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After reading all the negative posts made by a tiny few people, I registered just to set the record straight.
Prime is the best tablet out there, period. It can be tablet or laptop, has quad core power and so thin and light. You need to spend time with it to know how awesome it is. A very vocal minority of annoying people posting useless complaints and a lot of them are ignorant. Check out the polls and you will see majority of forum is totally in love with this.
Uneducated people using HC think this tablet should not stutter at all navigating UI. Guess what? HC is not optimized for quad core. ICS will be out soon and will fix this. This is first release people! Also firmware is coming down often from Asus to help. Also factory resetting easilly returns the Prime to responsiveness when needed. Asus deserves props for launching most powerful tablet at excellent price. This baby is 10 times better than iPad.
Browser is great too, but if its too sluggish for you just get Opera! We have choices people. Stock browser just gives you a taste of what is out there.
People complaining about GPS have started 3 threads on it. Is that really necessary? I come to XDA to find out new tricks and hacks for my TFP, not to read pages of complaints made by select few people. For majority of us GPS is not an issue. Google maps shows my position just fine. Anyone wanting 10" GPS for driving around should go get a real GPS. This is a TABLET. Even Asus Sweeden says GPS is just extra feature, not even a primary sensor. You should be happy it has EXTRA FEATURE, not complain about it! Truth is most people don't care about GPS anyway.
As for loose LCD screen, again first release. You knew there will be some minor issues so why complain about minor things. I am almost finished with my "Superglue Mod" which completely and easilly fixes this issue. I will post instructions after I figure out how to remove glue fingerprints from under screen.
Light bleed can only be seen in dark room, or during startup, but I believe my superglue mod will also fix screen bleed. Just have to figure out how to do it without glue fingerprints. For now I am recommend people just leave it alone and give factory glue more time to set. Also firmware may fix this.
Some peoples have said screen is too yellow. Its actually just color temperature they choose and is a design feature, and good personal preferance. Many people wear yellow glasses for driving or shooting to ENHANCE what they see. I for one am glad for some very slight yellow tint, because now display is enhanced.
WiFi is more than acceptable. Although not as good as my phone's but soon I expect other modders to come out with case hack which will make WiFi perfect. Might even help GPS.
Battery life is the best also.
Dead GPS isn't a useless complaint, but indeed a very valid one imho.
Not to mention it didnt start out as an "extra" feature, but was later made out to be, just to cover their asses.
And I don't know what polls you've been looking at, but the ones Ive seen were showing that the majority was less then satisfied.
And if you deem it acceptable for the first batch to pretty much fall apart, you are an idiot.
There is no excuse for piss poor QC, especially for devices of this price caliber.
You're already super gluing your screen, hope the 500 bucks was worth it?
Firmware doesnt fix hardware problems like screen bleeding either.
I agree, this is a great tablet. Some people wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they couldn't complain.
I have had no problems and the screen and battery exceed my expectations. Glad I bought it.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Kobald said:
Prime is the best tablet out there, period. It can be tablet or laptop, has quad core power and so thin and light. You need to spend time with it to know how awesome it is. A very vocal minority of annoying people posting useless complaints and a lot of them are ignorant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's beneficial all that complaining - it's pushing ASUS to develop a GPS solution.
That's pressure that helps us all.
I think it could be done more sophisticatedly however - seems like a lot of pouting going on.
However, it's a minor issue and I agree with you 100% -
Awesome battery life!!
This is right on the money! Thanks for those comments....Now I just can't wait to get mine.
It's just very sad that as consumers we have to anticipate the minor errors for initial production units. You would assume the QC for these companies would identify issues, but I think there is so much demand on a product that the company would rather release a few under par units to be returned later than delay the release. Either way, my philosophy has always been that I don't "NEED" the product right away, so sit back and wait until I'm comfortable spending the money on that product and peruse and reviews so I know what to expect. Sometimes I even decided I didn't want the product after the reviews.
I'm glad to see your positive and realistic comments. I'm right on track with your post.
Kobald said:
After reading all the negative posts made by a tiny few people, I registered just to set the record straight.
Prime is the best tablet out there, period. It can be tablet or laptop, has quad core power and so thin and light. You need to spend time with it to know how awesome it is. A very vocal minority of annoying people posting useless complaints and a lot of them are ignorant. Check out the polls and you will see majority of forum is totally in love with this.
Uneducated people using HC think this tablet should not stutter at all navigating UI. Guess what? HC is not optimized for quad core. ICS will be out soon and will fix this. This is first release people! Also firmware is coming down often from Asus to help. Also factory resetting easilly returns the Prime to responsiveness when needed. Asus deserves props for launching most powerful tablet at excellent price. This baby is 10 times better than iPad.
Browser is great too, but if its too sluggish for you just get Opera! We have choices people. Stock browser just gives you a taste of what is out there.
People complaining about GPS have started 3 threads on it. Is that really necessary? I come to XDA to find out new tricks and hacks for my TFP, not to read pages of complaints made by select few people. For majority of us GPS is not an issue. Google maps shows my position just fine. Anyone wanting 10" GPS for driving around should go get a real GPS. This is a TABLET. Even Asus Sweeden says GPS is just extra feature, not even a primary sensor. You should be happy it has EXTRA FEATURE, not complain about it! Truth is most people don't care about GPS anyway.
As for loose LCD screen, again first release. You knew there will be some minor issues so why complain about minor things. I am almost finished with my "Superglue Mod" which completely and easilly fixes this issue. I will post instructions after I figure out how to remove glue fingerprints from under screen.
Light bleed can only be seen in dark room, or during startup, but I believe my superglue mod will also fix screen bleed. Just have to figure out how to do it without glue fingerprints. For now I am recommend people just leave it alone and give factory glue more time to set. Also firmware may fix this.
Some peoples have said screen is too yellow. Its actually just color temperature they choose and is a design feature, and good personal preferance. Many people wear yellow glasses for driving or shooting to ENHANCE what they see. I for one am glad for some very slight yellow tint, because now display is enhanced.
WiFi is more than acceptable. Although not as good as my phone's but soon I expect other modders to come out with case hack which will make WiFi perfect. Might even help GPS.
Battery life is the best also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You had me inspired...right up until the super glue finger prints. Yike! What where you thinking?
If Asus can revise the hardware in order to fix GPS and strengthen Wifi to be comparable to other tablets, and can improve their QC, and ICS lives up to what people expect of it, then I will deem the Transformer Prime the best current tablet. So a Transformer Prime with fixed GPS, improved Wifi, no QC issues, and ICS is what I would call the best current tablet. It needs this confluence of improvements to be deemed "best". But I would not call it the best in its current state.
As to the OP, that is probably one of the most idiotic posts I have seen in this forum so far.
Kobald said:
After reading all the negative posts made by a tiny few people, I registered just to set the record straight.
Prime is the best tablet out there, period. It can be tablet or laptop, has quad core power and so thin and light. You need to spend time with it to know how awesome it is. A very vocal minority of annoying people posting useless complaints and a lot of them are ignorant. Check out the polls and you will see majority of forum is totally in love with this.
Uneducated people using HC think this tablet should not stutter at all navigating UI. Guess what? HC is not optimized for quad core. ICS will be out soon and will fix this. This is first release people! Also firmware is coming down often from Asus to help. Also factory resetting easilly returns the Prime to responsiveness when needed. Asus deserves props for launching most powerful tablet at excellent price. This baby is 10 times better than iPad.
Browser is great too, but if its too sluggish for you just get Opera! We have choices people. Stock browser just gives you a taste of what is out there.
People complaining about GPS have started 3 threads on it. Is that really necessary? I come to XDA to find out new tricks and hacks for my TFP, not to read pages of complaints made by select few people. For majority of us GPS is not an issue. Google maps shows my position just fine. Anyone wanting 10" GPS for driving around should go get a real GPS. This is a TABLET. Even Asus Sweeden says GPS is just extra feature, not even a primary sensor. You should be happy it has EXTRA FEATURE, not complain about it! Truth is most people don't care about GPS anyway.
As for loose LCD screen, again first release. You knew there will be some minor issues so why complain about minor things. I am almost finished with my "Superglue Mod" which completely and easilly fixes this issue. I will post instructions after I figure out how to remove glue fingerprints from under screen.
Light bleed can only be seen in dark room, or during startup, but I believe my superglue mod will also fix screen bleed. Just have to figure out how to do it without glue fingerprints. For now I am recommend people just leave it alone and give factory glue more time to set. Also firmware may fix this.
Some peoples have said screen is too yellow. Its actually just color temperature they choose and is a design feature, and good personal preferance. Many people wear yellow glasses for driving or shooting to ENHANCE what they see. I for one am glad for some very slight yellow tint, because now display is enhanced.
WiFi is more than acceptable. Although not as good as my phone's but soon I expect other modders to come out with case hack which will make WiFi perfect. Might even help GPS.
Battery life is the best also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what I've been saying but seems obvious. alot of the negative complainers aren't getting the point. they wouldn't know a good thing if it hit them in the face.
robomo said:
I think it's beneficial all that complaining - it's pushing ASUS to develop a GPS solution.
That's pressure that helps us all.
I think it could be done more sophisticatedly however - seems like a lot of pouting going on.
However, it's a minor issue and I agree with you 100% -
Awesome battery life!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you also. nothing wrong with voicing complaints and dislikes with the device. but do so in a more proper and constructive manner. pouting and telling people not to get the device because they had a bad experience isn't helping anyone. I think the biggest GPS thread is the only one trying to help figure out a solution. all others are just rants and overly exaggerated.
redlin'r said:
This is right on the money! Thanks for those comments....Now I just can't wait to get mine.
It's just very sad that as consumers we have to anticipate the minor errors for initial production units. You would assume the QC for these companies would identify issues, but I think there is so much demand on a product that the company would rather release a few under par units to be returned later than delay the release. Either way, my philosophy has always been that I don't "NEED" the product right away, so sit back and wait until I'm comfortable spending the money on that product and peruse and reviews so I know what to expect. Sometimes I even decided I didn't want the product after the reviews.
I'm glad to see your positive and realistic comments. I'm right on track with your post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we need more posts and threads like these to overshadow the ones trying to make it seem like all primes are broken or faulty. some people here believe if your device is working properly, you must be lying, or don't know any better, or ignoring the issues, or even not running the trouble shooting tests correctly. those people that assume that have no clue and try to impose and influence their negative way of thinking on other members and new people coming on to the scene. very glad that more n more people realizing the real truth.
Like I said before, if I wouldn't listened to all the negative comments and let it influence me, I would've never got this tablet. Since 12/22, I've been note than satisfied with it and easily exceeded all my expectations. only slight issue is GPS. which I'm not pressed about anyways. that's why I never bothered to give it a real test yet. once the time comes, I will.
Always happy to hear when more n more people happy with device. It is truly the best out right now and I think some people hate that that's Fact
Kobald said:
Uneducated people using HC think this tablet should not stutter at all navigating UI. Guess what? HC is not optimized for quad core. ICS will be out soon and will fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you educate me and link to a source for your claim that ICS will somehow be more optimized for quad core processors and will reduce stuttering?
Thanks.
mongocain said:
You had me inspired...right up until the super glue finger prints. Yike! What where you thinking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the super glue part does have me scratching head also..lol. I would've sent it in n let Asus send me another one or fix it. that's a lil extreme though, super glue.
Kobald said:
After reading all the negative posts made by a tiny few people, I registered just to set the record straight.
As for loose LCD screen, again first release. You knew there will be some minor issues so why complain about minor things. I am almost finished with my "Superglue Mod" which completely and easilly fixes this issue. I will post instructions after I figure out how to remove glue fingerprints from under screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a punter who has the prime on pre-order at two separate retailers in good old blighty, and who is looking forwards to delivery and appreciate the positive comments that you have made; I do wonder about the "superglue mod" as to be honest I will be returning mine for a new model if Asus bundle some superglue with mine!
When I have paid £500 for my toy I am afraid I do want it to be stuck together before I get it (I can remember how messy I was with airfix models 40 years ago ) and teh thought of a screen with superglued fingerprints on the inside of the screen makes me want to scream and also wonder what you have done for your warranty!!
Let's hope you have no major future problems with the little beast.
Andy
Kobald said:
Prime is the best tablet out there, period.
- Also factory resetting easilly returns the Prime to responsiveness when needed.
- Even Asus Sweeden says GPS is just extra feature, not even a primary sensor. You should be happy it has EXTRA FEATURE
- As for loose LCD screen, again first release.
- Light bleed can only be seen in dark room, or during startup, but I believe my superglue mod will also fix screen bleed.
- Many people wear yellow glasses for driving or shooting to ENHANCE what they see. I for one am glad for some very slight yellow tint, because now display is enhanced.
- WiFi is more than acceptable. Although not as good as my phone's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if the Acer and Lenovo have these issues when they first come out, are you going to cut them the same amount of slack you're cutting Asus? Because what you're basically saying is that any initial issues don't count on new devices and when judging what's "best" people should ignore its faults and view it based on what it "can" be not what it "is."
Sorry, couldn't help myself. Saying "best ever" in your thread title and then spending 1/2 of your post talking about issues and attacking people that have them just seems paradoxical.
best tablet so far? yes
good enough for me to buy? not with a locked bootloader.
If Asus doesn't unlock it I won't get one, and I'll check out what other companies are showing off at CES.
I am having real problem to remove superglue thumbprint and dont think I will release that mod. Too much potential for mistake plus screen is now lose again. Think I am try to return it for replacement.
Kobald said:
I am having real problem to remove superglue thumbprint and dont think I will release that mod. Too much potential for mistake plus screen is now lose again. Think I am try to return it for replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somuch for being highly educated, hmm?
Sokonomi said:
Somuch for being highly educated, hmm?
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Click to collapse
I'd like to see the explantion to the store associate for the super glue fingerprint when he returns it.
Its not very bad, I doubt they will notice.
Dude, I want to love this tablet as much as you do, but you sound like an uneducated fan boy in denial.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Kobald said:
Its not very bad, I doubt they will notice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... I think they will.
Theres a fingerprint, splattering and what seems to be a gash or a bit of glue that ran down the screen.
What did you do to that poor thing?
Kobald said:
Its not very bad, I doubt they will notice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
holy ****, wth did you do?
I've been researching Tablets and i must be able to write notes with ease. I've read the best stylus is the Jot Pro which i've gone and purchased. I've also read that writing with a active digitizer is the best for taking hand notes.
i've yet to read about "active digitizer" in any of the specs for the TP so i was wondering how it would compair to a active digitizer screen? Also to what degree would it be better or worse?
MooreW said:
I've been researching Tablets and i must be able to write notes with ease. I've read the best stylus is the Jot Pro which i've gone and purchased. I've also read that writing with a active digitizer is the best for taking hand notes.
i've yet to read about "active digitizer" in any of the specs for the TP so i was wondering how it would compair to a active digitizer screen? Also to what degree would it be better or worse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, if you put conductive grease in your jot ball, you won't see any difference between using that on the TF or TFP and a tablet with digitizer.
Active digitizer has pressure sensitivity. Although it can be... less precise than Adonit (because some active digitizers are innacurate when holded on different angles).
Unfortunetaly Transformer doesn't have one. Adonit was supposed to show active digitizer for all tablets on CES. I wonder what they will make.
Thanks. I ask because i was watching a video smackdown between the TFP vs. Motorola Droid XYBoard and she specifically made a point that Active Digitizer screens are better for note taking.
She did not mention how much better these screens are and with all the people here saying the Jot Pro is amazing with the TFP, it can't be that much better.
MooreW said:
Thanks. I ask because i was watching a video smackdown between the TFP vs. Motorola Droid XYBoard and she specifically made a point that Active Digitizer screens are better for note taking.
She did not mention how much better these screens are and with all the people here saying the Jot Pro is amazing with the TFP, it can't be that much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what video you're talking about. Reviewers are not gods. They know a lot of official stuff, but they don't know **** about real life stuff. Most reviewers still say the ipad2 is much much much better than the tf. The tf has been out for how long? Most reviewers still criticize the tf keyboard for not being able to disable the touchpad. Hint, its a shortkey on top somewhere.
Reviewers are good at giving you first impressions. But they suck at telling you about real life applications.
If you'd rather put your trust in reviewers, then you should get a motor xyboard. I'm telling you from real life experience. You won't notice a difference.
goodintentions said:
I know what video you're talking about. Reviewers are not gods. They know a lot of official stuff, but they don't know **** about real life stuff. Most reviewers still say the ipad2 is much much much better than the tf. The tf has been out for how long? Most reviewers still criticize the tf keyboard for not being able to disable the touchpad. Hint, its a shortkey on top somewhere.
Reviewers are good at giving you first impressions. But they suck at telling you about real life applications.
If you'd rather put your trust in reviewers, then you should get a motor xyboard. I'm telling you from real life experience. You won't notice a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonderful. I really didn't read to much into it. I watch/read to get a good overview per say. As someone with zero experience with tablets that is why i come here, to the people with them, to ask these questions not answered in these reviews.
Thanks again
MooreW said:
Wonderful. I really didn't read to much into it. I watch/read to get a good overview per say. As someone with zero experience with tablets that is why i come here, to the people with them, to ask these questions not answered in these reviews.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, people tend to trust those with authority these days. Somewhere along the line, people lost their trust in real life experience.
Take my g/f's dad, for example. His win7 computer stopped animating the windows when he move them around. It bothered him so much that he called in a geek squad guy. The geek squad guy said there was nothing he could do but reinstall win7 OS. Wanted to charge him $200 for it. My g/f and I happened to walk in at the time. My g/f told her dad to let me try fixing it. He hesitated (because I wasn't a geek squad... and geek squad knows everything, right?), and said sure why not. It took me a whole 2 minutes to fix his problem. All I did was went into the windows animation settings and reset the damn thing.
Think about it. He came this close to paying $200 for a geek squad know-it-all to re-install windows for a settings problem.
To this day, I still write to reviewers every time they got something wrong. What's disappointing is after I've written my lengthy correction, they still get it wrong in their next review. The TF keyboard is a perfect example. Back in May, reviewers were all criticizing the TF keyboard for not having the option to disable the touchpad. I promptly wrote to every one of them informing them of the 4th button from the left top row. The same reviewers are now *****ing about the prime keyboard not having the option to disable the touchpad. It seems like these guys picked up the TF, xoom, or whatever, used it for a whole 5 minutes, and then declare themselves experts of all things tablets. It's effing annoying as hell reading their reviews. They get so many things wrong!
In addition, most of the tech industry have been taken over by apple fanboys. Take a look at the following article written just a few days ago.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/ces-tablets-redemption/all/1
Notice that the transformer was not mentioned at all in that article. Instead, the writer pointed to all the failed tablets (xoom, touchpad, etc.) declaring them to be the only examples of non-ipad tablets. As a matter of fact, even as the prime is being rolled out, reviewers continue to ignore the asus TF/TFP. Despite the fact that the TF is now the most successful android tablet, reviewers still want to pretend like it doesn't exist and that the game really is about between the ipad2 and the xoom.
But I guess I'm just a nobody and they are reviewers so they must know everything there is to know about these devices.
Its called ignorance
So about taking notes with a pen like the JotPro, is it cool? I mean would you guys go into a semi important meeting with just the prime and no paper?
And is there a note taking app that lets you rest your hand on the tablet in any way while writing (some dedicated space would be fine i guess)?
->nevermind this, just found that in another thread:
(5) Writepad stylus - note taking app with palm rejection, meaning you can rest your hand on the screen and still be able to write. Can save your notes as pdf docs.
Had the jot pro, disliked it enough that I returned it this morning. Half of the time it missed the lines I was writing. I switched to a targus and it works much better. I think the JOt Pro has such a small surface that it just lost connectivity with the screen. I tested it on a screen with no protection on it btw. It probably would have been worse with a screen protector.
I have not found a note taking app that does good with hand rejection. I just use the hover above method.
That being said, I do only take the Prime to meetings, no paper, and take notes all the time. Works great.
goodintentions said:
Trust me, if you put conductive grease in your jot ball, you won't see any difference between using that on the TF or TFP and a tablet with digitizer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Googled "conductive grease" and found around 20 different options on the first page of websites plus the dude at bestbuy never herd of it. If you could give me a link to a product to look for that would be fantastic. By chance do you have a screen protector on your tablet?
MooreW said:
I Googled "conductive grease" and found around 20 different options on the first page of websites plus the dude at bestbuy never herd of it. If you could give me a link to a product to look for that would be fantastic. By chance do you have a screen protector on your tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(1) I just talked to the entire tablet department of bestbuy and none of them knew the tegra 3 had a 5th core.
(2) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BODU66/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details
(3) I don't use a screen protector. Been using it since may. Not a single scratch on my screen. And I don't even have a sleeve for it.
Transformer Prime Champagne Gold impressions
Well, as karma has it, I was able to get a 32GB Champagne Gold Transformer Prime, with the dock, last Friday and played with it over the weekend.
I was worried about many of the problems people were reporting and I was slightly afraid when starting up the device, I did not want to see bad light bleeds or dead pixels and so on. While the tablet itself ended up being perfect, I was still hit with a crippling bug of the keyboard dock not being able to be used for typing at all.
I found it almost ironic that I ended up with a serious flaw like that. I really thought that forums give a wrong impression about ASUS quality control, but reality is that it really is very, very bad. It is almost like gambling, chance that you'll get a functioning device without flaws that will annoy you from the very beginning, are very low.
I'll get the device replaced and essentially add to the pile of devices that are being returned to ASUS. But that aside, here are my impressions about the tablet, since I did use the tablet without the keyboard quite a bit.
Champagne Gold is absolutely beautiful in real life. It is a really attractive looking device, it's not as 'white' as Apple's aluminum devices are and is so much better for it with the slight golden gue making it look less clinical. Pictures don't do it justice, Champagne Gold Transformer Prime is the best looking tablet I've held in my hands.
The build is also very sturdy. I am glad I did not go for one of the plastic built tablets of yesteryear as I really love the feel of the tablet when I hold it. It is slightly heavier than I expected but only because I've never used tablets this extensively before.
Of course this design has its drawbacks, such as very weak GPS, but I tend to use my phone for GPS due to assisted GPS from cell towers, which is just much quicker. As for WiFi issues, I did not notice any, but I also did not run any speed tests. I mostly make the tablet use my phone as source of internet and it didn't have any problems doing so.
The first bootup ran Honeycomb and I immediately noticed that it simply did not run smoothly despite quad-core processing power driving it. But I liked the screen and after wiping the screen properly, touch responsiveness was good.
A mere 15 minutes later the device had updated itself to Android 4.0 and I had no stutter or lag issues anymore when moving around the menus or using the browser.
The screen is really beautiful and bright with good contrast. And the external sound is better than I expected. I watched the new 30 Rock episode with girlfriend on a couch and it was a nice experience, much better than trying to hold a laptop comfortably while watching a show. MX video player works very well on Prime, I watched Boardwalk Empire on my way back home on a train and it is a great device for extended viewing. It is amazing how much more natural it feels to watch series or movies on a tablet device like this as opposed to laptop.
Most apps seem to run quite well on Prime. But Android has its drawbacks on tablets, a lot of really great looking games do not have HD versions, making them look less attractive on the screen. Some of my favorites such as truly amazing World of Goo and Cut the Rope worked well on Prime, but their beautiful art was stretched to full screen, making the games look less magical than they felt when I was playing them on my Galaxy Nexus phone (which has a similar resolution to Prime, but far smaller screen).
I tried to use my tablet as a netbook, but without working keyboard I coould not really give it as much of a go as I hoped. But browsing around in the internet was fast and smooth and I really like Android for a tablet OS.
Battery lasted less than I hoped, but I cannot say it was bad since I did not charge it enough times for it to live up to its full potential. But I did not have to charge it while I was using, so it did not cause any battery stress.
I also liked that ASUS does not enforce its things on the user. Majority of pre-installed apps can be disabled and ASUS own enhancements are good for the device. They did not add anything that felt like bloatware.
As for the screen, yes it is certainly a fingerprint magnet. It does not bother me until I start watching a movie or whatnot. Makes me feel like I should clean it up because it simply is dirty (even when hands are less oily and have recently been washed).
Is this the best tablet I have ever used? Not really, iPad 2 is still a better media and content consumption device and I find Prime a much less comfortable to use when held in portrait mode as opposed to iPad 2 (but of course widescreen videos are much better on Prime as a result). But I can really see how the keyboard dock can enhance the Prime experience enough for me to never consider iPad 3, even if it comes out with HD screen and even better battery life.
I should also make additional note about the keyboard dock. I don't find the build of the keyboard dock to be as good as I hoped, it angles up really awkwardly on the Prime when screen is lifted, the back hinge is basically the thing it starts 'resting' on and differently from the rubber it rests on in front of the dock, the back rests on plastic knob-thingies, which have less grip. So on a less sturdy surface or when typing, the device is prone to move a lot more than you'd expect.
To sum things up, ASUS did a good job at everything except quality control and body design for GPS. If it had 3G, better WiFi and functioning GPS I would easily grade it the best tablet ever, but right now I don't see iPad 2 being actually dethroned before the end of this year where Google's rumoured tablet and possibly another Transformer can really kick things up a notch.
2012 is the year of 4G and HD screens on tablets, but I must say I did not really think Prime needs a HD screen. It is not because it would not look more beautiful - it would and I can easily see pixels when reading the web on Prime - but I just think that Android market won't catch up to HD apps before 2013. Today most apps look stretched and the apps that don't, do not seem to need HD anyway.
But yes, a wonderful device, just make sure to not throw away the box and other items so you can quickly refund, since chance has it that it might come with a hardware flaw or two.
Nice well written review.
Got it exchanged and keyboard works now! By the way, those wishing to buy it in Estonia, it seems to be sold downtown in both Euronics and Klick stores. Can't be bought online yet and seems to be only the champagne gold 32gb model.
Thx for the review man
On thing i want to add though: You have to compare the transformer prime to the ipad2 wifi only. If you want to compare it at all. And that device has no gps module at all, so a more or less working gps is still better than none at all.
But those comparisons are fundamentally flawed imho. I buy a device because of its features. iPad and TP offer very different things which results in the situation that there are fans of one device (because it has everything they wish for) and fans of the other one debating which one is better...
In the end there is only "whats better for you" and never "whats better for everyone". For me its clearly the Prime.
Dude i get carried away again. My Prime shall arrive! NOW!
I'm with you with the Champagne Gold color.
The photos online do not give justice to the Champagne Gold color as it is absolutely beautiful in real life.
The Gold hue does not overpower the Aluminum Color and has a rather subtle hint to it.
Excellent review. A good model for all to follow!
My "purplish" grey one is to arrive tomorrow....wish I could have ordered the champagne colour. I'll probably end up putting a skinomi skin on the back as I'm not really into the purple tones...plus, I heard the aluminum scratches easily.
i haven't read the full review... but you found a gold dock in stores? or online? where? i didn't even think it existed.
oasis9389 said:
i haven't read the full review... but you found a gold dock in stores? or online? where? i didn't even think it existed.
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Click to collapse
+1. Where is this mythical gold dock? Surely not the one I've had on BB preorder since late November? lol <bangs head into wall>
I'm using a Champagne Prime mated with a Gray dock. I actually like the look better than a matched set. Something to think about if you can't find a Champagne dock...
wynand32 said:
I'm using a Champagne Prime mated with a Gray dock. I actually like the look better than a matched set. Something to think about if you can't find a Champagne dock...
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Click to collapse
can you post some pics?
Just as an FYI, your prime screen is capable of 720p hd video playback, just not 1080p. still HD, just not the best HD. Great review though.
oasis9389 said:
i haven't read the full review... but you found a gold dock in stores? or online? where? i didn't even think it existed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ASUS is selling 32GB Champagne Gold TF201's in Estonia, it's the EU version (tablet and dock in one). And it is also localized, with local adapter and US keyboard that has russian letters in the corner (we also have a large number of russians living here).
irishtexmex said:
+1. Where is this mythical gold dock? Surely not the one I've had on BB preorder since late November? lol <bangs head into wall>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that ASUS did not just do a UK launch, it was an EU launch and a lot of tablets are being sold in various countries, often without advertisements. Here we have Champagne Gold one, sold 2-in-1, dock and tablet. I haven't seen Amethyst Grey being sold anywhere here (and we seem to have two chains selling TF201's without ads at the moment).
It just shows how little this tablet is really known outside these forums and tech world. People don't know about it. Stores don't even know that they have the hottest Android tablet on their shelves.
clouds5 said:
Thx for the review man
On thing i want to add though: You have to compare the transformer prime to the ipad2 wifi only. If you want to compare it at all. And that device has no gps module at all, so a more or less working gps is still better than none at all.
But those comparisons are fundamentally flawed imho. I buy a device because of its features. iPad and TP offer very different things which results in the situation that there are fans of one device (because it has everything they wish for) and fans of the other one debating which one is better...
In the end there is only "whats better for you" and never "whats better for everyone". For me its clearly the Prime.
Dude i get carried away again. My Prime shall arrive! NOW!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, true, but it is worth a comparison simply because you would not own a Prime and an iPad 2 together, they overlap in functionality. I will still recommend iPad 2 to anyone who is not a tech person as I believe that today it is a better device for content consumption and don't believe Android will catch up in app-market with HD apps and experience at least until 2013.
I am really neutral in that opinion here, I own an Android 4.0 phone and tablet now, I love Android. But today iPad 2 is a better tablet for an average person even if you don't consider GPS, WiFi quality or 3G existence important.
I would not buy Android for my grandparents, if I had to choose I would buy them iPad 2.
But anyways, I love it. Those of us who know tech and prefer Android, this is a brilliant device if your device does not have issues resulted from bad quality control.
Conduitz said:
Just as an FYI, your prime screen is capable of 720p hd video playback, just not 1080p. still HD, just not the best HD. Great review though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the correction.
I am about to order one, so how is it compared to a laptop? i wanna sell my laptop and use Prime all the time insted, btw how did you use you phones internet? thats called tethering? or some bluetooth function ?
vitalero said:
I am about to order one, so how is it compared to a laptop? i wanna sell my laptop and use Prime all the time insted, btw how did you use you phones internet? thats called tethering? or some bluetooth function ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think you might struggle to use this as a laptop replacement - depending on what you use your laptop for.
Yes, it's called tethering - setting your phone up as a wifi hotspot then connecting your tablet to it. No bluetooth needed. However, some Prime users report issues with this since the ICS update.
And more opinions!
I've had the chance to use the keyboard dock for a while, as well as test out a variety of apps. Some apps are much better in HD on a tablet, this surprised me quite a bit. For example IMDB app is really good on tablet and gMail (and really, all Google apps) is very high quality.
Apps run quickly and without problems. I also haven't noticed any problems with the tablet I got for exchange, no dead pixels. There's faint backlight bleed near one corner but I can not notice it while using a tablet unless brightness setting is too high and screen itself full of black colors.
As for the keyboard. I really love that it is Android focused keyboard. The keys make sense and are intuitive. It really is the first time I've felt comfortable with a keyboard that is similar to old school Windows keyboards, while never making me feel like it is one of those 'modified' PC keyboards. The top row buttons are all very useful, there are no bloated keys.
At first I wished there was 'recent apps' key, but there isn't. Alt+Tab does exist, but since there is no Alt key on the left hand side of the keyboard, you have to use two hands for it (I always Alt+Tab with left hand on my PC). So that's a bit annoying.
Keyboard itself is comfortable to write on if you've used smaller netbooks before. It takes a short time getting used to since at first you expect keys to be further apart, but adjustment does not take long. Feel of the keys is really good and they are well built, I like that spacebar, while long, goes down on both sides if you only press on one side. While it seems simple and does not look as expensive as Macbook Air keyboard, it feels really well built.
The dock also protects the tablet really well. The keys are not elevated on the dock, so they don't touch or get close to tablet screen and leave marks of any kind on the screen in the long run (this happened with my nice Compaq netbook 311C that had a beautiful LED screen that just looked worn thanks to keyboard after a while). Dock is also separated from the tablet with little rubber knobs
The touchpad is basically pointless, I am not sure why it is even needed, but I like that it is there in case I ever would need it. Using screen touch is simply faster, since apps are usually built keeping that in mind. Touchpad is just slower in comparison. I did however find it helpful when writing a lot of text and needing to correct something. It is also great that you can turn the touchpad off so it doesn't activate by accident while you are typing.
Certain apps are also less-keyboard friendly. While typing is supported all around, certain apps are less friendly when it comes to common usability features such as tab key changing selected input field (like going from username to password). You cannot really use the tablet without resorting to touching the screen every now and then, but I must admit that it is better than I originally expected. I actually like having the keyboard on, since on-screen keyboard is really something I don't like to resort to.
I did notice that capacitive pens are not very good on Transformer Prime screen. I have cleaned the screen very well, but capacitive pens are not sensed unless brushing them more noticably against the screen. The pen is a high quality one originally built for iPad 2 by Bamboo, worlds leading company when it comes to graphic tablets. I guess the non-air-pad type capacitive pens would work better though.
For some other things that are not as perfect as they could be, there is a very tiny amount of lag in the system at times when using the keyboard. It is certainly not as responsive as a keyboard should be if you, say, played competitive first person shooter games. But it doesn't really annoy and some apps are better than others at it. This will possibly improve even further with newer Android or firmware updates since it is not a hardware issue at all.
One thing I can tell you though is that TF201 makes quite an impression. I've shown it to two friends and the dock really makes the tablet. It takes away one of the most uncomfortable things about tablets - typing on that awkward screen - as well as offers natural protection without needing a case to protect the screen. Two of my friends who played with it were very impressed. If there's an Android device to wow people who only really know about iPad, it is not good to show the tablet without the dock - since it is just too similar - but the dock helps it really set it apart.
vitalero said:
I am about to order one, so how is it compared to a laptop? i wanna sell my laptop and use Prime all the time insted, btw how did you use you phones internet? thats called tethering? or some bluetooth function ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When using it as a replacement for a netbook, the device works really well. But one has to keep in mind that it is a content-consumption device. You can draw sketches here or write essays, but it is really something that you should consider as a replacement for netbook if you mostly watch movies or surf the internet on your netbook. You are still faster with a netbook if you need to do more intensive work.
But pay attention that I said 'netbook', not laptop. Laptop is still a better device, if you don't have a desktop PC, then I suggest keeping laptop around, since at times it is simply needed to 'create' more than consume. You cannot develop on Android, really edit videos or photoshop pictures or do extensive office work.
When it comes to sharing the internet then yes, I have an unlimited data plan on my phone so I can easily tether my 3G connection. It is not as fast as tablet itself having a 3G, but it is still quite good. I don't stream videos on my tablet usually or if I do, I have a better WiFi connection somewhere. For on-the-go use, it works really well.
-
Some people also requested I post a picture of the dock that has Russian letters. It is a US dock, but if you select Russian as Android language, you can easily use the dock as well, since it shows where the letters are located. For Estonians (if any of you are out there), there is no Estonian layout supported sadly and from what I was told, there won't be one. Contents of the TF201 box however are Estonian, it has Estonian manual and everything.
Why was this thread moved to 'accessories'?
kristovaher said:
Some people also requested I post a picture of the dock that has Russian letters. It is a US dock, but if you select Russian as Android language, you can easily use the dock as well, since it shows where the letters are located. For Estonians (if any of you are out there), there is no Estonian layout supported sadly and from what I was told, there won't be one. Contents of the TF201 box however are Estonian, it has Estonian manual and everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info. But I have a question, sorry my stupidity. What does "it shows where the letters are located" mean? There is no secondary letter set on a US keyboard dock (you said it is a US dock). And the only way in my opinion is - to have a Russian phonetic layout added to ASUS keyboard, so it will be possible to use US dock and type in Russian for those do not remember by heart location of Russian "QWERTY" layout ("ЙЦУКЕН"). I am looking desperately for this possibility - with Russian phonetic layout for ASUS keyboard life will be perfect . I can type Russian using on-screen keyboard but this is not nice when using dock. If you have any info about this - it will be very helpful.
Thanks
EugeneR said:
Thanks for this info. But I have a question, sorry my stupidity. What does "it shows where the letters are located" mean? There is no secondary letter set on a US keyboard dock (you said it is a US dock). And the only way in my opinion is - to have a Russian phonetic layout added to ASUS keyboard, so it will be possible to use US dock and type in Russian for those do not remember by heart location of Russian "QWERTY" layout ("ЙЦУКЕН"). I am looking desperately for this possibility - with Russian phonetic layout for ASUS keyboard life will be perfect . I can type Russian using on-screen keyboard but this is not nice when using dock. If you have any info about this - it will be very helpful.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the keyboard dock picture he attached you can see the actual Russian phonetic layout on the buttons, so it's not exactly the US dock, but like a US dock with Russian phonetic layout added to the buttons.
With all the complaints in this forum, you'd think this was a bad device.
I'll tell you, over in the tf101 forum there was no where near as many complaints and the tf101 wasn't the perfect device either.
The prime is an improvement in alot of ways.
The tf101 had backlight bleeds, I went through 3 of them before I settled.
The tf101 was sluggish, no one here can fully respect the power of the tegra 3 processor without experiencing the tegra 2. The boot time was like 4 minutes, it was slow in alot of areas that the prime isn't.
It had to use honeycomb up until 2 weeks ago, that's about a year - prime owners got it asap with a slew of support from asus for the gps/wifi issues.
The tf101 had keyboard dock issues, alot of the docks had to be sent back in.
It was fat and plastic. It was brown. It collected dust under it's camera.
It wasn't perfect.
But what device is? Galaxy tabs are diet vanilla, nothing really special or innovative about them. The follow the ipad status quo. Toshiba tabs are jokes on battery life. Acers are humongous. Ipads use proprietary apple garbage and are extremely limited by their OEM.
When I got my prime I would grip this thing tightly and say to myself "I own a ****ing transformer prime".
I waited for this thing for months through using my tf101, when everyone was hoping Q4 release meant October, but october stretched on to november, and then december when it finally came out.
But this exceptional tablet gets overshadowed by a couple of it's faults, rather than how great it's advantages are.
We own the world's first quad core tablet, it's thin, it's beautiful, it get's ridiculous battery life with it's incredibly well designed keyboard dock. We have usb connectivity, micro sd, full sized sd, hdmi, etc. Some devices don't have any of those, let alone all of them like we do.
Sure something better will come. Maybe you want a more expensive Ipad 3 with a redundant screen resolution, slower cpu, thicker design to compensate for it's thirst of excessive battery life, and lack of expansion. It's not perfect and the devices after it won't be either...
It's time we be happy prime owners. Asus did design a good device, and they don't receive credit where credit is due. I'm proud to own this tablet.
@OP: The Church of Primetology seeks chaplain
!Hail to you, oh holy Prime, father of connection lacking communication specialists!
Forgive me that I don't see your creators wisdom as he provided you also with that microsd slot so this shall be your door to the world.
Just let your green light shine and don't punch the xcsd out again because I will not find it in the sewage where I would be looking for my missing GPS if you hadn't already disappeared somewhere on a shelf of the ASUS repdep. Thank you for having enlighten my life longer than a week. Which is exceptional or was it the rule?
Give me a thank or another tablet will you.
I endorse the OP post. I ran out of thanks. good viewpoint/angle on the situation. preach on my brother thrash all those who committed sins against the prime. they need redemption NOW! lol
lolololololololol
Agree w the OP. I ranted about its short comings when I first got it, but after using it for a few weeks, I love it. It really is a beautiful device and fast. Its my first tab so maybe my expectations were too high at first.
BTW, what do you mean by redundant screen?
This a great device once you get it to work without crash. Everything's stable for me on .15 nd the browsing is super fast thanks to OC 1.6ghz ... its perfect for what I do
Honestly looking at benchmark (I'm at 13162) scores its the best android device out now by far
Sent from my HERO200 using xda premium
I really like it. I'm not an Asus fanboy, in fact I try as hard as possible to not be a fanboy of anything.
That being said, there were and are shortcomings. But over time the bugs will get ironed out, CM9 and other ROM makers will do some wonders.
I don't know, when I use the Prime (especially with the new floaty browser!) I feel more like I'm using a computer, not an appliance. You know, file management is in my hands, I can f*** around with the OS, break it if I want. Whenever I use my friends' or coworkers' iDevices they just feel like appliances with a shallow OS.
But I'm not trying to sell anyone on it. Some people like it, some people don't. I like seams, I like tinkering. I learn more from it. All those folks complaining about their wifi, gps, screen issues; I guarantee you they have learned MUCH more about those aspects of mobile computing because of those faults.
demandarin said:
I endorse the OP post. I ran out of thanks. good viewpoint/angle on the situation. preach on my brother thrash all those who committed sins against the prime. they need redemption NOW! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol how do you run out of thanks?
nhshah7 said:
lol how do you run out of thanks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the thanks button underneath a post. you only have 8 per day.
NastroGlide said:
BTW, what do you mean by redundant screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP probably means retina display shows everything so cristallclear now you can look at it through a microscope...
Give me a thank or another tablet will you.
this is kind of weird and hard to understand how you guys settle with a device that has a lot of design flaws on both hardware and software. Asus transformer prime was my first tablet. And to be honest the one I got had nearly no light bleed, an okay wifi, kind of working GPS and fairly stable device in comparison with the horror stories that we all know through the forum. I made the though call return my transformer prime one day before my return window. The idea I had was wait a little until Asus get the problems fixed and buy a great one. However, I realized that I have to have a tablet as waiting for a fixed transformer. So I went ahead and bought a Samsung galaxy tab from Costco which has a 90 days return window. Here is my impression out of my first 10 days
-way stable. Had to reboot only one time due to firmware upgrade.
-no hiccups as I use or browse. It is dual core but performs way better than the balance mode of transformer
-screen readability is better than transformer
-wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works in a way it is suposed to be
- Form factor way comfortable than prime. No sharp uncomfortable edges. Way better feeling in your hand. I don't believe I would have written this.
-battery last way longer than prime
There are a few benefits that prime has over.
super ips display is better for outdoor use
Tergra 3 may be better for tegra optimized games. But I am not a game person and use my tablet for business.
prizm74 said:
this is kind of weird and hard to understand how you guys settle with a device that has a lot of design flaws on both hardware and software. Asus transformer prime was my first tablet. And to be honest the one I got had nearly no light bleed, an okay wifi, kind of working GPS and fairly stable device in comparison with the horror stories that we all know through the forum. I made the though call return my transformer prime one day before my return window. The idea I had was wait a little until Asus get the problems fixed and buy a great one. However, I realized that I have to have a tablet as waiting for a fixed transformer. So I went ahead and bought a Samsung galaxy tab from Costco which has a 90 days return window. Here is my impression out of my first 10 days
-way stable. Had to reboot only one time due to firmware upgrade.
-no hiccups as I use or browse. It is dual core but performs way better than the balance mode of transformer
-screen readability is better than transformer
-wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works in a way it is suposed to be
- Form factor way comfortable than prime. No sharp uncomfortable edges. Way better feeling in your hand. I don't believe I would have written this.
-battery last way longer than prime
There are a few benefits that prime has over.
super ips display is better for outdoor use
Tergra 3 may be better for tegra optimized games. But I am not a game person and use my tablet for business.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Galaxy tab smoother than the prime, that's cute haha. I can see how those sharp rounded corners would be a pain seeing as how they would break the laws of physics and all, can't be having that.
I'm just meeting with you though, to each his own
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
prizm74 said:
this is kind of weird and hard to understand how you guys settle with a device that has a lot of design flaws on both hardware and software. Asus transformer prime was my first tablet. And to be honest the one I got had nearly no light bleed, an okay wifi, kind of working GPS and fairly stable device in comparison with the horror stories that we all know through the forum. I made the though call return my transformer prime one day before my return window. The idea I had was wait a little until Asus get the problems fixed and buy a great one. However, I realized that I have to have a tablet as waiting for a fixed transformer. So I went ahead and bought a Samsung galaxy tab from Costco which has a 90 days return window. Here is my impression out of my first 10 days
-way stable. Had to reboot only one time due to firmware upgrade.
-no hiccups as I use or browse. It is dual core but performs way better than the balance mode of transformer
-screen readability is better than transformer
-wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works in a way it is suposed to be
- Form factor way comfortable than prime. No sharp uncomfortable edges. Way better feeling in your hand. I don't believe I would have written this.
-battery last way longer than prime
There are a few benefits that prime has over.
super ips display is better for outdoor use
Tergra 3 may be better for tegra optimized games. But I am not a game person and use my tablet for business.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a few things i hate about the galaxy tab 10.1 wifi was the newton rings on the screen...it gets worse and worse over time.
also it did not have a microsd slot nor a micro hdmi.
those were the deal breakers for me
less people complained about Toyotas having brakes that didnt work than have whined like babies about this TOY. and look at that, Toyota's still the #1 car manufacturer. so when people say we ''settled'' for our Primes, they are sorely mistaken. my Prime had to settle for ME as a user, as it is FAR beyond anything i can hope to do. I love my Prime, best gadget I ever bought
agree with the OP
I completely agree with the OP.
This device is really top notch.
Build quality is amazing, quad core is very nice (definitely will be more utilized in the close future, thank you xda ), multitasking is just awesome.
Converting from an ipad, I can safely say BYE APPLE!
Yes the "new ipad" has an amazing screen, I'll take the TFP thank you.
NastroGlide said:
Agree w the OP. I ranted about its short comings when I first got it, but after using it for a few weeks, I love it. It really is a beautiful device and fast. Its my first tab so maybe my expectations were too high at first.
BTW, what do you mean by redundant screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...........wouldn't want to expect what was advertised !
Design? Who else designs a micro sd card slot that once a card is inserted, it can "Self" eject at any time !
The only thing ground breaking with this tablet is Tegra 3 and an all metal back............but I think we all know why no one else uses an all metal back, by now!
stretchwookie said:
less people complained about Toyotas having brakes that didnt work than have whined like babies about this TOY. and look at that, Toyota's still the #1 car manufacturer. so when people say we ''settled'' for our Primes, they are sorely mistaken. my Prime had to settle for ME as a user, as it is FAR beyond anything i can hope to do. I love my Prime, best gadget I ever bought
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to correct you, but Toyota lost 16% of sales last year and is now no.3 after GM and VW (by a wide margin). Having said that I also have only good things to say about my lovely Prime, but it`s certainly important to note, that I don`t really use the GPS, since that duty is up to my GN. In any case I also respect other opinions, but life is sometimes nicer looking at a glass that is half full compared to viewing it as half empty
Coming from the Acer Iconia A500, I can honestly say that the ATP is WAY better in every way but one. The wifi is slightly poorer than on the Acer. That one was far from perfect either when coming to wifi. And the ranting in the Acer forum is way way less than on this forum.
I am simply AMAZED that some people expect their tablet to have a functionel GPS INDOORS!!! I can´t even get satelite lock indoors with my Garmin car gps.
I fixed the wifi problem quite simply by adding a second wifi router in the house using the house wires. And people complain about not getting a signal when they are other places than home... I just bring my own wifi in the form of a Huawei E586 (Search on Ebay)
On my Acer I had poor wifi, sluggish scrolling and browsing, squicky body, and a front and back part that did not want to stay together down in the left corner, Heavy, FAT, poor battery compared to the ATP, no alternatives regarding dockingstation.....the list just goes on.
And worst of all compared to ATP... Acers EXTREMLY POOR customer service. If you think that ASUS has bad service...try Acer!!!
Updates took forever compared to other tablet makers. I think the tf101 and Xoom got HC 3.2 about 2 months before any Acer tablet did.
I think that Acer A500/501/200 users still have to wait yet another couple of months before they get ICS.
When the A500 came out it had HC 3.0 and people had to wait several months to even get the HC 3.1. If you have ever tried the HC 3.0 you would be reluctant to even so much as try to complain about the ATP.
So if you think that ASUS works slowly to fix things.... THINK AGAIN!!
prizm74 said:
this is kind of weird and hard to understand how you guys settle with a device that has a lot of design flaws on both hardware and software. Asus transformer prime was my first tablet. And to be honest the one I got had nearly no light bleed, an okay wifi, kind of working GPS and fairly stable device in comparison with the horror stories that we all know through the forum. I made the though call return my transformer prime one day before my return window. The idea I had was wait a little until Asus get the problems fixed and buy a great one. However, I realized that I have to have a tablet as waiting for a fixed transformer. So I went ahead and bought a Samsung galaxy tab from Costco which has a 90 days return window. Here is my impression out of my first 10 days
-way stable. Had to reboot only one time due to firmware upgrade.
-no hiccups as I use or browse. It is dual core but performs way better than the balance mode of transformer
-screen readability is better than transformer
-wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works in a way it is suposed to be
- Form factor way comfortable than prime. No sharp uncomfortable edges. Way better feeling in your hand. I don't believe I would have written this.
-battery last way longer than prime
There are a few benefits that prime has over.
super ips display is better for outdoor use
Tergra 3 may be better for tegra optimized games. But I am not a game person and use my tablet for business.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HAHA your funny!!!! I have both sitting right in front of me and I can tell you the galaxy tab doesn't even come close to the performance as our primes. I have to test on both with our applications at work and I cringe every time I pick it up. Even the ipads 1's perform better then that brick.
Sometimes when I hold my tablet in a certain spot (usually right side) and let go... the backing makes some sort of clicking sound. The device doesn't feel flimsy to me, as other have complain... but that noise worries me.
Have others experience this clicking sound when holding their tablet?
Mine did this — it felt like the glue holding the backing in place was coming unstuck. I also found that if I pressed on the back, the pressure point showed on the screen and even engaged the touch sensor.
This along with other annoyances (screen shadow along bottom edge, a dead pixel, diagonal lines on screen and breaking of Firefox Sync by Sony Android OS) made me return it. I expect a $600 to be well-built and last at least 2 years and this glue unsticking spoke of shoddy design and a short product life.
My original Xoom cost the same and is still fully functional and unblemished. I was hoping the Xperia would be a worthy replacement, but it was a disappointment.
TellTenPeople said:
Mine did this — it felt like the glue holding the backing in place was coming unstuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly how I would describe it. I've been trying to find more information about this issue, but not many people have written about it. Do you think this issue is normal for all these tablets, or I got a defective one?
SmartBugger said:
That's exactly how I would describe it. I've been trying to find more information about this issue, but not many people have written about it. Do you think this issue is normal for all these tablets, or I got a defective one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine makes the same clicking sound. And I also have the "loose headphone flap". I'll ask for an exchange.
I have the same problem with mine. It feels like the glue is not holding well. Hopefully it can be easily fixed by SONY if it start to cause problems.
One more thing. When you press the loose place it makes screen go white, which worries me a little. No problem if you using case but still something like that shouldn't happen in high end device. Maybe it is thinnest tablet but it is not the strongest
Sent from my SGP311 using XDA Premium HD app
SmartBugger said:
That's exactly how I would describe it. I've been trying to find more information about this issue, but not many people have written about it. Do you think this issue is normal for all these tablets, or I got a defective one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you got a defective one. If you have the patience to do the exchange-fix dance with Sony or whatever retailer you bought it from and like everything else about the tablet then you should.
If the just-announced Tegra 4 Toshiba Write hadn't caught my eye, I would probably had tried to exchange it to see if I could get a properly glued one, but that Toshiba is the same price, had a newer processor and is designed for my intended use-case (notetaking), so Sony's lose is Toshiba's gain at least in my case.
TellTenPeople said:
I think you got a defective one. If you have the patience to do the exchange-fix dance with Sony or whatever retailer you bought it from and like everything else about the tablet then you should.
If the just-announced Tegra 4 Toshiba Write hadn't caught my eye, I would probably had tried to exchange it to see if I could get a properly glued one, but that Toshiba is the same price, had a newer processor and is designed for my intended use-case (notetaking), so Sony's lose is Toshiba's gain at least in my case.
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I got it from newegg, and I suspect they will be good about doing an exchange. That being said, I don't want to do an exchange if this problem is very common. So perhaps I should ask... has anyone NOT experience this issue?
The main reason why I got this instead of the nexus 10, was because of its waterproof nature. I want a tablet I can go to the gym with... and not having to worry about sweat/water was a huge selling point for me.
There's really no way of knowing how widespread the issue is without a proper survey of a representative sample of Xperia Tablet Z owners. People on forums tend to go there with problems they have so forums are full of people with problems Not a great sample.
Ultimately, all that you can realistically do is keep exchanging until you get one you like, or you or Newegg lose patience.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Mine can flex slightly (which triggers recognition on the screen), but I have no clicking sounds or similar things - mine feels very solid and feels top-notch otherwise, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sony's quality control for Japanese units was tighter.
Same thing here SGP321 FROM DUBAI, seems like the glue between the back cover and whatever inside got unstuck...
My xperia tablet Z makes the clicking sound on both the bottom left and right, around the speaker area.
To me it sounds like the paper (or plastic) that is generally found in a (earplug) speaker.
Seeing that the slim design i think it is more then likely that we are pressing on the speaker of the tablet, and not so much the glue coming apart.
If it were the glue then it would most likely be at random places across the tablet. Seeing that we are all reporting the noise in the same general area, which also happens to be the place where the internal speakers are located, i feel that it is the speaker making the clicking (crackling) noise.
Hi look on youtube and search, Opening up Sony's Android Tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z (Teardown) you can see the back cover is stuck on with double sided tape.
dazbut28 said:
Hi look on youtube and search, Opening up Sony's Android Tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z (Teardown) you can see the back cover is stuck on with double sided tape.
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Here is a link to the video you mentioned.
Opening up Sony's Android Tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z (Teardown)
Cat McGowan said:
Here is a link to the video you mentioned.
Looks easy enough to pop off the back and add some additional tape or silicone adhesive, if you're so inclined.
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I have the same issue. I decided to give it a week or so before returning it to see how much I use it and if there are any other problems. I am nit-picky and the screen colours (greys and whites mainly) are just strange. Greys are red-ish while whites and yellowy, so a screen adjuster app doesn't help at all. Also I get a shadow right around my screen, it's really distracting on things like Falcon Pro in white. The sticky back is still happening and I also found out that I don't really like Android tablets. That, or they're just not ready for me yet. The 16:10 aspect ratio has no advantage to me, just disadvantages, and apps that I want to use just aren't good enough or they're non-existent.
So I'm returning it and waiting for the iPad mini 2. Sorry, but the Nexus 7 felt like a blown up experience of my phone rather than a shrunken down experience of a tablet.
Mister, here are people who use and like Android because of the openness and customizability.
If that isn't important to you, then you are anyway wrong here, and I wish you much fun with your Apple stuff.
iisshaun said:
I have the same issue. I decided to give it a week or so before returning it to see how much I use it and if there are any other problems. I am nit-picky and the screen colours (greys and whites mainly) are just strange. Greys are red-ish while whites and yellowy, so a screen adjuster app doesn't help at all. Also I get a shadow right around my screen, it's really distracting on things like Falcon Pro in white.
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I agree with my colors being a little warm, but it's not extreme or bad (my desktop monitor is also set moderately warm). Probably unit variance. What I do have is the 'shadow' on the bottom border, but I'm not unaccustomed to backlight bleed or such. It doesn't bother me much either since usually the black Android system bar is there to begin with.
Sounds like Sony's quality control isn't very tight on international units...
salanos said:
I agree with my colors being a little warm, but it's not extreme or bad (my desktop monitor is also set moderately warm). Probably unit variance. What I do have is the 'shadow' on the bottom border, but I'm not unaccustomed to backlight bleed or such. It doesn't bother me much either since usually the black Android system bar is there to begin with.
Sounds like Sony's quality control isn't very tight on international units...
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My monitors are every so slightly yellowy, but I was able to use that with a slight colour value change. It seems mine just has odd variables on different tones... quite a bit like my old Galaxy Nexus was like (Yellow whites, green greys and purple dark greys). That's actually why I really dislike AMOLED, so it's a bummer that this IPS panel isn't as accurate as I'd like.
And yeah, really doesn't like they're super tight on the international side. I didn't really want to bother with what could have been back and forth replacements.
hasenbein1966 said:
Mister, here are people who use and like Android because of the openness and customizability.
If that isn't important to you, then you are anyway wrong here, and I wish you much fun with your Apple stuff.
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Well look at that, I do actually use and like Android (it's the only mobile OS I use right now). It's just the tabs that aren't up to snuff for me. Openness and customisability is only a good thing if it actually helps make something more useful for me. I find those aspects very useful on my phone. I need to be quick and efficient and I can do that on an Android, but not really on an iPhone. A tablet serves a different purpose for me. It's a leisure/convenience device, I don't need any customisation for it to allow me to do anything faster. Also, my phone has a ton of apps and absolutely all of the ones I want, this Xperia tab doesn't, and definitely not all the apps I consider essential.
Sorry that I have different needs and wants than you, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not wrong in being here because 1) I own the tablet that's in question here and 2) I use Android as my only mobile OS right now and I'll still be using it on my phone for a long time. I wasn't trying to start some petty flame war here, I was just explaining my issues with this tablet and elaborating on why I'm returning it. So let's stay on topic here, huh?
If you're looking for a leisure device, wouldn't 16:10 be more ideal for movies? But I agree on the lack of proper tablet optimized apps. What exactly do you want to do on your tablet though?
If it's web browsing, I feel Android will always deliver a superior experience (I have long tired of constantly reloading tabs on the iPad 3). If it's gaming... well, no argument, iOS usually gets more games.
salanos said:
If you're looking for a leisure device, wouldn't 16:10 be more ideal for movies? But I agree on the lack of proper tablet optimized apps. What exactly do you want to do on your tablet though?
If it's web browsing, I feel Android will always deliver a superior experience (I have long tired of constantly reloading tabs on the iPad 3). If it's gaming... well, no argument, iOS usually gets more games.
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Well I don't really watch much video away from my PC anyway, and I hardly ever watch any movies either. You've hit the nail on the head though, it's what I plan to do on it that makes the difference. I do a lot of social media stuff, reading, some browsing, games and a bit of video. Reading is far better on a 4:3 screen in portrait. I like 16:9 in portrait on my PC for reading, but trust me it's very different on a tablet. Also, I can't even get a half-decent way of using Facebook on the XTZ either. The official app is awful and Friendster which is supposed to be great is honestly rubbish.
Really it's just something to waste time on, read stuff on and be a convenient portable web browser. A 10" tablet isn't very convenient tbh and the Nexus 7 isn't either when it's so similar to my phone that's already in my pocket. An 8" 4:3 screen is a lot different from a 4.7" or 7" 16:10 screen. It's big enough to be something I want to use over my phone in some situations and small enough that it can travel most places quite easily.
It's just personal preference, it's been said a million times, but I think you already know that. Back on topic though.