In the market looking to buy a 2nd tab in the family.
Seen a lot of offers for used TF201 (some with dock) for the same price as a new TF300...
What do you guys recommend to get, is the WiFi signal issue present in all TF201s and if yes, is it that bad? Or should i just get a new TF300 and forget about TF201?
Does the GPS dongle improve also WiFi signal (indirectly i suppose)?
What advantages does TF201 have over TF300 that should make me choose it over the latter for the same price (or even less)?
Thanks!
I have a C3 serial and it's pretty good.. I think the later versions were better.
But you will get a whole load of people post that the TF701 is better. SDCard fits, Wi-Fi signal is stronger, GPS get's location quicker..
sjrixon said:
I have a C3 serial and it's pretty good.. I think the later versions were better.
But you will get a whole load of people post that the TF701 is better. SDCard fits, Wi-Fi signal is stronger, GPS get's location quicker..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TF700 is a different story with a different price, at least in Europe
In scope of this thread is an used TF201 vs a new TF300
There's no denying the TF201 has been plagued with support issues. I returned my first one for WiFi problems. My second one the WiFi is fine. I stream movies on it regularly with no issues whatsoever, for example. GPS has been very bad on both without the dongle.
If you get it from a place that'll take a return/exchange it's a good buy, if not though, I'd recommend looking at other options. It's a great device when you get a good one only caveat that is even for a good one, if you are buying specifically for a lot of GPS stuff don't bother.
zerozoneice said:
Does the GPS dongle improve also WiFi signal (indirectly i suppose)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dongle does nothing to help with WiFi signal. Strictly to help GPS.
GPS is unusable and is not an official feature anymore. Wifi works fine, however max throughput speed is not great, it's fine for streaming video's.
I think it's a great tablet _and_ the screen is great, very good outdoor use. The TF300 does not have this.
Personally.. my wifi was ok, GPS no good but the non-responding apps & powering off while sleeping were deal breakers for me.. I'd stay away from it especially used and unable to return. Luckly someone here found Best Buy willing to take the Primes back under manufacturer defect and I was lucky enough to have that happen for me. Delivering a TF700 tomorrow.
Just a few of my screenshot issues.. if ya want more I'd be more than happy to send them to you.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1765997
Stay away. Stay far away.
nyijedi said:
Stay away. Stay far away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you guys are scaring me
thing is i found a TF201 32GB with Dock, GPS dongle and case for less than a new TF300...guy says it's a C10 serial and has no wifi issues...
is there a serial# tracker that can verify if there is a wifi problem? were only few batches affected or it's a general build issue.
i got a TF300 today and playing with it but i can return it within 24h if there's something wrong with it...
I had a C1 Prime that I bought in Feb and exchanged for a 700 this past Friday. Wifi by itself was fine for the most part, but when I turned the B/T on using at the same time bandwidth plummeted (20 megs to about 2megs down), known issue.. my opinion I'd skip it for the 300, at least you know you wont have wifi/gps issues with it
zerozoneice said:
you guys are scaring me
thing is i found a TF201 32GB with Dock, GPS dongle and case for less than a new TF300...guy says it's a C10 serial and has no wifi issues...
is there a serial# tracker that can verify if there is a wifi problem? were only few batches affected or it's a general build issue.
i got a TF300 today and playing with it but i can return it within 24h if there's something wrong with it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi works fine on my Prime. Don't read into everything you see on the forums too much. People like to blow things way out of proportion and make big deals out of nothing. They will make it sound like wifi doesn't work at all on the Prime and/or will complain that the signal drops off when they are outside their house 50 ft away, or that they only get 2 bars while their laptop gets 3 when in the same location. It's all bs; wifi is completely normal on the Prime. As for those that do have legitimate issues (very few from what I have seen) they are in the minority and should be contacting ASUS for RMA.
GPS on the other hand is not a supported built-in feature so don't expect it to work out of the box without the GPS dongle.
jordache16 said:
It's all bs; wifi is completely normal on the Prime. As for those that do have legitimate issues (very few from what I have seen) they are in the minority and should be contacting ASUS for RMA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, be glad you got a Prime then that supposedly works 100%.
There are plenty of people here including myself who will disagree with you, and I'm no noob by anymeans, my router (Linksys E3000 "High Performance") is less than 5 feet away from me here buddy Its been reiterated over and over the metal backplate is a signal killer. I can't express how happy I was when Best Buy took the thing back.
jordache16 said:
Wifi works fine on my Prime. Don't read into everything you see on the forums too much. People like to blow things way out of proportion and make big deals out of nothing. They will make it sound like wifi doesn't work at all on the Prime and/or will complain that the signal drops off when they are outside their house 50 ft away, or that they only get 2 bars while their laptop gets 3 when in the same location. It's all bs; wifi is completely normal on the Prime. As for those that do have legitimate issues (very few from what I have seen) they are in the minority and should be contacting ASUS for RMA.
GPS on the other hand is not a supported built-in feature so don't expect it to work out of the box without the GPS dongle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiFi technically "works," but works like crap compared to other devices. This is not really debateable. I've tested my Prime on the same network in the same spot next to a Galaxy Nexus, iPad 1, and Nexus 7. Once you move a few feet away from the router (not exaggerating - a few feet), the Prime drops speed at a ridiculous rate. For example, next to the router, all devices, including the Prime, will get over 30 Mbps. As I move away from the router, in the same spot, my other devices will all pull between 15 and 20 Mbps, and the Prime will be lucky to see 3-5 Mbps. And then if I keep moving away, the Prime is always the first one to lose a signal, while the other devices will still download at about 1-6 Mbps. It really depends on your use case. If you'll be using it regularly in areas with good WiFi, you'll be fine. But don't say you weren't warned if you try and use it in areas with weak WiFi.
As for the GPS, just assume the Prime doesn't have it, because it is not functional. Hell, Asus admitted this much when they took it off the box. It does work with the dongle, but you also can't charge the Prime when the dongle is plugged in, so forget about keeping your Prime charged using the GPS on a long road trip.
jordache16 said:
Wifi works fine on my Prime. Don't read into everything you see on the forums too much. People like to blow things way out of proportion and make big deals out of nothing. They will make it sound like wifi doesn't work at all on the Prime and/or will complain that the signal drops off when they are outside their house 50 ft away, or that they only get 2 bars while their laptop gets 3 when in the same location. It's all bs; wifi is completely normal on the Prime. As for those that do have legitimate issues (very few from what I have seen) they are in the minority and should be contacting ASUS for RMA.
GPS on the other hand is not a supported built-in feature so don't expect it to work out of the box without the GPS dongle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please speak for yourself ok?
The prime works fine for me when I'm close to the router, but degrades quickly as you move away. And I'm not talking about 50ft outside the house, I'm talking about the kitchen... 30 ft from the router with a door in between. Locations where other devices, such as my phone, have no issue keeping a decent connection...
Overall you can still browse pretty fine yeah and most of the time stream music. But for me there are hiccups, youtube videos (hd) pause and/or buffer regularly when not in the same room as the router, etc.
GPS is useless, but that is no issue for me as I have no need for it. IO is not great either, supposedly better with the TF700t.
So it' not useless but it is pretty weak and can (or will) cause issues in areas where your connection is not great... Just keep that in mind.
Other then these issues the prime is excellent, beatiful and sleek. The dock is awesome. But to be honest, I wish I could trade it in for something else or that there was some model like this on the market (a non-asus one in this case).
I love my Prime, but under no circumstance or influence could I possibly recommend it to anyone.
It's amazing when you have a model that works fine coupled with a good firmware version (or some custom ROMs I guess), but it's entirely too easy to get a bad mixture.
Mine is running fine after the mods in the development section (still haven't unlocked my bootloader), but WiFi is certainly dampened when compared to other devices. I've heard that certain channels and passcode encryptions are handled better than others. We're all still playing around to achieve optimal signal and it seems that messing with a bit of conductive foam inside the tablet helps to ground the antenna and improve reception. But that requires opening up (not hard) the tablet and technically voiding warranty (just have to be careful and clean).
The BlueTooth/WiFi complaints are completely true and valid depending on what (amounts of) data the BT is pumping out. I generally don't see too hard a hit with your average BT headset, but I think that using any actual stereo headset is going to cause your WiFi to become downright deplorable.
I can use my WiFi in most any room of both houses I spend most my time in *(where each house has 2 routers)*, and over most of my work-place *(which uses a pretty powerful commercial-grade router)*, and I only get a random reboot maybe once every few weeks or so (usually during heavy use, right after I've started bragging but just before the awesome game/app loads up lol). I can go anywhere between one and seven days on a single charge depending on use, that is my favorite part of the tablet/keyboard combo. Having a native setting to use the mouse pad for touch gestures is awesome. The two speakers located directly beside each other don't sound too bad, but are very uni-directional and lose against the outdoors. The screen is magnificent: I can use it any time, anywhere, and everything isn't over-saturated like many competitors' screens (arguably under-saturated though, depends on opinion, eyesight, and luck of the draw). Useful to have the extra mSD and SD slots though I never use the SD in the keyboard; I leave my mSD in at all times and have changed its mount point to within the /sdcard/ directory so that apps can actually access and make use of it. This is only possible because of the leather case I have, otherwise the mSD would long ago have ejected somewhere. /rant
Tl;dr:
It's a great, fun toy which tries to appear productive and savvy; it's entirely unreliable just like its manufacturer and will cause great embarrassment if "shown off;" and I absolutely would not recommend it to someone who does not want to dig down into fixing and patching and playing with the hardware and software.
*EDIT:
Also, as mentioned, GPS is not even worth mentioning
Which is why I do not recommend ASUS to customers regardless. They produce great PC components, they just have some serious quality control issues which are usually covered pretty well by warranty. But none-the-less, their inconsistencies in physical components makes them a general no-no for me.
zerozoneice said:
In the market looking to buy a 2nd tab in the family.
Seen a lot of offers for used TF201 (some with dock) for the same price as a new TF300...
What do you guys recommend to get, is the WiFi signal issue present in all TF201s and if yes, is it that bad? Or should i just get a new TF300 and forget about TF201?
Does the GPS dongle improve also WiFi signal (indirectly i suppose)?
What advantages does TF201 have over TF300 that should make me choose it over the latter for the same price (or even less)?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Prime was fine, maybe even better then fine. But if $300 is about what you were going to spend on a used Prime, I would go get the new 300. WiFi was good with the one I played with at the store the other day. Put it in a case and no one will ever know it's not a Prime.
Seriously - either get a TF300 or better, a TF700.. just pretend the TF201 never existed.
IF you have no use for a GPS (and think very carefully about that - Google Now, for example, relies on both not-fine(WiFi - really - you can't say the opposite of fine that rhymes with course?) and fine (GPS) location for a lot of things it does... and more and more apps are location aware...) and if you don't mind subpar WiFi and Bluetooth, then it's a nice tablet.
Unfortunately, since the TF300 is cheaper and the TF700 is the same price - but with a higher res screen AND both have working GPS, WiFi and BT - you'd be nuts to go with the TF201.
And to be honest - given how Asus has bunged up the entire TF201 fiasco, I'm not even comfortable recommending a Transformer at all. I'd wait for the Samsung Note 10.1 in two weeks, or any of the growing number of Transformer like Android tablets coming out soon.
I agree with buxtahuda all the way. The only reason I can hand my prime to another person to play with without fear of mockery is that I have repaired the improper backplate grounding to the wifi and gps antennas so the both now work well. This required taking it apart (which I didnt mind since I got it so I could do that). The second part of the equation for not being embarassed by my prime is that I put one of the new Jellybean (actually I have tried them all) roms on it. There seems to be no game playing issues or lag with these but since they are prebeta they are missing some features of the hardware.
My boss asked me to recommend a tablet for her after she saw my prime with dock in action at a meeting. I told her to get an Ipad.
whycali said:
I agree with buxtahuda all the way. The only reason I can hand my prime to another person to play with without fear of mockery is that I have repaired the improper backplate grounding to the wifi and gps antennas so the both now work well. This required taking it apart (which I didnt mind since I got it so I could do that). The second part of the equation for not being embarassed by my prime is that I put one of the new Jellybean (actually I have tried them all) roms on it. There seems to be no game playing issues or lag with these but since they are prebeta they are missing some features of the hardware.
My boss asked me to recommend a tablet for her after she saw my prime with dock in action at a meeting. I told her to get an Ipad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to elaborate on the grounding issue? Are you talking those small spongy things?
dagrim1 said:
Care to elaborate on the grounding issue? Are you talking those small spongy things?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. We figured out forever ago that they carry continuity, so they're essentially a wire going to the case for grounding.
Or so I gather.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD via my tethered HTC Vision
Related
I've been reading for a while trying to evaluate the different level of Prime problems. My return window for the prime closes tomorrow. I'm an android kind of guy and I also own a Samsung Galaxy S.
I'm trying to evaluate the degree of problem with my GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth.
WiFi
===
Running wifi analyzer on both the prime and the sgs the signal readings are almost similar the connection speeds vary greatly with the prime often connecting at faster speeds. I have several wifi routers in my house for coverage with the same ssid. The prime seems to have a little more problems switching from one to the other but not that much.
GPS
===
My prime gps does work but the reception is much weaker than my sgs. This is especially true from inside my house. My sgs is easily able to see and fix 5-8 sats while the prime is completely blind. Outside the house but not in the city, the results are more encouraging with the prime being able to fix almost the same number of sats than the sgs but I cannot see the exact signal strength. I haven't tested in a city with tall buildings all around.
Bluetooth
=======
I haven't found any tools to evaluate the BT signal strength. I'm able to pair a headset and it appears to work properly but no other tests were made.
Soooo, my questions are: Was there batches of primes that were more problematic than others? Is the unconnected antennas problems random or related to the first batches? Compared to other working prime; is mine as good as it gets or I should roll the dices and try to find a better prime?
My serial number begins with: C1OKAS0xxxxx
Thanks in advance for any replies.
JF.
Sounds to me like you have a good one. Your wifi works well compared to your other devices LR even better. You have a working GPS. despite being weaker then your other device it works. Asus removed GPS spec so consider yourself lucky on GPS side. Then for BT seems like you have no issues. I'd think your device was a keeper. As far as wifi antennae issues, that's very random and very small in numbers compared to overall prime users here in xda. The biggest complaint is GPS, not wifi. The other gripe is some experience slowdown of speeds when BT and wifi are both streaming data. But you have alot also that don't experience that. So I wouldn't be too pressed about it. If your device works well, keep it. Or you could gamble on a new device. It could be better. But it could also not be. All primes no matter the batch has the identical same hardware. I have an early batch one I purchased on 12/22. Its been working great for me. Had no issues with it at all. So it is a hit or miss but odds are in favor of finding a good one.
Good luck on your decision. I'd say keep your prime if it works well for you. Its not a matter of if its as good as it gets. What you described your device as is a really good working one. Why take risk n get rid of it.
I don't think there are any "good ones", specially if Asus has to make a physical hardware change. UNLESS they are already manufacturing this change into production already, but I highly doubt that. A company like Asus could never move that fast.
The WIFI will always be an issue to some, and not an issue to most people. If you happen to be near a router (less than 50-75 feet away) you will be in good shape. If you are in a place like a school or office building where there are many routers, you will be in good shape. If you are trying to hold on to the edge of your routers max range, you will be in bad shape.
for GPS,
people are trying to get a lock with out a data connection. These tablets use the same GPS chip a cellphone would meaning it needs data connection for an accurate lock. You will NOT get an accurate lock using the GPS outside with no data connection. This is how all mobile devices are.
Thanks for the replies. I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow. I also have hopes that Asus will eventually do the right thing and replace the back of the prime...
Prime/Tapatalk
jflaplante said:
Thanks for the replies. I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow. I also have hopes that Asus will eventually do the right thing and replace the back of the prime...
Prime/Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With what, plastic? That is probably what is going to happen....
I have owned (and still own) ONE Prime. It works great. Wifi is strong or perhaps even stronger than any of my other devices in the house. I own a Playbook, Slider, Evo 3D, Photon, and some other random wifi devices. I was not even aware that there *was* an issue with the Prime and wifi until I started reading posts here with all of these issues and blaming the backing..etc.
I still truly believe that it is environment over the actual device. Wifi is a signal that must pass through walls, etc. I can bet there are times that the overly paranoid Prime owner sees his bar go down one notch and immediately posts up here that he is experiencing the famous "wifi problem". I do not doubt there are some people out there with real problems (such is the nature of electronics manufacture), but I also do not doubt that people overreact when they *think* its a "known problem".
No, I really like the spun metal back, and I'll be pissed if it gets reduced to plastic because of some kind of nonsense. Actually, I won't be THAT pissed...as I already own it
@zektor,
I was thinking more like the current aluminium design which is rigid and resistant but with plastic "windows" at the right places for maximal signals reception. A little like the iPad's solution.
I'm also learning to live without 3G built-in with my sgs wi-fi tether but that another story.
MarcMaiden said:
for GPS,
people are trying to get a lock with out a data connection. These tablets use the same GPS chip a cellphone would meaning it needs data connection for an accurate lock. You will NOT get an accurate lock using the GPS outside with no data connection. This is how all mobile devices are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but this simply isn't true.
I very frequently use GPS on my Android phones for GPS navigation when traveling overseas, and most of the time I am not using mobile data due to the exorbitant cost when roaming.
This would not be possible without an accurate lock.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Assisted GPS, using a wifi or 3G signal to assist the GPS location only allows a slightly faster location fix. After the GPS gets a location fix, it's not used at all. GPS signals from the satellites are very weak, and metal and water will block them. If you're inside, you simply can't get a good GPS signal. Moving a few feet one way or another can make a big difference, but not always. Being outside is essential for getting a good GPS signal. It's also essential that you don't put your hand over the antenna, because the water in your hand can completely block the signal. Holding the tablet in any position other than horizontal, facing straight up, can also degrade the signal, since the metal case blocks it. Putting a metal case over a GPS antenna is a bad idea, and after Asus did it, they had to decide whether to keep the metal case or make the GPS more usable. Fortunately, IMO, they decided that the metal case was more important than the GPS, so they just dropped the GPS specs from the Prime. Asus does not guarantee that the GPS in the Prime will work at all. However, the latest update, .15, seems to help the GPS reception a lot.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Just chime in and tell me how your WiFi/GPS is, and how your prime is operating.
If you don't have anything positive towards this thread GET OUT. I'm trying to get a better understanding of how everyone with a BCOKAS model is doing.
My wifi is decent/crap, I have to be within 10 feet of any router for a good connection. GPS is worthless
I'm waiting on "Gary Key" to come out with his amazing solution of fixing this. That's why I haven't RMAed or Unlocked yet.
Besides the WiFi, I LOVE THIS DEVICE. I could use the GPS on my phone.
Sooo hows your BCOKAS Prime ???
WIFI: Range is horrible
WIFI + BT: Recently tested this feature.... performs extremely poorly. Will do more test.
GPS: I can get few birds (including inside of the house) & few will lock with pathetic signal. However, everything disappears once it starts to move...
That's including aGPS... horrible.
Browser: Adequate once Chrome browser was deleted. However, still getting the "wait" pop-up window or force close on occasion.
Games: Don't really game on my Prime but it works well when I do (games look good as well).
Streaming Media from Network(movies): Due to poor WIFI range, it doesn't work well once I am 15+ ft away from the router.. however, if I am within 10ft range.. it works well. Also, if my Prime is idle for few mins. (5+).. & if I wake up my Prime... screen flickers & I see screen tear... & when I unlock it.. it'll freeze/lag & Prime will reboot. (This continues even after soft reset.. haven't done factory reset yet)
eReader: Probably the main reason why I continue to use Prime. MyLibrary from Asus is my fav. eReader app. Yes, I mainly use Prime for reading eBooks... (not exactly the reason why I purchased but it works well).
WIFI:
My wifi range is very similar to my GNex so it's not terrible. I just ran a Speed Test and was getting around 4-5D and 4-5U on the wireless here at my work which the signal strength is around -70dB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS:
2-3 birds outside, nothing inside and I never get a lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BT:
I have a lot of trouble getting things to connect to it but it can be done. Performance with wifi on is poor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OS:
Been getting launcher crashes of late so I installed GO HD and that seems to have helped, but I will say that apps in general are not very stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than that, I'm in the same boat David. Waiting to unlock based on what I hear from RMA's. I started a thread a couple weeks ago to try and gather info from those who RMA'd for BT/WIFI issues but at that point no one really had. Maybe we can get some results now...
My bcokas
I have had this one since late Feb or early March (my 2nd one).
Only one or two uncommanded reboots--I am not a heavy user--I do not know enough about it to be a serious user, YET.
I am pretty computer knowledgeable, though.
I just took my prime outside (Anchorage, Alaska at the International Airport)
I have a wireless G network at our office. It is on the second floor inside a wooden frame building-close to, but not visible through a window. I connected with the WiFi Analyzer using the speedometer style gauge and received -73 to -75 DB at approximately 300 feet away on our ramp (aircraft parking area). I did not attempt any downloads--pretty chilly outside today.
Next, I loaded the GPS test app from Chartcross, and while outside (completely wide open), got no birds. This did not surprise me. I have found that if no birds are visible, a complete shutdown & restart will usually bring the GPS back to life. IT DID!!
Within 30 seconds of starting the app (after the complete restart), I had 12-14 birds visible and 10-11 in use. Signal strength never exceeded 31 on the graph. The usability remains poor, even though numerous birds in view. The coverage drops off to none frequently but reconnects quickly. As a commercial pilot, I am very familiar with GPS usage. This one cannot be classified greater than "Very Poor". I have the Dual xgps150a that I use via Bluetooth and it works flawlessly.
I have not attempted to use Bluetooth & WiFi at the same time, and therefore cannot comment on that aspect.
Overall, I am not dissatisfied with the Prime. I had no expectations of using the built-in GPS when I purchased it. The WiFi could be a bit better; but I consider it to be usable.
My biggest complaint with the Prime is not the hardware, it is the software. Specifically, the crappy browsers that I have tried (5 or 6). I absolutely hate "TABS" I refuse to use them on my PCs. I am not saying that they are bad, I just don't like them. The only browser that I even remotely can tolerate (thus far) is Dolphin. It still uses TABS, but at least it has a home button. Doing anything on a tablet browser (to me--so far) is like flying from Anchorage to Seattle via Tokyo, Manilla, and Santiago. I guess I am saying that I find all of them to be very user-unfriendly.
I guess I have whined enough.
Jerry In Anchorage, Alaska
Wifi is perfectly fine, no problems with it.
I've only gotten a lock with GPS once, and that was while I was sitting outside.
Haven't tried bt+wifi.
Have been getting some not responding messages with the browser occasionally when opening it.
I don't really game on it, but from the small amount of time I've used N64oid it certainly wasn't unacceptable.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA Premium.
I have had mine since mid January. No obvious issues with wi-fi and I'm able to stream music from my NAS drive to my bluetooth headphones while using the internet. I don't know if it's relevant but my broadband speed isn't exactly stellar (8mb max) whereas I notice that many of those with drop out issues when using bluetooth seem to to have a much higher speed normally.
GPS works in that satellites show indoors and out but the strength doesn't appear to be that great (I get locks but the values in GPS Test have never got near 30). Having said that, I probably would never use a tablet for satnav because of the size - it's far too big for my car whereas my Galaxy S2 phone is much more suitable and less distracting!
I've used most browsers but now mainly use either ICS+ Browser. I've (very) occasionally seen the 'wait' message but other than that everything is good and overall I'm (touch wood!) happy with my Prime.
Bcokas here. Wifi is fine and same as my old Droid charge and now my gnex. GPS got locks the one time I tried it months ago, been off since and never tried navigation with it so can't help with that. I've only tested bt with wifi using a sixaxis controller, seemed fine about 30 ft from router but didn't do a speed test to see if and how much it affected signal strength and speed.
I just got a BC0KAS TF201 back from RMA in Texas. My original complaint was black screen (nothing shows up on LCD), GPS nonexistent (ordered 12/28), and weak wifi. After all the parts replaced (GPS foil, conductive sponges, etc..), screen finally works but thats about it. No satellite locks still indoors or outdoors and still weak wifi.
junrider said:
I just got a BC0KAS TF201 back from RMA in Texas. My original complaint was black screen (nothing shows up on LCD), GPS nonexistent (ordered 12/18), and weak wifi. After all the parts replaced (GPS foil, conductive sponges, etc..), screen finally works but thats about it. No satellite locks still indoors or outdoors and still weak wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a lame story bro.
I'd RMA until they got it right. It sucks that you have to sit there and just take it, while Asus adds you to the satisfied Prime owner statistic.
Overall I have been happy with mine and would compare to some of the more favorable responses here.
Wifi: I initially thought that the .21 made a difference but have re-evaluated. At the furthest point in my house from the router (several walls, 1 floor, 40 ft) I get about 3-4 times slower speeds than other devices. It is still fast enough to surf, stream videos etc.
BT: don't use it much. Wifi speeds are the same whether it is on or off.
GPS: The patches in the dev section actually made some difference. I get a few sats inside with no lock. Outside, I get 11-12 with a lock. GPS test says the accuracy is 30 ft which I doubt would be enough to navigate, but who cares??
Regarding crashes when browsing and so on, I was getting a lot before I unlocked. In the end I just figured screw it, unlocked and installed a rom. I did that about 6 weeks ago and I could count the number of crashes on one hand. Maybe a factory reset would have had the same effect but where's the fun in that
skygunner27 said:
That's a lame story bro.
I'd RMA until they got it right. It sucks that you have to sit there and just take it, while Asus adds you to the satisfied Prime owner statistic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not really mine. Its my friend's prime, but i used my creditcard to pay for it. Its his first tablet so hes pretty new to the game. As long as the prime works he can deal until there is a real fix for it, then Ill tell him. I have the receipt (ordered well before the GPS announcement) and all the paper work for the RMA (so there is history that I have complained about the GPS and weak wifi), so they cant deny me the GPS. Couldnt tell if the bluetooth+wifi works since I dont have any bluetooth headphones to test it. I wanna give it a few more months to see if there is any development in the prime.
Thats why I refunded my money, I had few B0CKS and where all the same GPS and weak wifi. Im holding out for something that I can be happy with.
wifi works great. better than my Ipad & atrix phone as far as download speeds, reception strength, and signal stability goes.
wifi/BT works fine. I'm able to transfer big movie files from my phone to prime while prime is hooked up to wifi internet and streaming movie at same time. no slowdown of speeds and movie plays just fine streaming while BT in the background transferring big file.
Gps- never tested outdoors yet. plus I hook up my phone to prime through BT GPS. works great.
overall my early BC model from 12/22 has been performing great for me. no real issues what so ever to complain about really. I'd easily purchase this again if i had to do it over again. my Ipad has nothing on my prime. No comparison to Prime & Android experience. Very pleased with device and its performance. IMO, Asus did a great job on it as mines works as expected and more.
Thanks for the responding!
My wi-fi performance isn't stellar, but it isn't horrible either. I can get better signal than my, older, hp laptop in some areas of my house. I'm happy enough with it to not want to RMA.
I rely on my phone any time I need GPS so I have never actually tested it on my Prime. Seems like redundant use of technology for me. For the same reason, I haven't loaded any music onto my Prime--I have it all on my, more portable, phone.
I love ICS. Sure, I have some difficulty with the browser some times, but I expect Google will be continually making this better. I usually just check in with FB with it anyway. For any serious browsing I use a computer.
One of the things I love the best about my Prime is the dock. I've had zero issues with it and love the short-cut buttons. I'm currently writing a book, completely on my Prime, and it and Polaris Office have been wonderful.
I've been using my BC0KAS TF201 from Best Buy since mid January, and I'm pleased with it overall.
Wifi is nothing to be proud of, but acceptable. Downstairs is not a problem, but upstairs I get slower speeds, which is to be expected.
GPS is absent. I'm lucky to get a lock anywhere, and I've never seen more than 3 sats while driving.
I haven't used bluetooth much.
I use chrome browser and it works fine.
Battery life is somewhat of an issue for me; I keep it on about 50% brightness most of the time, and the battery goes down quite fast at times. Fast charging makes up for it though.
My wifi is usable. I even connected once to free mcdonalds wifi from the parking lot (slow, but checked my email which is what i needed to do). I will have a weak signal upstairs, but netflix worked fine.
Wifi + bt. Again, usable, but signal drops when i feed my stereo bt music and try to watch netflix (really real world?)
No reboots till two updates ago. Way better with .21
Gps is completely useless. I was one of the few who wanted this to replace my aging gps as a nice bonus. Tried all the gps patches from the thread, 1.0rc seems to make things more stable in gps test, but i no longer get locks whatsoever. Also, no skymap fun as its twitchy.
Screen goes through fits with tearing along the left side. Sometimes need to reboot to fix it. Minimal backlight bleeding, didnt even notice till the 3rd time i turned it on, and i was looking for it at that point.
I love this thing enough to have kept it since early jan (bb.com fiasco unit). Not unlocked. Still scared even though i reallllly want to...
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
My WiFi slightly beats out the Galaxy Ace and Wildfire in terms of range and the DL/UL speeds are still pretty good at the furthest away point in my house.
GPS is non existant as far as I can tell, not really got the patience to test it properly though.
Never really use BT+WiFi together so can't comment on that.
My Rear camera doesn't work, just a green glitchy mess. Not sure if it's hardware or software though.
Gaming is good on it, got plenty of emulators working very well and games like Shadowgun run and look great.
Wifi-up to par with my Droid x
Wifi+Bluetooth- no issues
Gps - not so great, its picky about location and view of the sky
Sent from my DROIDX using xda premium
Wifi matches Droid X in speed and signal strength.
I don't use BT on my tablet.
GPS - outside, 10/10 lock/view, vs. droid x 10/16. Inside, maybe 1 in view, no lock. Droid X will get 6/8.
OS, no issues. I did have to wipe going from HC-->ICS, but I wasn't expecting apps to survive anyway,
*edit*
I had issues with triangles appearing on overlays and random bars on the edge of the screen, but those have gone away with the .21 update. The triangle tearing thing was always fixable by just swiping apps off the recent apps list.
Wifi is fine my E4200 version 1 is in the center of the house and I get a decent connection both on the front and back steps and I use the prime to watch network streamed tv show replays with no problems or stuttering in the house. Gps is good in the house at times and non working at other times same outside. Location and weather effect this I believe. My browser hasnt given me any problems to speak of, overall I'm pleased.
When will ASUS provide us a fix for our poor WIFI instead of ignoring the issue? They have all these new devices but fail to take care of our issues. Is this how they treat their early adopters? How can you sell a Wifi only device with poor wifi? They need to replace the back cover or replace new hardware or just have a recall. This is unacceptable. If you buy a car and you only get 5 mpg when you should get 30mpg, i'm sure they would recall that car. My luck, first ASUS device and i get first reboot issues and poor GPS & Wifi.. I love the device as far as looks and game performance but, what what good is that if i cant get online to read my emails and browse?
While I agree with you I think Asus put themselves in a tough spot. Short of taking every Prime sold and doing hardware changes of whatever type, they can't fix this problem. Someone mentioned that they probably did the gps dongle and quick because a suit was filed against them for it. It was a universal problem with probably every unit. I could be wrong but I don't think they have admitted a problem with the internal gps, just the metal backing possibly blocking the signal.
This wifi/bt thing, it technically works. It may not function ideally but it functions. They may not be under the legal pressure as the gps, it being advertised, etc. It would be great for a solid solution to be found for this but I'm not going to hold my breath over it. The company knows the f* up exists.
Don't take this the wrong way... But speak for yourself. I have no issues with my Wifi. Its just as strong as my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Wifi analyzer. I am also an early adopter SN#BC
jjdevega said:
Don't take this the wrong way... But speak for yourself. I have no issues with my Wifi. Its just as strong as my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Wifi analyzer. I am also an early adopter SN#BC
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Click to collapse
So you say... I thought the same thing also before going thru the WiFi/BT fallout thread.. pair some bluetooth headphones with your TF201, play some music or run netflix and run speedtest while its going and I dare say you'll be disappointed..
NeoMagus said:
So you say... I thought the same thing also before going thru the WiFi/BT fallout thread.. pair some bluetooth headphones with your TF201, play some music or run netflix and run speedtest while its going and I dare say you'll be disappointed..
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Click to collapse
I've been through this before I even created a video just to prove Wifi/BT works fine when both are used for streaming. Just check out my Youtube video.
I did this late at night. Didn't want to wake the wife so I'm pretty quiet. My internet connection is caped at 10mbps
What was a little strange about the Speed test was that when I ran the test for the first time it yielded only 1mb but after running the test several more times after that it coincided with the wifi strength of it having full bars so I was getting 7mbps and more. I made the video on the second floor in my bedroom. The router is located on the first floor opposite corner of the house.
Edit: Besides. The OP is talking about Wifi and I was responding to his claims of everyone having weak wifi which is false since I have no problems with wifi.
jjdevega said:
I've been through this before I even created a video just to prove Wifi/BT works fine when both are used for streaming. Just check out my Youtube video.
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Click to collapse
Seeing how no one has posted a video showing anything but a huge dropoff in bandwidth Id be willing to watch if you link it - but yours is probably like everyone elses including mine. If it isn't then feel lucky its adequate to you.. going from 30m/b down to 2m/b is not to me
**from what I'm seeing its just like mine most of your tests your losing half your bandwidth when its on ..2-4mb occassionally with a spike ..2mb really is all you need to stream both so if it works for you great but I wouldn't say theres no issue we should not be losing that much bandwidth (its alot more for me personally)
Nothing will be done because nothing is wrong.
Welcome to the wireless spectrum and the laws of physics. Inconsistent speedtest results? Drop-offs? Turn on a microwave, kill your stream? Yeah, welcome to wifi.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2387493?start=0&tstart=0
Deal with it.
Whats also important to note, the prime is not at all the only Tablet that is in this "wifi situation". Especially the best known Tablet on the world, the ipad, suffers from about the same issues.
Wifi is a radio signal, its the same thing with FM radio stations... In one room you always get interference with Station X while in the other room its perfectly clear. One day it might work well while the next one you cant hear a thing. Its similar with wifi and there are alot of factors involved.
As for me i did several "tests" with wifi analyzer and speed test and my tablet and 2 smartphones (DHD & SGS II) all around my house and in the garden. There is simply no consistancy in one spot the prime has the best signal and the best throughput in another it has the worst, in the end all devices performed more or less the same.
But thats just my situation, there is always the possibility that your device is defective in some way and if you feel somethings wrong i suggest you try RMA or just buy a wifi repeater But i guess thats about the only things you can do.
Btw: there was an intersting article i read a while ago about a Parisienne Hotel where some nerds (some of them actually invented wifi) had a convention/meeting. Everyone was using the wifi heavily and soon the system wouldnt work at all. They started talking to the tech guys of the hotel and... The wifi was set up totally wrong, all routers and repeaters worked on the same channel with wrong settings. The guys then shut down half of the repeaters changed the channels and tweaked the settings and voila wifi was amazing. I thought that was a pretty funny
Can someone with more technical experience chime in on this. Its obviously clear that the wifi signal on the Prime is subpar, which is a shame because we paid a pretty penny for this device, and the reason for this sub performance is due to a blatant oversight by the manufacturer. Which, has been resolved, but only in the new tablet model, which in my opinion is even more of a slap to the face, especially (again) considering how much the tablet costs. Now, I am not complaining much about this because while a crappy old phone can get 70mbs a wifi connection my Prime can only get, usually, around 30mbs, though I have seen it hit 70.
But here is my main concern, and I am sure ALL OF YOU can feel the pain of this. It appears that due to the weak signal, the device overly excerpts its resources to try and attain more signal, HOWEVER because of this it seems like the battery suffers quite extensibly, which is what leads me to believe the reason my battery usage shows wifi usually 100% as the top most used butter sucker-upper and it's usually by a landslide. This, if it is the case, really upsets me. Because, while I can live with an average 30mbs wifi connection (because cmon thats more than the ISP even provides), I would not be happy knowing that due to this manufacturer oversight the battery drains an addiotal 20-30% quicker than it would if this were not the problem.
Am I wrong here? Is wifi really not a problem for the battery? It is just odd to me that wifi shows up as using sometimes 50% of the battery!... And OMFG im NOT even joking, just checked battery usage and wifi is showing 94% of the battery.. that seems like a bug there is no way that could possibly be correct! 94%! lol wtf!
Jep i've been seeing that as well. It started with .21 when ever you use wifi the battery drains noticably faster. I also wrote a PM to Gary about that with screenshots and everything, i really hope they can change it back to the way it was before .21 because my wifi didnt improve, but my battery life did get worse.
robproctor said:
Can someone with more technical experience chime in on this. Its obviously clear that the wifi signal on the Prime is subpar, which is a shame because we paid a pretty penny for this device, and the reason for this sub performance is due to a blatant oversight by the manufacturer. Which, has been resolved, but only in the new tablet model, which in my opinion is even more of a slap to the face, especially (again) considering how much the tablet costs. Now, I am not complaining much about this because while a crappy old phone can get 70mbs a wifi connection my Prime can only get, usually, around 30mbs, though I have seen it hit 70.
But here is my main concern, and I am sure ALL OF YOU can feel the pain of this. It appears that due to the weak signal, the device overly excerpts its resources to try and attain more signal, HOWEVER because of this it seems like the battery suffers quite extensibly, which is what leads me to believe the reason my battery usage shows wifi usually 100% as the top most used butter sucker-upper and it's usually by a landslide. This, if it is the case, really upsets me. Because, while I can live with an average 30mbs wifi connection (because cmon thats more than the ISP even provides), I would not be happy knowing that due to this manufacturer oversight the battery drains an addiotal 20-30% quicker than it would if this were not the problem.
Am I wrong here? Is wifi really not a problem for the battery? It is just odd to me that wifi shows up as using sometimes 50% of the battery!... And OMFG im NOT even joking, just checked battery usage and wifi is showing 94% of the battery.. that seems like a bug there is no way that could possibly be correct! 94%! lol wtf!
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Click to collapse
you do bring up a great point but wifi will always be the biggest battery drainer. along with display brightness. its a good theory THST if wifi was so poor, it would waste extra power trying to maintain or always look for a signal. Thing is, I don't consider wifi performance THST bad across devices to warrant that. what you saying is like if wifi barely even had a signal and was always connecting and disconnecting the signal. then yeah, extra power is being used to try to maintain it. but that's not the case with majority of primes. some primes have great wifi strength, others have decent strength, others have huge dropoffs in speeds after moving so far away from the router. But i haven't heard of anyone not being able to really pick up their home signal or even barely. wifi in prime good enough across the board to properly see and maintain signal. some peoples issues are when you move far away from the router and the dropoff in speeds.
like I said before, wifi will always be biggest battery drainer. I leave my wifi on 24/7 and I'm overclocked and I still get great battery life. maybe in last update Asus did increase the power signal output of wifi. but nothing so drastic to drain battery dramatically faster. we have an update coming so we will have to see how battery life is after it. whether it improves, gets better, or gets worse.
---------- Post added at 06:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------
DONT make duplicate threads of exact same question. I will request for the other one to be closed if it hasn't already.
@ OP, there is no need for duplicate threads posted within a minute of each other. I have deleted your other thread named the same. If this was done in error, please contact a Mod to request correction.
Also, if this thread starts to turn into another complaining/whining thread, it will be locked. Almost everyone is aware of the limitations of this device (or lack there of), and there are more than enough threads already posted discussing wifi/gps issues.
My battery drain is only when Im docked. The wifi kills the battery in the dock pretty fast as it's constantly trying to charge the tablet. If I set wifi to turn off during sleep then theres no drastic drain and acts normal. Just like if it was undocked. When undocked even with wifi always on even on sleep it doesnt drain fast. Maybe 1-2% an hour. This issue has been mentioned before on another thread regarding battery drain during docked.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
kabrutus said:
When will ASUS provide us a fix for our poor WIFI instead of ignoring the issue? They have all these new devices but fail to take care of our issues. Is this how they treat their early adopters? How can you sell a Wifi only device with poor wifi? They need to replace the back cover or replace new hardware or just have a recall. This is unacceptable. If you buy a car and you only get 5 mpg when you should get 30mpg, i'm sure they would recall that car. My luck, first ASUS device and i get first reboot issues and poor GPS & Wifi.. I love the device as far as looks and game performance but, what what good is that if i cant get online to read my emails and browse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consider myself a huge prime fanboy...with that said I'm also realistic. Short to the point answer regarding wifi and will they fix it? NO. They cant fix it, if they could have they would have done it by now. In fact they don't believe you even have a wifi problem but if you care refer to this link http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/ipad-and-tablets/asus-transformer-pad-infinity-700-review-50007211/ Also note the backplate on the infinity-thats your fix it will cost you to get it, sorry but it is what it is. If anybody on here tells you they can fix the wifi with an update think, why are they even attempting to fix a problem they wont acknowledge even happens?... Wifi performance among primes is not consistent, some may do well some may not. I knew this when I bought my prime but I can live with it. I had the original transformer and the prime cant hold a candle to the wifi performance it had. But overall the the OG transformer can't hold a candle to the prime.
Secondly, as far as reboots it's pretty much the same thing. They can't fix it and it's not just the prime simply google ICS and reboots and you will see. Again the performance will not be consistent some may reboot others may not. But whatever is causing the reboots up to this point is A: not exclusive to the prime and B seems to happen on devices updated to ICS or currently running ICS. I know these are bold statements but unless many people out there across a varying rage of devices are imagining reboots while running ICS then there must be an issue. That said I hope they fix both problems I just wont hold my breath. I am however very happy with my prime "limitations" and all.
My Prime was purchased the second week of February, C1 serial. My Wi-Fi is great actually. My router is in my office on the second floor, in the back of the house. If I am in the office, I actually top out my connection...as fast as can go. However, I'm in the basement 70% of the time (basically the living room) and I can still top out my speeds, or very close to it. That means I have the first floor between us, with 2 ceilings/floors between us also. There is one spot in the house ( basement, directly below the router) where I get maybe half my speeds, but I believe it's just a dead spot and not the Prime. It also works fine at work, and when running on my phones wifi hot spot. I realize all Primes are different as far as GPS and Wi-Fi, and I'm very lucky to have gotten a problem free device.
in my opinion to the wifi problem the problem isnt really the prime most of the time the problem is interfiernce or poor signal from the router, i have a c3 model and really cant complain about the signal if anything the only problem i can see with the prime is the stock browser, i find it impossible to browse through this forum with the stock browser at first i thought it was down to wifi connection but then soon realised that it was down to the browser as i have no problems with downloaded browsers.... so as to the will they fix it, i say you need something to be broke before you can fix it and i dont see anything broke, i just see sh*t happens so deal with it radio signal problems lol
jjdevega said:
I've been through this before I even created a video just to prove Wifi/BT works fine when both are used for streaming. Just check out my Youtube video.
I did this late at night. Didn't want to wake the wife so I'm pretty quiet. My internet connection is caped at 10mbps
What was a little strange about the Speed test was that when I ran the test for the first time it yielded only 1mb but after running the test several more times after that it coincided with the wifi strength of it having full bars so I was getting 7mbps and more. I made the video on the second floor in my bedroom. The router is located on the first floor opposite corner of the house.
Edit: Besides. The OP is talking about Wifi and I was responding to his claims of everyone having weak wifi which is false since I have no problems with wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be missing it but don't see the bluetooth streaming part... I see that it is connected but are you actually playing something through a bt headset or bt speakers?
My wifi is ok enough, but for example when I play spotify over bluetooth speakers things start to crap out and stutter. Not right away, but give it a minute or 2 and it will. Which sucks... No bt streaming and it works fine. This is what people are referring to when they speak about the bt/wifi issue.
dagrim1 said:
I may be missing it but don't see the bluetooth streaming part... I see that it is connected but are you actually playing something through a bt headset or bt speakers?
My wifi is ok enough, but for example when I play spotify over bluetooth speakers things start to crap out and stutter. Not right away, but give it a minute or 2 and it will. Which sucks... No bt streaming and it works fine. This is what people are referring to when they speak about the bt/wifi issue.
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Click to collapse
Yes when I turned the bt on I also showed myself turning on my bt headset. Once it paired and the bt icon turned blue I started streaming then continued on with speedtest. I guess its a little hard to see it in the dark. Ill have to make another video during the day.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
mikeyxb said:
in my opinion to the wifi problem the problem isnt really the prime most of the time the problem is interfiernce or poor signal from the router, i have a c3 model and really cant complain about the signal if anything the only problem i can see with the prime is the stock browser, i find it impossible to browse through this forum with the stock browser at first i thought it was down to wifi connection but then soon realised that it was down to the browser as i have no problems with downloaded browsers.... so as to the will they fix it, i say you need something to be broke before you can fix it and i dont see anything broke, i just see sh*t happens so deal with it radio signal problems lol
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Click to collapse
It is not a router issue or interference. For example, today i sat a coffee shop in China. I had my phone and laptop and Prime sitting on a table. My laptop and phone both showed 6 wifi connections available where I was sitting with signal showing a consistent 3 to 4 bars. My Prime got consistently just 1 connection, and that was only 2 bars for a pizza restaurant across from where I was. The tablet could not once sniff out the coffee shops connection, and only showed every 5 minutes for a second or two 1 of the other wifi connections available in the building. I've repeated and done this test in other places, the Prime struggles with wifi signals, it can't hold or them very well, runs slow, and drops connections. If I moved to a different seat I might have a perfect line to catch the signal of the coffee shop, but it is maddening the radio doesn't seem to be multidirectional in any way.
Btw, my wifi didn't used to be bad till .21. I attempted a factory reset, which did not improve things. I never had complaints about my wifi until then, so I am crossing my fingers a future firmware will improve it, but it seems rather hopeless.
Asus official stance on WIFI is... well... more or less...."Prime's WIFI performance meets Asus standard".
So, this got me thinking. In my opinion, due to metal backplate in all Transformer Prime (even with the double WIFI antenna & few other design flaws)... we have more with WIFI issue/problem compared to those who don't. As in, I believe that those with WIFI issues are the majority... & not the minority.
However, considering that we all have different "standard" & expectation on WIFI performance.. and heck, it's difficult to exactly gauge the situation as the settings are different for everyone.....
I would like to know...
What exactly is the standard for WIFI performance for Asus??? What exactly qualifies "satisfactory" for Asus??
My WiFi in prime works perfectly but gps is working "not so poor and not so good".
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
The WiFi on my Prime works flawlessly.
By "flawlessly" I mean that it has greater range than my Galaxy S2 phone with faster speeds. The range of WiFi on my Prime is very close to that of my Dell laptop, and speeds are comparable. WiFi never drops off anywhere in my house, and has worked very well at several restaurants and 3 airports. I can be outside my apartment and sitting in my car down the street a ways (~150-200 ft) and I can still see and use the WiFi router in my 3rd floor apartment.
WiFi slows down a little bit when using bluetooth headphones, however WiFi speeds are still acceptable for web browsing or streaming Netflix or Hulu+ with no stuttering or drop in video quality.
I am pretty sure that these are the levels that Asus finds "acceptable." If you have a Prime and the WiFi doesn't work as well as mine, you should return it or send it to Asus for repair.
I also have no complaints about my wifi....
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
I am not questioning that there are Primes with "acceptable" WIFI performance. However, if I were to break it down in percentage.. it could be.. 51/49.. or 49/51.
AnandTech's review on Pad 300 for example.... on WIFI:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5756/asus-transformer-pad-300-review/5
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5688/apple-ipad-2012-review/18
For the record, my Prime is close to AnandTech's finding.. but slightly worse on most given day.
shinzz said:
As in, I believe that those with WIFI issues are the majority... & not the minority.
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Click to collapse
There is absolutely no basis for this Large %age of people that bought the prime wont even realize that wifi on their prime might be different from other products And in my case (and i guess many others) it isnt different.
If i run into any problems with wifi reception in places where i cant optimize stuff like router settings (my bet is that router settings are what's causing most peoples problems with wifi - not only with the prime but in general), i just activate hotspot on my phone... Thats what i have my phone contract for
Also try moving your routers. Today i moved my router about half a meter around a corner and now i have perfect wifi on my balcony where I couldn't really get a signal before with none of my devices
I can stream youtube all over my place in HD without buffering. These are my "standards" in case of wifi signal strenght
[e] uh guess i'm in "smiley-mode"
clouds5 said:
There is absolutely no basis for this Large %age of people that bought the prime wont even realize that wifi on their prime might be different from other products And in my case (and i guess many others) it isnt different.
If i run into any problems with wifi reception in places where i cant optimize stuff like router settings (my bet is that router settings are what's causing most peoples problems with wifi - not only with the prime but in general), i just activate hotspot on my phone... Thats what i have my phone contract for
Also try moving your routers. Today i moved my router about half a meter around a corner and now i have perfect wifi on my balcony where I couldn't really get a signal before with none of my devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a lot of annoyance for one device. Btw, just an opinion.. but with some base..
1. metal backplate
2. 2 wifi antenna to overcome the metal backplate issue but with more design flaws that were found & ones that we might not know yet
We have no stats or breakdown of WIFI performance... so, I don't think we can assume that those with WIFI problems are minority either. So, in the end.. it is a toss up... & even if those with WIFI problems are the minority.. I seriously doubt it is 1 to 5% (industry standard).
Yeah thats what i'm saying. Its all just speculation. There are some people with wifi issues, thats all we can say.
I really dont mind optimizing my router placement/settings, as i said my phone didnt have steady wifi either on the balcony.
Btw its fascinating to me how people can take the one (minor - in my case its none at all) issue a great device has and call it a ****ty product because it, while the whole world is praising some other similar devices that are only half as good as the prime...
clouds5 said:
Yeah thats what i'm saying. Its all just speculation. There are some people with wifi issues, thats all we can say.
I really dont mind optimizing my router placement/settings, as i said my phone didnt have steady wifi either on the balcony.
Btw its fascinating to me how people can take the one (minor - in my case its none at all) issue a great device has and call it a ****ty product because it, while the whole world is praising some other similar devices that are only half as good as the prime...
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Click to collapse
I think it's sad that we have to speculate who the minority or majority is on WIFI performance/problem.
I have to guess that WIFI is a major issue to many (if they are having such problem) for WIFI only tablet. Tablets in general are luxury device & are used mostly for browsing & light gaming. Take out stable WIFI & you are left with a device to do WORK (those with dock) & for gaming/media.... but even for work, without stable WIFI, you lose the ability to email & etc... =/
Some have legit issues. Others just crappy routers and cable modems. My apartment is 1250 square foot. My router is on one corner on 1st floor. I get 2 to 3 bars from the other end of my apartment on 2nd floor corner bathroom. Yet I can stream hulu/Netflix with no issues while going number 2 in that same bathroom.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium App
square feet and making numbers in the bathroom... Americans..
But then they have netflix and i'm jealous again...
sorry for being pretty much offtopic
In areas where my signal drops, it drops with other devises too. It just drops a little more with the Prime.
In the bathroom going number 2 I sometimes have to tether to my phone to keep the WiFi going. It's the one spot in my house where I get the worst signal
Last night I downloaded a ROM for my Atrix and put the Prime side by side with my laptop so I could time the download to each device. Downloaded from dev-host on each and my Prime beat my laptop by 239mb to 108mb downloaded for my laptop in the same time. I think about 5 minutes but I forgot to time it. laptop is older dual core, 1.6 GHz, XP but was somewhat surprised.
Not to sure if it's a real test but it probably means I need a new laptop
@shinzz
Anecdotal evidence suggests satisfactory performance depends on the product at Asus with both the 101 and 700 variations having higher standards than the prime.
Good luck getting your question answered - fans and the blissfully ignorant will be more vocal and will far outnumber those with any real insight into your question.
Asus standards aside, my prime has the weakest wifi at distance from the router of any device in my household (2 smart phones, laptop and ipad2). I have stopped *****ing and bought a second router to enhance the signal for my prime, but the misalignment between Asus standards and my expectations means my next tablet will likely be branded differently.
jwe222 said:
@shinzz
Anecdotal evidence suggests satisfactory performance depends on the product at Asus with both the 101 and 700 variations having higher standards than the prime.
Good luck getting your question answered - fans and the blissfully ignorant will be more vocal and will far outnumber those with any real insight into your question.
Asus standards aside, my prime has the weakest wifi at distance from the router of any device in my household (2 smart phones, laptop and ipad2). I have stopped *****ing and bought a second router to enhance the signal for my prime, but the misalignment between Asus standards and my expectations means my next tablet will likely be branded differently.
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Transformer Prime is becoming iPadish. Problem with WIFI.. purchase a new router or 2nd router... Problem with GPS (before the GPS dongle).. purchase Bluetooth GPS or tether to your Phone. Do you travel & have WIFI issues? Tether to your phone & use up your phone's data plan....
When you accumulate these cost just for tablet to function to your "need" (obviously, some don't at all as it meets their requirement).... it feels like I'm entering iPad territory & the ridiculous cost of iPad accessories.
shinzz said:
Transformer Prime is becoming iPadish. Problem with WIFI.. purchase a new router or 2nd router... Problem with GPS (before the GPS dongle).. purchase Bluetooth GPS or tether to your Phone. Do you travel & have WIFI issues? Tether to your phone & use up your phone's data plan....
When you accumulate these cost just for tablet to function to your "need" (obviously, some don't at all as it meets their requirement).... it feels like I'm entering iPad territory & the ridiculous cost of iPad accessories.
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Agreed. I've owned two Primes and the WiFi on both was equally terrible. I have a TF300 on order right now, and when I get it I'm going to compare in equal environments. The screen and the sleek design on the Prime are both nice, but the fact is that I can't use it how I really need to use it because the connectivity is so poor that I lose over 90% of my throughput in some rooms of my 2-story house (where my laptop and phone both still get strong throughput). I shouldn't need a new router, and an external GPS accessory, and a cellphone hotspot to make a $500 tablet usable. I'm tired of making excuses and I'm tired of waiting for a WiFi fix that's never coming and I'm tired of being scared to RMA because of continued reports of damage and ineffective repairs that take a month or more. I'm sincerely happy for people whose experience has been better, but the fact is that many of us just haven't gotten the performance and usability that we expected when we first purchased this tablet.
shinzz said:
I am not questioning that there are Primes with "acceptable" WIFI performance. However, if I were to break it down in percentage.. it could be.. 51/49.. or 49/51.
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I've personally used ten different Primes, across almost every serial number range and with different routers at different locations. Every one of the ten Primes outperformed or equaled the connectivity of my laptops.
While I've seen a few other issues with quality control that makes me a little disappointed with Asus, WIFI hasn't been an issue in my experience with the tablet.
My prime gets the same and even a little better range than my bionic, slightly less than my laptop (But hey I have an envy 17) the only difference is signal degradation (ie speeds) at those distances are lower on the prime after about 20-30' from the router.
My wifi sucks on my prime. I have a Xirrus WAP, 10 feet away from me and i still cant get full bars.... When i am away on business, i cant get a strong enough signal from hotels to even check my emails... i travel with the prime and an ipad. The ipad gets connects without issues. I'm not sure because the ipad supports 2.4 & 5ghz band and the prime only 2.4, but there is no doubt it has a wifi issue. Like i said, 10 feet from the access point and still no full bars.
That's it, I'm done! Lol, I'm cleaning the inside of my Prime out and getting it swapped for another by ASUS. That's too many comments in a row saying that WiFi is better than or on par with their laptops and other mobile devices, my Prime consistently does worse.
And yes, I've optimized my router settings and everything, my other devices will easily reach the road and keep decent connectivity (~-75 dBm) while my Prime can't even keep connectivity a handful of feet (a meter for you clouds? ) from the front door. And the closest router is ten feet from that door!
That being said though, I generally never need or want my Prime to connect all the way into me front yard
My prime gets exactly the same db reception as my sensation. Although it does show a bar less it gets the same throughput as well.
I've had my TF201 since January and just saw the BB exchange thread. I am considering doing it, but have acouple of questions first.
1) Is it true that the ONLY upgrades are the back case (which increases BT, WIFI, GPS), screen resolution, and camera resolution
2) Is it true that the 201 dock works with the 700 (Asus says it wont, users say it does)
3) What do you all USE BT for? I haven't found a need for it, so I don't even know if mine works or not! (my laptop and phones also have BT)
4) My wifi seems to work just fine for me. In past tests, I get same (just fine) speeds as my laptop and droid 3 on the floor below and 2 rooms over from the router. Am I just not effected? Or am I just less demanding?
5) GPS w/o wifi doesn't work. What do you all use this for? I use my D3 when I need navigation, so I don't really have a need for this either...
I like that the 201 has less battery demand than the 700 and that may be reason enough to not do a free upgrade, though it is tempting to have the "latest and greatest" just because "I can".
strawbearlyjamm said:
I've had my TF201 since January and just saw the BB exchange thread. I am considering doing it, but have acouple of questions first.
1) Is it true that the ONLY upgrades are the back case (which increases BT, WIFI, GPS), screen resolution, and camera resolution
2) Is it true that the 201 dock works with the 700 (Asus says it wont, users say it does)
3) What do you all USE BT for? I haven't found a need for it, so I don't even know if mine works or not! (my laptop and phones also have BT)
4) My wifi seems to work just fine for me. In past tests, I get same (just fine) speeds as my laptop and droid 3 on the floor below and 2 rooms over from the router. Am I just not effected? Or am I just less demanding?
5) GPS w/o wifi doesn't work. What do you all use this for? I use my D3 when I need navigation, so I don't really have a need for this either...
I like that the 201 has less battery demand than the 700 and that may be reason enough to not do a free upgrade, though it is tempting to have the "latest and greatest" just because "I can".
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1) Clock speed is slightly higher with the 700 and it has DDR3 ram vs DDR2 with the TF201
2) I have read several places (including Engadget) that the 201 dock works with the 700
3) I have used BT once with my 201 and that was to transfer 2 photos from my phone to my tablet
4) Wifi works fine for me as well. I have compared wifi throughput with my Prime to my Thunderbolt at several distances from my router and my Prime is on par with the Thunderbolt (even faster in some cases). The issue here is there is either a legitimate sporadic hardware issue that effects some users and not others OR others on here are too demanding.
5) I have yet to use GPS w/o wifi (don't need to, I have a phone for navigation)
strawbearlyjamm said:
I've had my TF201 since January and just saw the BB exchange thread. I am considering doing it, but have acouple of questions first.
1) Is it true that the ONLY upgrades are the back case (which increases BT, WIFI, GPS), screen resolution, and camera resolution
2) Is it true that the 201 dock works with the 700 (Asus says it wont, users say it does)
3) What do you all USE BT for? I haven't found a need for it, so I don't even know if mine works or not! (my laptop and phones also have BT)
4) My wifi seems to work just fine for me. In past tests, I get same (just fine) speeds as my laptop and droid 3 on the floor below and 2 rooms over from the router. Am I just not effected? Or am I just less demanding?
5) GPS w/o wifi doesn't work. What do you all use this for? I use my D3 when I need navigation, so I don't really have a need for this either...
I like that the 201 has less battery demand than the 700 and that may be reason enough to not do a free upgrade, though it is tempting to have the "latest and greatest" just because "I can".
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Click to collapse
1. Like the above poster said, there's also the higher clock speed.
2. I have the TF700 and am using the TF201 dock just fine.
3. Only use bluetooth for tethering... Someone else may use it for headsets or speakers.
4. My wifi was also working just fine on the Prime, but I have found that the wifi on the Infinity tops even that of my fully-functional Prime.
5. This was the first thing I tested on the TF700. With wifi off, it was able to lock on 13 satellites from my bathroom hahaha.
I say if you are able to do the upgrade, by all means do it.
My experience has been that assuming your Prime is one of the "good" ones that unless GPS or the Screen resolution is a major concern, they are really similar devices. The 700 gets a bump in clock speed but hardly worth upgrading for.
My prime's GPS is dead as a door nail, that's disappointing/annoying but not a deal breaker for me. But like you, my WiFi is as good as my laptop range/speed wise so it has been a non-issue and Bluetooth (which is a MUST for me) is totally solid. I can stream movies and listen via BT headphones all night long.
Surfing the TF700 boards, it looks like memory I/O, BT, and the stock ASUS firmware are hit and miss on the TF700 just like the Prime, but the WiFi and especially GPS are substantial improvements, even against the best functioning Prime. So really that plus the bumped clock and resolution which are nice but hardly problems on the Prime are all you're getting and if your WiFi is in the laptop class performance (i.e. good enough that you do not need to think about it when using the device), it becomes less of a big deal.
And getting a good TF even with the 700 STILL basically involves patience and knowing what to look and test for during the return window.
For day to day use a (tested good WiFi) Prime is a completely top of the line killer tablet for most uses, especially with a custom rom and some performance tweaks (SIO, etc). JB will make it even better. The only thing that would be a deal breaker on a functioning Prime would be for a heavy GPS user because it is a hardware issue that exists for virtually all of the Primes it seems (even those that work/lock without dongle cannot track well when moving apparently).
From my perspective, a TF700 is an overclocked Prime with a better GPS and bumped screen resolution. The WiFi already tops out faster than my router/ISP can deliver and range has never been a major problem. Would I trade it in at Best Buy straight up if I could find my receipt (I bought mine there but don't have access to the receipt or box, doh!)? Sure. Would I go to any significant expense to switch? No. It doesn't bring much to the Table. It's basically a Prime 1.1.
All that said, again, if you got it at Best Buy and you have everything necessary to return it. I wouldn't hesitate since it is a straight trade and there is no downside.
zenaxe said:
My experience has been that assuming your Prime is one of the "good" ones that unless GPS or the Screen resolution is a major concern, they are really similar devices. The 700 gets a bump in clock speed but hardly worth upgrading for.
My prime's GPS is dead as a door nail, that's disappointing/annoying but not a deal breaker for me. But like you, my WiFi is as good as my laptop range/speed wise so it has been a non-issue and Bluetooth (which is a MUST for me) is totally solid. I can stream movies and listen via BT headphones all night long.
Surfing the TF700 boards, it looks like memory I/O, BT, and the stock ASUS firmware are hit and miss on the TF700 just like the Prime, but the WiFi and especially GPS are substantial improvements, even against the best functioning Prime. So really that plus the bumped clock and resolution which are nice but hardly problems on the Prime are all you're getting and if your WiFi is in the laptop class performance (i.e. good enough that you do not need to think about it when using the device), it becomes less of a big deal.
And getting a good TF even with the 700 STILL basically involves patience and knowing what to look and test for during the return window.
For day to day use a (tested good WiFi) Prime is a completely top of the line killer tablet for most uses, especially with a custom rom and some performance tweaks (SIO, etc). JB will make it even better. The only thing that would be a deal breaker on a functioning Prime would be for a heavy GPS user because it is a hardware issue that exists for virtually all of the Primes it seems (even those that work/lock without dongle cannot track well when moving apparently).
From my perspective, a TF700 is an overclocked Prime with a better GPS and bumped screen resolution. The WiFi already tops out faster than my router/ISP can deliver and range has never been a major problem. Would I trade it in at Best Buy straight up if I could find my receipt (I bought mine there but don't have access to the receipt or box, doh!)? Sure. Would I go to any significant expense to switch? No. It doesn't bring much to the Table. It's basically a Prime 1.1.
All that said, again, if you got it at Best Buy and you have everything necessary to return it. I wouldn't hesitate since it is a straight trade and there is no downside.
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Wonderfully thorough reply. Many thanks. (Thanks also to above posters who did a great job also in answering my questions).