but the performance on the TF201 is degenerative. If I were to streaming music via Google Music or watching video with subsonic or Netflix, the speedtests would have gotten worse and worse until they failed altogether. Real world performance on the TF101 is transparent. I honestly never knew that BT hurt the TF101 performance so much because I never had reason to test it. If you have a bad TF201, using a bluetooth headset or any a2dp device, and streaming high quality video will show the problem within 5 minutes. Within 10-15 minutes your internet will fail altogether.
I don't know if I would want to post my serial number on the forum. Has Asus specifically stated which units have the old HW versus the new ones? If it is by the serial number they should be able to tell us which set of digits to look at to make sure we are affected or not.
I don't know. Am I the only one not buying the ASUS claim that they already have an updated Prime designed, tested, and in production? The units started shipping less than a month ago, and they already have updated models fixing issues that just started popping up about 2 weeks ago?
federer said:
mine is bcokaso22 My wifi works but as well as my 6 year olds original prime, and a lot worse than my old samsung 10.1.. Mine is gold, and I have 6 pixels that are lighter in color and only noticeable on light screens and I have light bleed on dark screens. I got my prime on the 22nd and have gps labeled on my box. So I will wait it out little while before I go for an RMA. Its hard to keep with all the complaints on the tablet I hope I dont miss the solution when one is finally reached. I do love my prime its sexy and runs well, just wish the wifi was a little stronger and my screen problems. Have not tested the bluetooth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you get time, please test the bluetooth. The issue is not poor WiFi performance. Though, the only time I use my WiFi at the outside of my routers performance is when I get home from work. I turn off tethering and switch to home WiFi while I am still in the driveway. I sometimes sit there streaming video for a few minutes while I pack everything back into my bag and prepare to get out of the car.
Basically I watch a video while I dismount my Garmin, windshield mount for phone, 12V cooler, etc. I deliver pizzas so my car is basically a mobile control center. With the TF101, the transition from tethering to home is fine. I just restart the video, track to where I was and continue watching. The TF201, night before last, worked for maybe two or 3 minutes before it started buffering more than it was playing. Granted this is with BT On and paired with my car stereo for the TF101, but for TF201 playing through the dinky speaker since BT turned on means no ability to watch video period.
Consider testing it if you have the hardware/software to do so. Teaching you to use subsonic can be troublesome. And Netflix, depending on the resilience of your home network might just lower the video quality repeatedly. In my testing it seems that any data load under 1000kbps won't completely trigger the fault that shuts wifi down completely.
just lou said:
I don't know. Am I the only one not buying the ASUS claim that they already have an updated Prime designed, tested, and in production? The units started shipping less than a month ago, and they already have updated models fixing issues that just started popping up about 2 weeks ago?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well as I stated. Remember that there was a reviewer from one of the top sites that reported WiFi issues with their initial review unit. I think it was Anandtech. Then he was sent a second review unit that didn't have the issue. Anand reported the WiFi issue on December 1st. He followed up on December 15th.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5175/asus-transformer-prime-followup said:
The WiFi Story
I'm on my third Transformer Prime. The original sample was almost completely broken when it came to wireless connectivity. I had very little range on the integrated WiFi and performance typically hovered around 0.5Mbps, sometimes reaching as high as 2Mbps. ASUS originally claimed that no one else had this issue but it looks like the CNet reviewer also noticed it. That sample went back to ASUS for diagnosis but I don't have the results back from the autopsy yet. A simple guess would be an antenna that wasn't properly connected, although it could just as easily have been something more complicated.
ASUS overnighted me a second Transformer Prime; this one was tested at ASUS in California before making its way out to me. As I published earlier, I had issues with the second sample and any Apple wireless access points (Time Capsule or Airport Extreme). Using a Netgear AP I saw 16Mbps pretty consistently, but I could only get ~32Mbps if the tablet was at the right orientation with respect to the AP. ASUS' HQ eventually conceded that there might have been a problem with the second WiFi antenna on pre-production review samples. Apparently this issue was fixed in the retail lot, but may not have been addressed in what ASUS originally shipped us. Wait—second WiFi antenna?
It turns out that the Eee Pad Transformer Prime features WiFi antenna diversity. We've talked about antenna diversity most often with reference to the cellular chain on Apple's iPhone 4 and 4S, but here it's present on the Prime's WiFi. There are two antennas on the Transformer Prime, one located on either side of the front facing camera. In the second Transformer Prime sample, one of the two wasn't working. In my third review sample, taken from the retail lot that's on its way to vendors this week, both were fully functional. The result is peak WiFi performance that is virtually identical to the original Eee Pad Transformer.
There is no RF window on the back of the Prime where the two antennas are located. Aluminum does a fairly good job of attenuating RF signals, which contributes to worse range on WiFi than the original plastic Eee Pad Transformer. WiFi performance at the edge of reception as well as the maximum usable WiFi range are both noticeably lower than its predecessor. I'm still finalizing our tablet WiFi range tests to be able to quantify some of this stuff, but it's safe to say that if you were at the edge of WiFi coverage on the original Transformer, the Prime won't be any better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anand has been incredibly useful in these last months. He reported on the truth of the 4G signal of the Galaxy Nexus, and he was good about illustrating WiFi issues on the Prime as he saw fit. It seems that some of the early units slipped their collars and made it out into the wild.
setite said:
Well as I stated. Remember that there was a reviewer from one of the top sites that reported WiFi issues with their initial review unit. I think it was Anandtech. Then he was sent a second review unit that didn't have the issue. Anand reported the WiFi issue on December 1st. He followed up on December 15th.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but then why would ASUS ship the defective units if they knew they were defective, and had an updated version in the works that fixed all the issues? It just doesn't make sense, but who knows.
I thought you were telling everybody yesterday to return their prime.... Also, reporting ASUS to the BBB....... but now your their best tester buddy????
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1437567
just lou said:
True, but then why would ASUS ship the defective units if they knew they were defective, and had an updated version in the works that fixed all the issues? It just doesn't make sense, but who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It makes plenty of sense and none at all. It depends on what the problem is. If there are a batch of units that suffer from poor manufacturing, perhaps at the time they shipped them the scope of the problem wasn't clear. Maybe they figured out that my batch was bad after it shipped out.
There is also the possible case of the Right hand not knowing what the Left hand is up to. For example Gary Key, "Technical Marketing Manager, I spoke to also knew my serial number but never made any mention of different HW versions. But the engineer, who would obviously be more intimate with the issue figured it out almost immediately.
Either way two versions in the wild actually makes it very clear why there is such a large disparity in user reports. Some people say GPS/BT/WiFi are just fine while others, ME, are having show-stopping technical difficulties.
Danny80y said:
I thought you were telling everybody yesterday to return their prime.... Also, reporting ASUS to the BBB....... but now your their best tester buddy????
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1437567
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Click to collapse
Indeed I was singing a different tune yesterday. I have always been a tester though. I have been in contact with Gary Key for 8 days and as of yesterday I had gotten to the end of my rope. He was playing middleman between myself and ASUS Engineering and it was getting on my nerves. He wasn't as detailed as I would have liked and kept reporting that they were unable to reproduce the issue. As I know this issue is not an isolated incident I felt like I was getting fed a load of crap.
Today, technically yesterday, he finally just put me through to an Engineer directly who managed to figure the problem out in hours. The engineer gave me more detail than Gary was relaying, which allowed me to give the Engineer more information to get to the bottom of it. When the Engineer mentioned that the problem was not present in the current HW, but mentioned a previous revision that had the problem, I decided to send him my serial number.
"What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate". This is why I said in the OP that I would report back as soon as I get a replacement unit. If they send me part of the new stock and the problem is gone, then I will report that. If the problem still exists I will rage against the man some more . To be fair I informed Gary the same time I posted that thread of my intentions. I am not yet rescinding my other thread. But I will add an update linking to this thread.
Excuse me for butting in, but I haven't seen one report of BT/WiFi working fine in unison from anyone who actually tested it when the Prime was actually paired.
After toying w/ the settings on my router, the WiFi performance alone on my Prime has been decent, but the BT vs WiFi issue is more than apparent. We're talking drops from 23 Mbps to 800 Kbps upon pairing.
BUYMECAR said:
Excuse me for butting in, but I haven't seen one report of BT/WiFi working fine in unison from anyone who actually tested it when the Prime was actually paired.
After toying w/ the settings on my router, the WiFi performance alone on my Prime has been decent, but the BT vs WiFi issue is more than apparent. We're talking drops from 23 Mbps to 800 Kbps upon pairing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue and will update this post when I get home from work. Wanted to stream Google music through blue tooth, but the connections crawls causing dropouts..
Hey guys,
Title pretty much says it all. Been contemplating this for a while since I didn't have enough money to begin with, but now I do!
But having seen and heard about some of the problems people are having with their primes...I'm not too convinced if its the best way to spend my money. There's the wifi/bt issue, (bt not so much of an issue for me but if wifi does play up then yes it will be an issue), the random reboots and the fact that some primes are not upgrading to ics. I've also heard that video playback is touch and go as tegra3 is not supported on video players? And that's not even mentioning GPS.
If I were to buy it'd mainly be used for note taking, internet browsing, and multimedia.
So I guess
1. Buy or not buy?
2. Can anyone confirm if it has an international warranty? Might get my uncle to buy it from overseas for me cos its cheaper.
3. Is it shipping with ics now? And if it were to ship with ics, would it have those issues mentioned above?
Thanks so much for ur comments and thoughts guys!
Sent from my HTC Incredible S with Beats Audio using XDA App
I would purchase it from a local retailer. Personally, purchase it, test it out, run it through the ropes, if it fails (same might but hopefully not) then return it for a full refund.
After reading numerous complaints and issues. i WILL be buying and trying one. If it fails and dissappoints me, i will return it and wait for the Quad Core Acer a510 to release. Just my .02$
Also, once or if you pick one up. Please report back to this thread on when, where you purchased it and if you had any issues.
I bought mine on 12th this month and i'm really happy with it. Great tablet, smooth, long lasting batteries, nice screen défintion,(no need of full hd in this size for me) and crispy colors. I rooted it, only 2 or 3 slowliness with the internet browser.
No problem with the Wifi, but the GPS is horrible, at a point that i never synchronised it, even 1 time. Tablet waiting signal outside for 1 hour, sometimes showing 2 or three satelites sometimes but with too low levels to be usable.
Gaming capabilities are impressive. Tested it on my Panasonic 65" plasma...What a tablet!
Well just buy it, try it, and that's all...If you don't need GPS device of course.
Don't know if the update is already installed with the news stocks, but mine got updated twince in 3 weeks.
For the warranty it's probably international but not sure has i bought mine in France, and don't care about that.
I was in the same spot as u until I seen my local BB had one in stock so I bought it. As said in many post GPS is pretty much unusable. I have a T-Mobile galaxy s 2 and the wifi speed tests show galaxy s 2 gets about 28 down and 6 up the prime in the same spot is about 16 down and 4 up this is about 10 feet away from router . Other than that this is one of the most amazing devices I've ever owned I would recommend it since I won't be using it as a gps .
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Seriously? Another one of these threads?
The search function is your friend.
Thanks guys!
I think ill prob buy one from a place which has a good returns policy and give it a go. Hopefully Asus has ironed out the problems by now so that the ones on sale now should be a lot smoother.
Ya soz just saw all the other threads about ppl asking bout the same thing.
Sent from my HTC Incredible S with Beats Audio using XDA App
Let us know when you need to go to the bathroom, well let you know if you should or not.
Sent from my Prime T201 using xda premium
So I've been patiently waiting for income tax money to get a new tablet, been reading a lot between the tf101 and the tf201 and I want a tablet that will have good development, I know the prime is too new and it has his fair share of issues including wifi and GPS, I can care less about GPS but I need wifi so as long as I can get a decent wifi signal so I can seat in my couch or my bed and pickup my wifi I'll be good, now the light bleeding from what the videos I've seen on YouTube wouldn't be a big problem but I don't know if I would be able to deal with dead pixels, now to my question , is there anyone that upgraded to the prime from the transformer and do you feel like it was a mayor upgrade or do you think the original is still a mayor contender? Is a $100 difference so is not that much of a difference in price, but from reading how Asus might have released it prematurely makes me wonder if I should go for the older more stable with more development transformer tf101.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
The Tegra 2 in the original is ancient. Considering how fast the mobile market moves, it is like buying a Pentium 4 for a new desktop. The Tegra 3 is three times as fast between the CPU/GPU- ready for 2012.
With that said, with a Prime you go in expecting to deal with a dead GPS and weak wifi range. It is the trade-off for a modern amount of power.
My only personal issue was slower wifi in my bedroom (the edge of my network), but I love my Prime so much my solution was just to upgrade my router (Cisco e4200, best 2.4GHz consumer router on the market). Now it works great.
poofyhairguy said:
The Tegra 2 in the original is ancient. Considering how fast the mobile market moves, it is like buying a Pentium 4 for a new desktop. The Tegra 3 is three times as fast between the CPU/GPU- ready for 2012.
With that said, with a Prime you go in expecting to deal with a dead GPS and weak wifi range. It is the trade-off for a modern amount of power.
My only personal issue was slower wifi in my bedroom (the edge of my network), but I love my Prime so much my solution was just to upgrade my router (Cisco e4200, best 2.4GHz consumer router on the market). Now it works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! I'm probably getting it and if those are my only issues(wifi/GPS) then everything will be great, just hope the development here will grow soon and increase the choices of roms and stuff.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
i understand your concern. i bought mine less than two weeks ago from best buy with my income tax. trust me spend the money. its worth it. maybe even spring for an extended warranty.
1SiK1500 said:
i understand your concern. i bought mine less than two weeks ago from best buy with my income tax. trust me spend the money. its worth it. maybe even spring for an extended warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the extended warranty sounds like a good idea, thanks.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
I'd say the OG TF101 has much faster WiFi speed as range from the access point increases, the Prime is thinner and lighter, and can be purchased with higher storage capacity.
If WiFi speed is the most important get a OG. If GPS is the most important get neither IMHO but def' not the Prime.
I would personally say getting a Tegra 2 now, would be like getting a Core 2 Duo instead of an Core i[357]. Now the Wayne and Grey based Tegra chips expected later this year....those will make a Tegra 2 look like a Pentium 4 versus an i7, if wikipedia is to be believed.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Spidey01 said:
I'd say the OG TF101 has much faster WiFi speed as range from the access point increases, the Prime is thinner and lighter, and can be purchased with higher storage capacity.
If WiFi speed is the most important get a OG. If GPS is the most important get neither IMHO but def' not the Prime.
I would personally say getting a Tegra 2 now, would be like getting a Core 2 Duo instead of an Core i[357]. Now the Wayne and Grey based Tegra chips expected later this year....those will make a Tegra 2 look like a Pentium 4 versus an i7, if wikipedia is to be believed.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see what your saying, and I don't care about GPS, I just want to make sure I get a somewhat solid tablet, as long as I can get wifi from like 5 feet from my router in my living room I won't complain, and I guess the other issues with light bleed and dead pixels is all luck, and there's rooting and recovery here for it, wish there was some custom honeycomb roms to play with like the revolver or krakd roms for the tf101, hopefully we'll see some development picking up for the prime soon, gonna see about swinging by best buy and testing one out while I wait for my tax money so I can just go buy the one I decide to go for when the money comes.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
While some say GPS is no big deal, look at the amount of whining about it. I want it for alot of reasons. It automatically updates weather to the location, etc.
I purchased mine Less than two weeks ago from Best Buy. I have NO GPS at all. mine is a BCOKAS134452 serial number. My wifi isnt that bad actualy but i feel it is lacking when compared to my rooted nook color. I will try to open mine tonight and make one mod to see if it improves, if not, it goes back tomorrow.
Im not going to exchange it. Im going to return it receive my FULL refund. Then Re-purchase another unit so i have ANOTHER 2 weeks, incase there are issues.
While some may not find this right. I have noticed some people have major issues 3 or 4 weeks after purchase. That is what worries me. Just my .02$
Now you know about some of the issues affecting some users. Now check out the link in my signature. The positive transformer thread. That'll put things into perspective. GPS is a widespread issue although some peoples do work. As far as wifi, this a very limited issue. Just check out the link n the vast number of different users posted in there n you will see a flipside. Which is what I'm on..lol wifi works great on mines
demandarin said:
Now you know about some of the issues affecting some users. Now check out the link in my signature. The positive transformer thread. That'll put things into perspective. GPS is a widespread issue although some peoples do work. As far as wifi, this a very limited issue. Just check out the link n the vast number of different users posted in there n you will see a flipside. Which is what I'm on..lol wifi works great on mines
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Click to collapse
Thanks it looks like there's a lot of people very happy with theirs in that thread, definitely looking forward to having one.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
roloracer said:
I see what your saying, and I don't care about GPS, I just want to make sure I get a somewhat solid tablet, as long as I can get wifi from like 5 feet from my router in my living room I won't complain, and I guess the other issues with light bleed and dead pixels is all luck, and there's rooting and recovery here for it, wish there was some custom honeycomb roms to play with like the revolver or krakd roms for the tf101, hopefully we'll see some development picking up for the prime soon, gonna see about swinging by best buy and testing one out while I wait for my tax money so I can just go buy the one I decide to go for when the money comes.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
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IMHO light bleed and dead pixels are a quality control and shipping issue. It's also the most common ground for trouble between both tablets.
One thing that alarmed me... while my TF101 fresh out of Microcenter was great: my Prime off eBay had a batch of wtfixels on the far left side and I was afraid that I may have to RMA. By the time I completed the initial setup stuff with my Google Account it went away and the pixels are fine in use.
I do consider the TF101 a better quality tablet but really, unless you do have hair pulling issues with wifi/gps, Prime is fine. I also think the sites more or less calling the Prime like the top or the most powerful tablet of the year are also correct enough. It just doesn't have a deluded cult preaching it's perfection.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Spidey01 said:
IMHO light bleed and dead pixels are a quality control and shipping issue. It's also the most common ground for trouble between both tablets.
One thing that alarmed me... while my TF101 fresh out of Microcenter was great: my Prime off eBay had a batch of wtfixels on the far left side and I was afraid that I may have to RMA. By the time I completed the initial setup stuff with my Google Account it went away and the pixels are fine in use.
I do consider the TF101 a better quality tablet but really, unless you do have hair pulling issues with wifi/gps, Prime is fine. I also think the sites more or less calling the Prime like the top or the most powerful tablet of the year are also correct enough. It just doesn't have a deluded cult preaching it's perfection.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
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Thanks for your input, I had originally thought about the tf101 because of how good is said to be for the price, but I changed my mind thanks to all of you guys and also from browsing thru the positive thread, I'm definitely getting the prime, can't wait for the income tax money to get here, it should be about another week.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
Transformer prime is way better than the original transformer
Go for tf-201
So I'm still waiting for my tax money that should be here by the end of this week, by now I'm disappointed to say no prime for me, I've spend lots of time in the background here just reading negative posts and searching online and reading about rumors of discontinuation of the prime, whether is true or not, I think I'm gonna be patient and wait a bit to see what happens in the next couple of months, Acer is said to be the next one to have a tegra3 tablet, who knows who else throws one out next, and hopefully the tf700 doesn't take too long, oh well as much as is killing me to buy a tablet, I don't want to go backwards to the tf101 to feel I got a solid tablet, I want to feel about a tablet like I feel about my HTC hd2 , that is a solid device. I guess well see.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
jassari said:
Transformer prime is way better than the original transformer
Go for tf-201
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+1....ATP RULES...see decline prices on ipad 2, no match for ATP.
roloracer said:
So I'm still waiting for my tax money that should be here by the end of this week, by now I'm disappointed to say no prime for me, I've spend lots of time in the background here just reading negative posts and searching online and reading about rumors of discontinuation of the prime, whether is true or not, I think I'm gonna be patient and wait a bit to see what happens in the next couple of months, Acer is said to be the next one to have a tegra3 tablet, who knows who else throws one out next, and hopefully the tf700 doesn't take too long, oh well as much as is killing me to buy a tablet, I don't want to go backwards to the tf101 to feel I got a solid tablet, I want to feel about a tablet like I feel about my HTC hd2 , that is a solid device. I guess well see.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
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Here's the thing bro....while you're waiting, buy a prime to play with. Most likely you will love it and keep it but guess what if you don't like it you can just return it like so many people have or are at least threatening to. At least you have something to do while you wait. That's my opinion but instead of the buzz kill threads just man up and go buy one see how great it is.
ryanbmw51 said:
Here's the thing bro....while you're waiting, buy a prime to play with. Most likely you will love it and keep it but guess what if you don't like it you can just return it like so many people have or are at least threatening to. At least you have something to do while you wait. That's my opinion but instead of the buzz kill threads just man up and go buy one see how great it is.
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Totally agree. You can doo eeet!
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
roloracer said:
the extended warranty sounds like a good idea, thanks.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
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I read an article stating that less than 5% of extended warranties are ever used. Something to think about.
GPS is NOT a feature of the Transformer Prime. Anyone who brings it up anymore are doing so because it was a feature, but they bring it up because it was then removed. You don't buy a tablet for gps, you buy a gps. The GPS module and antenna are crap in the Prime. You would crap get signal and accuracy even if it did work properly.
For example, you don't buy a PS3 anymore for the ability to install Linux or PS2 backwards compatibility. Why? They removed those features.
Thee major problem of the weak wifi is the fact that one of the antennas is not actually connected properly in some of the old and new Primes. This is a reason to not buy the Prime.
slayvus said:
GPS is NOT a feature of the Transformer Prime. Anyone who brings it up anymore are doing so because it was a feature, but they bring it up because it was then removed. You don't buy a tablet for gps, you buy a gps. The GPS module and antenna are crap in the Prime. You would crap get signal and accuracy even if it did work properly.
For example, you don't buy a PS3 anymore for the ability to install Linux or PS2 backwards compatibility. Why? They removed those features.
Thee major problem of the weak wifi is the fact that one of the antennas is not actually connected properly in some of the old and new Primes. This is a reason to not buy the Prime.
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That's why I said in OP that I could care less about GPS working, but wifi is a big thing for me.
My money came into my account yesterday, not sure but I might pick one up from best buy, play with it and decide what to do before the 14 day return period ends.
Sent from my CM9 NexusHD2
I have an order for a Prime on Amazon, and I'm waiting for it to ship. At this point, would you wait for the TF700T (given all the potential hardware problems with the Prime) or just go for it. I know about the "technology gets better all the time stuff", but what would you do, TODAY, if you knew what you knew now.
wait. I have a prime and the dock I love it..but if you spent time waiting for say the TF700 who's to say that there won't be something better a little bit later down the road..
!!senseless sensation!!
I just got my second prime due to the HDMI out port dying on my first one, most likely because I dropped off the back of my couch. Both primes I have owned have been great no wifi problems or reboots. GPS is hit or miss but I think i read on these forums that a hardware fix is in the works. That being said. No way am I paying 100 bucks more for a plastic back and a slightly better screen. I don't need GPS to work full speed minus wifi on my tablet.....I have a phone for that...and like I said i never had wifi problems.
So my answer is i would not wait for the tf700....plus you never know what kinda problems they are going to have with that one....at least with the prime you know all the POTENTIAL issues and can deal with them.
Personally, I would wait a while. It sounds like ASUS is providing some kind of Hardware fix to Primes that are not working correctly, but parts are not available yet. That combined with the lack of stock almost anywhere leads me to believe that production of new units has been slowed/stopped. My guess is that they are using whatever stock they have remaining to primarily replace units that are being returned by customers.
Whether they are waiting to ramp up production with "the new hardware" or are winding down on the Prime altogether is unclear (at least to me). But it seems definite that "something" is up with the prime production.
I would wait to see what shakes out in the next couple of months unless you are desperate for a new tablet.
I wouldn't wait if I were you. In all honesty, the TF700 is not that much of a step up from the TF201, and in my opinion it is not worth the extra $100. The only reason that I would wait is if GPS a deal breaker for you (which I think most people have a hard time making this argument).
So its 50:50 up until now
i have to say, i wouldnt either. The prime is fantastic. In most cases the wifi issues (if there are any, in my case there are none) arent a problem in reality because youtube HD stuff wont interrupt to buffer, neither do high quality flash streams on the browser. And thats what counts in the end. IMHO.
So the infinity tab will be a great device as well, but there is much uncertainty about it still. No one knows the exact pricing, if there will be issues, if they will be in stock etcetc. With the prime you know what you get - and that is almost perfect. Pretend the prime is a wifi only device without gps btw. And then be happy that they implemented a GPS sensor anyway that works for positioning not for navigation.
Its such an awesome product giving you soo much for the price. And its stunningly beautiful and feels very premium. If manufacturers release plastic only products like samsung, people always cry for aluminum. On the prime its there.
And the incoming games!? We're gonna lol at infinity blade!
There is no good answer. The TF700 may be out next week and it may not be out until holiday season this year. It's also going to be more expensive. Basically is that screen worth an extra $100 and maybe several months of waiting?
Usually in the technology world you buy what you need or want at that time. Don't wait unless you know when something is being released otherwise you will never buy anything. Unless it is an Apple product the delay between the announcement and the time the actual product arrives on store shelves is usually many months. How much do you want to bet when the TF700 is released there will be a new tablet announced by someone that blows the TF700 away? That is the reality in the technology world.
Then there is the question of availability and QC. The Prime was released in mid December or something like that but not available for like a month and you had to either preorder or check websites every day to hopefully get one. And actually it is still like that and it's been a couple months. As for QC, well it is the same company so I am not sure why their QC will change. For all we know there will be QC issues with the TF700 as well. Screens seem to be a big issue with ASUS. I know since I had to return three primes due to screen issues. The original transformer had screen issues and a terrible dock battery issue that plagued early adopters for a long time.
I would say buy the Prime now. Have fun with it for many months. Once the TF700 is readily available and we know there are no QC issues go play with one in a store and see if it is worth selling your Prime. You will not be out much money if you go that route.
Go for it. I was in the same boat, but decided the extra money wasn't worth it.
The primary issues are WiFi and GPS. My GPS seems to grab sats and lock, but haven't really tried it on the road yet....but, not worried, because my Globasat Receiver BT359 works fine...so either way, I got GPS.
Wifi - all I care about is getting it to work about 2 rooms away from the router, and it also seems to work. The biggest issue for me was "ICS not permitting Ad-hoc network connections" with my smartphone (did not know that issue before I bought it) because that is my main source for internet when I travel. However, there is a fix on the board for that, so I can get a wifi connection no matter where I'm at.
So, even if GPS and WiFi turn out to be truly "flaky" when I really need it, I have the alternatives mentioned above and even buying a GPS receiver is cheaper than the $100.
The supposed improvement in screen resolution is not important unless you look at it through a magnifying glass. I doubt that the eye could really discern the difference
Lastly, They announced the prime coming out in October, then got pushed back, and they STILL aren't readily available. So, if they say the 700 is June release, I wouldn't expect to see it in the stores till Sept at the earliest...and ready supply....try Christmas.
Good luck,
Bob
PS....also remember, the people who post are the ones who have issues or "think" they have issues.....Some are real, some are due to lack of knowledge by the user. Remember, very few happy customers post and say "WOW". So, on any board, most operational questions are of the negative variety....and I'd also say again....A lot of that is the user
I'd say wait until the problems on the Prime get fixed or until the TF700T gets released. ASUS says there are only 1% of defective units. I'd say in my case is more like 100%. I bought/returned 4 Primes, they were all defective.
If you can wait for a tablet, I would wait. With the other android and an apple brands, newer asus tablets, and maybe a fix for the current prime coming out you will have more options to choose from. If you cant wait, buy a prime from a company that has a return window no questions asked and test it yourself.
Don't wait. I was in your position about 10 days ago and today I am happy I made the decision to buy.
My unit works fine (minus a bad firmware update that killed battery life), and it's beautiful. It's fast as hell and makes my **** feel huuuugggggeeeee having a quad core tablet.
The tf700 is barely an improvement for waiting and spending a hundred dollars more. The resolution increase will barely be noticeable - except on the hardware, which will likely be taking a beating from the screen. The transformer prime is the last tablet with an ips panel I will buy - waiting on future ips panels seems like a bad idea with the advancement of oled technology.
Looks like the TF300T just cleared the FCC, so maybe it won't take as long as I thought to get the TF700.
My real concern is that they are phasing out the Prime, which is why supplies are basically zero.
wifesabitch said:
There a new thread every day about this. I know it's a real cool thing to be a thread starter but you are pushing down useful threads with this nonsense.
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Every day the situation changes, so it makes sense that people are curious and that old threads won't still be relevant. I also see that every day, like clockwork, you scold or berate the poster like it's your job. What's more annoying, someone coming here advice seeking from other members, or the people that post just to post, without adding any real value. I've been a member since 2007, I know how XDA works.
"Pushing down useful threads" If you tell everyone who comes on here to just search anyway, who cares? 16 people offered thoughtful, relevant answers. You're the only one who had to insult the OP.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1523783
I would read this thread, seems like there is going to be new parts for the prime to improve wifi and GPS end of March. Maybe you should wait when it goes into effect in the production line.
Yeah, I'm usually the last one to wait, in fact I'm finally just now giving up on my viewsonic Gtab that I got right when it came out. It's tegra2, but stuck on froyo and even the best efforts of the devs on xda have resulted in a less than stellar ICS ROM. So, it's time to lay down some more money. I'm keeping my order at Amazon, and we'll just see which comes available first, the Prime or the TF700. Either way I'll be happy.
I think you should not wait.
1º No one knows when the Infinity will be for sale.
2º The improvement of screen is irrelevant for me;
3º The Infinity will not be smaller or lighter;
4º The Infinity will not be cheaper;
5º The Infinity will not be faster;
6º GPS should not be essential in a tablet and my Wifi is normal.
For me, the main improvement in the Infinity is the 3G and 4G option that the Prime do not have.
Anyone who prefer 3G/4G should wait.
For me, I am wait for an official firmware update on Prime that would enable connection with Ad Hoc networks, because I have Joiku software in my Nokia phone.
nunoloule said:
I think you should not wait.
1º No one knows when the Infinity will be for sale.
2º The improvement of screen is irrelevant for me;
3º The Infinity will not be smaller or lighter;
4º The Infinity will not be cheaper;
5º The Infinity will not be faster;
6º GPS should not be essential in a tablet and my Wifi is normal.
For me, the main improvement in the Infinity is the 3G and 4G option that the Prime do not have.
Anyone who prefer 3G/4G should wait.
For me, I am wait for an official firmware update on Prime that would enable connection with Ad Hoc networks, because I have Joiku software in my Nokia phone.
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+1
I on the other hand would not want the 3G. I currently pay for internet 3 times... (home internet and 2 unlimited data smartphone plans) so the last thing I want to do is to pay for another internet connection. I currently use my Thunderbolt to tether to the Prime (I use the Open Garden app) and it works great.
But for those who don't have a smartphone or don't want to tether from their phone to their tablet (which I don't know why you wouldn't) then it may be worth the wait.
Just get the prime! I love mine.. No issues part from gps but who needs that anyway.. And tbh why would u need a retina display on a 10.1" screen? Just don't see the point but that's my opinion
Evo_Shift said:
Usually in the technology world you buy what you need or want at that time. Don't wait unless you know when something is being released otherwise you will never buy anything.
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+1
I wanted a tablet but didn't NEED one.
I went from potentially choosing a TF101, then maybe buying a Thrive until i heard about the Prime and then i pulled the trigger.
Buy what you think is best NOW cause 2 months from now it'll all change again.
I'm in the same boat.. but I heard June now for the Infinity series.. no way I'm waiting 4 months.. I'm sure 6 more new tablets will be out by then anyway..
Besides, the HD screen is about the only real benefit I'd be interested in, and honestly, I've been re-watching Battlestar Galactica in SD on my iPad 2 for the last week and I enjoy it just the same as if it was in HD.. I'd love to have the HD panel, but IMO, 4 months and $100 more just isn't worth it to me.
I'm considering taking the offer for a refund. I can deal with gps problems as I wouldn't use this thing for driving but the wife/bt, no no. I use my tablet for portable multimedia and entertainment. I'm getting video crashes, web crashes, restarts, and the poor bt sound to my headphones when streaming. All adds up to the tablet not function for my purposes.
Tough part is deciding on what to do/get. I've already become hooked on the notion and ease of having a portable device like the tablet. I don't want to be out waiting for a few weeks for the refund check to be cut and mailed to me. Neither do I have another 400+ sitting around to drop on new tablet as I wait. I love my prime. I really do but I don't want to be frustrated longer waiting on word of a solution to the wifi/bt problem. Asus may find a software solution or they may accept it can't be fixed and never tell the owners this.
Of the currently available tablets on the market, what do members of the forum who have had multiple tablets think of the current selection? I'm fully aware that none of them will be quad and have the graphical ability of the prime. Honestly though, when will we actually see games that take advantage of the tegra 3? If I wanted pure gaming I would consider an apple product as developers of the nicer games are giving that system the sweetness and pushing them out.
I use my tablet for some gaming, web, and mainly streaming flash audio/video. I'm really considering the original transformer but what do others suggest? I'm also not interested in waiting months for a tf700+++ whatever as something newer and better is always around the corner.
There are only 2 real tablets on the market now -- iPad and Prime. Others suck it's nothing to be comparable. You can wait a little for the new Acer tablet though.
Your choice
just send it in for an RMA. OG transformer too outdated now. its multimedia capabilities are nothing compared to prime. those crashes you mention sound like more of a software thing. have you tried a fresh reboot? are you on the latest firmware? have you tried a factory reset? etc......
Thanks for the replies
I did try a factory reset about 3 weeks ago. I'm running stock everything with the .21 update. I've tried the uninstalling of flash, different web browsers, etc. I had it just bomb out and restart playing a .flv video off my microsd card this morning. Its a c1 model and I see the whispers that the newer c3 ones are having less bt/wifi streaming issues. I'm also considering asking them to replace this model with one of the newer ones. I'm just worried with no concrete proof or word from Asus that these newer batches are in fact changed for better performance, I may end up in the same situation and lose the option for the refund.
Just return it, the Prime is a joke and no amount of RMA'ing is gonna fix its design flaws.
The A510 is released in the US, 32GB and Tegra 3 for $450. Personally I had such problems with my original prime that I couldnt stand it anymore, I'm on the fence about buyin the 510 or waiting for the A710 with the display. We'll see how long I can hold back my thirst for a gadget
Screwedupsmitty said:
The A510 is released in the US, 32GB and Tegra 3 for $450. Personally I had such problems with my original prime that I couldnt stand it anymore, I'm on the fence about buyin the 510 or waiting for the A710 with the display. We'll see how long I can hold back my thirst for a gadget
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I am just feeling like you and I did take the plunge and my A510 should arrive from Amazon later today .
oooo let me know how it goes when u get it, i have 9 hours to order it on amazon if i want it by tomorrow with my free amazon prime for students I'll check back often
Screwedupsmitty said:
oooo let me know how it goes when u get it, i have 9 hours to order it on amazon if i want it by tomorrow with my free amazon prime for students I'll check back often
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I will let you know as soon as I get it and start playing with it.
Update: Well my Acer A510 came in this morning and I have been playing with it for a while and so far wifi is strong, gps works perfectly used it as I returned from San Diego to my home in Orange County and it always stayed locked onto at least 16 satellites and the build quality feels solid I am very happy that I made the purchase and I also bought this BT keyboard that was made for the Galaxy Tab but will fit my A510 perfectly also: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0069WH2OA/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details. Also I did already root it using the rooting kit found on this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1531646
I will still use my Prime, but I will also let my kids use it to play games on it.