Went into the local Best Buy and they mentioned they can order a new Prime on their store terminals, but you can not order on line yourself (strange). They showed me on a terminal and the part number changed from an "A" suffix to a "B" on the product code. It is also treated as different product inventory.
I was told this is the new revised Prime, but I seem to recall this version mentioned in the forum already (could not locate), but was an internal design change and not the unicorn known as a revised back panel.
Best Buy can order one and showed me an order they did for a customer a few days before (waiting to be picked up). They would not open it, but I was hoping the unicorn really did exist.
possibility this could be true. Waiting to hear back details on these C4 models. most I've seen posting, that has the new C4 model said theirs work great. No wifi/BT dropout and wifi works fine. even posting internal GPS works well and maintaining lock while driving. there was only 1 person who said their GPS didn't hold the lock but majority, I've seen, said it did.
we'll just have to wait & see what can be found out about any revised prime or the c4 models.
I have one on order from Best Buy's warehouse that should be in the store for me to pickup today or Thursday. I will report back in this thread as soon as I get it and do some testing.
All I want is the Wi-Fi not to dropout while streaming audio over Bluetooth. GPS is not really an issue for me, but it would be a bonus if that worked too.
rushless said:
Went into the local Best Buy and they mentioned they can order a new Prime on their store terminals, but you can not order on line yourself (strange). They showed me on a terminal and the part number changed from an "A" suffix to a "B" on the product code. It is also treated as different product inventory.
I was told this is the new revised Prime, but I seem to recall this version mentioned in the forum already (could not locate), but was an internal design change and not the unicorn known as a revised back panel.
Best Buy can order one and showed me an order they did for a customer a few days before (waiting to be picked up). They would not open it, but I was hoping the unicorn really did exist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unicorn made me lol so hard
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
rushless said:
Went into the local Best Buy and they mentioned they can order a new Prime on their store terminals, but you can not order on line yourself (strange). They showed me on a terminal and the part number changed from an "A" suffix to a "B" on the product code. It is also treated as different product inventory.
I was told this is the new revised Prime, but I seem to recall this version mentioned in the forum already (could not locate), but was an internal design change and not the unicorn known as a revised back panel.
Best Buy can order one and showed me an order they did for a customer a few days before (waiting to be picked up). They would not open it, but I was hoping the unicorn really did exist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check in to this today, but it is the first I have heard about it. I don't know of any revised part number.
I can tell you that we do have the most Prime inventory on hand we have ever had and they should all be C4 serial numbers at this point.
Addendum: I am comparing the part labels on my BCOK and C3OK and there is no difference in part numbers, model numbers, or listed features (GPS still listed on C3).
The only difference are the serial numbers (obviously) and the check number.
phree1 said:
I will check in to this today, but it is the first I have heard about it. I don't know of any revised part number.
I can tell you that we do have the most Prime inventory on hand we have ever had and they should all be C4 serial numbers at this point.
Addendum: I am comparing the part labels on my BCOK and C3OK and there is no difference in part numbers, model numbers, or listed features (GPS still listed on C3).
The only difference are the serial numbers (obviously) and the check number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be awesome if we could get some inside info!
demandarin said:
possibility this could be true. Waiting to hear back details on these C4 models. most I've seen posting, that has the new C4 model said theirs work great. No wifi/BT dropout and wifi works fine. even posting internal GPS works well and maintaining lock while driving. there was only 1 person who said their GPS didn't hold the lock but majority, I've seen, said it did.
we'll just have to wait & see what can be found out about any revised prime or the c4 models.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My TF300 is a C4O..idk if it matters.
I really miss the screen of the Prime
Does anyone actually have a C4 Model in there hands?
And im not talking about the Tf300.
David522d said:
Does anyone actually have a C4 Model in there hands?
And im not talking about the Tf300.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen those people here. about 6 of them posted owning one.
demandarin said:
I've seen those people here. about 6 of them posted owning one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe its finally time to rma my bcokas model
If only i wasnt out of the US right now, i'd go trade mine in.
Most likely they are changing the internal SKU they use to order the prime and instead of stocing them on shelves they will special order them or order them from their wearhouse... Invintory seems to be a big issue, im told that there is still a greater demand than supply in the GTA (canada).
I have been looking but have yet to see a prime on shelves in any store in my area. Seems to be lots of 300's available tho, maybe because its easier to manufacture? who knows, Asus sure as hell doesnt.
Perhaps the TF202?
or the TF300?
i dont know
im actually hoping to know if a TF202 prime with 3g/4g wil be available
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...Gray/4038674.p?id=1218450204286&skuId=4038674
Can be bought IN STORE ONLY
I seriously doubt it is revision. If we have a design change (internal or external).. which is a "revision", that requires Asus to file with FCC I believe.
So, this "revision".. at best.. will be either new "parts" or "components".. at most.
Btw, I've seen about 5 to 6 ppl commenting about purchasing C4 & of those 6 people.. one have commented on the "same" issue that we are facing with previous versions. I think it's foolish to conclude after 6 people that C4 versions have rectified the issues.... or didn't rectify the issues.
So, until we know or see Asus rectify the design flaw (re-adjusting/positioning the signal antenna & few others... & change of metal backplate)... I can only assume that we'll continue to see Prime's with issues. Just, for the sake of Asus.. I hope with each versions.... it comes with less issues & their QC has improved.
Btw, I do remember during the GPS Dongle leak... Hai Trat's email mentioned.. & advised potential Prime purchasers to look for C3 & C4 version as they have less issue (or without issue) compared to previous versions. That means ..
1. They haven't completely come up with a solution.. as we'll continue to see Prime's with issue due to DESIGN FLAW
2. He didn't mention anything about "revised" Primes.
we know only what the people with these newer models are reporting. all of them except one, that we've seen so far said their devices work well and suffer no wifi/bt dropoff issue & thier wifi works great. even internal gps. we even had Erusman, who created the opening up of prime thread, said his newer model C3 has no bt/wifi dropoff issue. SO the chance is very high that something is different about these newer models, especially c4 ones.
I'm going with the optimistic/realistic view considering what c4 owners have stated so far. You would think Asus corrected the issues somehow. Plus it doesn't even matter if it has to go through FCC again. It could have and we just don't know about it. That's if it even had to. the GPS dongle had to go through FCC also yet no one knew about it, at least from FCC standpoint. Its FCC file was never reported or found, initially. So its possible any new changes could have been made, went through FCC, and released. No one is obligated to tell us and tech sites do miss FCC scoops alot also. So it isn't like if it did go through FCC again, we would automatically know about it.
What i do know, from what i was told, is that They narrowed the wifi problem down to some not being assembled properly & some having a faulty 2nd. wifi antennae. Out of all the reported RMA, for wifi issues, a very small number had been found to have a "REAL" problem. I do know the numbers but is not needed to state. So it could be possible these newer models have a more critical eye & better quality control on them. Meaning they working and assembled like they are supposed to. Maybe that in combination of newer components or something. So anything thing is possible really. Its all speculation but with majority of known reports on new c4 model being good, things look good.
I will know details about this C4 model shortly and if any changes were made and what they were. I'm just waiting for the reply on that info. So it could either be a slight internal design change or they just have a more critical eye on the quality control so devices assembled like they supposed to. Either one would be good on Asus part.
plus something else alot of people may not know, there are actually two variants of tegra3 floating around in prime models. This was discovered by a developer and confirmed by me when i showed him the info on the different tegra3 variants. The early model primes use the AP30H variant of tegra3. the newer models all use the newer T30 variant of tegra3. this is not the same one in the 300 , as the 300 uses the T30L. This was all proven by developer here through coding of several different devices. Early and late models. I'm also waiting on info on why was the tegra3 versions changed up mid production or so. What are the benefits of the newer T30 variant that made them switch. Developer did say that older variant(AP30H)has better battery life and newer variant(T30) can take higher clocks/voltages/etc.. This all was discovered when developer, Motley, was making new changes to custom kernel and different people had different results. Some had the new kernel working and some didn't. since the kernel was made for an assumed universal tegra3 version. So the developer, I think it was Motley, added in a script or something to determine which tegra3 version you have and make adjustments on the fly as needed. So now his kernel produces desired results on either tegra3 version. There is a way to tell which version you have but you have to look in his thread for the how to.
demandarin said:
we know only what the people with these newer models are reporting. all of them except one, that we've seen so far said their devices work well and suffer no wifi/bt dropoff issue & thier wifi works great. even internal gps. we even had Erusman, who created the opening up of prime thread, said his newer model C3 has no bt/wifi dropoff issue. SO the chance is very high that something is different about these newer models, especially c4 ones.
I'm going with the optimistic/realistic view considering what c4 owners have stated so far. You would think Asus corrected the issues somehow. Plus it doesn't even matter if it has to go through FCC again. It could have and we just don't know about it. That's if it even had to. the GPS dongle had to go through FCC also yet no one knew about it, at least from FCC standpoint. Its FCC file was never reported or found, initially. So its possible any new changes could have been made, went through FCC, and released. No one is obligated to tell us and tech sites do miss FCC scoops alot also. So it isn't like if it did go through FCC again, we would automatically know about it.
What i do know, from what i was told, is that They narrowed the wifi problem down to some not being assembled properly & some having a faulty 2nd. wifi antennae. Out of all the reported RMA, for wifi issues, a very small number had been found to have a "REAL" problem. I do know the numbers but is not needed to state. So it could be possible these newer models have a more critical eye & better quality control on them. Meaning they working and assembled like they are supposed to. Maybe that in combination of newer components or something. So anything thing is possible really. Its all speculation but with majority of known reports on new c4 model being good, things look good.
I will know details about this C4 model shortly and if any changes were made and what they were. I'm just waiting for the reply on that info. So it could either be a slight internal design change or they just have a more critical eye on the quality control so devices assembled like they supposed to. Either one would be good on Asus part.
plus something else alot of people may not know, there are actually two variants of tegra3 floating around in prime models. This was discovered by a developer and confirmed by me when i showed him the info on the different tegra3 variants. The early model primes use the AP30H variant of tegra3. the newer models all use the newer T30 variant of tegra3. this is not the same one in the 300 , as the 300 uses the T30L. This was all proven by developer here through coding of several different devices. Early and late models. I'm also waiting on info on why was the tegra3 versions changed up mid production or so. What are the benefits of the newer T30 variant that made them switch. Developer did say that older variant(AP30H)has better battery life and newer variant(T30) can take higher clocks/voltages/etc.. This all was discovered when developer, Motley, was making new changes to custom kernel and different people had different results. Some had the new kernel working and some didn't. since the kernel was made for an assumed universal tegra3 version. So the developer, I think it was Motley, added in a script or something to determine which tegra3 version you have and make adjustments on the fly as needed. So now his kernel produces desired results on either tegra3 version. There is a way to tell which version you have but you have to look in his thread for the how to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really bugs & annoys me. I have a lot of problem with your statement (not towards you, but if anything.. completely directed towards Asus). I think it is fairly obvious (perhaps due to your bias towards Asus) that you have become the unofficial Asus spokesperson in this forum. They continue to respond to your question (btw, I am thankful one SOME info. from you), it boggles my mind how Asus continues to respond to your "questions" & yet, those with RMA issues (too many to count) .. and other various issues are just.. "waiting".
Anyways, few problems I have your statement:
1. You are concluding after 5 or 6 people. To conclude or state after such small amount of "pool" that issues are fixed/rectified/resolved is rather foolish & extremely dangerous. Now, I understand your optimism & belief in Asus (one aspect that was constant with you since the launch of Prime) but I think it is "fair" to warn & state that NOTHING is known, and take extreme precaution if you were to purchase Transformer Prime.
2. "Real" issues with WIFI is based on ASUS standard. Whatever that is... If they are basing their judgement based on their standard, I think it is fairly easy to create certain % or whatever to favor ASUS. For example, Gary Key's interview with CNET & the #s he gave....
I have ****TY WIFI on my Prime (no way am I going to RMA the device with all the crazy Asus RMA stories). But if I were to RMA, and ASUS finds my ****ty WIFI performance (based on my standard) acceptable due to whatever this standard they have... I think it is fair to say this whatever # or % you got from them.. is "tainted" to favor ASUS.
We have multiple reports of those who RMAed their PRIME because WIFI sucks, and when the device was returned.. it was still "CRAP".
So, we can say.. either our standards are high (based on comparisons with our own device)... or Asus standard on WIFI is really low, broad, and general.
3. And lastly, I HOPE ASUS does resolve the issue. Also, I hope it performs to.. or on par with many other devices without so much annoyance that certain individuals most go through to make PRIME acceptable. Btw, I will check FCC everyday just for you...
David522d said:
Does anyone actually have a C4 Model in there hands?
And im not talking about the Tf300.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Prime C40, I posted on a different thread,I bought it on 5/5/12 from Best buy this is my fourth Prime and as I said in my previous post I can use bluetooth without wifi drop out and I took an 8 mile trip with GPS lock all the way. I have been using it at least 3 hours a day and not one drop out on wifi. I ran with GPS again today at 60mph stayed locked for the 4 mile trip to work. As I said in my other post this is how the Prime should have been from day one! I hope all C40's will be this way so I can get the Asus bad taste out of my mouth. I wont go into the RMA process on the 3rd one.
shinzz said:
This really bugs & annoys me. I have a lot of problem with your statement (not towards you, but if anything.. completely directed towards Asus). I think it is fairly obvious (perhaps due to your bias towards Asus) that you have become the unofficial Asus spokesperson in this forum. They continue to respond to your question (btw, I am thankful one SOME info. from you), it boggles my mind how Asus continues to respond to your "questions" & yet, those with RMA issues (too many to count) .. and other various issues are just.. "waiting".
Anyways, few problems I have your statement:
1. You are concluding after 5 or 6 people. To conclude or state after such small amount of "pool" that issues are fixed/rectified/resolved is rather foolish & extremely dangerous. Now, I understand your optimism & belief in Asus (one aspect that was constant with you since the launch of Prime) but I think it is "fair" to warn & state that NOTHING is known, and take extreme precaution if you were to purchase Transformer Prime.
2. "Real" issues with WIFI is based on ASUS standard. Whatever that is... If they are basing their judgement based on their standard, I think it is fairly easy to create certain % or whatever to favor ASUS. For example, Gary Key's interview with CNET & the #s he gave....
I have ****TY WIFI on my Prime (no way am I going to RMA the device with all the crazy Asus RMA stories). But if I were to RMA, and ASUS finds my ****ty WIFI performance (based on my standard) acceptable due to whatever this standard they have... I think it is fair to say this whatever # or % you got from them.. is "tainted" to favor ASUS.
We have multiple reports of those who RMAed their PRIME because WIFI sucks, and when the device was returned.. it was still "CRAP".
So, we can say.. either our standards are high (based on comparisons with our own device)... or Asus standard on WIFI is really low, broad, and general.
3. And lastly, I HOPE ASUS does resolve the issue. Also, I hope it performs to.. or on par with many other devices without so much annoyance that certain individuals most go through to make PRIME acceptable. Btw, I will check FCC everyday just for you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree , for the most part. It isn't a conclusion made but good speculation made. You are right, Nothing is ABSOLUTELY known yet about newer models. which is why i stated POSSIBLE scenarios. Prime issues are nothing new so no real need to "WARN" people as most coming into here already read about them. They know some have issues and alot don't. This can be said for any newly released device though as they all have their issues. Like the new ipad, new 3oo, new Acer model ,etc.. Its all a working process and all have issues reported about them so far.
For your first part, its not that serious. I'd say just let it go..lol Its not like the way you make it seem. if the roles were reversed, I'd be glad/grateful that someone could at least try to find out more info and relay to the community on it. Especially if its info not released yet. plus it doesn't have to be taken as gospel. all things should be taken with a grain of salt.
I knew when i didn't answer your other similar question you posted before in another thread , this would pop back up...lol let it go, its not that serious.
---------- Post added at 08:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------
rand33099 said:
I have the Prime C40, I posted on a different thread,I bought it on 5/5/12 from Best buy this is my fourth Prime and as I said in my previous post I can use bluetooth without wifi drop out and I took an 8 mile trip with GPS lock all the way. I have been using it at least 3 hours a day and not one drop out on wifi. I ran with GPS again today at 60mph stayed locked for the 4 mile trip to work. As I said in my other post this is how the Prime should have been from day one! I hope all C40's will be this way so I can get the Asus bad taste out of my mouth. I wont go into the RMA process on the 3rd one.
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Click to collapse
this is one of the ones i was speaking of. Me along with others are very curious to see if there really are any differences with this newer model.
Until I see a video of said newer models performing the way it should (which we haven't, wifi/bt they still complain and still most have huge dropoff), they're just like all the others- hit or miss. I can say I'm the King of the Britains too, see how that works?
NeoMagus said:
Until I see a video of said newer models performing the way it should (which we haven't, wifi/bt they still complain and still most have huge dropoff), they're just like all the others- hit or miss. I can say I'm the King of the Britains too, see how that works?
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Click to collapse
You might be correct about "hit or miss" If i'm correct the C40 should be the April 2012 model, and if Best buy is getting a supply we should start seeing more comments about them shortly. The city I live in was dry of the Prime for months now all of a sudden they had 12 on Saturday maybe they feel confident to produce more. Just a thought.
Related
"Pure Speculation" WiFi and Bluetooth are getting a makeover. GPS being Removed.
This is pure speculation and I have no hard facts to back it up but I've always said, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck......it's a duck".
We all know that the Prime is not in any retail stores at this moment and it's debut has not went full swing yet. A couple batches of pre-orders have shipped but that's about it. Some websites now are showing they won't have any in stock until next month.
In my opinion, Asus stopped shipping orders out to retailers due to the WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS problems. Let's face it. This tablet isn't so popular yet that Asus can't keep the orders up. They realized they had to go back to the drawing board and either redesign or replace the antennas used for WiFi and Bluetooth. The next large wave of Primes should be the revised version which will have much better WiFi and Bluetooth performance.
Asus knows that it would cost them a lot less in the beginning if it just kicked it's chop shops into overdrive in order to ship a fully working tablet rather than getting a bunch of returns and a bad name in the process.
Now, when it comes to the GPS, this is more of a conspiracy theory but it makes sense. We all know that Asus removed "GPS" from the spec sheet and the reason they did is because this second revision of the tablet WILL NOT have a GPS chip inside or it will have it's GPS chip disabled. This is much easier and cheaper for them in the long run because they realize it will never work properly or efficiently without a WiFi signal.
Like I said before, this is just a theory but I just can't imagine why this tablet was supposed to be released in full force prior to Christmas and still continues to slowly trickle. Please don't tell me the tablet is so popular and that's the reason it's hard to get your hands on one because the general public doesn't even know about it yet.
If its a theory put it on the thread title.
And write it in capital letters..THEORY...
rubi76 said:
If its a theory put it on the thread title.
And write it in capital letters..THEORY...
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Click to collapse
+1 I hate threads with so obviously baited titles. Just wrong.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
rubi76 said:
If its a theory put it on the thread title.
And write it in capital letters..THEORY...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't think of better words to say...thanks given.
OP...please change the title...if you don't know how then ask.
Thread title changed. Didn't mean for it to be a bate and switch which is why I started off by saying......wait for it......"THIS IS PURE SPECULATION".
Anyone could have easily stopped reading and move on at that point.
jrwingate6 said:
Thread title changed. Didn't mean for it to be a bate and switch which is why I started off by saying......wait for it......"THIS IS PURE SPECULATION".
Anyone could have easily stopped reading and move on at that point.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the change in title. With that said I've got to say that your piece is well written and an interesting theory...we shall see.
Doesn't google require GPS for any device connected to the market? I don't think they could remove GPS entirely . . .
Deletion please
richaoj said:
Doesn't google require GPS for any device connected to the market? I don't think they could remove GPS entirely . . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Bottom of the page...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1428200&page=13
Actually, this tablet is that popular that they more than likely been having trouble keeping up with orders. look how in the beginning alot of peoples orders got cancel because the online retailers didn't get enough units or Asus cut the numbers down sent to particular retailers. probably to make sure there was at least enough to go around to various outlets.
as far as Asus stopping production and completely redisigning, I highly doubt it. As far as Asus knows there's only a GPS issue. that's a problem across the board. the wifi and BT one isn't. seems to only be affecting some users. they already solved the GPS issue by removing it from spec sheets and anyone who sends Prime in, to get fixed for GPS, will have it removed more than likely. people who still have units with GPS will more than likely still receive updates n such for GPS to make the best of it.
demandarin said:
as far as Asus stopping production and completely redisigning, I highly doubt it.
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Click to collapse
I agree with you. If they were going to do that they might as well have changed the back cover. Pulling a chip, taking out an antenna, and making some s/w modifications really isn't a big deal in the greater scheme of things. Certainly not as complex or costly as coming up with a different back cover.
The gps issue really need to be nailed down to its root cause, seems to me there are units out there with good gps performance. If the metal backplate is really the problem then we should not see all units with poor results. i just can't believe that the FCC approved this product without verifying the compliance to specs. To me it's probably a bad batch because of poor quality control, the next shipment around the end of the month could hopefully show a significant improvement and an ICS upgrade.
---------- Post added at 09:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------
Correction: "we should see all units with poor results"
tedr44 said:
The gps issue really need to be nailed down to its root cause
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http://www.anandtech.com/show/5285/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-gps-issue-explained
Excellent write up, so the gps was not tested from the beginning and when they did test it, it was conducted with the alum backplate to demonstrate the problem but I kinda wonder why they didn't test it without the backplate which would be a whole lot more convincing imo. It's just too bad that Asus did not learn from the Ipad mistake so we will just have to live with this deficiency since the fix is too costly. Guess I'll just have to keep my phone gadget handy for gps use. Thanks.
>i just can't believe that the FCC approved this product without verifying the compliance to specs
The FCC is concerned with RF-radiating equipment complying with power and spectrum limitations, for interference reasons. The GPS module/antenna is a passive receiver and thus is not tested.
>I kinda wonder why they [Anandtech] didn't test it without the backplate
That would require a complete disassembly--not just removing the back shell, but all the components attached to it. It's not a feasible option.
Note that there was no bluetooth testing, either. I suppose we'll see another mea culpa about it next.
It's not just Anandtech. All of the tech blogs gave the Prime rosy reviews with nary a complaint. I'm surprised that not more criticisms are directed at these sites.
In a sense, I understand their predicament. The Prime was the only next-gen Android tablet coming out during Xmas. It's got quadcore. It's got iPad-like looks. And it's reasonably priced. Nobody wanted to be a Scrooge and give it bad marks.
Hey guys,
I really need to rant a little bit now.
This thread is for everyone creating all those "kill ASUS on facebook/twitter/blog sites" threads.
I really understand your angryness about the initial issues with the Prime, but has anyone of you guys ever thought about that you are doing huge damage to both ASUS and yourself with those hate campaigns?
Best example: "Lets spread information about minor software problems all over the web and its major blog sites"
This is ridicioulus guys... Seriously, ASUS really can't fix for example the serialnumber issue within 3 days...
They need to find out what's wrong first. After that they need to fix the problem. After fixing the testing follows.
All this needs time. And spreading rather unprofessional information all around the web won't speed this up at all.
But now to the main part of my rant: the damage being done to us, the owners of the Prime.
Do you guys really think you are doing anything good with those social attacks?
In fact you are driving many people away from the Prime for reasons which are seriously non-issues.
Lets re-think about the issues and ASUS reactions:
GPS issue: ASUS confirmed, that this might be a hardware problem,
it seems they are starting a bonus program for the ones not happy with the GPS (either 6 more months of warranty or a full refund)
This is actually really embarassing for them, but I couldn't think of any better method to solve this issue
(we are talking about realistic methods here, giving you a free TF700 is not realistic)
The Wifi issue: Well actually we do not know much about this.
ASUS told us it's not a hardware issue, rather an issue of specific batches with wrong firmware. We will see in the future what they can do here
The Wifi/BT issue: As several members found out this is a real non-issue. Speed drops appear across all devices and platforms when using BT and Wifi together. Nothing really to complain about here
Random lockups and reboots and unknown serial number issue: ASUS is aware of these problems, already got fixes and is testing these fixes right now.
Nobody else tests fixes with real customers in a public forum. Thats' great!
Now lets talk about that damage I am always talking about:
Here the facts:
Reporting minor software issue (GPS and Wifi aside here) definitely leads to a smaller customer base for the Prime
Major news sites falsely reported the serial number problem as a hardware problem, leading to confused users which do not want to buy this tablet
Smaller userbases always lead to less support, both from the company and also from our own developers.
Less company support means that we will get less often and lower quality updates for our Prime. The device will be abandonned much faster than devices with large customer bases
Less dev support means less innovating new features from our side, less custom ROMs, less custom kernels, in fact the smaller the userbase the faster the Prime development will go dead
Think of the HTC HD2: the ultimate development phone. Its rather big userbase lead to incredible development. They have everything on that phone: Win 6.x, WP 7, Android 2.x and 4.x, real Linux... Smaller userbases ultimately lead to worse device development
I guess it's already too late, the damage being done by you and the major blog sites is irreparable.
Non tech-focused customers who read Engadget won't get a Prime now.
But these non-tech focused guys are the imporatn part of a customer base.
We tech guys here are always a very minor part of a device's customer base.
Ah and by the way: If you buy a product directly after launch, you have to expect those kind of problems.
I haven't seen any product launch in the last years which had not initial problems and issues. No matter if tablet or phones, HTC or Samsung...
ASUS is always one of the first (the first?) major companies, providing support on xda-developers. That is nothing usual for big companies like ASUS.
Give them credit for this move.
I hope someone actually read that text...
I completely agree, thanks for this post. However the problem is it are mostly people who haven't even bought the Prime are *****ing the most.
I couldn't agree more, *****ing about the problem isn't gonna get anything solved. If you have problems try to help, that way things can get fixed more quickly and then everyone (or at least most) can be happy.
read it and agree, there are issues but the support from Asus on this forums is great.
Srsly? Do you have like Stockholm-Syndrome?
Asus threw an unfinishied product on the market.
They can't fix the SN issue in 3 days? Well, I didn't have such issues with my 4 other android devices. Maybe the should have been testing it.
Of course it is embarassing for Asus, but this is clearly not our fault. We fulfilled our part with odering and paying for a tablet. Rest is up to them.
While I agree that a free TF700 or such things would be impossible, the GPS problem is clearly a sign there has be no/not enough testing.
All the problems you are stating would have been showing due to Asus product testing, again. This is completely THEIR fault and they have to deal with it now.
You think we need to stop reporting errors to make the prime look better and they can sell more?
Dude, seriously. Do you buy a brand new car and when you have issues, you just shut up so the store can sell some more?
I'd really love to love my Prime, but with all those obvious mistakes Asus made, I can't.
The problem with what you are doing is: If you support Asus now, other companies will see it's ok to sell faulty products, and the next generation of tablets could have big issues as well.
You need to say what's wrong for anybody to hear. Or would you like to buy a product and then find out later that it's full of bugs? But nobody tould you because it wouldn't be nice for the company?
Do you think Asus will decrease support if less people are bying it?
Again, this wouldn't be nice, but it's completely in the hands of Asus.
It's a big company and they shouldn't have trouble emplyoing a few guys for support. If not, the save money on the wrong thing. Don't make (Non-)Buyers responsible for this.
No matter what other companies do, bringing an untested product to the market is not acceptable and that is the feedback Asus is getting now.
And no, you don't have to expect those "kind of problems".
When I buy a 600€-Tablet, I expect a full working one, and not in 3 months but NOW. I didn't have problems with my Optimus 2x or Iconia A500.
It's a big difference wether the company is fixing issues or improves the quality with updates.
And another point on Asus working with the community: It's nice they are on XDA, but... I remember there was...is... a locked and encrypted bootloader?
Yeah, right. Asus completely locked the Prime and only promised to make an unlock tool after giant social network ****storms.
Is this "working" with the community? Why didn't they look at HTC and provided an unlock tool from the beginning? Asus is only giving in because they are afraid of more bad attention. And that seems to be the only way for the community to be heard.
Just my 2c.
pintness
I think peoples persistence on forums have forced ASUS to look harder at the problem but never the less they are doing something and its a real credit to them that Gary Key is active on our forums now. I think in this modern age ASUS have took a brave step and one that they should be praised for.
We are all upset about the problems but we need to give ASUS fair time to address them. We have all had a rant but now its time to work with ASUS and give them as much information as possible, this is the only way we all get what we want, loyal happy customers and a fantastic product with new and exciting products on the horizon.
Cut them a bit of slack.
Dear Diamondback,
Damage to ASUS with those hate campaigns? I am sorry, but I am not going to speak well of a company that releases devices with as many problems that I have paid for. If I end up buying a broken device, I will be disappointed. They did not let these devices through proper quality control and we are suffering from it.
Serial number issue should have never happened. WiFi issue should have never happened. GPS should have never happened. These problems can be caught in quality control, but they didn't because they rushed the device to the market before holidays and did not test it long enough beforehand.
Yes, a lot of new devices have tech problems. Difference being that while I have been part of many tech launches as an early adopter in the past, I have never seen a launch that has this many critical problems and this amount of returned devices. Even I had to return a device because the keyboard just did not work and I've never had to do it before in my life.
As for damage to 'us', your points are irrelevant. Social media attacks are important, because they make ASUS more aware of these situations and react quicker. Let's be honest here, ASUS PR has been horrible throughout the Transformer Prime launch. It is only thanks to their customer support and engineers in this forum that we get some information out of ASUS.
I will not 'lie' and say that TF201 is a great device. It is really really good, but if you want to be sure and want a better all-round device then I will suggest people to get an iPad 2 and I will not tell my friends that this device does not have flaws just because this will increase ASUS sales and public image.
These social media attacks are important because ASUS will hopefully try to do better in the future, because a company cannot survive many of these clusterfraks in a row.
If ASUS will 'abandon the device' quicker because people are critical about it, then so be it. It will only make it clear to me not to buy ASUS products in the future, since it is exactly when there are problems, where support is needed. Not providing this will lose them even more customers in the future.
And trust me when I say this, Transformer Prime will never be a popular device in a way iPad, Galaxy Tab or Kindle Fire are popular. It will sell more than the original Transformer, but it will be very little known outside tech circles. Most of my friends don't even know that there is such a thing as TF101, let alone TF201.
How can ASUS change that? Not disappointing early adopters. It is the most crucial thing about products release, since early adopters are the most passionate customers. At the moment though many of us are with flawed screens, weak WiFi, non-existent GPS, devices without serial numbers and countless of other issues that will really hold us back from speaking well about the product we have paid a lot of money for.
ASUS can really change all that by letting devices actually go through quality control and testing. Many of the problems with Prime were detected in just the first days of use by us or the reviewers. ASUS can spare to delay the release by a week to provide additional testing for a fixed amount of devices.
Will they do it in the future? Who knows, unlikely. This device was rushed to the market to get as much sales as possible, ASUS did not care about us, the customers, they cared about their sales.
And this is why we have every right to be critical of ASUS. I hope they will do better in the future.
pintness said:
Srsly? Do you have like Stockholm-Syndrome?
[...]
Just my 2c.
pintness
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kristovaher said:
Dead Diamondback,
[...]
And this is why we have every right to be critical of ASUS. I hope they will do better in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You both are not getting my point. Instead of going to the media you should report your errors to ASUS.
No matter how incompetent their customer support is on the phone, the errors will reach the developers anyway.
Nobody told you to praise the Prime. I just said that overpainting the issue won't help anyone. Not even you.
ASUS will fix the software problems. And the GPS issue got kinda resolved too. If you are not happy with it, return it.
I am pretty sure there will be other countries than UK and Taiwan with this move.
And yes you can't fix software errors in that scale in 3 days. Just deal with it. That's how software development works.
Oh and I hope that "Dead Diamondback" was a typo.... Otherwise, get off here troll
You haven't mentioned the dock issues lots of us are getting. My dock keyboard only works about 20% of the time I connect it. There is at least 30 or 40 users on here with the same issue, and about double that on the transformerforums site. This may not be a lot but I'm sure a lot of US owners don't own the dock where as is Europe you have to buy it as standard. ASUS support haven't been overly helpful - wait for the ICS upgrade and try a wipe - done that and it still doesn't work - no further update from ASUS. I'm having to send my tablet and dock back and hope the next one works fine - any issues with the new one and I'll be getting a refund.
kristovaher said:
Dead Diamondback,
Damage to ASUS with those hate campaigns? I am sorry, but I am not going to speak well of a company that releases devices with as many problems that I have paid for. If I end up buying a broken device, I will be disappointed. They did not let these devices through proper quality control and we are suffering from it.
Serial number issue should have never happened. WiFi issue should have never happened. GPS should have never happened. These problems can be caught in quality control, but they didn't because they rushed the device to the market before holidays and did not test it long enough beforehand.
Yes, a lot of new devices have tech problems. Difference being that while I have been part of many tech launches as an early adopter in the past, I have never seen a launch that has this many critical problems and this amount of returned devices. Even I had to return a device because the keyboard just did not work and I've never had to do it before in my life.
As for damage to 'us', your points are irrelevant. Social media attacks are important, because they make ASUS more aware of these situations and react quicker. Let's be honest here, ASUS PR has been horrible throughout the Transformer Prime launch. It is only thanks to their customer support and engineers in this forum that we get some information out of ASUS.
I will not 'lie' and say that TF201 is a great device. It is really really good, but if you want to be sure and want a better all-round device then I will suggest people to get an iPad 2 and I will not tell my friends that this device does not have flaws just because this will increase ASUS sales and public image.
These social media attacks are important because ASUS will hopefully try to do better in the future, because a company cannot survive many of these clusterfraks in a row.
If ASUS will 'abandon the device' quicker because people are critical about it, then so be it. It will only make it clear to me not to buy ASUS products in the future, since it is exactly when there are problems, where support is needed. Not providing this will lose them even more customers in the future.
And trust me when I say this, Transformer Prime will never be a popular device in a way iPad, Galaxy Tab or Kindle Fire are popular. It will sell more than the original Transformer, but it will be very little known outside tech circles. Most of my friends don't even know that there is such a thing as TF101, let alone TF201.
How can ASUS change that? Not disappointing early adopters. It is the most crucial thing about products release, since early adopters are the most passionate customers. At the moment though many of us are with flawed screens, weak WiFi, non-existent GPS, devices without serial numbers and countless of other issues that will really hold us back from speaking well about the product we have paid a lot of money for.
ASUS can really change all that by letting devices actually go through quality control and testing. Many of the problems with Prime were detected in just the first days of use by us or the reviewers. ASUS can spare to delay the release by a week to provide additional testing for a fixed amount of devices.
Will they do it in the future? Who knows, unlikely. This device was rushed to the market to get as much sales as possible, ASUS did not care about us, the customers, they cared about their sales.
And this is why we have every right to be critical of ASUS. I hope they will do better in the future.
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Click to collapse
GDI read the ****ing OP's first post. He did not ask you to kiss Asus' feet. He did not ask you to say false POSITIVE things about the Prime. He did not tell you to disregard Asus' mistakes. He simply asked you to vent your frustration and give your CONSTRUCTIVE feedback to the appropriate recipient: ASUS.
BTW you have my thanks OP.
kaiserpc said:
You haven't mentioned the dock issues lots of us are getting. My dock keyboard only works about 20% of the time I connect it. There is at least 30 or 40 users on here with the same issue, and about double that on the transformerforums site. This may not be a lot but I'm sure a lot of US owners don't own the dock where as is Europe you have to buy it as standard. ASUS support haven't been overly helpful - wait for the ICS upgrade and try a wipe - done that and it still doesn't work - no further update from ASUS. I'm having to send my tablet and dock back and hope the next one works fine - any issues with the new one and I'll be getting a refund.
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Hm, seems I missed that. My german dock works perfectly. What's the issue exactly?
But still, ASUS is a big company, they can't just find, fix, test, and make an announcement in 3 days...
It reminds me of the launch of the HTC Desire HD, Back then it seemed as though the first couple of batches that made it into customers hands had not been properly tested and manufacturing QC was absolutely terrible.
GPS issues were rife, cases didn't fit together properly, screens were loose with dust underneath them. Then of course there was the screen bleed, stuck pixels and countless other problems.
I remember it well as I was one of the first people on this forum to receive my DHD and I spent countless hours sitting watching IRC channels for root to be achieved.
Now then after that short history lesson, here is the point of my story. There was a lot of complaining about these issues here on the forum, but what most people did was either accept the fact that this was an early batch and realised that as an early adopter these things are to be expected, or they sent them back. End of story.
There was no smeer campaign, nothing. Just people being adult about the situation and that's that.
Thanks for listening.
Doktaphex said:
It reminds me of the launch of the HTC Desire HD, Back then it seemed as though the first couple of batches that made it into customers hands had not been properly tested and manufacturing QC was absolutely terrible.
[...]
Thanks for listening.
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Click to collapse
Same here, I think I got one of the first good batches
Nobody started a big ****storm back then and everything is fine today. The Desire HD is still a very good device and it was one of the top sold devices from HTC.
HTC sorted out all problems.
Agree
I actually agree with everything you said diamondback.
I personally love my prime, but i have a couple of issues here and there. Nothing that wont get fixed in the long run. I have a moan here and there, But i still show my support to a brilliant device.
And another thing i have never seen is a compnay actually showing their dedication to fixing the problems like asus. For god sake people they actually have a rep on here talking to people and providing inside information that actually could help. And again in garys posts people are attacking them there.
I really those people who are attacking asus shoulld either:
1. Suck it up and shut up and wait for a fix
2. Sell there device or take it back for a refund and shut up about it.
I know its not the best path, but you have to give a company some time for actually fix these issues. It doesnt happen over night, they ar'nt robots!
Rant over
---------- Post added at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------
Diamondback said:
Same here, I think I got one of the first good batches
Nobody started a big ****storm back then and everything is fine today. The Desire HD is still a very good device and it was one of the top sold devices from HTC.
HTC sorted out all problems.
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its funny because i have a DHD, i got one of the bad batches and still using it this day. Although HTC's repair team didnt do anything when i sent it back in. 3 days before my warrenty ran out. But that was a GPS issue for me. And im not really that bothered about it to be fair.
I personally love my phone, ive modded it so many times now ive lost count.
Just remember...Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day
But aren't we pushing for double-standards here?
Because it would be a ****storm all around if Apple releases a product that has even a single critical flaw. Such as iPhone 4 antennagate. People pay a lot for Apple for quality, they don't expect such problems and Apple has very, very few issues like that with their product launches.
On the other hand we have ASUS who releases a product that has GPS that cannot be used, has weak WiFi range (+ broken WiFi on early US units), weak quality control on screen, keyboard and software issues with crashes and inability to update. Transformer Prime has more early adoption issues than iPhone's and iPad's have had in total.
Apple has set the standard, so when we end up paying a lot of money and face this many problems, being publicly critical about it makes sense. Sure you could say that ASUS is small compared to Apple, but if they want to compete with Apple they simply have to do better. If they release a device that is as flawed, it is not just bad for customers, but Android in general. I remember giving excuses to people who used my HTC Desire back in the day that had a multitouch screen that was not multitouch and it was obvious that it is a lesser device. I will feel just as bad when someone tries to use GPS on my Prime and is confused that it doesn't work and so on, because they -expect- the device to function.
Pat on the back and 'better next time' just doesn't cut it, since many of us will be using the device for more than a year. This is not a startup world, ASUS has been in the business for years, they are ambitious with their claims of having created the best tablet, if they cannot live up to it, they deserve the criticism.
They are a big boy and will hopefully do better next time. Market demands it. Otherwise someone else will simply create better devices and wins over the customers that ASUS has. ASUS is unique in that it offers an innovative keyboard dock with Prime, if it becomes popular then competition will increase and I'll gladly jump ship to manufacturer that has a better history with product launches.
Thank you OP for IMHO a needed and well thought out post.
I completely agree with OP post. People that are unsatisfied can easily return device and move on. But no, instead they love to hang around a nag like women with each other. I can tell most polls made here in thisbsection was made to make the Prime look bad. But guess what, it backfired. Most, if not all polls here show in favor of the Prime in a positive light. Don't believe me, just take a look. Of all the people that voted in them, its always 77-85% or more people that are happy with devices, or defect free or etc...
Although the smear campaigns might hurt a little, the ball is already rolling. Even the negative people not going to be able to stop developement. We already have a good number of developers doing alot of great things without bootloader unlocked yet. We have other major developers just waiting to hit the ground running once unlocking tool is available. Its almost surreal sometimes reading the issues some people have. As from 12/22 my device has worked great everyday and have really been enjoying it. Its really sad how some people try to nitpick every single little thing.
If you are unsatisfied with device, do like moderator Jerdog said. Which was get rid of device then, whine somewhere else, AND GO AWAY! Developers not going to want to hear your sob stories. Just imagine once custom roms start being made. Are those same people going to whine all the time after an early build is built n has some issues to be fixed?
Another thing also, some people are plain stupid. They smear n attack Asus for the Prime yet they talk of getting the new A-700. Dumb move. This new device hasn't even been proven tl be better then the Prime and won't be out for 4-5 months at the earliest. People just assume its better because it has a plastic strip across the back. Nothing can be assumed. This hasn't been thouroughly tested or reviewed by major tech sites to say its better. Which a mini test of sorts showed it wasn't, as far as wireless goes. To me. Asus is a great company because I received a great product. If people are to stupid to just return device instead of crying up here online, then that's on them. As they clearly have seen the people that love their devices way outnumber those who don't. sand ususally its the same people always complaining. That's why I've stopped trying to combat them in the threads really. I just report the post or thread, if its unreasonable. This has been working as several complaining threads already have been shut down. Even moderator tired of all the whining.
Just carry your a$$ somewhere else if you don't like your device. Plain n simple!
kristovaher said:
On the other hand we have ASUS who releases a product that has GPS that cannot be used, has weak WiFi range (+ broken WiFi on early US units), weak quality control on screen, keyboard and software issues with crashes and inability to update. Transformer Prime has more early adoption issues than iPhone's and iPad's have had in total.
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Click to collapse
I've had NONE of the issues you mentioned. The only thing I can't confirm that works 100% is the GPS since I did not buy this tablet to use as a primary GPS unit! I have a phone that does that and is more PORTABLE since it fits in my pants pocket. Last I tried using the GPS, it locked on my exact location in less than a minute. But really, I didn't really care, I only tested it because of all the damn *****ing on this forum.
So yes, I am a proud owner of a Prime with a "functioning" GPS, STANDARD wifi range, a VIVID screen, operational keyboard dock, no software issues, and updated with ICS.
First, OP, this isn’t just about Asus. What you’re saying in your post is that to protect the image and viability of a product (any product), people should suck up what they’re handed and deal with problems quietly in a way that benefits the manufacturer. That way, the product’s image will be protected. That’s great for current owners looking to reinforce their purchase and to grow the user base, but what about people that haven’t yet purchased the product? Hide defects and issues from them so they can figure it out themselves? If Acer hoses the A700 launch, would you give the same advice to their board? This goes against the principles of XDA.
Back to the Prime. Many of the issues discussed here caused people to say the Prime wasn’t right for them and either returned them or passed. Would you deprive them of that knowledge beforehand to further your personal agenda? Did you sign the “unlock the bootloader” petition? If so, then you’re being somewhat hypocritical.
Manufacturers need to be held accountable for their decisions. In Asus’ case, the choice of a metal back cover, claiming “GPS” when there wasn’t, racing the Prime to market with inadequate testing, and the random QC issues were all self-inflicted. Following your guidance, if this was kept quiet and didn’t impact sales, what incentive would they have going forward to sweat the details and deliver high quality products starting with unit number one?
Any “damage done to the Prime” was done in meeting rooms in Taiwan long before anyone here had a Prime in their hands. And h/w and s/w aside, hopefully Asus learned from this that customers aren’t sheep and willing to accept what they’re given and in the future will provide more frequent, accurate, and consistent communication before and after they launch a product. It’s terrific that after the damage was done Gary Key’s been proactive in cleaning up the mess and Asus offered a six-month warranty extension. Let’s give them an “A” for that. They get an “F” for how they managed the launch, communication, some of their design choices, and initial QC. So, at best, they’ve earned a “C.” If they’re a learning organization, let’s see what they do with the TF700. If it’s a repeat of the Prime, then God help them. And if the TF700 is everything the Prime should have been, that’s what’s going to cause the problems you outlined to happen, not the *****ing.
My friends that bought (and returned) Prime’s are pissed. Anyone trying to get one before the holidays went through flaming hoops and invested a lot of time and energy that they won’t get back via a “refund.” They’ll never purchase an Asus product again and are telling everyone they know about their experience. So even if everyone on XDA follows your advice, the damage will continue long after the postings stop. And it should because that’s what keeps manufacturers in check.
I open a new thread even though the content is and will be discussed in others.
It's just getting confused to keep writing, quoting or answering threads of 20 and more sides.
I hope that the mods are not banning me for this
Frustration is grabbing me badly, like for many others on this forum, because even though I can read that ASUS/Gary Key is giving us a hand to solve or improve issues, I think we are getting nowhere.
If the WiFi/BT issue is caused by lousy hardware/software combination, then no fw will solve the issue.
Many of us have still a chance to return the device and get 600€ back, as in my case.
We need an official statement from ASUS telling us in which way they will protect us and their own name from bad publicity, if the issues are not solvable.
ASUS in Denmark knows zero! I have to mention this forum and Gary Key, just to give them an idea of what it is going on.
The only place I managed to get valuable information is in this forum. That's poor for a company like ASUS.
No mention on their support sides in any country, that "they are experiencing" issues with the device.
I bought mine through Amazon DE, and I have 30 days (now only 14) to send it back. It seems that nobody can promise anything, so what do I/we do?
I have no other complaint that poor wifi and BT causing connection break downs or badly signal. The rest is fine!
What are we customers, that were relying on ASUS brand, quality and service, going to do?
Tell me to send it back and I will probably do it, tell me something else, BUT tell us something more that "we are working on XXXXXXXXXXX solution".
Begin to tell us, what is next step either to get a replacement with fixes or money back if the "returm window" is closed.
Thanks in advance and regards.
If you are not happy with your Bluetooth/Wi-Fi the only thing you can do is return it for a refund and wait for another tablet because the design of the Prime is causing every single prime to have a weaker Wi-Fi signal.
... so the thread Gary opened is useless?? I think it does not seem like they gave up yet.
What are they trying to fix then?
Are you saying this because you know more than Asus or "us" do?
Regards
what you said, OP, is perfectly understandable. XDA may have useful info but the company, Asus, needs to address the people more directly or more often. Gary can only do so much at a time. I'm sure he is being bombarded with stuff at the moment. although those who experience BT/wifi combo issues are limited in the way they use the combo, they are those who aren't affected. look at jjvega thread where he made a video showing it wasn't affecting his new tablet. Fixes are in the works. we just tend to be impatient alot of times. if return window is dwindling down, and issue is bothering you that much, then only sensible thing to do is return it. that'll just be Asus loss then. No one should be stuck with a device they unsatisfied with, point blank. good luck on what you decide to do. do what you feel is right. maybe even try to exchange if possible.
plus I don't think you will be banned for your OP. nothing wrong or out of line with what you said. to me, it seems like Gary answers faster to PM than in a thread where people there are even trying to flame or belittle him. I've got some great info or help from Gary. people keep abusing his presence n he will go. then people will out back n will wish he was still around.
Gary mentioned a fix in February, so it will most likely come after your return window. Return it while you can. Purchase it again when you are confident they have fixed this issue.
PrimeTimeBro said:
If you are not happy with your Bluetooth/Wi-Fi the only thing you can do is return it for a refund and wait for another tablet because the design of the Prime is causing every single prime to have a weaker Wi-Fi signal.
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Except for mine and my friends.
redpoint13 said:
Except for mine and my friends.
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Just because WI-FI has a slightly weaker range doesn't mean it doesn't work it just doesnt work quite as good as most other Wi-Fi devices but it should be fine for most in home situations. I am not sure exactly what issue OP is talking about though perhaps some Wi-Fi units truly have issues on same Primes I just known the range on the 3 Primes I have had is exactly the same in my home but not quite as good as my 4 other Wi-Fi devices I have tested ( range is not quite as far)
Hate to rub in. But in Singapore.. I am facing an equally lousy service support and they claim that during Singapore launch, they did not mention abt gps. They are trying every bit to say, no GPS. U want location, u use wifi...
And there is no return policy!
$uck big time. Cost me sgd $700...
That's why I pay with Paypal or credit card, you can get a refund.
It's not as if an answer will follow immediately after a bug is reported. It takes time to discover a bug, confirm it, come up with a fix, test it, obtain more samples, test on those samples, and distribute it, not to mention all the logistical corporate and other engineering steps that I skipped over. If you're unsure you want it, return it and buy it later.
As far as non-US issues, I'd bet that SO FAR there just haven't been as many issues in Germany as in the US, so they just haven't acknowledged it's a WW issue.
..so far issues are:
1) WiFi signal is not good as other WiFi devices (not laptops).
2) BT and WiFi issues when both are used at the same time.
3) Flickering of displays primarely on YouTube and after ICS installation.
4) MicroSD Card slot... as mentionned in another thread in this forum.
What a pity! But I wonder who in the h*** controlled this device before sending out on the market.
Nothing can be perfect, but these issues are not small things, and also very easy to troubleshoot and discover.
I test NetGear stuff, and something like this will be caught by "betatesters" 99.9%
Regards
My WiFi range was pretty good, at least acceptable. However when you move away from the router the speed got very slow. Next to the router I could get 20MB/s, 1 floor down (with full WiFi bars) I got 5 MB/s and another floor down around 2MB/s (still 2 WiFi bars).
GPS worked.. but wasn't good enough for navigation at least in populated area's.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57373634-94/putting-the-transformer-prime-in-perspective/
In other words, it's not an issue with the device. Asus thinks it's fine. So it must be an issue with its owners. While he has a "manager" title, Gary must be further up the food chain than it would seem if he's granting interviews to national publications; especially with litigation pending.
No mentioning of bleeding, dead pixels, bright spots
"CNET: You say "the normal user [Wi-Fi] experience" is not adversely impacted by the unibody design. How exactly do you define the "normal user experience"?
GK: Normal user experience is that [the users are] using their tablet, streaming Netflix, or surfing the Web or other activities, and the tablet works. It does not matter if the maximum throughput is 36Mbps or 32Mbps as indicated by a benchmark program. If the user is not impacted and does not know if the tablet is 10 percent slower at 20 feet from their router, then I think the actual user experience is what matters the most."
In the end, Asus is happy with Prime's WIFI performance. So, if you travel as often as I do for work... goodluck being happy with your Prime's WIFI performance.
"But what about GPS? GPS on a tablet is obviously important to certain individuals, but since less than one percent have returned their Primes because of GPS problems, it must either prove, as the evidence supports, that the problem isn't that widespread or that most people just don't care.l"
I agree, most don't care about GPS. I doubt it made much difference in sales either...
However, the #s are skewed considering it didn't factor those who lost all trust in Asus, or simply are scared of RMA. This also ignores "returns" to retail vendors....
"We took the only step possible in this case and removed GPS from the official specifications shortly after the unit went on sale. We apologized for this inconvenience and offered to assist users who wanted to return the unit after the announcement.
"
I haven't called their customer service in a while.. but.. does this mean they are now offering FULL refund (including shipping)?? And if so, since when did they start this program??
Ill commend you on this one. I ran out of thanks. Confirmed interview on Cnet. Great interview of Gary Key. He told it like it is. Plus more official confirmation that less than 1% of primes. Plus o want to rub this in Shinzz face. As proof its said firmwares will continue to come out to improve GPS although removed from spec. Overall a great interview on the Prime. We have official numbers from an official tech site. Prime is a success so far. The demand greatly exceeded their expectations and majority of users happy with it. Just like the polls here showed. No disputing anything now. Gary addressed the issues in interview. Then he also gave hard number statistics on return rate for each issue and overall.
SO PRIME IS ACTUALLY DOING VERY WELL RIGHT NOW. Great news to hear. Glad op linked this thread. Issues people experienced here in xda no where near as extensive as people thought...lmfao. take that Barry..lmfao. I love it.
---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 PM ----------
BarryH_GEG said:
In other words, it's not an issue with the device. Asus thinks it's fine. So it must be an issue with its owners. While he has a "manager" title, Gary must be further up the food chain than it would seem if he's granting interviews to national publications; especially with litigation pending.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahahahahahaha....lmfao whatcha got to say now buddy...like i said before, the numbers don't lie. Less than 1% failure/return rate and issues are not widespread at all. At least they are addressing the issues.
demandarin said:
Ill commend you on this one. I ran out of thanks. Confirmed interview on Cnet. Great interview of Gary Key. He told it like it is. Plus more official confirmation that less than 1% of primes. Plus o want to rub this in Shinzz face. As proof its said firmwares will continue to come out to improve GPS although removed from spec. Overall a great interview on the Prime. We have official numbers from an official tech site. Prime is a success so far. The demand greatly exceeded their expectations and majority of users happy with it. Just like the polls here showed. No disputing anything now. Gary addressed the issues in interview. Then he also gave hard number statistics on return rate for each issue and overall.
SO PRIME IS ACTUALLY DOING VERY WELL RIGHT NOW. Great news to hear. Glad op linked this thread. Issues people experienced here in xda no where near as extensive as people thought...lmfao. take that Barry..lmfao. I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Even with the removal of GPS from the feature specifications, we are still working on aGPS optimizations with firmware updates that allow automatic downloading of LTO (Long Term Orbits) information. This can improve GPS lock speed and allow a certain level of functionality from the unit."
aGPS... not as GPS. I really don't care about aGPS. So.. NO.. you aren't seeing GPS firmware update.. but aGPS updates.
I will make sure to bookmark this link..expect me to be bringing it up in any and all debates doubting the Prime. Numbers are numbers. No one here is a statistics genius to doubt these numbers. Like I said before, xda is a grain of sand compared to world wide sales. Plus polls here easily reflect Gary statements.
HATE TO SAY IT BUT......I TOLD YA SO
---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 PM ----------
shinzz said:
"Even with the removal of GPS from the feature specifications, we are still working on aGPS optimizations with firmware updates that allow automatic downloading of LTO (Long Term Orbits) information. This can improve GPS lock speed and allow a certain level of functionality from the unit."
aGPS... not as GPS. I really don't care about aGPS. So.. NO.. you aren't seeing GPS firmware update.. but aGPS updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agps, GPS. Tomato tomatoes...whatever...GPS updates..lol
ALSO BARRY, the source was more relevant n important than you thought straight from the horses mouth I tell ya...lmfao
demandarin said:
I will make sure to bookmark this link..expect me to be bringing it up in any and all debates doubting the Prime. Numbers are numbers. No one here is a statistics genius to doubt these numbers. Like I said before, xda is a grain of sand compared to world wide sales. Plus polls here easily reflect Gary statements.
HATE TO SAY IT BUT......I TOLD YA SO
---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 PM ----------
Agps, GPS. Tomato tomatoes...whatever...GPS updates..lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it isn't Tomato tomatoes. There's a big difference in aGPS and GPS. Asus launched and advertised PRIME as GPS that's able to navigate.
Also, when Asus releases (if they do) #s with "returns" to retail vendors (because many.. if they were in their return window.. would opt to return to retail vendor instead of RMA) & the overall sale figure... I'll give them more credit.
Also, here's a brief explanation of LTO: http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/tb/LTO-TB100-R.pdf
Basically.. Asus is offering FIRMWARE update to tinker with GPSconfig (that we were able to do in HC & before the patch that basically turned GPS into aGPS).. all you need to do is go online, and collect the data every other day.
Shoot, that article is way too much kool-aide for demandarin to handle, slow down man....you got the whole weekend ahead of you.
Thanks for the link. Nice read.
Quotes from Gary..
We discovered that due to the all-aluminum unibody design structure, the GPS performance was not satisfactory for all users, especially those wanting to use the device as a true GPS and not in aGPS mode. We took the only step possible in this case and removed GPS from the official specifications shortly after the unit went on sale. We apologized for this inconvenience and offered to assist users who wanted to return the unit after the announcement.
Basically saying GPS will never function as a "true GPS" because of its aluminum backplate" All the more reason to MOD it. I have and now it works 100%. Others that do not want to MOD will be SOL.
"The second area of concern with users is the performance of the unit with Wi-Fi and BT enabled at the same time. For a very small minority of users, this combination resulted in signal dropouts or severely degraded wireless performance. We are still investigating the root cause of this problem with returned units, but it appears to be a random manufacturing process issue with properly attaching an antenna"
Hmmmm. This gets me thinking. My prime is moded and i have the antenna running out of the tablet and I still have the Bluetooth/WIFI fallout issue. I thought Broadcom chipset uses same antenna for Wifi / BT. Seems like he is saying this is a hardware issue that is fixed by properly attaching an antenna. Interesting.... My antenna is external and I still have problem.
I love my prime and besides the GPS I have NEVER had an issue. Guess I'm just a fan boy.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
micaman said:
Shoot, that article is way too much kool-aide for demandarin to handle, slow down man....you got the whole weekend ahead of you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You right...ill let it simmer in over the holiday weekend. I think they know the deal now. I love what that senior editor said at the end, Transformer Prime, despite the small number of reported issues, IS AN EXCELLENT TABLET. He also said some stuff about GPS I could repeat but I won't go there, YET...lol. I'm sure others will catch what he said n bring it to light. With this article I'm fully loaded and my trigger finger itching very badly. If I take off the safety it'll be a massacre in here. I don't want to see them go out like that. Ill be the bigger man n let them think on this one. Lovin it. I got infinite ammo with this one. Put all rumors or whatever to rest. MAY THE RUMORS R.I.P.
There's a lot to that interview.
I'm upset at the GPS fiasco but I got mine working with little tricks here and there however I would like to have a perm fix to get it working right without having to put my phone on the corner. *IF* anyone in the Houston area has opened their Prime and wouldn't mind opening mine, PM me! would like to test a few other things out.
Short of opening the damn thing or slapping a phone or paperclip over the corner, the only thing we can do is wait for Asus to come up with something. I sent Gary the link to the GPS working with phone thread in hopes maybe a simple addition to the Prime's internals or something would solve (or help solve) the GPS issue. I have 0 Wifi issue or known issue(s). Everything loads in good speed and streams well. 25 or 2.5, do you really notice a difference in Netflix? I currently have only a 4G connection (Clear for ya) where I am. Haven't gone with Comcast (uggg...) or DirectTv/Dish to get my internet connection and everything has been well. We're too involved in the speed where we should be more involved to does it work. I understand there are some that doesn't get any signal where they should and that's another issue Asus has to address but for now, for the most of us (even for those not on this board), it seems to be working just fine/satisfactory.
If we were to pick apart everything we have and want it "perfect", we're going to be arguing all day back and forth from Toyota's auto-accelerating pedal to Mercedes bio-degradable wiring harness to BMW's self-destructing cooling system to "Everything Mitsubishi makes" as to what to expect and what to do about it.
I got mine. it works 90%. I log in less than 8 hours a week on my laptop where it was more of a 24/7 thing for me. When I am on the go, I don't think about packing the laptop anymore; I just grab the Prime and go (sometimes with the keyboard and sometimes w.o) knowing 95% of the things I need/want to do is available.
Nothing is perfect but at least Asus has someone supporting us here. Can't say much for many manufactures out there; some wait for the lawsuit to go front page before doing anything about it.
While this "interview" is heavily weighted in GK's (ASUS's) favour ... (I suspect a good script writeup here), i do respect Garys input on the forums.
I cant remember EVER having a senior member of a company helping with queries etc on any forum i've ever been on before, and i'm very glad to see he's still here despite some of the witch hunt type threads and responses.
There have been teething probs with the prime and i think they are pretty much ironed out now (bar the GPS ...), firmware issues are easily sorted, and people shouldnt be so quick to join a witch hunt, fixes usually come quickly.
Anyway ... I'm a frustraited customer in the UK thats had to wait since december for a prime, I had a champagne but the keyboard dock was faulty, so still waiting on the replacement to come, My only gripe is the availability .. Pre-orders should give enough warning on how many to supply, IMO waiting over a month after launch isnt acceptible to still be waiting, i really hope asus learn from this.
It was a good bit of "Official Info" but I am concerend on a few points:
Gary says:
GK: Normal user experience is that [the users are] using their tablet, streaming Netflix, or surfing the Web or other activities, and the tablet works. It does not matter if the maximum throughput is 36Mbps or 32Mbps as indicated by a benchmark program. If the user is not impacted and does not know if the tablet is 10 percent slower at 20 feet from their router, then I think the actual user experience is what matters the most.
My experienece IS decent, and i agree, that is indeed what counts most, but 36 Mbps or 34 Mbps? I would give my left.. er arm for those kind of numbers. I see HALF thos on a brand spanking new Cisco E4200, tuned every which way from Sunday for the Prime, and my numbers don't drop 10% at distance, they drop 90%... Anyway, just sayin... those numbers ar way ambitious, for me anyway.
The other concern was he outright said: NO new hardware revision. Which is fine. And preferable in terms of supporting whats out there with less confusion. However it DOES open the point up that GARY'S TEAM MEMBER another SUPPORT MANAGER who I will be kind enough not to name, told me exactly the opposite, and specifically that the C1 he tested and sent me had different, revised hardware. Pisses me off to be lied to, no matter WHO is doing it. As I have often said, My Prime experience has beem mostly a positive one, I just sense BS from time to time. If Gary is telling the truth, then his organization is not. How is a person suppossed to feel good when that happens?
BTW, Same "SUPPORT MANAGER" who told me all about my new hardware revision? Said the C1 replacement I was getting would get GPS reception "as good as your TF101 ever did" I was so freaking happy to hear THAT! Too bad it never happenned. Not even in the same class. Sigh...
Final thought: article says this below the pic of location settings: "GPS works well when Wi-Fi can be used to augment its performance." It does? Not that I have ever seen. I think they menat LOCATION aware apps work BETTER when NOT using GPS but other means, cause GPS doesn't see a single satellite with aGPS info in my unit. I need to be OUTSIDE. And anytime I have seen sats it's ONLY with no wifi, out in the car away from home. sigh...
So while I would love to say I got a great feeling form all this "Official" data, I don't feel any better, or worse.... more of the same, sigh...
---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 PM ----------
Danny-B- said:
Anyway ... I'm a frustraited customer in the UK thats had to wait since december for a prime, I had a champagne but the keyboard dock was faulty, so still waiting on the replacement to come, My only gripe is the availability .. Pre-orders should give enough warning on how many to supply, IMO waiting over a month after launch isnt acceptible to still be waiting, i really hope asus learn from this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess all the bad docks in the UK didn't add up to much "in percentages" but I personally saw a lot of reports. A shame really, that you had to buy as a pair/return as a pair, and couldn't keep the tablet at least. Hope you get your new baby fast.. Supply is still very constrained to my eye... Amazon in particular, something up with Asus/Amazon... I wonder what?
Its like he said in the interview, the demand for prime greatly exceeded their expectations. Meaning they didn't produce enough units to meet the high demand of the most prized Android tablet. So he said they are going tto aggressively ramp up production to meet demand. All makes sense as anyplace that carries prime is always sold out so fast. Best part of it all, to me, was the confirmation that Prime was not being replaced or discontinued and that they firmly believe in the high quality of Prime. So worries of it not being supported on long run was basically shot down by this interview. So many bits n pieces I'd love to bring up. Ill wait though. I see it scared away some people..lol
demandarin said:
Hahahahahahaha....lmfao whatcha got to say now buddy...like i said before, the numbers don't lie. Less than 1% failure/return rate and issues are not widespread at all. At least they are addressing the issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "glass half full" people will see this as validation. The "glass half empty" people will see it as propaganda. And this thread will once again be run up to God knows how many pages and stay on the front page for days/weeks. A devices success (or failure) isn't measured in weeks. Let's see how everyone feels a couple of months from now when Asus and other manufacturers have next-gen tablets out for a direct (not theoretical) comparison of both performance and quality. The great thing about forums is that individual posts are archived. So we'll be able to go back and see who was right and who was wrong as we've all proffered our speculations.
P.S. – A 1% failure rate is industry leading and difficult for even premium manufacturers like Sony and Samsung to achieve and maintain. Does this forum feel “industry leading” to you? Does it even feel like other tablet forums? And, if not, why do you think that is?
Knife cuts both ways
"The second area of concern with users is the performance of the unit with Wi-Fi and BT enabled at the same time. For a very small minority of users, this combination resulted in signal dropouts or severely degraded wireless performance. We are still investigating the root cause of this problem with returned units, but it appears to be a random manufacturing process issue with properly attaching an antenna"
So, does this mean that the Pogo pins don't attache well/properly or does it reference the Gap that Erusman found on the antenna PCB? Either way, it's open ended, since they are still out there.
Oh... and as I recall, all the reviewers BEFORE Prime shipped were stating the same conclusion: It's a great a tablet. Duh.
BarryH_GEG said:
P.S. – A 1% failure rate is industry leading and difficult for even premium manufacturers like Sony and Samsung to achieve and maintain. Does this forum feel “industry leading” to you? Does it even feel like other tablet forums? And, if not, why do you think that is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. Ill have to get back @ you on that one. Been sipping on grandpa's cough medicine(you should know what that saying means)..lol.
I'm a nice guy. I know all of this is hard for you to swallow. Ill show good sportsmanship. Just like a football or basketball game. I'm blowing you out in the score now. If I continue, it'll only make me look bad and arrogant..lol and unnecessary. I'm interested in seeing what others have to say also once they catch wind of this. Which won't take long.
But on one note, Asus products n laptops are known as the most reliable or break down the least. I remember seeing several articles n stats proving that. Can it be actually so hard to believe the issues here not so widespread as we thought? Therefore following that less than 1% failure rate. No one is perfect. We all wrong sometimes. Just cave in now, Barry. Lol. Ill accept the defeat graciously. Never too late to switch. Switch sides now n ill forget all the previous stuff you said
Ah man..all this too funny. I love this forum. Including the trolls n haters.
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As SmartAs$Phone has pointed out, I wonder how Gary came up with:
CNET: You say "the normal user [Wi-Fi] experience" is not adversely impacted by the unibody design. How exactly do you define the "normal user experience"?
GK: Normal user experience is that [the users are] using their tablet, streaming Netflix, or surfing the Web or other activities, and the tablet works. It does not matter if the maximum throughput is 36Mbps or 32Mbps as indicated by a benchmark program. If the user is not impacted and does not know if the tablet is 10 percent slower at 20 feet from their router, then I think the actual user experience is what matters the most."
Good Day,
I am starting this thread to provide general updates and information on current or future products. In addition, at times I will address rumors where applicable.
Request-
1. I travel a lot, especially this time of year as there are numerous events. In addition I am also responsible for notebooks, netbooks, desktops, monitors, networking, audio, motherboards and video cards as part of the Technical Marketing umbrella so the majority of time I spend on forums and assisting users has to be segmented and is usually on my personal time. Having a family also interferes with my personal time as do 14-hour flights.
2. As such, when sending Private Messages please include a contact email address and the serial number of the unit. It will greatly assist me in ensuring that return contact is quicker and less obtrusive.
3. In the very near future, there will be additional ASUS technical support on this site and other Android centric sites for our Tablet products. Obviously this is an extremely important service for our valued customers and the direct feedback allows us to further improve the products.
Items- 3/8/2012
1. For users with the WiFi/BT dropout problem we expect additional materials or replacement units in stock at the repair depots by 3/12. We apologize for some of the lengthy waits a few customers had to endure but it will be solved shortly.
2. As to the rumors of a hardware fix for WiFi/BT dropouts, the actual fix is just ensuring that the hardware utilized in current units is performing to tested standards. Basically to ensure this level of compliance we are replacing components within the WiFi subsystem on an as needed basis and then testing the units before shipment.
3. I am still responding to messages sent during my last two events at the end of February and beginning of March. I should be current by the weekend.
4. I will have some exciting news in about two weeks on the TF201.
5. Expect to see a .16 or later release in the near future with further tweaks and updates.
Rumors - 3/8/2012
1. As to various rumors or threads about every unit having a problem, the numbers indicate otherwise as evidenced in the CNET article and an upcoming followup. While not dismissing there have been some problems, the return/repair rates are no greater than other competing products based on current data and are actually lower than several. I am not going to defend us 100% as like with all manufacturers we have areas of improvement.
2. That being said, I want to discuss a certain population of users who complain about multiple unit problems or seem to have every problem that is discussed in a forum.
a. Of these problem repeat users, around 71% (varies on a monthly basis) never responded to direct communication attempts.
b. Of the remaining users (around 30%), we directly assisted 9% of these users and confirmed actual unit problems. Of the remaining 20% or so, we could not verify all of the problems reported (multiple units, service, returns). However, I would like to give two examples that generally mimic a lot of this 20% contact.
2a- User reported in the forums and private messages purchasing and returning 5+ units, all of which had various problems. Actual purchase history indicated only 3 units purchased and for each purchase the user called for an RMA number, was granted an RMA number that day, and yet returned the unit the next day to the retailer and purchased another unit and then cycled the same process for the next two units. This user also has a repeat history of doing this process for other items including notebooks over the past couple of years and then claiming to receive a new product after said complaints. We tracked down one problem unit based on purchase/serial number history and guess what, no problems discovered and in fact the GPS works wonderfully on this unit as I sit here testing it. As to the other two units, we will locate and test those also.
2b - Users posted numerous times about a multitude of problems and yet would not return the unit for an RMA or replacement and instead offered to quit "*****ing" in the forums if we would provide a free unit, replacement unit or upgrade. We still do not know if said user or users actually owns a unit or not. (note - had this situation play out several times with users in this forum and other forums)
2c - Total number of users we tried to assist reporting multiple TF201 problems - 43. I will leave the math up to you.
Also be aware that some companies will instruct personnel to post problems, complain about products or services and generally ensure some type of problem is mentioned numerous times while pimping their own products in forums. In addition, also be aware that legal representation from firms or users looking for a quick handout or settlement might be doing the same. I know several PMs I have received looked exactly like a legal beagle wrote the questions expecting a response that can be used in trial, especially once you run the message through heuristics. Of course, I could be incorrect and those questions were from extremely articulate individuals with product law knowledge that I apologize to for not answering the questions in requested detail.
As I stated before, I am not excusing any problems actually experienced due to a manufacturing defect or service issue. We certainly can and will improve but based on the hard numbers, what I am seeing is in alignment with most electronics and for the "A" users posting here, just do a search for WiFi, Screen bleed or lockup problems at their forum. This launch has been a humbling process in several areas, we fully recognize it and will improve our services and responses as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the amount of effort we expend tracking down false or misleading reports only serves to disrupt services to valued customers. I know this is part of doing business but it does not make it right. Just my personal opinion.
3/9/2012 Update:
General Comments-
1. Thank you to any members contacting me and including their serial number and email address, it really helps as I now receive email notifications directly once a PM is generated. It will cut down on the time required to respond and allow me access to requests regardless of travel or event schedules. I have one last request, please ensure the email address provided is current and working. About 25% of the email addresses provided yesterday bounced back. I think we cleared all of those up by this morning.
2. I will be working with our North American Service and Customer Care group shortly to train individuals to assist in tracking forum problems (product or service), product suggestions and in providing consistent information to our valued customers in this forum and others. Once we roll this out I will make an introduction to the new team members and contact instructions. I will still be available but will concentrate more on product trends and technical aspects of the hardware and software as this is my primary job responsibility. Of course, if you into a roadblock feel free to contact me.
3. Even though I am North American centric, I am still assisting international users at the moment. Hopefully, those users who contacted me over the past two weeks have been contacted by a regional rep today. If not, probably no later than Monday. In the meantime, the same requests I have asked of our Customer Care group for direct forum support in North America has also been requested of our other regions.
4. I apologize for any delays over the past couple of weeks and I should be current by Sunday night.
Product Comments-
1. Speaking of trends, I have noticed a pattern in several messages over the last couple of weeks with people complaining about slight pauses, hitches or browser closures. One item that seems to be a common thread in most of the messages is that the user recently downloaded the Chrome Beta. I will start a separate thread on this after I speak with Google/Nvidia on Monday. However, if you are up for wasting a few minutes and have these symptoms, please uninstall Chrome, reboot, uninstall Flash, reinstall Flash and see if the native browser works any better along with general system responsiveness.
3/20/21012 Update -
1. I will be back to the forums on 3/22/2012.
2. We will have a major ICS update (.19) arriving shortly (might be .20 now).
3. We will have a major announcement on the TF201 in the near future.
4. We will have dedicated forum assistance starting in the near future.
3/22/2012 Update -
1. I am back for the next few days. I will get caught up on messages and updates shortly.
2. The next firmware update is in qualification testing now. We are also working on solving some flickering problems reported by a few users and hopefully that will be addressed in this next release.
3. The announcements on the TF201 (not being canceled as speculated) will occur as soon as I have a release to do it.
4. Full time forum support at a few Android centric sites will be launched in the near future as discussed.
3/26/2012 Update
1. Firmware Update 9.4.2.21 will be released by 3/30 for North America. Updates and fixes galore for the lack of better words.
3/29/2012 Update -
I hope to announce some TF201 updates in the near future. We are finishing testing and should be able to discuss the update shortly.
4/2/2012 Update -
Still working on the details regarding the announcement and once finalized it will be released as quickly as possible. In addition, I have gathered additional details from a few users who are seeing locks or weirdness after playing a Tegra 3 optimized game after a few hours. I will be in California next week to work with NVIDIA and Google on this problem and browser slowness or closure that a few users have also reported.
4/5/2012 Update -
I guess the cat is out of the bag in regards to the planned announcement discussed above. I cannot comment officially at this point but will provide a detailed update once released to do so. In addition, if you PM me, please include an email address for contact within your message. It will greatly facilitate receiving an answer.
4/9/2012 Update -
I am in California this week to meet with Google, NVIDIA and others on current software packages and upcoming products so there will be some delays in messages. As for the GPS Dongle program on the TF201, we will make an official announcement (program details and registration) next week.
4/20/2102 Update -
Please contact me if you are a North American owner and have any issues with the GPS dongle. To date, testing has proved successful on a wide variety of units but we want to ensure a pleasant user experience. Also, working on validation testing on a new firmware image now.
4/27/2012 Update -
We are still validating a new firmware release. We are also tracking user reported issues with Tegra 3 games, WiFi Direct and some continued random reboot/lock problems with a few units. Based on current regression testing at HQ, NVIDIA and Google it appears we will need to swap out a few units to pinpoint exact user problems. For the unlocked audience, we have requested a version of NVFlash that works properly for users who unlocked their units.
5/3/2012 Update -
We have new NV base code that is undergoing validation testing now. I will released this firmware to a few beta users in the near future. It addresses random reboot/lock problems among a few other items. In addition, we are still working with NV and Google on code changes to address browser issues once multiple browsers are installed and Flash is not uninstalled and reinstalled again after a cold reboot.
5/9/2012 Update -
I have been out with pneumonia but will have messages forwarded to the Customer Care Team.
5/10/2012 Update -
I will provide test build 9.4.2.25.2 to a few power users tomorrow that addresses ANR problems identified with NVIDIA and Google. If this tests out fine, we will release as general beta to a wider group and then qualification release for users. Various browsers use different WebKit versions and thread priorities, which create some of the problems users with multiple browsers have been experiencing and even with other applications.
I got my refund from you guys (dock+ tablet+ shipping) thanks again! Hai trat was wonderful! Keep up the good work!
Don't let people discourage you!
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Can you post a "procedure" or "guide" to obtaining full refund based on displeasure with GPS performance? Along with detailed information on who is "qualified" and who "isn't".
Gary Key said:
4. I will have some exciting news in about two weeks about the TF201.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exciting! After returning mine for a bright pixel and being tabletless for a month, I'm hoping... price break or updated hardware with bulletproof GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, and no light bleed. Now that there are 2048 x 1536 resolution tablets out there for $499, the value proposition doesn't work as well as it did even if the TF201 didn't have the alleged level of errors people are stating.
Very good post Gary, it really does make a difference to my own personal view on Asus.
I very much doubt that any other manufacturer would put as much effort into backing their product.
Please keep visiting and putting various issues at ease, its what makes a big difference, although you will never keep everyone happy.
Very interested to see whats in store for us with future updates etc .. keep us posted.
P.S. I wish there was a UK based Rep on the forums too.
this is exciting news!
Thanks for the update and hopefully wifi/bt dropout will be fixed soon!
Thanks for getting me my refund Gary I cant wait to buy the next Asus tablet that comes along.
Can't wait to hear the "exciting news" about the TF201 in a couple of weeks. Except, now you have me getting all anxious again!
Good to see you guys really taking care of the issues and in contact with the users
Thanks for taking the time to come to the forums and put a face to Asus. Not many companies will reach out like that, and it's much appreciated. I know all you mainly hear are the negatives, so as a new prime owner as of yesterday, I can tell you thus far I'm very happy with the device.
Based on the level of community involvement and my brief experience with the device so far, I'd be more than comfortable recommending an Asus tablet to friends or family.
Thank you Gary, good on you!
but please get rid of your ugly
- https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
in the signature. No insult buddy, but many people are allergic to apples. You might try dates or a link to figs, much sweeter...
We all agree on being happy not having to post in that thread and this link makes another great and exceptional statement little.
Give me a thanks and help me survive till the 17Th or so
Gary,
I have emailed a few times with requested info but never heard back. If I am doing something incorrectly, please let me know. I did hear from your friend in the repair center and he suggested waiting until parts come in. Unfortunately, I lost his name and email address. If you could send that, I would like to email him and now set up the return. I bought mine before GPS was removed from the specifications and was very disappointed to see that development as that is why I bought the Prime over the iPad 2.
Thanks for any info.
MBO
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Gary, thank you for the update.
I happened to have received an email from an someone outlining the steps at first and this was the first response:
Dear ,
Thank you for contacting ASUS and providing your feedback. I do apologize for your inconvenience. In the meantime I would suggest you to have it reset to the factory default by going to the 'settings' -> 'Backup & Reset' -> 'Factory data reset' (Please backup all of your personal data before this process) and please let me know if the problems still persist after this process. I'll be providing you with overnight shipping label to have the unit sent in for service. (Please provide shipping address for the process) You may also contact us at 888-678-3688 if you have any questions.
Thank you,
-Asus Tablet Team
I did as the email stated with no improvement. I then requested this.
Thank you for the offer, but I am going to send my Prime back to Amazon if I can't get a new fully tested unit from Asus directly. The reason being I don't feel I should have to wait for Asus to fix my new tablet I bought. I would consider keeping it if Asus was willing to ship me out a new unit so I don't have to wait for it to be fixed. If there is some way we can work this out so I don't have to go without a unit and one that has been fully tested that would mean the world to me, since I use it everyday.
I did the data reset and still the same issue. My Prime also has screen bleed, no GPS at all and washed out colors even when not in power saving mode.
Please help a loyal Asus customer.
Thank You
To which Asus responded
Hello,
We can only provide you a waranty service but if you are still within warranty with Amazon we recommend contacting them if this will be a faster process for you that will shorten the waiting time to have a unit.
Thank you,
Rodel L.
So I did exactly that, and boy am I glad I did. My new screen has saturated colors, wifi is about the same, I haven't tested the wifi/bluetooth experience yet.
Thanks for the update
Gary,
Thank you for coordinating the efforts to fix the problems and for all the communication with the forum members.
I pretty much gave up on the Prime because I need a strong WiFi performance and also need the WiFi to work simultaneously with BT. I also lost confidence on getting a Prime without bleeding since all 4 units I got had the problem. I returned my 4th prime and will wait for the Infinity. It will be a long wait but having the higher screen resolution is an added incentive.
We do have some unanswered questions about the Infinity that I was hoping to know the answers so I am not waiting for a product that would not meet my needs:
1) Will the WiFi work imultaneously with BT with no performance impact on either one, on the Infinity? I believe some users spotted on the FCC filing that this will not work on the TF300 so I am wondering about the Infinity?
2) Will the TF-201 docks be compatible and color matched with the Infinity? My dock is non returnable so I will need to sell it if that's not the case.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the updates, Gary.
The number one thing that will drive away my business is when companies are completely unwilling to engage their customers honestly. It's refreshing to see you guys take a different approach.
Asus' attention on these forums is also what made me take the plunge with the TF201 purchase even after reading all the alarms raised here. I can only encourage as much transparency as you can possibly provide, which I think helps quell some of the crazy bald speculations that some people try to pass off as facts around here.
For what it's worth, I think it's totally fair for Gary to point to the forums of *other* manufacturers. The "just works" myth is deeply ingrained in so many people's heads despite lots of evidence to the contrary. Noting that *all* products have some growing pains at launch injects a much needed dose of reality into the discussion.
(short story: I was frustrated with the WiFi signal on my Prime this morning and asked my wife if I could use her iPhone 4S to test throughput. I tried opening up speedtest, but the App Store was totally hung. I asked my wife about it and she said that problem happens often and can take hours to resolve itself.)
Thanks Gary, really appreciate the frank information. It is certainly eye opening to see the behavior of some members, though honestly not totally surprising.
I do have a question though, I have been searching high and low for an english-only dock in Canada, but even the CBIL units are hard to come by. I'm going on a large trip in April and was counting on having this dock in January or February, but now I'm starting to get nervous. When will Canada see the english docks in numbers where we can actually get them?
Thanks again.
I appreciate you taking the time to post this. Its good to have a voice to balance what on first site can seem like a lot of negative posts. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA
After reading this post i'm officially an ASUS fanboy now. Thx gary, thx Asus.
All i can say:
<3<3<3
"I am not going to defend us 100% as like with all manufacturers we have areas of improvement. "
For me this is the difference between a good company and a great one. Making awesome products (the transformer prime is atm the best tablet in the world, yes even after ipad3 release) and still having the cojones/modesty to say they're not perfect and they try to improve.
Thats what i really dislike about those Apple guys. All you ever hear from them is "we are best best best". If you really look closly at it, they are not better than anyone. They just spend much more on advertising.
[e]
Techie2012 said:
1) Will the WiFi work imultaneously with BT with no performance impact on either one, on the Infinity? I believe some users spotted on the FCC filing that this will not work on the TF300 so I am wondering about the Infinity?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BT will always have an impact on Wifi. Its radio signals, they interfere with each other. This issue is not unique to the prime. So if you turn on BT your wifi speed will be slowed down. It even happens on laptops.
I went through two units, before giving up. The first unit had reset issues even after .15 update but the GPS worked when outside (not for GPS use in a moving vehicle.) The second unit did not experience resets, but the GPS failed to work and the WiFi reception was poor at best. I really want to like the Prime, but until they produce a consistently error free products I am going to wait on the sidelines. What type of QA did ASUS do on this product prior to release(We obviously know at this time what they DIDN'T do, it went from Alpha Test to Manufacturing, and skipped the whole Beta Test thing)?
I appreciate all of your hard work, but ASUS really has a PR problem. Most of us on this site are advanced users, and or IT Professionals living on the bleeding edge, as such we (at least myself) have the ability to recommend products and services to our companies and friends( I field at least 20 calls a week from friends and family members seeking advise on tech purchases.)
I couldn't in good conscious recommend this product to a non-tech. individual with it current list of issues, mainly GPS(I know this feature has been removed from the list of specs, but almost every Android Tablet out has this feature, and this IS a premium product), weak WiFi Signals, and problems with WiFi/Bluetooth On at the same time. This is not a 1%, 9% but probably %99 issue with the currently released units.
Again, the average users will not know the difference or know what to look for, but this doesn't excuse the fact that the problem does exist. Most people didn't know the Ford Pinto would explode if it got hit from the rear, but Ford did, and while this is not a case of people getting injured or killed, but the result is the same, if a company knows that a product had a defect, i.e. the GPS you should fix the problem, not make the spec. magically disappear. The right thing to do is apologize, engineer a fix, swallow the expense and learn a lesson and move on, not sweep it under the rug and fix it on the next product released.
I would have a lot more respect for ASUS if they would have chosen the right way to fix the problem, not the least costly to the Share Holders.
I am not a fanboy of any company but tech itself, I like certain Android based products, I also like Apple products and Microsoft as well, I think competition is a good thing, and I enjoy using and learning about all Operating Systems and associated technologies, I would get awfully board being a Fanboy for a particular company (be it Microsoft, Apple or Google.)
One last point, I would also re-train you Technical Support Staff to NOT advise a customer that he can go online and purchase a replacement Power Supply on your Online Store, instead of going through the process of getting an RMA for the defective power supply (The USB Cap came loose and I would have to pull it by the cord to disconnect it, also if it was plugged in upside down I was getting shocked when touching the back of the Prime.) It would be one thing if I was outside my warranty period, but 7 days is another. The information for this is under: ASUS Service No=1701380; Rma No=USG7222490. I returned the unit because it was rebooting (as described above.)
thanks Gary for the updates. still waiting to hear back from a few messages I sent. I know you are swamped with messages. but thanks for starting this new thread and clearing up a majority of the rumours floating around. also for indirectly calling out the users who are trying to take advantage of a situation. I see them here on online and catch them in their lies. they always changing up their stories and brag about unneccessary details or claims. funny to see one or 2 of those people, take advantage of situation, posting in this thread...now that is classic.
I'm glad you cleared up the fix rumour. which always made sense and sounded very plausible.
Anxious to here what's this new exciting news you speak of concerning the Tf-201. I have some good hunches on what it might be but it'll be best to let you convey that instead of starting up new rumors n speculations.
looking forward to new .16 update. I figured we would be getting one soon.
Also, many people here on this forum think with you being Technical Marketing Manager, you are just here to do damage control and tell users anything, including lies or misleading info. I personally, and probably alot more users also, never got that impression from you or have seen evidence of that actually occurring. I for one am glad you came to help out on the forums. Regardless if it was voluntary or if after the the issues started popping up. it doesn't matter. what does matter is that Asus is showing that they are trying Tonto the extra mile and work with users on the issues. I know its not possible to help everyone else at once. that's why some may feel like you haven't addressed them fast enough. Sorting these issues out takes time. plus add in all the false reports, misleading info, and people trying to take advantage of situation and all that only delays things even more so.
I have never seen this kind of involvement from a device manufacturer before and its appreciated. it shows alot about how Asus cares about customer satisfaction and will try to uphold that value.
this new thread by you was needed. glad to see it finally surface. hopefully will make the trolls go away now that they know we on to their tactics...lmfao. As most of us should know who example 2a. is speaking of.. I never really believed him anyways. he got caught up in lies and still lying. lol if he smart he should just quietly vanish into the night. I love it, people getting put on blast. finally exposed!