Xperia tablet GPS performance - Sony Tablet S

Hi All,
could anyone share their experience about the GPS performance of the xperia tablet?
I'm considering buying this tablet but I definitely need a quick GPS and I was really discouraged after reading this:
reviews.cnet.com/tablets/sony-xperia-tablet-s/
I own a tablet s and the GPS fix is really slow (my girlfriend has got a samsung galaxy tab 8.9 and under the same conditions she always has a way better and quicker fix than my tablet s).
I really do not understand why the GPS/navigation compartment was not developed better: Sony put a lot of attention into making the tablet splash proof, small and light (all nice features if you want to take the tablet out for a hike) but I have the strong impression that the GPS performance is really lacking: could you please share your thoughts?
What's your experiance indoor/outdoor?
Thanks in advance
Wish you all well

maurobaz said:
Hi All,
could anyone share their experience about the GPS performance of the xperia tablet?
I'm considering buying this tablet but I definitely need a quick GPS and I was really discouraged after reading this:
reviews.cnet.com/tablets/sony-xperia-tablet-s/
I own a tablet s and the GPS fix is really slow (my girlfriend has got a samsung galaxy tab 8.9 and under the same conditions she always has a way better and quicker fix than my tablet s).
I really do not understand why the GPS/navigation compartment was not developed better: Sony put a lot of attention into making the tablet splash proof, small and light (all nice features if you want to take the tablet out for a hike) but I have the strong impression that the GPS performance is really lacking: could you please share your thoughts?
What's your experiance indoor/outdoor?
Thanks in advance
Wish you all well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The GPS function of most all tablets (and phones) is not designed to be nor meant to be fast and accurate. The intended function of a tablet's GPS is to approximate its location so apps can provide the user with localized search results and geographically targeted articles and advertisments.
There are many apps that use a tablet's GPS for navigation, but almost every one of those apps fail to perform with any great satisfaction. Apps like Google Maps are fairly accurate in determining a tablet's location, but only if the tablet is relatively motionless for several seconds. If the tablet is not motionless, like being in a moving vehicle, Google Maps will/can not quickly and accurately determine the tablet's location.
If you truly need fast and accurate navigational information, you will need to use a "real" GPS device. I use and recommend Garmin.

Cat McGowan said:
The GPS function of most all tablets (and phones) is not designed to be nor meant to be fast and accurate. The intended function of a tablet's GPS is to approximate its location so apps can provide the user with localized search results and geographically targeted articles and advertisments.
There are many apps that use a tablet's GPS for navigation, but almost every one of those apps fail to perform with any great satisfaction. Apps like Google Maps are fairly accurate in determining a tablet's location, but only if the tablet is relatively motionless for several seconds. If the tablet is not motionless, like being in a moving vehicle, Google Maps will/can not quickly and accurately determine the tablet's location.
If you truly need fast and accurate navigational information, you will need to use a "real" GPS device. I use and recommend Garmin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
Thanks for your reply.
I understand your point even if I do not agree with it (as the GPS is listed under the specs and as I have paid for it, then I would expect it to work ok).
You said the aim of tablet gps is to only give an approximate fix but my sony tablet s has troubles even reaching that steady/motionless fix (meaning that sometimes I wait and wait but I cannot get a solid fix. It works more or less ok only when there are ideal situations such as no buildings/trees around and you are on a flat terrain -i.e. no mountains-).
I would not want to use it for navigation in a car but I find it useful having some help when I'm discovering new cities as a tourist on foot. As I'm walking by slowly, reading wikipedia references, I would like to at least have a quick fix on the map that tells me where I am.
As I said, I have tested the galaxy tab 8.9 gps (and also a galaxy tab 2 10.1) and they beat the sony tablet gps hands down: in a narrow street with tall buildings they obtained the fix almost instantly while the tablet s could not (I remained in the same spot motionless for over a minute). All devices were using only the GPS in order to obtain the fix (so no 3g/4g).
I had the same (bad) experience "against" an iPad: basically I was invited to an open air exhibition where you had to use your tablet (be it Android or Apple) to tour the virtual musuem that was setup in an open air space. The open air location was the park of a villa, so not huge (let's say 4 times a soccer field) and with lots of time spent standing still in the same place in order to have a look at the virtual attractions. I was standing by the curator of the exhibition who had an iPad: he was able to get a GPS fix almost instantly and could start talking about the virtual attractions, while my tablet s never actually got a good fix (basically they asked us to install an app that was feeding us content based on our GPS location so, for instance, if we were in front of a bust (which had fixed GPS coordinates), then we were supposed to see the curator or other members explaining the history of the bust etc through an augmented reality app). In the end I was quite embarassed/annoyed to keep using my tablet so I joined another visitor and we used her tablet. The compass was/is also not accurate (I removed the tablet from the case in order to make sure there was no magnetic interference).
What I would be interested in for this thread are direct feedabcks from xperia tablet s users with real life situations: I'm quite afraid that all the alluminium that was used for the back cover/chassis of the xperia tablet might hamper the GPS funcionality (even more than in the tablet s...). Almost the same thing happened with the Asus transformer.
Thanks again for having taken the time to share your thoughts
wish you well
regards

maurobaz said:
Thanks again for having taken the time to share your thoughts
wish you well
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, so did you ever get the Sony Xperia Tablet S? I have the SGPT123US/S with 4.0.3 rooted I bought last December 2012.
As for the GPS...lets just say it works....but it's not the best. The unit I have in my 2012 Toyota Highlander works a lot better.
Let me know what you did and how it works for you.

Never had issues with gps at all as long i have internet connection, did't really try without internet.
tested outside works fast, inside takes forever.

saf4xdadev said:
Hi, so did you ever get the Sony Xperia Tablet S? I have the SGPT123US/S with 4.0.3 rooted I bought last December 2012.
As for the GPS...lets just say it works....but it's not the best. The unit I have in my 2012 Toyota Highlander works a lot better.
Let me know what you did and how it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
thanks for sharing your experience.
In the end I went for a Galaxy Note 10.1 and I'm really satisfied. Aside from the screen (Sony screens with true black technology are slightly better in my opinion), I think the note 10.1 is a very good tablet. I'm happy with the change (and the GPS in the note is lightning fast and accurate: it is able to pick up your position even inside buildings, trains or buses...a true life saver when you are stranded in a city you do not know).
wish you well
regards
Mau

maurobaz said:
Hi there,
thanks for sharing your experience.
In the end I went for a Galaxy Note 10.1 and I'm really satisfied. Aside from the screen (Sony screens with true black technology are slightly better in my opinion), I think the note 10.1 is a very good tablet. I'm happy with the change (and the GPS in the note is lightning fast and accurate: it is able to pick up your position even inside buildings, trains or buses...a true life saver when you are stranded in a city you do not know).
wish you well
regards
Mau
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good choice. I may have gone for a different tablet if not for sony points I used to get this one. I would still rate this xperia tablet s in the top 3 tablets in its class and that were available last december 2012. I would also agree this sony gps works a bit better with internet, but it still works without and probabaly good enough for what it gets used for, which is not turn by turn directions in my case. But you probably made a wise choice all things considered. This xperia tablet s has some great features but if you weigh in the sony proprietary adapter plug, somewhat odd shaped kluge of a case, and overpriced accessories ....the galaxy was probably a better choice.
Take care.....

Related

How has your GS2 been brilliant?

The GS2 is an amazing piece of technology so I'm wondering if we can share amounst the forum how the many features of our smartphone have been brilliant in real life situations.
My example;
Recently whilst on a trip to Valencia from the UK the "european maps" on my satnav couldnt find my hotel and I ended up in an orange grove about 10miles from my hotel. I turned on the GS2 (I had a 30Mb a day roaming data bundle on Orange) and searched hotels address which it quickly found, I then opened the address in Google Maps and then using the navigation facility got the directions, the "sat nav function gave us accurate directions right to the hotel.....Brilliant.
For me, it's the fact that the hardware isn't being used to it's potential..clearly, it's very powerful. You get that feeling when using it. It wants to do more. I use everything the device has to offer, and i very rarely encounter any problems..i particularly enjoy the camera. It's fantastic, imo. With hdr+ it becomes incredible.
I can't wait to see the gs2 fully utilised...if it happens lol.
manmikey said:
The GS2 is an amazing piece of technology so I'm wondering if we can share amounst the forum how the many features of our smartphone have been brilliant in real life situations.
My example;
Recently whilst on a trip to Valencia from the UK the "european maps" on my satnav couldnt find my hotel and I ended up in an orange grove about 10miles from my hotel. I turned on the GS2 (I had a 30Mb a day roaming data bundle on Orange) and searched hotels address which it quickly found, I then opened the address in Google Maps and then using the navigation facility got the directions, the "sat nav function gave us accurate directions right to the hotel.....Brilliant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how this experience is unique to the SGSII, pretty much any smartphone nowadays can do what you just did
manmikey said:
The GS2 is an amazing piece of technology so I'm wondering if we can share amounst the forum how the many features of our smartphone have been brilliant in real life situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By being reliable. Coming from an N900 there were lots of times where I'd go to use a function and something wouldn't work (BT audio for example). The SGS2 is brilliant with its reliability - at least compared to an N900!
Loving it so far (nearing 5 months with it).
I can't really think of anything that about the SGS2 that has made me go WOW to be honest, starting to think I have a dud as I don't really believe the hype, screens bright ok but it'll kill your battery, camera well its average at best, certainly no better than any other modern smart phone camera i've used.
Coming from a SE X10i. This phone just basically feels10 times better. Better screen, Camera, video, etc.
Fast,reliable,has this phone,never gets boring. Need I say more!?
G Sensor defect. After 1 month of using it....really highend
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Loads a 100mb PDF instantly,full sized cbr comic files instantly, extremely fast loading practically anything, GPS fixes fast best camera I have used on a mobile, and to top it all off, just been playing emmisary of war, runs fast and looks amazing on the greatest brightest screen on the market
lawl coming from a blackberry this phone is more than brilliant. I also like the reliability you're talking about. I think that the screen at it's lowest contrast is awesome and i won't kill your battery.

Mixed Feelings about my Tranformer Prime

This is the first tablet I have purchased but not the first one I have used and I bought it to accompany my Samsung Galaxy S2 and my iPhone but I must confess I am not a big Apple fan.
Why am I happy?
I have a Quad Core tablet
It's shiny and new
It isn't an iPad
loving the keyboard
generally works quite well
Why am I unhappy?
GPS - I wanted fully functional GPS
Exporting video in Movie STudio it causes the TFP to reboot.
Many applicaton crashes including google apps
in hindsight i should of waited for a 3g model
Im hoping ics will be the answer to my prayers and asus provide a 3g add on module but time will tell.
conner said:
This is the first tablet I have purchased but not the first one I have used and I bought it to accompany my Samsung Galaxy S2 and my iPhone but I must confess I am not a big Apple fan.
Why am I happy?
I have a Quad Core tablet
It's shiny and new
It isn't an iPad
loving the keyboard
generally works quite well
Why am I unhappy?
GPS - I wanted fully functional GPS
Exporting video in Movie STudio it causes the TFP to reboot.
Many applicaton crashes including google apps
in hindsight i should of waited for a 3g model
Im hoping ics will be the answer to my prayers and asus provide a 3g add on module but time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there are 10's of threads you could have added your opinion to. But, that said, I think if you're hoping for ICS to magically make the Prime a better option for you, you're going to be disappointed. And I'd not hold out for a "3g add on module"--the 3G version of the Prime will be a completely new, redesigned device.
Sounds like you should return your Prime and wait for something that better meets your needs. And just for the record, I only have one app that routinely crashes on my Prime, and it's problematic on other Honeycomb tablets as well. Otherwise, I've found the Prime to be remarkably stable.
conner said:
This is the first tablet I have purchased but not the first one I have used and I bought it to accompany my Samsung Galaxy S2 and my iPhone but I must confess I am not a big Apple fan.
Why am I happy?
I have a Quad Core tablet
It's shiny and new
It isn't an iPad
loving the keyboard
generally works quite well
Why am I unhappy?
GPS - I wanted fully functional GPS
Exporting video in Movie STudio it causes the TFP to reboot.
Many applicaton crashes including google apps
in hindsight i should of waited for a 3g model
Im hoping ics will be the answer to my prayers and asus provide a 3g add on module but time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ASUS seriously should have waited for ICS until they sold the Prime. The above post is the perfect example of what happens if you rush a generally super nice device with totally crappy software on it...
@OP: Iam sure you will be less sad with ICS
I'm still hoping that Asus will come up with a plastic window solution like the Ipad for its gps problem, they can easily retool the case and fab the plastic insert.
As far as apps go, its not Prime fault. those apps need updating from developers that made them. Google earth works perfectly now as it was just updated the other day. as far as that movie studio goes, I had the same thing happen. I don't like it really. So you can't fault the device from a software standpoint. because that always can be improved. Plus you can expect alot of apps not to be working in ICS because not all apps updated yet to support it. The apps are getting there but alot still out there that needs ICS support.
The GPS issue I can understand. You can bet though that 3g version will be at a minimum $100 more plus you will be tied into a massive data plan which requires a premium extra fee because its a tablet. Prime is still a Good choice. even without GPS working.
I've had my for three days now. I'm deciding if I'm going to return mine or not.
Pros:
Screen and brightness is second to none. Super IPS actually hurts my eyes. Marvelous.
Wifi works fine for me. Mostly like my OG ipad
Camera quality is great. Video and pictures great.
Games like Riptide and Madden play super.
Flash websites like HBO go.com work great compare to OG Transformer that I owned.
I like the when you correct a word it zooms in on the area without a circle.
Kind of fun to hold. So very thin.
Having 64gb thanks to my SD card
With volume+ app. Speakers very nice.
Charges fast
Battery life continues to get better
No screen lag for me when transitioning.
ICS coming soon.
Cons:
GPS is brutally awful. Not sure if its a deal breaker.
Bluetooth and wifi don't work together like they should.
Lack of accessories.
Do I feel this is better than the first TF (owned for 6 months)? Yes.
Is it better than the current tablets now out (including I pad 2 wifi to wifi)? Yes.
Will this be the Blackberry Playbook of 2012 (considering major flaws for some)? Decisions. The last thing I want to see in a couple months is TF Prime for 299.00 at BB.
This thing is going for a premium on EBay right now as well.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
I know it might be a matter of, "It's a functionality that should work, end of story..."
But can I ask you what your personal use for GPS is in your particular case? I had a Samsung GT10.1 for 8 months and I used the gps maybe three times. And even then it was locked onto a signal fairly quickly because the used the auto assist wifi signal, and I cannot fathom a usage instance that requires gps without wifi.
Diamondback2010 said:
ASUS seriously should have waited for ICS until they sold the Prime. The above post is the perfect example of what happens if you rush a generally super nice device with totally crappy software on it...
@OP: Iam sure you will be less sad with ICS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure there are voices on both sides
release first then ice, or wait for pics then release.
for all Ive heard before the release were come on, just release it already, pics, hc I don't care.
and not everyone start saying they should wait till pics to release it. tough crowd
It's the current battle of selling points with iCS, gps and 3/4g being the main contenders. Any new tablet that does not feature these will suffer from lackluster sales, imo.
irishtexmex said:
I know it might be a matter of, "It's a functionality that should work, end of story..."
But can I ask you what your personal use for GPS is in your particular case? I had a Samsung GT10.1 for 8 months and I used the gps maybe three times. And even then it was locked onto a signal fairly quickly because the used the auto assist wifi signal, and I cannot fathom a usage instance that requires gps without wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought this as a work device/toy. At the moment I don't know what I want to use GPS for but I just want my tablet to do what it says it should do on the tin. I don't like Apple but they seem to have set the bar really high and the iPad pretty much does what it says it will do.
I understand what you are saying and it may turn out that I never need it but I paid for it and would at least like the choice to not use it rather than not use it because of an Asus major design flaw.
To add to the list of cons it reboots every morning whether it has been charged or not.
Why wasn't this added to the rest of the gripe threads? Nothing stated here that hadn't already been a rebeating of the dust that used to be the skeleton of the dead horse.
I think we all get it. People always strive to get somethng, then when they get it, they want more.. some more than others.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Course charting in a boat using Navionics software for one. Saved me thousands on a marine gps unit and I'm using a very old Ipad for it now.
I don't expect everyone would do this, but Come'on these statements like, "I never used gps so I don't know why anyone else would", just expose your lack of imagination.
my 2 cents:
Of the 3 tablets I now own...the tf101, ipad 1, and the prime...the prime easily wins the day. Its the best tablet I have ever used.
There are a few niggles.
1. The tf101 has the best wifi of the three. The prime and the ipad 1 score exactly the same in my testing for wifi performance....which is good enough for me. Not sure why people are griping about wifi so much while mine is par or better than the ipad 1...at 50+ feet and 4 walls from my router I still get 3-4 Mbps. Netflix, etc streams beautifully from the farthest corners in my house.
I don't often bother with bluetooth on my android tablets so I have yet to test this.
2. I rarely use my tablets for GPS so this is not a deal breaker for me. I have an offline GPS system anyway that does not require live data connection which I prefer on the road. I have yet to test the prime GPS...right now GMAPS snaps up my location using IP address I imagine.
After that this tablet plays high profile 1080p mkv files both from my network and from the sdcard without a hitch, has a GORGEOUS display, slim, light, has great battery life and runs honeycomb better than any tablet out there (I've fiddled with just about all of them). ICS will be the icing on the cake.
Sometimes these forums can turn us into quibblers. I never would have noticed the issues raised here on my typical usage of the prime or any of my tablets. For example, I never knew the TF101 has such great wifi performance compared to the Ipad 1 until I tested it because of this forum. The ipad always seemed just fine to me and so does the prime....and really thats all that matters.
conner said:
I bought this as a work device/toy. At the moment I don't know what I want to use GPS for but I just want my tablet to do what it says it should do on the tin. I don't like Apple but they seem to have set the bar really high and the iPad pretty much does what it says it will do.
I understand what you are saying and it may turn out that I never need it but I paid for it and would at least like the choice to not use it rather than not use it because of an Asus major design flaw.
To add to the list of cons it reboots every morning whether it has been charged or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In all likelihood it sounds as if the assisted GPS will serve your purposes just fine then. I really do not understand why anyone thought this tablet was going to be a Garmin. I also thought (and suppose I am or could be worng), that this was always advertised as aGPS. GPS does work when it is assisted by wifi, and it works pretty well when it's not. I wouldn't rely on it to drive, but I don't know why anyone would rely on anything other than a dedicated GPS to navigate - I certainly never take off on my bicycle to place unknown with just my phone, I always have my Garmin. If someone needs to navigate then they need to buy a dangerous Garmin and not think they "Got lucky" and scored a $500 tablet that allows included a real GPS that costs at least $100+ app on it's own.
Anyway.....the rebooting thing sounds like a real pain.. Mine has never reboot randomly. You say it happens in the morning, and I wonder what the culprit could Be? Are you powering it up and then it reboots or waking it Up? I wonder if it's an app.
slugbug2010 said:
Anyway.....the rebooting thing sounds like a real pain.. Mine has never reboot randomly. You say it happens in the morning, and I wonder what the culprit could Be? Are you powering it up and then it reboots or waking it Up? I wonder if it's an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It reboots after waking up. I have no plans to give up on the TFP at the moment and I' will persist to iron out as much as I can. I will post any findings.
tdp252 said:
Course charting in a boat using Navionics software for one. Saved me thousands on a marine gps unit and I'm using a very old Ipad for it now.
I don't expect everyone would do this, but Come'on these statements like, "I never used gps so I don't know why anyone else would", just expose your lack of imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am going to use marine apps as well. Do you guys think if you have a GPS lock the Prime will keep it because the speed of a sailboat is not too fast?
Accuracy doesn`t really matter.
My phone with google navigation is perfect as a GPS, I don't need something four times bigger that won't ever fit anywhere on my car and won't charge on the car adaptator.
aGPS is more than enough for me.
conner said:
It reboots after waking up. I have no plans to give up on the TFP at the moment and I' will persist to iron out as much as I can. I will post any findings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds like an app issue, did you notice it happening after installing anything in particular?
gabsi55 said:
I am going to use marine apps as well. Do you guys think if you have a GPS lock the Prime will keep it because the speed of a sailboat is not too fast?
Accuracy doesn`t really matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you will have better luck than me. But, my Prime couldn't keep a lock, motionless, in the same orientation and location. The GPS just seemed to lose everything and started searching again, for no reason. That was a deal killer for me. If Asus had offered to fix this one problem, it would have been a real keeper! Instead the way they handled it just made me lose all confidence in their ability to support a quality product.
Be prepared to hear that you shouldn't expect GPS to work but that's no problem, and why would you want to use it on a tablet anyway? It would appear that most happy Prime users don't get out much or realize that an automobile is not the only use for GPS!
adiliyo said:
sounds like an app issue, did you notice it happening after installing anything in particular?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the time I got round to editing and exporting a movie I had already installed all my fav appz. I'll start first with removing the MXvideo player

Ugh. Sorry Asus Prime. I Can Tolerate No More.

I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
cool story bro
Yeah that's too bad that you had a tablet with that many issues.
Tempie007 said:
cool story bro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know... it was a crap story, and I apologise. Just needed to vent my disappointment.
lol
Tempie007 said:
cool story bro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came here just to wait for this
But seriously Dude, you had bad luck. Wifi and headphone quality are completly fine on mine. Take your prime back and get another one if you like the device. Most primes dont have the issues you describe, except GPS which isnt an official feature of the prime anymore. Its now just a bonus.
Stuff like speaker volume can be fixed with apps.
Or just get the ipad, its magical.
MRCANNADY said:
Yeah that's too bad that you had a tablet with that many issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presumably the next Prime has been fast-tracked to fix the problems with this one. Hopefully it'll be a success and we'll get the killer device we're all after.
EVERY electronic device I've used from many companies these days always have at least one issue to deal with, so I doubt it.
Deckard79 said:
I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you, unfortunately you'll get flamed on here for voicing you disappointment with the device. Not sure why people feel so vexed about people posting negative experiences about the product they paid the same amount of money for.
I've had my prime for about a week now and I'm not entirely happy with my purchase, it just feels like the thing has been shipped out with little to no testing. The Asus software keyboard is a perfect example, it's just unusabe in landscape mode as the keys on the centre of the keyboard are impossible to reach without major strain on your hands and wrists. It has a Swype mode which is laggy, inaccurate and doesn't play well with the screen as your finger doesn't swipe across with ease.
You then have complete system pauses when anything is being written to the /data partition, something my two year old HTC Desire use to suffer from but not my Galaxy Nexus or my Gingerbread driven Galaxy SII.
Web browsing is plagued by "Connection to the server has timed out" messages and if it isn't that I'm getting the "Browser isn't responding message", all of this on web pages that my Galaxy Nexus eats for breakfast. Thankfully I'm not too bothered about GPS and have not tested my units GPS performance and WiFi has been fine but then again, I've only used it around the house and I don't really use Bluetooth.
I love Android, especially ice cream sandwich and my Nexus but Android on tablet just doesn't compare to the iPad experience that I've seen as my housemate has the iPad3. I mean majority of the apps on my Nexus do not have a tablet interface and I do not see this improving. Even pro Android blogs are reporting that developers struggle to make 25% of the income they get from iOS, on Android; it's no wonder they choose to put more resource behind iOS.
I fully expect to be flamed for my opinions, I really want to love the Transformer Prime but I feel disappointment in my purchase. I also really want Android to compete well in the tablet market as I use Google services and love Android on phones, it makes sense to use an Android tablet but it just doesn't offer a great experience right now.
No intention of flaming now.
You cant say the device is bad because of some apps that are preinstalled i think. I mean yeah the keyboard sucks, so i got thumb keyboard and that is awesome. Problem solved.
There are many awesome browsers as well, if you like the stock one but want an improved version just get ICS+ browser its even free in the market If you want the fastest one get Opera.
Thats like saying Windows is bad because Internet Explorer sucks. Because you know the first thing you're gonna install is Firefox anyway.
The fact that you can install customized parts of the OS like the keyboard is actually a strength of this device and Android in general. On iOS that is simply not possible, even 3rd party browsers are based on Safari because of the way apple locks up stuff...
And concerning app revenue, its true that devs make less money on the Google play store than with iOS, but they actually do very well with the Amazon app store. But i have to agree, there is room for improvement with alot of apps. Anyway i'm an optimist and things will only get better from here.
Deckard79 said:
I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Join the club.
---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------
Mekrel said:
I completely agree with you, unfortunately you'll get flamed on here for voicing you disappointment with the device. Not sure why people feel so vexed about people posting negative experiences about the product they paid the same amount of money for.
I've had my prime for about a week now and I'm not entirely happy with my purchase, it just feels like the thing has been shipped out with little to no testing. The Asus software keyboard is a perfect example, it's just unusabe in landscape mode as the keys on the centre of the keyboard are impossible to reach without major strain on your hands and wrists. It has a Swype mode which is laggy, inaccurate and doesn't play well with the screen as your finger doesn't swipe across with ease.
You then have complete system pauses when anything is being written to the /data partition, something my two year old HTC Desire use to suffer from but not my Galaxy Nexus or my Gingerbread driven Galaxy SII.
Web browsing is plagued by "Connection to the server has timed out" messages and if it isn't that I'm getting the "Browser isn't responding message", all of this on web pages that my Galaxy Nexus eats for breakfast. Thankfully I'm not too bothered about GPS and have not tested my units GPS performance and WiFi has been fine but then again, I've only used it around the house and I don't really use Bluetooth.
I love Android, especially ice cream sandwich and my Nexus but Android on tablet just doesn't compare to the iPad experience that I've seen as my housemate has the iPad3. I mean majority of the apps on my Nexus do not have a tablet interface and I do not see this improving. Even pro Android blogs are reporting that developers struggle to make 25% of the income they get from iOS, on Android; it's no wonder they choose to put more resource behind iOS.
I fully expect to be flamed for my opinions, I really want to love the Transformer Prime but I feel disappointment in my purchase. I also really want Android to compete well in the tablet market as I use Google services and love Android on phones, it makes sense to use an Android tablet but it just doesn't offer a great experience right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said. Now that you have called out the regular flamers they will try a different flaming approach.
Not the first time I read the Prime feels slow compared to the Galaxy S II(I got both too) but what ever secret sauce Samsung has, Asus clearly doesn't.
clouds5 said:
No intention of flaming now.
You cant say the device is bad because of some apps that are preinstalled i think. I mean yeah the keyboard sucks, so i got thumb keyboard and that is awesome. Problem solved.
There are many awesome browsers as well, if you like the stock one but want an improved version just get ICS+ browser its even free in the market If you want the fastest one get Opera.
Thats like saying Windows is bad because Internet Explorer sucks. Because you know the first thing you're gonna install is Firefox anyway.
The fact that you can install customized parts of the OS like the keyboard is actually a strength of this device and Android in general. On iOS that is simply not possible, even 3rd party browsers are based on Safari because of the way apple locks up stuff...
And concerning app revenue, its true that devs make less money on the Google play store than with iOS, but they actually do very well with the Amazon app store. But i have to agree, there is room for improvement with alot of apps. Anyway i'm an optimist and things will only get better from here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've owned Thumb keyboard since owning my Samsung Galaxy SII, so I'm using it now but it's a paid solution that I shouldn't have to rely on or turn to. If the product had been tested enough, the keyboard would have been flagged as being not very ergonomic. All Asus have done is slapped a custom software keyboard onto the device and ticked a box. Someone gets paid to design these products and they're supposed to be professionals with good understanding of when something is good enough for the consumer market. If I can tell that the software keyboard is poor within a week, it should have been picked up in the months of testing this thing should have been through.
In regards to the browser, 3rd party applications are not a solution seeing as I use Chrome on my desktop and this syncs with the stock WebKit browser just fine. Chrome for Android is in beta and doesn't support flash, Opera means I lose my Chrome sync and Firefox is slow unless you use a nightly with native Android UI support and again, I lose my Chrome sync. The WebKit browser in 4.0.2 on my Nexus works completely fine so again, what has Asus done to make it work so poorly on the Transformer? I've tried ICS+ but again, this suffers from the same poor responsiveness on pages like The Verge, unsurprising as it's built off the WebKit source and only really adds features, rather than improving performance.
It's not like saying Windows sucks because of Internet Explorer at all, as I've not said the Prime's downfall is purely due to web browsing. The fact the system comes to a complete halt when applications are being written to /data is also very poor, considering that again, this is something the technically inferior Nexus doesn't suffer from. As per usual, I've mentioned this in another thread and have been told it can be fixed by changing the I/O scheduler but the default scheduler on the Prime is noop, which is the same as the scheduler on the Nexus. Noop and deadline schedulers are also reported to be the best for solid state flash storage too, so not sure what else I would change the scheduler to as it's already set to the best.
I don't even have root anyway as I'm on .21, so it's a moot point anyway.
Yes customisation on Android is great, it's one of the reasons I like the platform apart from being a massive consumer of Google services but third party applications shouldn't be viewed as a way excuse manufacturers releasing devices with inexcusable problems.
Anyway, I'm not exactly short of money so I'll keep the Prime for now as there's noting else Android tablet wise worth switching to. I'll wait until Samsung come out with an Exynos 5 based tablet as both my last two Samsung phones have always been very snappy and hopefully it will also have a metal back like the Tab 7.7.
I hear you, there are some (imho) small things that totally annoy you about the Prime. And they are potential deal breakers for you, thats fine with me.
The prime isnt perfect. I'm not trying to say that. But it has so many awesome aspects and fills most of my needs so good that i'm willing to overlook a 2-3 second lag when i install an application, or the fact that i have to pay 2 bucks or something for a very nice feature filled soft keyboard (Honestly you'd probably use Thumbkeyboard on your Samsung tablet as well or not?). And as you said there is nothing better on the market right now
Just a small thing i want to add theverge.com desktop version actually runs better on my prime (ICS+ browser) than on my Desktop PC (PhenomII X4 @3.5ghz, Radeon4870, 4gb ram win7 64bit, Firefox)^^ If i click the middle mouse button to get continuous scrolling it lags on my PC. On the prime its completely smooth. Both systems have adblock and flash/java always enabled.
clouds5 said:
I hear you, there are some (imho) small things that totally annoy you about the Prime. And they are potential deal breakers for you, thats fine with me.
The prime isnt perfect. I'm not trying to say that. But it has so many awesome aspects and fills most of my needs so good that i'm willing to overlook a 2-3 second lag when i install an application, or the fact that i have to pay 2 bucks or something for a very nice feature filled soft keyboard (Honestly you'd probably use Thumbkeyboard on your Samsung tablet as well or not?). And as you said there is nothing better on the market right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would use Thumb Keyboard if the Samsung keyboard was also poor but I would really love SwiftKey to have a tablet version of their latest version 3 beta. It's very good and using it on my Nexus right now. I actually really like the stock Android keyboard as the voice input is very good, shame it doesn't have a split keyboard layout for tablets.
You're right about the lag and Web browser pauses being relatively small issues, just I was expecting flawless smoothness in these areas seeing as I've had phones with weaker specs and older versions of Android that manage better. I've read Gary is in Cali with nVidia and Google and browsing performance is on the agenda to discuss.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
The browser freeze/lag is pretty much the only issue left that annoys me on the Prime. I have found that Boat Browser is a huge improvement on the stock browser when it comes to that in the meanwhile.
Hopefully when we get 4.04, this last browser issue will be ironed out.
Oh my gato.
Mine works fine, I was outside BBQing in the backyard yesterday w/ the fam watching youtube/listening to music.
I honestly think some people just have better luck w/ their WiFi; or truth be told, it may just be the router or person itself?
I have no issues using opera mobile at all. no lags, scrolls fast and smoothly, plays flash video the best out of any browser, never throws up message do you want to wait or close. flawless
Mekrel said:
I would use Thumb Keyboard if the Samsung keyboard was also poor but I would really love SwiftKey to have a tablet version of their latest version 3 beta. It's very good and using it on my Nexus right now. I actually really like the stock Android keyboard as the voice input is very good, shame it doesn't have a split keyboard layout for tablets.
You're right about the lag and Web browser pauses being relatively small issues, just I was expecting flawless smoothness in these areas seeing as I've had phones with weaker specs and older versions of Android that manage better. I've read Gary is in Cali with nVidia and Google and browsing performance is on the agenda to discuss.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SwiftKey does have a tablet version of beta 3. Using it right now
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
The Prime should ship soon-ish with a redesigned back panel to fix the radio issues. This is the reason their biggest non mail order retailer customer Best Buy does not have any more, or the current skus on order.

Would I buy a Tablet S again.....

....I think the answer to that is a resounding NO, I was willing to be patience and wait for upgrades etc to fix probs but having just upgraded to ICS Im very disappointed.
No fixes for various bugs (for me primarily wifi connection), and now I find my gps is not working for some reason, the device nearly went out of the car window yesterday when i was stuck on the A13 with no gps, but then I thought about littering .
Together with the car charging problems (had To buy an Inverter, more money), no hdmi socket no perifials, Car bracket etc, battery life, its not adding up to a good deal.
I originally bought a Ipad on the recomodations of a salesman and assurances that flash would work with it (yea right), so that went back in favour of the 'S', but what next, do I leave it at home and cut my losses (wad of dough).
Its seems that despite advances in technology we are always being used as guinepigs for devices that eventually end up on the scrap heap and never seem to last until the device is broken beyond repair but are dumped by the manufactorer in favour of another useless device, witness my Ipaq stopped supporting Windows, My Dell Streak mini 5 cant even get spares for them anymore, I could go on.
And we seem to accept it without protest almost as if its expected that we lay out loads of dosh for a inferior product, imaging the outcry if we bought cars (or other products) on the same basis, 'oh bear with us, sir, you will be able to drive from A to B as soon as we have sorted out the engin bugs'.
anyway sorry about the rant, Im still simmering from the A13 incident,
Well..
there is a reason why the most tablets still not 100% work like they should be,
Because the tablets like they are now are just still too new,
Better tabs are coming and more abillities are coming too, and then our
problems maby be fixed, Except then there are other problems because there are new things to do with a tablet and ofcourse a higher change to get problems.
I'm sorry to learn that you're upset with your tablet, maybe a tablet is not for you?
Would I buy the s again? Yes. I replaced a Windows Vista Laptop which finally died with my tablet S.
I took a long hard think about what I actually used my laptop for before purchase. Mainly sofa surfing, emails Facebook etc.More importantly it was to have this ability on the move. The small amount of application work could be relegated to my old desktop. I help run another website which has some flash parts so I that meant could not get an i-pad, besides I hate i-tunes.
With the S I'm now able to control my hifi with one device, manage DNLA media on my server, check up on emails and social networking and sofa surf all from one little lightweight and highly portable device. Chuck in free SatNav with Navfree also.
Most android devices could do all this to a certain extent however the IR and playstation integration made the Sony the only choice for me. I also find the screen a higher quality and the shape nicer to use.
Minor bugbears:
Direct communication with SD card socket - ICS fixes this
Lack of Sky go / MS Silverlight - will probably happen in the end
Missing MS Excel - some partial success with apps but would really like a proper MS version.
Would like it to be a bit nippier
Nice said!
Now thats what you call a nice short review. +1
To be honest, it seems like most of those problems could have been avoided with just a little research before you bought. Obviously, different tablets suit different people and if you wanted HDMI-out, lots of weird peripherals and a car bracket, you should've bought a Toshiba Thrive or a Samsung Galaxy Tab.
The Sony's features and advertised purpose are well-known and it is obviously meant to be a media device, and it excels at that. I'm not sure why your battery is not good, but mine far outlasts my iPad's. As for peripherals, as far as I'm concerned, if it'
s got mini-USB which can be turned into full-size USB with a short cable, thats all the peripherals I'm ever going to need.
I respect your opinion and your choice and for the record I don't have any WiFi problems and haven't upgraded to ICS (waiting for official) so I can't comment on that.
However, it seems as if many of your criticisms (including those of other disappointed Tablet S owners) could've been solved by a tiny bit of Internet research and some forethought about your buying choices.
In short, it seems harsh to blame the tool, if you're using the wrong tool for the job that you wanted
Sorry for the rant, but I love mine and am often mystified by these disappointed stories.
I have to agree with the above! I love mine because I did a lot of research before I bought it and realised the sony was the one for me. Does the iPad have hdmi out? I don't know I don't buy into all the apple crap. But if it doesn't then why bring it up. Like said earlier, if that's what you were after there's plenty of devices on the market that could have fulfilled your needs.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z using Tapatalk 2.0
-GPS problem is more of an Android problem, the SGS Tab and most phones have crappy GPS as well.
-The wifi issue is hardly a bother, come on. The tablet S literally takes a second to reconnect when you open up the display. It's really quick. How much do you really NEED wifi when the screen is off? Would it be great? Yes, but is it a dealbreaker? hardly not.
-I have no idea what you are talking about about peripherals. The tablet has a full sized SD card slot. I cant think of any other tablet which does. The MicroUSB does the job for connecting as well.
-Battery life has been good for me, even better than the iPad 2.
People can whine and complain all they want, but at the end of the day it is your fault for not researching more about a tablet that would suit your needs. You can't whine about the tablet not having an HDMI slot if you had a choice to choose one that did. Sony never lied and never stated that there was an HDMI slot. Battery life has never been a problem for most people, even the reviewers say the battery life is great. I agree, though, that the charger is retarded.
That said, it seems that those who complain about the Tablet S are expecting too much from the tablet. Sony have been very upfront about what it can and cannot do, and reviews have put this in the top 5 tablets for a reason. It's easy to criticize what something doesn't have, but people forget the good things about a device (SD card slot, great screen, universal remote, playstation etc.)
I am very happy for my table S and would definitely bye it again.
I have actually thought of buing a second as this one is so heavily in use.
I hated mine for the first couple months. Never had any probs with the hardware (nor any wifi/battery issues). For me it was just a crappy slow as firmware. I said on here once that it would all be fixable with root access.
Fast forward to present with me strappin' a rooted ICS loaded Sony Tab and you're looking at one happy camper . I've even adjusted to the fact I stuffed the screen a little when it slid off my car bonnet.
Does everything I want it too and the only time I turn on a laptop anymore is use the all in one tool on it .
Yes. Yes I would.
henly said:
....I think the answer to that is a resounding NO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, well. Yes I would, and yes I did.
I have several tablets, a couple of Sony Tablet S's (16 & 32gb) a Samsung Galaxy 10.1, an ASUS TF101, and a couple of Kindle Fires (rooted and totally recreated as fine little tablets in their own right.) I've also had two iPads in the past, a v1, then v2 (those both went to the niece & nephew for Xmas, total kiddie ware going no-where.)
So, guess which one goes with me in the car and on the plane? Easy, the 32gb Sony. I throw the poor thing around like a paperback book, and it definitely takes a licking. Never complains a bit and still looks new. (Think airport check-ins, X-ray bins, getting banged around on plane tray tables & overhead compartments, etc.) Battery life is xlnt, the display is bright, saturated & Sony sharp, reading Kindle books is hand-natural specific, and... I can load my 64gb SDXC card with just about anything and everything.
Other than the Kindle Fires, (Kinder Panzers?) all of the other tablets I have either had (or have now,) are FRAGILE.
OK: The universal remote. I use the Sony S for everything in the house, especially the WD Lives... this thing is a godsend compared to the little piece of crap they give you for a remote! That Sony Tablet S remote feature sets up easy and remembers forever.
Also, I use either my HTC Desire or Desire HD to connect to the Internet, apply the wifi hotspot, then connect the Sony S to that. Skype calls for free. Wait, somebody say free? Internet and hands free International calls. Easy.
I could go on here, but there's plenty more.
Again, yes I would buy it again, and yes, I already did.
henly said:
....I think the answer to that is a resounding NO, I was willing to be patience and wait for upgrades etc to fix probs but having just upgraded to ICS Im very disappointed.
No fixes for various bugs (for me primarily wifi connection), and now I find my gps is not working for some reason, the device nearly went out of the car window yesterday when i was stuck on the A13 with no gps, but then I thought about littering .
Together with the car charging problems (had To buy an Inverter, more money), no hdmi socket no perifials, Car bracket etc, battery life, its not adding up to a good deal.
I originally bought a Ipad on the recomodations of a salesman and assurances that flash would work with it (yea right), so that went back in favour of the 'S', but what next, do I leave it at home and cut my losses (wad of dough).
Its seems that despite advances in technology we are always being used as guinepigs for devices that eventually end up on the scrap heap and never seem to last until the device is broken beyond repair but are dumped by the manufactorer in favour of another useless device, witness my Ipaq stopped supporting Windows, My Dell Streak mini 5 cant even get spares for them anymore, I could go on.
And we seem to accept it without protest almost as if its expected that we lay out loads of dosh for a inferior product, imaging the outcry if we bought cars (or other products) on the same basis, 'oh bear with us, sir, you will be able to drive from A to B as soon as we have sorted out the engin bugs'.
anyway sorry about the rant, Im still simmering from the A13 incident,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with you. I mean, I like my tablet s, but I think I'm pretty tired of crappy problems/errors. I have an xperia x10i, and also there, other problems. This mainly happen because we have many different models and hw to be adapted to the operative system (this doesn't happen for ipad, just because they have a few hw models and just one corporate workin on sw). Sony produces beautiful machines and great hardware, but they always lack on software, don't know why.

How Bad are these Bugs? Should I steer Clear?

Hey guys,
I own a sensation with stock JB and LOVE android and google's interface to death. I need a laptop for school to take notes and the transformer fits the bill. I keep reading about the wifi bug and am wondering how bad it is? Is it just some devices or all, will I have trouble connecting to networks like a busy library or somewhere weak/loaded with users. I dont really care about GPS, I have my phone with a data plan for that. I was thinking of the tf300 but am worried about breaking the glass and I get the feeling it is fragile as it is not gorilla glass. The infinity is a little out of price range although I am considering trying to buy a used prime from futureshop with extended warranty(owned by bestbuy) and return it and hope for the prime
I dont know about custom roms but Get the Prime only if you're satisfied with casual gaming or browsing, using the prime for school work is just like placing yourself at the edge of a cliff, you'll never know when it'll crash, screen glitch or have a random reboot. File transfers rate using a thumbdrive is dirt slow. The best advice is to wait for the jellybean release and to examine the results and make a decision from there
I love my prime its my 6th but I've finally got a good one. If u get one check the screen very carefully...
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
People who use a custom rom with some tweaks are very happy with it. I use stock and wait for JB. If that does not fix things - I will just install a custom ROM.
Rooted user with ATPTweak and Browser2RAM here. I am very satisfied with my device, using it for college classes and it didn't fail me once. It is great to take notes in SuperNote. Combine that with a camera that is actually good enough to "screenshot" the board from afar and you've got yourself the perfect educational device.
I don't have any of the issues described by other users, except for the occasional ANR when updating apps and using the tablet at the same time.
Very Happy
I bought a second hand one from Craigslist that came with the keyboard. I could not be more satisfied. I know the GPS does not work but I have never needed it. It may reset itself or have an ANR a few times a week, but I game, surf, watch videos all on stock with no problems. I constantly put new ROM's on my phones, so I am sure it could do it on the Prime, but I have never had the need. As to the wireless, it is a little weaker to pick up than say my HTC Sensation, but not so much that it is a problem. My daughter has the Nexus 7 with JB and I think the Prime will only get better with JB.
DeKubus said:
Rooted user with ATPTweak and Browser2RAM here. I am very satisfied with my device, using it for college classes and it didn't fail me once. It is great to take notes in SuperNote. Combine that with a camera that is actually good enough to "screenshot" the board from afar and you've got yourself the perfect educational device.
I don't have any of the issues described by other users, except for the occasional ANR when updating apps and using the tablet at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exact same situation here. I'm not sure that I would still buy it at the same full price today, seeing how close in specs the Nexus 7 is, but it's still a really nice device.
Put reddit.com/r/aaw on the screen and it's also a chick magnet.
waltthizzney said:
Hey guys,
I own a sensation with stock JB and LOVE android and google's interface to death. I need a laptop for school to take notes and the transformer fits the bill. I keep reading about the wifi bug and am wondering how bad it is? Is it just some devices or all, will I have trouble connecting to networks like a busy library or somewhere weak/loaded with users. I dont really care about GPS, I have my phone with a data plan for that. I was thinking of the tf300 but am worried about breaking the glass and I get the feeling it is fragile as it is not gorilla glass. The infinity is a little out of price range although I am considering trying to buy a used prime from futureshop with extended warranty(owned by bestbuy) and return it and hope for the prime
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for your original question there is no WiFi bug. On many primes there is a physical manufacturing issue where they did not get proper contact between the antennas that are on the glass side of the device and the ground points with the backplate. Is causes the signals to attenuate at fairly short distance from the router. Don't buy it if they don't let you test it against another tablet unless you plan on opening it up and fixing the issue.
As for what everybody else says, yes stock software is buggy and annoyingly unstable. Jelly bean seems to fix most of what ails the prime. Again I wouldn't buy one unless you plan on voiding the warranty and unlocking for a custom ROM.
Your last sentence bothers me about getting the prime cheap and trying to exchange for what I assume you meant to say was an infinity. Why not just switch the price tags in the store or even easier, steal one?
Its the keyboard
waltthizzney said:
Hey guys,
I own a sensation with stock JB and LOVE android and google's interface to death. I need a laptop for school to take notes and the transformer fits the bill. ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing I didn't see anyone mention is the keyboard dock and how its (to my knowledge) unique among Android tablets. The keyboard dock has a usb port that works with everything I've thrown at it including flash drives, track balls, external hard drives, mice, usb card readers, and a usb wired Ethernet adapter. I can also use multiple usb devices at the same time using a small usb hub. About the only issue I've had is if I try to use the wired Ethernet and the external hard drive at the same time. Both work individually and also when used together with a mouse, but I'm guessing they draw too much juice to use at the same time - but that's hardly a limitation. As far as usefulness for school work/note taking etc, I would think the dock and its capabilities offers a huge advantage
As far as buggy software, many or most of the complaints I see seem to revolve around the built in browser - which I have basically never used anyway. I use Chrome and Dolphin and don't have any problems.
My WiFi also works more than adequately. I don't get as good a speed as I do with my Dell laptop but I get better WiFi speed than I do with my Droid 3 phone. So it falls in the midrange of my devices. At work, my office is on the other side of the building from the wifi router with an elevator shaft and a bank of metal file cabinets between me and the router. No device gets a very good signal at my desk. But even in that worst case environment, my prime gets a good enough signal to get my email and do light web surfing - which is as good as any device can do in that location. Its not a problem at home at all. It's not a speed demon by any means but I'm not trying to download huge files with it either (as some have said they do). Since I have a variety of devices available including a desktop and a laptop, I'm not sure why I would choose to do things like that using a tablet anyway. For a big download I'd probably do it on my desktop while I do other things with the tablet. Also, I'm guessing you probably don't need to be doing bit torrents and take notes in a class both at the same time?
Which brings up the question of weather its going to be your only device? If you have a regular computer (either laptop or desktop) I would not worry. IMO there are some tasks that tablets are just not well suited to and I don't see how a student could get away with any tablet as their only computer anyway.
All that said, here are a couple of points:
1. buying it specifically for the purpose of returning it is reprehensible. Don't do it. This sort of behavior is part of the reason electronics are as expensive as they are for everyone else.
2. Given that the Transformer Infinity is out and offers all the same advantages as the Prime, the only reason to go with a prime now is if the price is really, really good. I would say that to be reasonable, a used prime would definitely have to cost less than a new TF300 - since the new TF300 would have a full warranty. Unfortunately Amazon has $324 as the cheapest used prime while I would say no more than about $250 would be a good price for a used one (not including keyboard)
3. You could consider a TF300 which once again offers the keyboard dock with all its advantages for around $300 not including the keyboard.
ratman6161 said:
One thing I didn't see anyone mention is the keyboard dock and how its (to my knowledge) unique among Android tablets. The keyboard dock has a usb port that works with everything I've thrown at it including flash drives, track balls, external hard drives, mice, usb card readers, and a usb wired Ethernet adapter. I can also use multiple usb devices at the same time using a small usb hub. About the only issue I've had is if I try to use the wired Ethernet and the external hard drive at the same time. Both work individually and also when used together with a mouse, but I'm guessing they draw too much juice to use at the same time - but that's hardly a limitation. As far as usefulness for school work/note taking etc, I would think the dock and its capabilities offers a huge advantage
As far as buggy software, many or most of the complaints I see seem to revolve around the built in browser - which I have basically never used anyway. I use Chrome and Dolphin and don't have any problems.
My WiFi also works more than adequately. I don't get as good a speed as I do with my Dell laptop but I get better WiFi speed than I do with my Droid 3 phone. So it falls in the midrange of my devices. At work, my office is on the other side of the building from the wifi router with an elevator shaft and a bank of metal file cabinets between me and the router. No device gets a very good signal at my desk. But even in that worst case environment, my prime gets a good enough signal to get my email and do light web surfing - which is as good as any device can do in that location. Its not a problem at home at all. It's not a speed demon by any means but I'm not trying to download huge files with it either (as some have said they do). Since I have a variety of devices available including a desktop and a laptop, I'm not sure why I would choose to do things like that using a tablet anyway. For a big download I'd probably do it on my desktop while I do other things with the tablet. Also, I'm guessing you probably don't need to be doing bit torrents and take notes in a class both at the same time?
Which brings up the question of weather its going to be your only device? If you have a regular computer (either laptop or desktop) I would not worry. IMO there are some tasks that tablets are just not well suited to and I don't see how a student could get away with any tablet as their only computer anyway.
All that said, here are a couple of points:
1. buying it specifically for the purpose of returning it is reprehensible. Don't do it. This sort of behavior is part of the reason electronics are as expensive as they are for everyone else.
2. Given that the Transformer Infinity is out and offers all the same advantages as the Prime, the only reason to go with a prime now is if the price is really, really good. I would say that to be reasonable, a used prime would definitely have to cost less than a new TF300 - since the new TF300 would have a full warranty. Unfortunately Amazon has $324 as the cheapest used prime while I would say no more than about $250 would be a good price for a used one (not including keyboard)
3. You could consider a TF300 which once again offers the keyboard dock with all its advantages for around $300 not including the keyboard.
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thanks guys..... Why I am buying it is because I want something to take notes on at school in class and when reading chapters in books. I use to have a macbook pro that got destroyed taking it to school on my bike everyday, now I own a Levano Y580... (beast of a laptop btw for a great price) but do not want to lug it around and want to just keep it at home. my last two questions are with note taking apps like the one mentioned, Can you save these notes as DOCS then open them on your windows pc in word? also can you use google docs offline like you can on windows on your prime?
also what are the common issues I should inspect in regards to hardware issues?
waltthizzney said:
thanks guys..... Why I am buying it is because I want something to take notes on at school in class and when reading chapters in books. I use to have a macbook pro that got destroyed taking it to school on my bike everyday, now I own a Levano Y580... (beast of a laptop btw for a great price) but do not want to lug it around and want to just keep it at home. my last two questions are with note taking apps like the one mentioned, Can you save these notes as DOCS then open them on your windows pc in word? also can you use google docs offline like you can on windows on your prime?
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Well, that's getting to more a matter of what software you want to use and how you want to take your notes. Handwriting recognition does not work for me...not on the prime and not on anything else I've tried. Even things that work for others don't work for me. My handwriting is so terrible that it just doesn't work. So I can't speak to that. And I absolutely despise on-screen keyboards as well for anything other than web surfing etc. So the keyboard dock is the biggest reason I chose the prime in the first place...though what works for you is for you to decide.
As to typing notes (which I assume is OK with you since you said you used to do this on a laptop) there are a number of options. You mentioned knowing Android well so I will leave it to you to pick apps that do the job for you. As far as what is on the machine as it comes out of the box, there is Super Note which I don't particularly like. There is also Polaris Office which handles Microsoft Office documents quite well in my opinion). Any 10 inch screen is not going to be that great (once again for me) to do detailed editing, but matched with the keyboard dock it works great for typing notes to be saved as Word docs and transferred to the PC later. However I mostly use Polaris office for reading documents others have sent me.
What I actually use for notes most of the time is Ever Note so that my notes get auto synced to my desktop PC. These can be easily copied and pasted to Word Documents if I wanted to though I rarely actually do that.
As far as Google Docs, I don't really use them but I don't think you can get at them off line (i.e. with no internet connection)
As far as carrying it around every day, well, the tablet can get broken too. So if your Mac Book got "destroyed" then I'm not sure a tablet will fare much better...a lot of it is made of glass after all. But if you are set on a tablet, I don't think the Prime is any more fragile than any other.
---------- Post added at 03:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:49 PM ----------
waltthizzney said:
also what are the common issues I should inspect in regards to hardware issues?
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That's a question that will typically generate a flame war on this forum between the people who have had problems and those who have not. I'm one of the ones who hasn't had any problems getting it to do the things I want it to do.
But I'll leave it to you to browse the forums and decide for yourself.
ratman6161 said:
Well, that's getting to more a matter of what software you want to use and how you want to take your notes. Handwriting recognition does not work for me...not on the prime and not on anything else I've tried. Even things that work for others don't work for me. My handwriting is so terrible that it just doesn't work. So I can't speak to that. And I absolutely despise on-screen keyboards as well for anything other than web surfing etc. So the keyboard dock is the biggest reason I chose the prime in the first place...though what works for you is for you to decide.
As to typing notes (which I assume is OK with you since you said you used to do this on a laptop) there are a number of options. You mentioned knowing Android well so I will leave it to you to pick apps that do the job for you. As far as what is on the machine as it comes out of the box, there is Super Note which I don't particularly like. There is also Polaris Office which handles Microsoft Office documents quite well in my opinion). Any 10 inch screen is not going to be that great (once again for me) to do detailed editing, but matched with the keyboard dock it works great for typing notes to be saved as Word docs and transferred to the PC later. However I mostly use Polaris office for reading documents others have sent me.
What I actually use for notes most of the time is Ever Note so that my notes get auto synced to my desktop PC. These can be easily copied and pasted to Word Documents if I wanted to though I rarely actually do that.
As far as Google Docs, I don't really use them but I don't think you can get at them off line (i.e. with no internet connection)
As far as carrying it around every day, well, the tablet can get broken too. So if your Mac Book got "destroyed" then I'm not sure a tablet will fare much better...a lot of it is made of glass after all. But if you are set on a tablet, I don't think the Prime is any more fragile than any other.
---------- Post added at 03:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:49 PM ----------
That's a question that will typically generate a flame war on this forum between the people who have had problems and those who have not. I'm one of the ones who hasn't had any problems getting it to do the things I want it to do.
But I'll leave it to you to browse the forums and decide for yourself.
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thanks for the reply...... Trying to decide between the tf201 which has a nicer screen vs the tf300 which has most bugs fixed and will not get as scratched!
I just got a new Prime on ebay for $300. Did I pay too much considering some of the problems I've been reading about?
kosenn said:
I just got a new Prime on ebay for $300. Did I pay too much considering some of the problems I've been reading about?
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just think you got it $200 cheaper than most of us and if you dont care about warranty all can be fixed or worked around other than (as far as i know) bt/wifi dropout http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1443868&highlight=dropout.
I just got my Prime 201. I tried to upgrade from 3.2.1 and it shows no updates available. The build number is HTk75.us_epad-8.8.3.33-20111223.
kosenn said:
I just got my Prime 201. I tried to upgrade from 3.2.1 and it shows no updates available. The build number is HTk75.us_epad-8.8.3.33-20111223.
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so go to asus and download one if its available. they have instructions there too. This is of course not in the least bit applicable to the thread you have posted in. (OMG listen to me, I have become my father)

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