[Q] Has ASUS put good GPS hardware in later batches of tablets? - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

It would make sense that they would update the faulty hardware when they found the problem. I'd still like a TP 201 but GPS is a necessity for aviation navigation. If the problem was fixed in later batches, I would buy one.

Well, if GPS is a necessity... don't go for the TP... it's a fantastic device, but not intended to be used as a GPS device... it's a design fault more than a hardware fault... perhaps if the TP Infinity has GPS it would be better...

prime will work fine for navigating now that asus is giving away free external gps dongles..read my gps dongle test thread for more details
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1602789

Is the dongle only for people who bought a TP before the GPS was removed from the specifications?
Would a person who bought a TP today get a dongle?

skypony said:
Is the dongle only for people who bought a TP before the GPS was removed from the specifications?
Would a person who bought a TP today get a dongle?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes..dependent on where you live though. most places can get them

I bought a Prime 1.5 weeks ago. After rooting and apply the aGPS fix, my GPS works great. I haven't waited longer than 10 seconds for a lock. Maybe they did improve it.....

I would not trust a non dedicated GPS system for aviation. That is just asking for trouble.

I have a later TFP (C1 series) and my GPS is functional but not great.
The Asus TFP aluminum case (product design - good for appearance and sturdiness) imepeeds GPS and Wi-Fi in some cases.
I ordered the GPS dongle and anticipate this will bring GPS reception up to the level of my smartphone.

jlabrat said:
I have a later TFP (C1 series) and my GPS is functional but not great.
The Asus TFP aluminum case (product design - good for appearance and sturdiness) imepeeds GPS and Wi-Fi in some cases.
I ordered the GPS dongle and anticipate this will bring GPS reception up to the level of my smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
recent testings, including mines and other members, show prime gps dongle performing better than smartphone gps

Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.

Mr Zulu said:
Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please post back after you receive the dongle and test it on your flights. i bet you will be surprised as to how well and accurate the dongle performs.

Mr Zulu said:
Pilot here. Bought my prime to be an EFB. All the pilots I personally know that use a tablet for an EFB are apple freaks so they were my only point of reference before buying. I was told not to expect a tablet GPS to be that useful in the confines of a small aluminum cockpit. The GPS antenna really needs to be up on the dash which obviously would make the tablet a bit useless. The suggestion was to use a bluetooth GPS and set it up on the dash if I wanted georeference on the charts. However, none of these pilots bothered with that. Of course it did occur to me that these pilots were full of **** and trying to justify why they bought the cheaper ipad without 3g (and no GPS either) but I was not expecting any tablet gps to be great in the cockpit so I wasn't making my purchase decision based on that.
I'm of the mindset of not bothering with it. I have three panel mounted GPS units in the airplane. I really don't need another. It's easy enough to just swipe chart to the right location when I need the chart and I don't need to actually look at a chart very often at that.
So, I was dissapointed when I saw the the GPS in the prime is a no-go, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. That said, I put in for that new dongle... it's free afterall, may as well give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the free GPS Extension Kit; this is what Asus calls in the packaging it does help the GPS. What the Kit does is it disables the built in GPS and uses the dongle GPS. Works good, I tested to see indoors. I have the C3OK serial TP and the GPS kind of works outside, but with the dongle, it finds your location within 30 seconds after the first time. I prefer not to have the dongle, but at least I can use it if I ever wanted to really use the GPS. I have my TP rooted, so I might try the GPS hack that has been really working. Here is a quick view of the dongle.

demandarin said:
please post back after you receive the dongle and test it on your flights. i bet you will be surprised as to how well and accurate the dongle performs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It came in today and while I haven't flight tested it yet I think I have to say color me not impressed.
When I first got the tablet with Honeycomb still on it, I could get and lock onto GPS with it sitting on my dining room table near a window with an accuracy of 90 something feet. Outside was a little better... maybe 40 feet or so but I have no doubt that if I was diving (or flying) that the lock would be lost but I never tested it.
When the tablet updated to ICS, I lost ALL GPS function. Never could see a satellite inside or outside even when left for hours under an open sky.
Well, with the dongle, my GPS now see satellites again... but not as good as I had with the native GPS and Honecome operating system. Sitting here on the same dinning room table near the same window, I mostly do not have lock. Occasionally it will grab a lock but the best I've seen is accruacy o 143'. The last lock I had was to 757'. Currently as I type, no lock. Outside after setting for a long time, I got a lock to 70 or so feet. As I walked around the yard, accuracy fluctuated between that 70' and 125' but was mostly between 90' and 125'.
I'll have a chance to test it in a small aluminum cockpit going 200mph tomorrow and see how it does... not expecting much.
---------- Post added at 03:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 AM ----------
Woops, sorry. Nevermind. It didn't occur to me that it might perform better after restarting the prime (since it's hardware and the software has been restarted several times since the last update).
In any case, it's actually impressive now. Inside it's a solid 40 or so on the accuracy. Outside walking around the back yard, it holds a solid 12' or so. Best I've seen.
I'm feeling better about it's chances tomorrow. We'll see.

Finally got a chance to post back here. It worked flawlessly in the airplane. 17' to 20' accuracy when the Prime was sitting on the seat next to me. Would go to less than 10' accuracy when I held the Prime in front of me where it would normally be when I'm working on it and that's going at about 200mph. Nice feature added to the charting software.
I still regard it as just a 'nice feature' though. It really is easy enough to just swipe the chart to your location without GPS. Most airplanes have GPS in the panel now (mine has three) so you already know your location and most GPS units built in the last 12 years or so contain most of the information you'd need on a typical flight in the database so we don't even have to look at these charts during the actual flight that often anymore... and some of the more recent ones have the charts actually loaded into them (mine does not and is what I use the Prime for). When we douse a chart in flight, it's not to see where we are (since we already know that), it's to look up some detailed information that's not in our GPS databases, or perhaps the most common reason... to look up the spelling of an assigned intersection (spellings are typically very odd) so that we can access that intersection in the panel GPS.
Now, there are SOME older planes where the owners may not of updated their panels to have a GPS in them. For those, I'd want to buy a tablet with a good working GPS. In that case, a GPS would be a HUGE benefit.

Related

Need a cheap External GPS for TyTN

Can anyone give me some advice.
I am looking for a very cheap external GPS adapter I can use with my TyTN.
But I dont want to end up with the worst crap that wont really work.
Any tips would be appreciated. Never bought a GPS device before and have no idea what to look for.
I got an iBlue 737 for Christmas, and so far I really like it:
http://www.semsons.com/ib737blgps32.html
Have had great luck with a Holux 1000. Ive had it for a while. Picked it up on fleabay for about $24 (I think).
SoulSeekerHS said:
Can anyone give me some advice.
I am looking for a very cheap external GPS adapter I can use with my TyTN.
But I dont want to end up with the worst crap that wont really work.
Any tips would be appreciated. Never bought a GPS device before and have no idea what to look for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the Holux GPSlim 236. I have had it for more than a year. Works pretty well. Great battery life. Simple to set up. Available for under 50 buks on ebay. This is just the GPS hardware - no navigation software included.
As far as software is concerned - TomTom i smy favorite. This forum would give you lots of guidance in terms of GPS software options. Just search through the archives.
I've been very happy with my QStarz receiver.
Battery runs for over 10hrs and never had a problem with signal.
http://www.qstarz.com/
Ok cool, thx for all the suggestions.
Will look arround for good deals on those, maybe I find something used on ebay.
The specs of the qstarz Q818 look very promising, but 70€ is a bit more than I can spend at the moment. Will rememeber it for richer times tho hehe
so again, thx all. That has helped me alot
GPS
I have one of these and it work like a charm. Good battery life, and fast fix.
its NMEA instead of SIRF, but I can't figure out the difference. Works with Google maps, Live Search, TomTom, FFF and everything else using GPS i've tried.
http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=BT0005
well....
i've seen all goods listed above...
it's a difficult thing for these merchants to ship GPS over the Atlantic to China....
Where can i find a cheap GPS that included shipping costs....
thanks~
re: GPS Receiver
Hi
I use the freedom keyring mini gps receiver, It is Sirf III , also used holux gpslim 236 before that, both awesome, why don't you try from the famous auction site considering that a lot of the sellers there sell to the UK from china, with you the postage costs should be reduced
Chudiy
Irony
Its actually kinda funny when you consider 95% of these came from either China or Taiwan in the first place....
ss1271 said:
well....
i've seen all goods listed above...
it's a difficult thing for these merchants to ship GPS over the Atlantic to China....
Where can i find a cheap GPS that included shipping costs....
thanks~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my Holux from this guy about 6 months ago:
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/digichoice/
He's in HK.
nanastas said:
Its actually kinda funny when you consider 95% of these came from either China or Taiwan in the first place....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its really kinda depress when I go to another country and buy some goods that marked "Made in China"...
I use Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-3W, very slim and stylish.
Battery lifetime 12 hours.
I use the Freedom Keyring GPS, but previously had the Holux GPSlim 236 (which suddenly died even though it was babied).
So far I have had excellent luck with it. It's very solidly built, has good battery life, and seems to pick-up signal very quickly. I was sceptical at first due to Freedom's no-frills packaging, but I would definately recommend it.
SiRFStar III is considered the standard, though they all pretty much work well nowadays. My Holux 236 works very well, had it for over a year now. Holux do some even smaller ones now.
samcham said:
I got an iBlue 737 for Christmas, and so far I really like it:
http://www.semsons.com/ib737blgps32.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes - I have also this GPS - it´s great - very fast!!
i have the Holux Slim 240 .. VERY happy with it. Its the smallest I've found out there, looks good up on my dash (have a tiny dot of Velcro there to hold it in place), the battery life is superb at 10hrs, uses the same charger as my phone, and has the standard SiRFStar 3 for amazing accuracy. Once its locked, I can even put it in the "dime bag" pocket of my jeans facing out and will never lose signal (motorcycle, bicycle, walking). It takes a minute or two to get an initial lock but my understanding is that they all do. Highly recommended, < $60 if you shop around: http://www.amazon.com/Holux-GPSlim-240-Bluetooth-Receiver/dp/B000HDJSNA
If I were still in the market, I would consider that new keychain one .. it would be nice to always have it on your person.
Quality GPS
I'm not sure if it is within your price range, but I love my Garmin GPS 10. It is several years old and still retains a charge for a long time and is incredibly accurate. I use it in my car and I use it for Geocaching.
The "current" version is called the Garmin Mobile™ 10. They have it for PDAs, SmartPhones, Blackberries, laptops, Sprint Mobile, etc.
The best part is that it comes with software that can be loaded on a laptop, phone or PDA ... all you need is a bluetooth connection and you are ready to go! So, I can use my GPS with all my toys!!!
Mine came with a velcro strip, but I don't have to use it. The protective rubber piece that is over the adhesive part acts like non-slip ... so I don't use the velcro ... and the GPS does not slide.
I don't care what anyone says, Garmin has always been and will always be one of the best manufacturers of GPS technologies. They work hard to continue earning and maintaining their reputation.
Yes, it might be a little more $$$ up front, but you won't need to replace it for a very long time! Go for QUALITY!!!!!
Dual mode USB and Bluetooth?
Could be used in PC as well PDA?
Mine can. USB or over bluetooth. Came with drivers on a mini-cd

Wifi issue

Well it appears this is a design flaw!
When they where designing it they should have used some plastic! Using all metal backing makes the signal weak as hell!
Even if they can fix this problem idk! It would still be really weak!
For an example if you look at the ipad there is plastic for the Apple logo behind this is the wifi anttena!
Hopefully the back really is plastic and they did not overlook that problem! And it's just imperfections in the antenna!
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I am pretty sure the Asus tech guys aren't totally dumb. I think they know about problems with WiFi and metal...
I guess the antenna is somewhere in the bezel. Anandtech (i think they were the ones) said that with their new unit wifi was okay, but it depends on the holding angle of the prime.
So it seems we DO have to take some comprises for having a full metal back. But I think I can life with that
Diamondback2010 said:
I am pretty sure the Asus tech guys aren't totally dumb. I think they know about problems with WiFi and metal...
I guess the antenna is somewhere in the bezel. Anandtech (i think they were the ones) said that with their new unit wifi was okay, but it depends on the holding angle of the prime.
So it seems we DO have to take some comprises for having a full metal back. But I think I can life with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but even still It's not a tablet unless you get great Internet signal!
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Diamondback2010 said:
I am pretty sure the Asus tech guys aren't totally dumb. I think they know about problems with WiFi and metal...
I guess the antenna is somewhere in the bezel. Anandtech (i think they were the ones) said that with their new unit wifi was okay, but it depends on the holding angle of the prime.
So it seems we DO have to take some comprises for having a full metal back. But I think I can life with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anandtech said the new unit was better, but not as good as the original Transformer in terms of WIFI.
Don't assume that ASUS is not capable of making such a stupid mistake. There have been lots of cases of top tier companies shipping out products with such design flaws, and I don't think ASUS is in the category of top tier company. I work in a fortune 500 company, and we get the first batch of a lot of laptops, and we test them before the workers get them. Sometimes I'm amazed at the lack of basic quality control when these devices first come out. It's like they ship out beta hardware.
Ectoplasmic said:
Anandtech said the new unit was better, but not as good as the original Transformer in terms of WIFI.
Don't assume that ASUS is not capable of making such a stupid mistake. There have been lots of cases of top tier companies shipping out products with such design flaws, and I don't think ASUS is in the category of top tier company. I work in a fortune 500 company, and we get the first batch of a lot of laptops, and we test them before the workers get them. Sometimes I'm amazed at the lack of basic quality control when these devices first come out. It's like they ship out beta hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is not one doubt in my mind Asus wasn't aware that the WiFi was wearker than the TF101. However you have to realize unless the performance literally was unacceptable by whatever QC standards they have, they are able to pass the design, build the product, and ship it. Fact is only because a couple top tier reviewers recieved units that weren't up to the standards of the rest, they decided to handle the situation the way they did. In fact if they weren't aware of it, they probably would've let the stock stay as is, launch as normal, and say that "there are a small number of reported cases" as companies usually do.
Ectoplasmic said:
Anandtech said the new unit was better, but not as good as the original Transformer in terms of WIFI.
Don't assume that ASUS is not capable of making such a stupid mistake. There have been lots of cases of top tier companies shipping out products with such design flaws, and I don't think ASUS is in the category of top tier company. I work in a fortune 500 company, and we get the first batch of a lot of laptops, and we test them before the workers get them. Sometimes I'm amazed at the lack of basic quality control when these devices first come out. It's like they ship out beta hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened with Apple and the Iphone 4. The antenna was located in the bottom
right of the phone and signal was lost when you had your hand over it.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5178/an-update-on-transformer-prime-battery-life-wifi-issues
"Using Ookla's Speedtest.net web app I get a consistent 34 - 37Mbps on the original Eee Pad Transformer (our actual WiFi performance tests involve downloading a file from a local server, but Speedtest was a quick and easy way to verify the problem). My original Prime review sample averaged around 0.5Mbps, while the replacement Prime got around 10Mbps - all in the same test location. Fiddling around with location I could get the replacement Prime up to 16Mbps. My test area is riddled with challenging interference so I setup a separate test area in another room. Even after buying the same Netgear WNDR4500 wireless AP that ASUS verified 31Mbps+ operation on, I wasn't able to break 16Mbps.
I have four other APs covering my house, I turned all of the radios off as a last ditch effort. Boom - 36Mbps on the Prime.
The culprit appeared to be either my 3rd gen Time Capsule or 5th gen Airport Extreme, with those radios off and using the WNDR4500 I was able to get performance competitive to the original Transformer. Here's where things get interesting. The original Transformer was made out of plastic, through which RF travels quite nicely. The Prime's metal construction makes things a bit more finicky. Indeed this is exactly what I saw, where depending on tablet and AP orientation I'd see anywhere between 10Mbps and 36Mbps downstream (average speed tended to be in the 15 - 20Mbps range). "
I also think it's a mistake to assume that other reviewers would necessarily notice this problem. Other reviewers might not have tested WIFI performance at all.
Ectoplasmic said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5178/an-update-on-transformer-prime-battery-life-wifi-issues
"Using Ookla's Speedtest.net web app I get a consistent 34 - 37Mbps on the original Eee Pad Transformer (our actual WiFi performance tests involve downloading a file from a local server, but Speedtest was a quick and easy way to verify the problem). My original Prime review sample averaged around 0.5Mbps, while the replacement Prime got around 10Mbps - all in the same test location. Fiddling around with location I could get the replacement Prime up to 16Mbps."
I also think it's a mistake to assume that other reviewers would necessarily notice this problem. Other reviewers might not have tested WIFI performance at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one is doubting the performance isn't up to par with the TF101. It's obvious it's not. Again Asus was well aware and thought it would slip by well because of something called everyday use. If it wasn't noticed by other reviewers it's for a reason, they tested it under normal use circumstances and found it to be quite acceptible. I am in no way making excuses for Asus or the design but it is what it is. Anandtech however doesn't test like that and which is why they were able to find such a flaw. It's all about a matter of usage.
I'm about to dump my pre-order. This whole release date debacle pissed me off, and now if there is possible WIFI issues...it might be a bad investment. I've been asking myself if I really need a tablet anyhow, and the answer is probably not.
please dump it.. saves it for the people who want it.
adampdx said:
I'm about to dump my pre-order. This whole release date debacle pissed me off, and now if there is possible WIFI issues...it might be a bad investment. I've been asking myself if I really need a tablet anyhow, and the answer is probably not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad I didn't do the pre-order thing. I don't want to be first in line for this. I'll wait until it is generally available, and there has been time for reviews of retail units. Let other people be on the bleeding edge
I have not been close to cancelling my preorder up to this point but if this wifi issue is confirmed I may be tempted to buy the original TF. Especially considering they keep showing OOS open-box Transformers for $185 on a particular website we all know and love. If I see one in stock I think I will go that route until this issue is worked out.
I wish some more reviewers would do in-depth testing on this issue.
I hope they don't make it thicker with a redesign! It seems line it already was redesigned once aka the one poorly placed speaker...
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Wordlywisewiz said:
I hope they don't make it thicker with a redesign! It seems line it already was redesigned once aka the one poorly placed speaker...
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't you ever seen a proper Wifi antenna? They at least as thick as your finger.
So they NEED to make it a lot thicker.
Otherwise we'll never get a proper Wifi signal.
You may better get a different device.
I am really not sure if you are trolling... But be assured, I AM.
Diamondback2010 said:
Haven't you ever seen a proper Wifi antenna? They at least as thick as your finger.
So they NEED to make it a lot thicker.
Otherwise we'll never get a proper Wifi signal.
You may better get a different device.
I am really not sure if you are trolling... But be assured, I AM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm just saying maybe they should have put a real wifi antenna in the dock also...
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Diamondback2010 said:
I am pretty sure the Asus tech guys aren't totally dumb. I think they know about problems with WiFi and metal...
I guess the antenna is somewhere in the bezel. Anandtech (i think they were the ones) said that with their new unit wifi was okay, but it depends on the holding angle of the prime.
So it seems we DO have to take some comprises for having a full metal back. But I think I can life with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They were dumb enough to test the Wifi after they've mass produced the thing instead of before. What makes you think otherwise?
Folks, let's tell the whole story here. What Anandtech also said:
I have four other APs covering my house, I turned all of the radios off as a last ditch effort. Boom - 36Mbps on the Prime.
The culprit appeared to be either my 3rd gen Time Capsule or 5th gen Airport Extreme, with those radios off and using the WNDR4500 I was able to get performance competitive to the original Transformer. Here's where things get interesting. The original Transformer was made out of plastic, through which RF travels quite nicely. The Prime's metal construction makes things a bit more finicky. Indeed this is exactly what I saw, where depending on tablet and AP orientation I'd see anywhere between 10Mbps and 36Mbps downstream (average speed tended to be in the 15 - 20Mbps range). Apple gets around this issue in the iPad by putting the WiFi antenna behind the plastic Apple logo, however it's not entirely clear to me where the WiFi antenna is on the Prime (I have this policy about not taking things apart until I'm done testing them).
As to why performance was lower with the Apple APs active, I'm not entirely sure. Chasing down RF interference issues can be a severe undertaking. One thing is for sure, the Prime is going to be far more finicky than its predecessor when it comes to reaching peak speeds over WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that the folks at Anandtech are smart people, but it seems like the reviewer conflated some things here. I don't know how much testing he did AFTER turning off the Apple AP's, but it sure seems to me like the fluctuating results he's talking about were from before he did so. Perhaps the Prime is fine in general but just had an interference issue with the Apple APs that actually resolved itself just fine once they were turned off.
Why would there be this kind of interference with the Apple APs? I have no idea, except that it would point to something in software and not hardware. But until we have someone who does a really good job of detailing precisely where a non-defective Prime has wifi issues, I'm personally writing this off to something being broken in his first unit.
True, he did say he could get it to 36Mbps "depending on tablet and AP orientation I'd see anywhere between 10Mbps and 36Mbps downstream (average speed tended to be in the 15 - 20Mbps range)"
This, along with:
ASUS feels the WiFi range does not currently meet their standards and has delayed all shipments worldwide. At the moment there is no ETA and noinformation on available quantities on the first batch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20155626
As a comparison, AnandTech shows the Kindle Fire's WiFi maxes at 15.2, and I couldn't get close to that in my own tests.
i posted in multiple threads my concerns about the wifi issue when the anandtech and cnet reviews came out. i've canceled my preorder at jr but will keep my adorama and bestbuy preorders for now though. all hype i had for this thing is completely gone. now i'm like whatever.
If Anandtech was able to get full WIFI speed turning off other AP's than that points more to an interoperability issue that should be correctable through firmware/driver rather than antenna/hardware design.

Initial impressions of a German Prime

Okay guys, here we go with some impressions of a non american prime.
Today, I got my 32GB gray Prime + the gray dock from the first german batch.
I have to say that I never owned a tablet myself before and I currently use a Desire HD as my development phone.
Hardware:
Good:
Build quality is perfect, period. On my Prime there is absolutely nothing i don't like about it.
It's super thin and not too heavy
Power and volume buttons are nice, but not metal
Keyboard dock build quality is on the same superior level.
The screen is absolutely awesome, super bright, perferct viewing angels and the colors are super good too, no yellow hue for me.
The speaker(s) are hands down the best thing I've ever heard on any mobile device. They are loud, they are clear and they have bass . I tried to completely cover it -->not possible with my hand, it still sounds the same
No comment on batterylife yet, it's my first charge
Camera is really good for a tablet, the pictures look much like iPhone pictures look. Really good when zoomed out and pretty strange when zoomed in.
The screen is very easy to clean, no comparision to my phone.
Bad:
Wifi is pretty weak, I can clearly see that it is way weaker than my DHD (it actually doesn't even see my network where my phone connects without any issue)
I won't say anything concerning the actual speed because I am not used to Wifi devices having a better speed than 10Mbps.... One word though: it's slower than my phone.
After the .33 update Wifi speeds are really good, 25-30Mbit/s
It's pretty sad we got only one speaker, you clearly notice the sound comes only from one side
The charging cable somehow feels really cheap. It also doesn't have any kind of snapping thing which prevents unwanted removal of the plug. The connector is like a USB-plug, you plug it and you un-plug it without any button or so to press. The charger itself feels okay.
Keys on the dock could need a bit more travel distance
Screen is finger print magnet, but I actually havenÄt compared this to other tablets
Software
Good:
Hmm, yea what to write here...?
HC runs smoother on the Prime than on my girlfriends Xoom...
Asus Supernote is a pretty decent note taking app. If they add palm rejection it's the best note app out there.
Haven't tested much of the other Asus apps so far
Ah, the Asus quicksettingsmenu is cool too, it's fast and just works
Bad:
HC just sucks, it's not well optimized at all. There are bugs random slowdowns and hangs everywhere
My GPS is broken too (more on this later)
Touchscreen sucks (I put this to software because I don't think it's hardware related). The touchscreen isn't always working properly. It's the same "ghost touching" reported earlier. Also it sometimes just doesn't register at all. You need to tap 2 or even more times.
Touchscreen working perfectly after the .33 update, no more issues at all.
Usage
I love the keyboard, i actually work a lot with that tiny mousepad I never saw me working with a mouse on android
Battery (still first charge of Prime and dock) seems to be pretty good, I am currently on 11 hours of constant usage (webrowsing, a movie, listening to music playing games, etc)
using the touchscreen while docked is a bit hard because the device is very top heavy, you need to hold the dock while working with your finger on the screen
You need to activate the ASUS onscreen keyboard in order to get a QWERTZ keyboard while using the dock. Otherwise it's a QWERTY. That's the most annoying thing I found so far
The "GPS-issue":
Now I had the chance to actually test it myself, so here are the results.
My Prime doesn't lock onto satellites as most others here too.
It barely sees any satellites at all. Where my phone sees 10 sats (all with good reception) the Prime sees from time to time exactly one with near zero reception...
I really think this is software related (or maybe I just want to believe that? ). Read why:
In my opinion we have so many issues with the Primes because ASUS didn't intend to release the Prime with Honeycomb at all.
I think they developed this device only with ICS and once they realized that they can't finish ICS they hurried up to slap HC on it.
Unfortunately the actual testing of the software was more or less forgotten or better suspended due to time constraints.
If I am right we will see a nicely running more or less issue free ICS soon. If this is not the case ASUS really screwed up this time...
Conclusion
All in all I think the Prime is a awesome device which will get perfect once the bugs are gone. I am still happy with my Prime and I'll keep it.
If they fix the GPS and the touchscreen I got a perfect device for my use. Weak Wifi is not really a problem for me
Update
Okay a little update mainly about battery life:
I used the Prime all day now until it reached 2% I got about 9 hours of constant heavy usage, including webbrowsing, downloading lots of things, watching a movie, listening to music playing games, etc.
Then i plugged the fully charged dock and continued using the Prime the same way as before. Currently I am near 12 hours of usage, 23% left in the dock and Prime got recharged by dock to 31%.
I guess the Prime will go up to about 40-45% (all while using it), before the dock gets empty.
So far I am pretty impressed by the batterylife. (remember this is the first charge for both Prime and dock)
See also the added section about the usage.
Second Update
I just got the .33 OTA and it installed fine without any problems.
The touchscreen is super responsive now, no more issue at all in this case.
Wifi seems to be faster too, GPS hasn't changed at all (as expected)
Diamondback2010 said:
The "GPS-issue":
Now I had the chance to actually test it myself, so here are the results.
My Prime doesn't lock onto satellites as most others here too.
It barely sees any satellites at all. Where my phone sees 10 sats (all with good reception) the Prime sees from time to time exactly one with near zero reception...
I really think this is software related (or maybe I just want to believe that? ). Read why:
In my opinion we have so many issues with the Primes because ASUS didn't intend to release the Prime with Honeycomb at all.
I think they developed this device only with ICS and once they realized that they can't finish ICS they hurried up to slap HC on it.
Unfortunately the actual testing of the software was more or less forgotten or better suspended due to time constraints.
If I am right we will see a nicely running more or less issue free ICS soon. If this is not the case ASUS really screwed up this time...
Conclusion
All in all I think the Prime is a awesome device which will get perfect once the bugs are gone. I am still happy with my Prime and I'll keep it.
If they fix the GPS and the touchscreen I got a perfect device for my use. Weak Wifi is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting point you raise and something that I was thinking about also, maybe the drivers for the GPS were intended to work only with ICS (I don't know enough to comment on this) and that's really why we're getting such shoddy reception. However the fact that ASUS are now removing all traces of the device having GPS in the specs list does suggest that it may well be hardware related.
I'm expecting a statement pretty soon from them.
Thanks for the short review! Do you have the 64GB Prime?
JoeyLe said:
Thanks for the short review! Do you have the 64GB Prime?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, the 32GB + dock bundle in gray.
Diamondback2010 said:
Nope, the 32GB + dock bundle in gray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those already out in Germany? You're lucky there! Will be another week or 2 before it will come out in Holland.
Doktaphex said:
However the fact that ASUS are now removing all traces of the device having GPS in the specs list does suggest that it may well be hardware related.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen this mentioned before. Is this true?
I see it still lists GPS here:
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_Prime_TF201/#specifications
ModestMuse23 said:
I haven't seen this mentioned before. Is this true?
I see it still lists GPS here:
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_Prime_TF201/#specifications
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, here it still is too: http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/specification/
Gps is still listed in specs on Asus global site.
Diamondback2010 said:
Okay guys, here we go with some impressions of a non american prime.
Today, I got my 32GB gray Prime + the gray dock from the first german batch.
I have to say that I never owned a tablet myself before and I currently use a Desire HD as my development phone.
Hardware:
Good:
Build quality is perfect, period. On my Prime there is absolutely nothing i don't like about it.
It's super thin and not too heavy
Power and volume buttons are nice, but not metal
Keyboard dock build quality is on the same superior level.
The screen is absolutely awesome, super bright, perferct viewing angels and the colors are super good too, no yellow hue for me.
The speaker(s) are hands down the best thing I've ever heard on any mobile device. They are loud, they are clear and they have bass . I tried to completely cover it -->not possible with my hand, it still sounds the same
No comment on batterylife yet, it's my first charge
Camera is really good for a tablet, the pictures look much like iPhone pictures look. Really good when zoomed out and pretty strange when zoomed in.
The screen is very easy to clean, no comparision to my phone.
Bad:
Wifi is pretty weak, I can clearly see that it is way weaker than my DHD (it actually doesn't even see my network where my phone connects without any issue)
I won't say anything concerning the actual speed because I am not used to Wifi devices having a better speed than 10Mbps.... One word though: it's slower than my phone.
It's pretty sad we got only one speaker, you clearly notice the sound comes only from one side
The charging cable somehow feels really cheap. The charger itself is okay
Keys on the dock could need a bit more travel distance
Screen is finger print magnet, but I actually havenÄt compared this to other tablets
Software
Good:
Hmm, yea what to write here...?
HC runs smoother on the Prime than on my girlfriends Xoom...
Asus Supernote is a pretty decent note taking app. If they add palm rejection it's the best note app out there.
Haven't tested much of the other Asus apps so far
Ah, the Asus quicksettingsmenu is cool too, it's fast and just works
Bad:
HC just sucks, it's not well optimized at all. There are bugs random slowdowns and hangs everywhere
My GPS is broken too (more on this later)
Touchscreen sucks (I put this to software because I don't think it's hardware related). The touchscreen isn't always working properly. It's the same "ghost touching" reported earlier. Also it sometimes just doesn't register at all. You need to tap 2 or even more times.
The "GPS-issue":
Now I had the chance to actually test it myself, so here are the results.
My Prime doesn't lock onto satellites as most others here too.
It barely sees any satellites at all. Where my phone sees 10 sats (all with good reception) the Prime sees from time to time exactly one with near zero reception...
I really think this is software related (or maybe I just want to believe that? ). Read why:
In my opinion we have so many issues with the Primes because ASUS didn't intend to release the Prime with Honeycomb at all.
I think they developed this device only with ICS and once they realized that they can't finish ICS they hurried up to slap HC on it.
Unfortunately the actual testing of the software was more or less forgotten or better suspended due to time constraints.
If I am right we will see a nicely running more or less issue free ICS soon. If this is not the case ASUS really screwed up this time...
Conclusion
All in all I think the Prime is a awesome device which will get perfect once the bugs are gone. I am still happy with my Prime and I'll keep it.
If they fix the GPS and the touchscreen I got a perfect device for my use. Weak Wifi is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great first impressions. I also believe this has the best sound out of any mobile device I've heard before. in the themes and apps section there's a thread on an app called Volume+. its a volume booster that uses a speaker mod to accomplish this. let me tell you, IT WORKS GREAT. my prime now is wayyy louder than stock and has more bass to it also. I confirmed this with a decibel meter testing the speaker mod off vs. on. definitely a dramatic increase in sound and quality. has various profiles and even advanced ones so you can use equalizer if you feel up to it. that thread had link to marketplace for it. its a paid app. but he also says, in description, you can get that same app for free from his website. which he lists in app description also. just thought I'd spread the word as the sound now is unbelievable for the most part.
glad to hear you liking your Prime. hopefully it'll serve as a great developement tool for you also.
Thanks for the review. Surprised that the WiFi isn't as strong as the Desire HD I would have thought it would be. Maybe this can be improved, certainly sounds like it would be better with optimized ICS as well.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
ModestMuse23 said:
I haven't seen this mentioned before. Is this true?
I see it still lists GPS here:
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_Prime_TF201/#specifications
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JoeyLe said:
Yeah, here it still is too: http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/specification/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
acidus. said:
Gps is still listed in specs on Asus global site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its true. check out the GPS issues thread n You will see. they began to remove it first from the U.S. Asus site. they probably in process now of trying to remove all traces of it..lol
demandarin said:
great first impressions. I also believe this has the best sound out of any mobile device I've heard before. in the themes and apps section there's a thread on an app called Volume+. its a volume booster that uses a speaker mod to accomplish this. let me tell you, IT WORKS GREAT. my prime now is wayyy louder than stock and has more bass to it also. I confirmed this with a decibel meter testing the speaker mod off vs. on. definitely a dramatic increase in sound and quality. has various profiles and even advanced ones so you can use equalizer if you feel up to it. that thread had link to marketplace for it. its a paid app. but he also says, in description, you can get that same app for free from his website. which he lists in app description also. just thought I'd spread the word as the sound now is unbelievable for the most part.
glad to hear you liking your Prime. hopefully it'll serve as a great developement tool for you also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, nice never tried that app before, but it works perfectly
Thanks for that tip
demandarin said:
its true. check out the GPS issues thread n You will see. they began to remove it first from the U.S. Asus site. they probably in process now of trying to remove all traces of it..lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, no trace of GPS on german site...
First batch in Poland and gps works perfectly.
Wysłane z mojego Transformer Prime TF201 za pomocą Tapatalk
Diamondback2010 said:
Okay guys, here we go with some impressions of a non american prime.
Today, I got my 32GB gray Prime + the gray dock from the first german batch.
I have to say that I never owned a tablet myself before and I currently use a Desire HD as my development phone.
Hardware:
Good:
Build quality is perfect, period. On my Prime there is absolutely nothing i don't like about it.
It's super thin and not too heavy
Power and volume buttons are nice, but not metal
Keyboard dock build quality is on the same superior level.
The screen is absolutely awesome, super bright, perferct viewing angels and the colors are super good too, no yellow hue for me.
The speaker(s) are hands down the best thing I've ever heard on any mobile device. They are loud, they are clear and they have bass . I tried to completely cover it -->not possible with my hand, it still sounds the same
No comment on batterylife yet, it's my first charge
Camera is really good for a tablet, the pictures look much like iPhone pictures look. Really good when zoomed out and pretty strange when zoomed in.
The screen is very easy to clean, no comparision to my phone.
Bad:
Wifi is pretty weak, I can clearly see that it is way weaker than my DHD (it actually doesn't even see my network where my phone connects without any issue)
I won't say anything concerning the actual speed because I am not used to Wifi devices having a better speed than 10Mbps.... One word though: it's slower than my phone.
It's pretty sad we got only one speaker, you clearly notice the sound comes only from one side
The charging cable somehow feels really cheap. It also doesn't have any kind of snapping thing which prevents unwanted removal of the plug. The connector is like a USB-plug, you plug it and you un-plug it without any button or so to press. The charger itself feels okay.
Keys on the dock could need a bit more travel distance
Screen is finger print magnet, but I actually havenÄt compared this to other tablets
Software
Good:
Hmm, yea what to write here...?
HC runs smoother on the Prime than on my girlfriends Xoom...
Asus Supernote is a pretty decent note taking app. If they add palm rejection it's the best note app out there.
Haven't tested much of the other Asus apps so far
Ah, the Asus quicksettingsmenu is cool too, it's fast and just works
Bad:
HC just sucks, it's not well optimized at all. There are bugs random slowdowns and hangs everywhere
My GPS is broken too (more on this later)
Touchscreen sucks (I put this to software because I don't think it's hardware related). The touchscreen isn't always working properly. It's the same "ghost touching" reported earlier. Also it sometimes just doesn't register at all. You need to tap 2 or even more times.
The "GPS-issue":
Now I had the chance to actually test it myself, so here are the results.
My Prime doesn't lock onto satellites as most others here too.
It barely sees any satellites at all. Where my phone sees 10 sats (all with good reception) the Prime sees from time to time exactly one with near zero reception...
I really think this is software related (or maybe I just want to believe that? ). Read why:
In my opinion we have so many issues with the Primes because ASUS didn't intend to release the Prime with Honeycomb at all.
I think they developed this device only with ICS and once they realized that they can't finish ICS they hurried up to slap HC on it.
Unfortunately the actual testing of the software was more or less forgotten or better suspended due to time constraints.
If I am right we will see a nicely running more or less issue free ICS soon. If this is not the case ASUS really screwed up this time...
Conclusion
All in all I think the Prime is a awesome device which will get perfect once the bugs are gone. I am still happy with my Prime and I'll keep it.
If they fix the GPS and the touchscreen I got a perfect device for my use. Weak Wifi is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where in Germany are these available?
The whole thing is just an incredible failure by Asus. They obviously rushed and keep rushing an unfinished product to market in order to beat the new ipad launch in January. Its nothing more than a big FU to the consumer. Return for refund, dont let them get away with this BS.
Sent from my my i9000 running CM or MIUI
jotka2 said:
First batch in Poland and gps works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you. Got mine yesterday, yes same batch in Poland distributed by Euro RTV AGD, and can confirm that the GPS reception is of very low signal. Long time for first lock, and looses the signal very easily.
Side by side comparison with my TF101 clearly suggests problems with GPS of the TF201.
Diamondback2010 said:
[*]The charging cable somehow feels really cheap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is. It look like the same cable as the one in TF101. Mine chipped on the corner - on itself, just while I was plugging it.
It also doesn't have any kind of snapping thing which prevents unwanted removal of the plug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually a good thing, so if you trip on the cable, the device will hopefully unplug and not crash.
Magnesus said:
It is. It look like the same cable as the one in TF101. Mine chipped on the corner - on itself, just while I was plugging it.
It's actually a good thing, so if you trip on the cable, the device will hopefully unplug and not crash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never thought about it this way, but you are right
Just kinda unhandy when you are doing things with it while charging (maybe the initial charge is the only time this happens at all )
Diamondback2010 said:
32GB gray Prime + the gray dock from the first german batch.
where in Germany did you get yours??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

So, Just How Bad is the Prime's GPS? (Vids Inside)

There’s been a lot of discussion about just how bad the Prime’s GPS is, especially for navigation, with some folks claiming theirs is “working.” There have even been claims it works in a moving car and someone posted this pic as proof.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Six out of nine satellites with a 90’ accuracy while the Prime is completely horizontal on the dashboard and smashed forward against the windshield is piss poor and by no means a realistic example. If that’s the best it can do, it’s unusable for navigation. And that’s using GPS Test, not real navigation s/w.
I took these three vids today using a G-Tab to show what navigation typically looks like. I use navigation a lot while traveling and the Zoom and Jetstream perform identically. In other words there’s nothing special about the G-Tab or its performance in these videos. And I intentionally used different routes that changed directions so that no one can say "but..." Navigation shouldn’t be hard and you should never have to question its performance. It should just work. This also isn't to show how great the G-Tab is, but to help you guys understand what your expectations should be of GPS and navigation on a tablet, any tablet.
CoPilot
1) Cold Boot
2) Flight Mode On
CoPilot doesn’t require either a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to work at any time. All the data it relies on is stored locally. In this example the G-Tab ran solely on its stand-alone GPS from start to finish. The G-Tab’s sitting on the passenger seat which is where it usually is when I use it rental cars on the road. The direction it’s facing changes numerous times so its ability to maintain a satellite fix isn’t dependent on being in a particular position. At 2:35 you’ll see it navigate an S turn. If accuracy was any higher than 15’ that would be impossible. Throughout the video you’ll see how accurately it keeps position and changes direction as the car does. At 6:19 I intentionally go off route. It corrects so quickly you have to look at the orientation of Ash Street to even notice. The same thing happens again at 7:50. And for the finale you can see the tablet fall off the seat of the car in a turn. G-Tab’s are sturdy.
Google Navigation 1
1) Cold Boot
2) 3G On (to download route guidance)
3) Start Google Navigation
4) 3G Off
The maps are cached but Google Navigation needs to download the driving directions via 3G or Wi-Fi. Once downloaded it can navigate from GPS alone. That’s what this vid shows. You can see how accurate the positioning is based on how well Google Nav keeps up with the car’s position; especially approaching turns. The car changes position multiple times and you can see it passing under bridges and overpasses without losing the signal. At 4:19 watch how accurately it navigates a curve. At 5:18 watch the car’s position change at a turn and how well Google Nav keeps up with it.
Google Navigation 2
1) Cold Boot
2) Flight Mode On
3) GPS Test (1:10 – 1:45, 10 out of 10 satellites and 15’ accuracy in 35 seconds)
4) Flight Mode Off
5) Google Nav downloads driving directions
6) Flight Mode On
Like the first Google Nav vid, it never misses a beat. But why would it? It’s maintaining 15’ accuracy consistently.
So comparing against the pic of the Prime on the dashboard you can see just how bad the GPS in the Prime is compared to a G-Tab (and other tablets) So while everyone beats there head against the wall trying to prove it works you can also see how futile that is. Even a 50% improvement would be half of what the G-Tab’s (or Zoom, or Jetstream) capable of. And I use navigation sometimes twice a week in cities in the U.S. and Europe. If the G-Tab was operating at 50% it would be useless to me (and you too). So god's speed to the developers and to those hoping for an ICS fix. In all my time on XDA I’ve never seen s/w fully overcome a h/w problem. And this my friends is a h/w problem. Anyone else that's used a tablet for navigation feel free to share your expereinces and how they compare to what I've shown.
PSA: Spokane's a podunk town. I strongly recommend against shooting video in a moving car on busy streets.
While I agree you pay $500 for a working tablet with GPS... on the other flipside,who the F uses a tablet for GPS. Use your phone or buy a garmin god damnit. It's just not practical to use a tab.
chugger93 said:
While I agree you pay $500 for a working tablet with GPS... on the other flipside,who the F uses a tablet for GPS. Use your phone or buy a garmin god damnit. It's just not practical to use a tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do whatever you want. For me, and probably others, using a tablet for GPS makes sense. Here's some of the advantages:
1) It's got a bigger screen which is easier to see when you're driving.
2) A lot of the tablified GPS apps have a split screen mode which makes it easier to navigate at turns and on expressway on and off ramps.
3) Tablets have better GPS chips and antennas so they're more accurate (ironic, isn't it).
4) The battery on a tablet's a lot bigger than a phone so it'll last three times as long if it's not plugged in.
5) Using a tablet vs. a phone doesn't drain the phone's battery while you're on the road.
6) The phone's free to make and receive Bluetooth calls.
I posted the vids only to give people that even care about navigation something to benchmark against. I could care less what people choose to use for navigation or if they don't care about GPS at all. I'd assume the latter group would have no interest in this thread anyway (hint).
Have you tried using a 7" tablet for car nav? How would legibility fare against a 10"? Seems to me that it would be easier to mount a 7" in a location more in front of the driver, as opposed to a center location where you have to turn your head and look.
oh man not again
we know. I bought it and kept it anyways.
BTW, have an Ipad 3g. Never used navigation on it without it being wired to the internet, 3g or tethered. Will be the exact same with tf201.
AND, now, my phone has google maps. this way, I can still watch old Billy Mays infomertials on youtube whilst navigation with the phone.
just don't buy it dude. put it on craiglist and get something else.
Now is the time to be looking for or finding a solution. Or seeing what Asus is going to do about it. this is beating a dead horse. already known GPS sux, even Asus admitted. So instead of dragging the issue out, which is widely known, lets focus more of solving the problem vs. just keep talking about how bad it is.
e.mote said:
Have you tried using a 7" tablet for car nav? How would legibility fare against a 10"? Seems to me that it would be easier to mount a 7" in a location more in front of the driver, as opposed to a center location where you have to turn your head and look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, 7" is too close to the size of my phone. I mostly use the tablet for video, web, news and stuff like that while I'm traveling so I like the extra real estate. With 5.3", 7", 7.7", 8", 8.9", 10", and 11.6", it really comes down to personal preference.
demandarin said:
So instead of dragging the issue out, which is widely known, lets focus more of solving the problem vs. just keep talking about how bad it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So without an example of "good," how would you know how bad "bad" is and what a working threshold is? Also, people trying to use Google Nav to do some of their own testing couldn't figure it out. At least they can now see how it works. And some people who haven't seen a tablet navigate might find watching one in action interesting.
Again, with no interest in GPS, I don't understand why anyone would keep extending a thread on it just to let the world know (once again) they don't care. It's important enough to some people that they returned their Prime's over it so it's not like no one cares.
Hmm, that's a good demo of Co-Pilot for me. Although, I think I prefer the graphic of Sygic... But yea, pretty accurate demo of GPS navigation on a tablet.
Btw, I noticed some significant lag with your G-Tab....
You've listed Moto/Samsung/HTC as tabs with good GPS. Not sure about the Jetstream, but both the GTabs and Xoom also have dual-band wifi. I don't think it's a coincidence that all these are also phone vendors. Their tablets tend to be better designed, and unsurprisingly, cost more.
Despite the shiny iPad-like shell, the TF201 is pretty similar in build quality and price to the TF101 and other "mainstream" tabs. Even without a metal shell, I wouldn't bank on GPS performance for any of the non-phone vendors' units.
Connectivity is something these tab vendors will need to improve. Most of the issues listed with the Prime (and to a lesser extent, with 1st-gen Droid tabs) are about I/O: HDMI, bluetooth, USB, wifi, GPS.
Some of the blame lies with the OS. Frankly, I'm looking forward to Win8 tabs if only for Windows' proven connectivity.
shinzz said:
Btw, I noticed some significant lag with your G-Tab....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blame me, not the G-Tab. I have a ton of stuff syncing and widgets that dependent on outside data so booting takes a while. It's 3G so it's always connected so it's not an issue in daily use. It's actually worse in airplane more because everything looking for a signal does and has to fail before the UI’s normal again.
Thanks for making this thread, maybe it will shut up those that swear their GPS is working flawlessly lmao.
A lot of people use a tablet for GPS. Just because you don't see yourself using it doesn't mean everyone should also not use a tablet for GPS...
I don't use GPS at all for anything but I could see how many people would like to use it, especially for their jobs.
jzen said:
Thanks for making this thread, maybe it will shut up those that swear their GPS is working flawlessly lmao.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of the issue is everyone seems to have a different definition of "working." The guy with the Prime on his dashboard swears his is "working." If people watch even short segments of the video it shows how important precision is for accuracy. And the difference between 90' and 15' hurling along an expressway at 70MPH looking for an exit is the difference between making it and not.
e.mote said:
You've listed Moto/Samsung/HTC as tabs with good GPS. Not sure about the Jetstream, but both the GTabs and Xoom also have dual-band wifi. I don't think it's a coincidence that all these are also phone vendors. Their tablets tend to be better designed, and unsurprisingly, cost more.
Despite the shiny iPad-like shell, the TF201 is pretty similar in build quality and price to the TF101 and other "mainstream" tabs. Even without a metal shell, I wouldn't bank on GPS performance for any of the non-phone vendors' units.
Connectivity is something these tab vendors will need to improve. Most of the issues listed with the Prime (and to a lesser extent, with 1st-gen Droid tabs) are about I/O: HDMI, bluetooth, USB, wifi, GPS.
Some of the blame lies with the OS. Frankly, I'm looking forward to Win8 tabs if only for Windows' proven connectivity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, can you tell me how dual-band WIFI helps with GPS?
Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip (btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
shinzz said:
Umm, can you tell me how dual-band WIFI helps with GPS?
Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip (btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the point of what he's saying. Asus has far fewer products dependent on far fewer radio combinations than a manufacturer that builds phones does. Motorola, Samsung, and HTC sell tens of millions of mobile devices equipped with multiple radios. It makes sense that their experience makes a difference in the finished product.
>Jetstream and Xoom has better design over TF101?
I don't know about the Jetstream, but the Xoom is better constructed. It has none of the build-quality issues that occurred with the Acer/Asus/Toshiba tablets. You can verify by scanning the start of the respective tablets' general forums for complaint frequency.
The GTab has some issues, eg the "Newton rings". But in overall volume of complaints, it's a still only slight second to Xoom. The largest by far is the Prime, followed by Acer A500, then Asus TF101.
There are other models with worse issues, eg the Iconia A100 with terrible screen & battery life, but they aren't as popular, so complaints are fewer.
>Last I checked, all these vendors use similar GPS chip
Consumers tend to obsess over chips and specs, eg quad-core. For GPS, antenna and overall system design matters more, or even most. For other aspects, the proof is real-world app performance.
>(btw, Asus is releasing padfone.. doesn't that qualify Asus and phone vendor?)
Dell sold a phone as well. That doesn't make it a phone vendor.
e.mote said:
I don't know about the Jetstream
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Jetstream's built like a tank. And it's as big as one and weighs as much too. I wanted to like it and Sense on a tablet was cool, but it just wasn't comfortable to carry around or even hold.
The GTab has some issues, eg the "Newton rings".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the biggest complaint. Samsung changed the screen design in October so newer G-Tabs don't have the issue. The other biggest "discussion" is the love/hate relationship with TouchWiz.
the proof is real-world app performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^^
This. Always.
Dell sold a phone as well. That doesn't make it a phone vendor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if the PadPhone fares as well as Dell's phone attempts sell your Asus stock. I love the concept of the PadPhone, just not from Asus.
People who use a tablet for gps, please post a sign on your windshield or something. Cause I would sure love to drive in front of you and when you look down at you tablet gps on the passenger side, slam my brakes and get paid by your insurance. Easy win. "Officer it's not my fault. I bet you he took his eyes off the road to play with the gps on his tablet". CHA-CHING!!
Better yet, why not set up a 22 inch monitor on the dash and have your phone output to the monitor. Instant ultimate GPS!! BAM!!
Of course this is all fun and games
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201
I'm a bit confused by the videos and such. I appreciate you making them, but what are you comparing them to? Is it to the picture of someone's prime?
I don't really see how that is accurate at all. Was the photo shown the best possible accuracy anyone with a prime has ever had? There are so many variables here that are out of your control that is there is no way you could claim this as proof that the prime's GPS in extremely bad.
I'm not trying to argue that the prime's GPS is fine, I just don't see how this test proves anything. Show a prime next to you galaxy tab in these videos to show that there is in fact a difference if you want to claim such, otherwise it doesn't support your argument at all.
unxconformed said:
I'm not trying to argue that the prime's GPS is fine, I just don't see how this test proves anything. Show a prime next to you galaxy tab in these videos to show that there is in fact a difference if you want to claim such, otherwise it doesn't support your argument at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with two different nav programs, GPS Test, and multiple different driving scenarios, you've witnessed what a typical tablet using GPS is capable of without depending on Wi-Fi. Can the Prime pass any of those tests? Until it can, no one can say the Prime’s GPS is “working.” Besides, now that the bootloader’s unlocked I’m sure the devs are going to look at GPS. They now have a bogie. But having used tablets for GPS all over the world, anything less than 75% of the performance shown in the vids isn’t usable for driving navigation. The G-Tab even becomes a bear in thunderstorms.
P.S. - The best performance of a moving Prime is in the pic in my original post. And since it's a still vs. a video I'm guessing that's the best it could do, not the worst.

Interested in prime transformer

Hi,
this morning someone sent me a link from Tom's Hardware about this tablet. The articles mentions that some people have modded their case to improve GPS signals.
I wonder why Asus don't revise this product to address this issue.
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
You DONT even have to do all that anymore. Asus is offering free GPS dongles to people who purchase a prime. Offer ends in July. Just take a look in my GPS dongle test thread. Then take a look at the link in my signature THST says positive transformer thread.
Prime is a great device. Get one asap
Well first of all, I find it hard to believe that the aluminum case is causing 100% of the problem. Because, if it were then like you said, why not just change the design of the backplate? My guess is that simply adding a plastic strip to the top of the backplate would not improve GPS performance that much. And personally I think the plastic strip look is ugly as hell. What they could have done is kept the all aluminum finish and just relocated the antenna to behind a speaker grill, which is similar to what other devices with metal casings have done. I am sure the GPS still wouldn't be 'professional grade' but it would at least be better than what we currently have.
Either way, the whole GPS problem was something that was obviously not 'caught' until really late in the production process. If it were caught earlier, I am sure something more pro-active would have been done about it. But by the time they found out, they were in too deep to make a hardware change as they were most likely already in mass production. The early regions of where the device was released they had already advertised the thing as having GPS, both on the box and on the official spec sheets. Then when it was released these people found out that GPS was virtually non-functional and ASUS had to quickly back track and pull GPS as a feature from the spec list. My guess is their lawyers told them they need to do something to avoid a class action law suit and any further bad press around this whole situation. So their options were:
1) Recall the device and then modify the hardware in some way to fix the GPS problem (whether that be done via a newly designed back pate or whatever). And then any new ones produced would obviously have this hardware change incorporated as well.
2) Offer a free addon that improves GPS performance.
As we now know, they went with option 2, which I am sure was also the cheaper route. Also, option 1 would imply an admission of guilt in that they messed up. The GPS dongle option allows them to say: "Although the TF201 is not a professional GPS device, as part of our unwavering commitment to our customers we are offering all customers who purchased a TF201 system a free external GPS extension kit, called a dongle, which may help improve signal reception and optimize the user experience".
Honestly I do not care about GPS in a tablet and I will probably only ever use my dongle a select few times in the entire span that I own and use the Prime. I do think it is good that ASUS is doing something about it though. Other companies may very well have just brushed this thing under the rug and moved on with life (which is what I assumed ASUS has been doing until we found out about the GPS dongle).
jordache16 said:
Well first of all, I find it hard to believe that the aluminum case is causing 100% of the problem. Because, if it were then like you said, why not just change the design of the backplate? My guess is that simply adding a plastic strip to the top of the backplate would not improve GPS performance that much. And personally I think the plastic strip look is ugly as hell. What they could have done is kept the all aluminum finish and just relocated the antenna to behind a speaker grill, which is similar to what other devices with metal casings have done. I am sure the GPS still wouldn't be 'professional grade' but it would at least be better than what we currently have.
Either way, the whole GPS problem was something that was obviously not 'caught' until really late in the production process. If it were caught earlier, I am sure something more pro-active would have been done about it. But by the time they found out, they were in too deep to make a hardware change as they were most likely already in mass production. The early regions of where the device was released they had already advertised the thing as having GPS, both on the box and on the official spec sheets. Then when it was released these people found out that GPS was virtually non-functional and ASUS had to quickly back track and pull GPS as a feature from the spec list. My guess is their lawyers told them they need to do something to avoid a class action law suit and any further bad press around this whole situation. So their options were:
1) Recall the device and then modify the hardware in some way to fix the GPS problem (whether that be done via a newly designed back pate or whatever). And then any new ones produced would obviously have this hardware change incorporated as well.
2) Offer a free addon that improves GPS performance.
As we now know, they went with option 2, which I am sure was also the cheaper route. Also, option 1 would imply an admission of guilt in that they messed up. The GPS dongle option allows them to say: "Although the TF201 is not a professional GPS device, as part of our unwavering commitment to our customers we are offering all customers who purchased a TF201 system a free external GPS extension kit, called a dongle, which may help improve signal reception and optimize the user experience".
Honestly I do not care about GPS in a tablet and I will probably only ever use my dongle a select few times in the entire span that I own and use the Prime. I do think it is good that ASUS is doing something about it though. Other companies may very well have just brushed this thing under the rug and moved on with life (which is what I assumed ASUS has been doing until we found out about the GPS dongle).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1...although the solution of a GPS dongle really kills the idea of a TRANSFORMER prime...cant use it with the keyboard dock, and its not as flush and they said it is..you wont be able to use majority of the leather cases and etc when you are using the dongle
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
kwazytazz said:
+1...although the solution of a GPS dongle really kills the idea of a TRANSFORMER prime...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really - now it can TRANSFORM into a 'professional grade' GPS device! ;-)
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
jordache16 said:
why not just change the design of the backplate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are, for the 300 and 700 series, back to plastic where the radios are going. iPad tried behind the speaker grille and it still has issues. Its better than nothing but def not perfect.
Yes, the black strip doesnt always look as appealing, however you could cover it with a case or carbon fiber sticker or whatever, i'd much rather go for plastic strip over no radio reception.
And also yes, the interference can definately be 10000% caused by the metalic back plate. Both by blocking the signal and RF noise. Everything pretty much is grounded to the metal back and it, in turn, has a lot of RF noise associated with it. If i attach a lead to the gps or wifi contact inside the tablet and have the wire run outside the tab i get excellent reception. Once that wire goes within about an inch of the tablet the signal drops dramatically. Even if the access point is on the proper side of the tablet so its not blocking the signal.
Asus knows how to make killer electronics. they did an amazing job on the prime, however the demand caught them off guard. They tried to do something different with the metalic design and got caught with their pants down. They will get it right eventually and in the mean time we are at least getting SOMETHING (free dongle for gps, why not?)
The prime is a great tablet, awesome for watching movies, playing games, browsing the internet. ya, the wifi is not that great, i look forward to mods for using the dongle for wifi instead of GPS, but in the mean time this is the best we got, and its good enough. When the 700 comes out i may sell my prime for that but i got money in my pocket. if your on a budget, buy the TF101, its still better than any other tablet (aside from the 201 IMO), or wait for the 300 series which will still be a cost efficent tablet.
Asus is doing their best to remedy this situation. They are a big company and big machines move slow. Considering their track record i will still continue buying their products. I have been impressed overall by the prime, and the 101 before it, and look forward to the 700 when it comes out. Continue doing your research and determine what is going to be important for you (and if you do go Prime make damn sure to test it every way you can before accepting it).
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me.
proxus01 said:
I have owned the prime for months. My wifi strength is fine and I dont use GPS enough to justify the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SoTacMatt said:
Same here.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
texstar said:
Same for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here..lmao
my wifi been been performing great where ever i go. whether at home, traveling and tethering, or some where else and hooking up to another public or private network.
The worst problem with the prime is the constant freezes it has...
It`s frustrating.
Tried all the browsers people recommend and the problem persists.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

Categories

Resources