Want to swing an idea at you (removable radio) - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

so picture you have a 10.1 inch tablet. (or any tablet for that matter) that has WI-FI built in. this tablet also has (for simplicities sake in explaining what im talking about) a gigabit port inside the device. the actual port is at the end of a 1" tunnel. This tunnel resembles a stylus tunnel on the note 3.
inside this "slot, slides a 1" wide , 8mm thick "cell phone" the phone has a simplistic screen, and a keypad, enough ram and processing power to get calls/text done. But it also has a radio. it also has the ability to interface with the tablet ( think lan cable) giving the wi-fi only tablet radio signal.
The idea behind this is that oyu have a practically fully functional tablet, but you also have a "cell phone" that you can drop in your pocket, or take with you on a quick grocery run, etc. flip phone style. you would charge the phone when inside the tablet, or via a stand alone charger.
the second part of teh idea is that the port would be standardized across all hard ware, so that the basic "radio" would fit in multiple devices. or you could keep your phone and buy a new tablet, or vice versa.. maybe you have a cell but no tablet, and your friend does..
Is this feasable? is it a bad idea? I constanlty find myself not wanting to take a 6" screen with me everywhere, or it just much simpler to pull the sim card and stick it in a dumb phone when you need to do rough work.

I guess its a terrible idea then eh? LOL

no such thing as a terrible idea
There is no such thing as a terrible idea, having said that, it probably isnt viable to manufacture as everyone wants slimmer smaller toys not ones with things built in that may slip out break or get stolen. Probably just needs to be built either in CAD or similar and see if you can work out whats wrong and whats right. It would stop a lot of duplication with products, having two or more things doing similar jobs. Why not also then have a connection slot built into your car that you just slipped the radio unit into and you then have full use in the car while it is charging and then take out as you leave to have full phone. Just give me 2% when you get it built. good luck:good:

Related

TG01 external wifi antennae is possible!!!!

ok i may have this completely wrong as i have not tested it yet but i noticed on the back of my tg01 i had 2 round black stickers, one top left, one middle left.
After peeling this stickers off i have 2 little ports which look remarkably like the ports used on internal wifi chips (laptops, nintendo ds) which the areial plugs into for the wifi signal
We can now enhance the tg01's wifi reception with a little careful wire placement
i hope his helps someone with the wifi reception & maybe better battery life as its not having to try so hard for a signal
comments?
Are you sure one of those are not for a external GSM antenna? Like for using in a car
no, i did think this but they are to small. only 2-3mm across. i know what im talking about when it comes to hardware, they are definitely wifi ant. ports.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...internal+wifi+connector&um=1&hl=en&tbs=isch:1
this site has loads of pics and prices for the relevant hardware
its called an ipx connector, the pigtails they sell can be used to act as the antennae.
i think this could be a good thing
that connector u linked in is a standard connector used with laptop wifi card , they have a little pin in the middle , the connector on the tg01 has no pin in the middle , the ring around it is the shading
kk here is what i know so far.....
most (if not all) builtin wifi chips have an antenae port out, i know this through research with the nintendo ds, and internal laptop chip on various laptops ranging from toshiba to sony.
they commonly have two of the ipx ports for the loop with the wifi flylead.
it may be possible qualcomm have used a proprietary ipx adapter for extra sales through the hardware of there chipset or toshiba have gotten the grubby little hands on it and done it that way
we need people who want to run an experiment on this and find out if they are what i think they are or if im completely wrong
volunteers????
i happen to have a connector ur looking for , but , it doesnt have a pin in the middle and its 90' angled so it wont fit unless i get the back cover off ... with that said , i dont have a 3angled srewdriver thats needed
... ill make some pics later
could it be possible the snapdragon chipset has done away with the pin for a design point? they may be purely there as a dud bit of hardware as qualcomm have directly etched the wifi ant onto pcb and not allowing the flylead?
or...
they may be semi usable with the core (the bit with the pin) etched onto the pcb and the earth allowed to be enhanced by just using the outer rim of these ipx ports?
or...
im totally wrong and as well as the usb host function you could attach a couple of jump leads to the beast via these ports and jump start that big ol v8 what keeps stalling?
Perhaps they could be test points, do you think you can show us a photograph?
i will upload pics tomorrow, they wont be great quality as i have to use my wifes blackberry for em and it dont take great up close pics.
test points are a possibility, tbh it did cross my mind but usually there just dotson the pcb, not ports, but it is a more advanced piece of hardware.
just out of interest but if you were to hook it up with the ports via usb, there would be a chance you could damage it because of the power usb ports output. if it turns out to be wifi then your gonna blow the chip or worse.
but if you want to try it then by all means psot results
hope this help
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/5106/p1210021g.jpg
nice one!
looks like it connects two aerials for better wifi/radio
compare the connector with this
i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss28/linyedongwyl/Intel-5300-half.jpg
thats the connector for the ipx that has been linked earlier , this is a little different , it would be nice to see what the connectors look like on the tg's wires?
alrite , lets compare this baby to the xperia x1
www.phonewreck.com/wiki/images/b/b2/Xperia_x1_pcb_1.jpg
u can clearly see it also has two unused connectors of the same kind wich appear to be unused /but on tg the two upper ones were connected on the pcb!!!/
as for the interconnection of unknown function on the backplate they used the battery cover to pass it thru(the cover's back is unpainted on thoose specific points to give conduction) if it were to just hold the cover in place the would of left the paint on
see the four pins on the phone around the battery
www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2009/3/xperia-x1-battery.jpg
so i was right, we can get better wifi signal with these ports.
and then
better signal + less energy needed = better battery life
and the SE using the conductor pins for the back cover they have used that on the old w series of phones to. no real idea of what it does though
thanks to those who uploaded pics, helped out a lot with explaining what they are and the circuit detail.
so who' gonna be the first to install this on there phone and so testing for battery life and signal improvement?
Did you get anywhere with this? Very interested!
This sort of thing would surely work:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800-900-1...099221?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item4ced70add5
IPX antenna.
Alternatively.. what would almost 100% work is a replacement antenna cable for the tg01
Although I could be wrong... if you look at this review of the LG P990 (Optimus 2X) you will notice the two different types of connector: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4144/...gra-2-review-the-first-dual-core-smartphone/9
External aerial points for testing the phones at the factory? Can they be used/abused to get an external or bigger aerial setup? What connector is that without the pin????????
Update.. is it an MMCX connector ? (or even MMCX-KC). I am tempted to buy one from ebay (although my TG01 is bricked LMAO, at least I'd know if it fit!) Pretty certain now it's an MMCX connector. Now trouble is... you can get that connector for GSM and GPS... so what are the connectors for I wonder.
For example.. I have terrible reception in the office so having a bigger external aerial on the phone may help, but I'd be interested in a better GPS cable as well Let's have some fun!
EDIT: OR.. I just had a look at my Moto V3i external connection and that is almost identical to the connectors on the TG01.. and it looks like you can get an aerial/antenna kit for the v3/v3i Might give it ago but it's pricey at about £20 :-(
LMAO @ this link: http://www.ehow.com/how_7580234_increase-reception-v3i.html Fancy testing a paperclip guys?
Well... I just ordered a 3G/UMTS antenna from china (so will be a while) with a MMCX connector. I will let you guys know if it fits AND works
Another edit LOL: I also just ordered another external antenna. This time for the V3i RAZR, as it looks like it has the same connector type as the TG01, so will give that a go. Only cost £8.05 for the adaptor and the antenna, so not 'too' bad for something that should fit.

[Q] [q] tf101 hardware mods inside dock pictures!!!!!

Thread for hardware mods
POSTING INTERNAL tf101 pictures
like 3g dongle ? internal sd cards? ssd?
removing the battery for 2 HDD 500go?
finding sd cards hubs? usb to sata cables?
? there is a place in the tablet for a 3g dongle?
there are 2 screws under the upper rubbers and the dock open easy
there is a lot of spaces avaible
My MIFI might actually fit in there, all I would need to do is supply it power somehow.
I'm no hardware engineer though, but if thats possible it would save you from the driver issues with a 3g dongle.
I wonder if it would be possible to check which pins from the adapter connect to USB - so we can make DIY USB adapter for those without a dock.
hmm adding an hdd would be very interesting, sata won't be very hard, powersupply will be.
Sent from my O2x with CM7
This is what I was looking for, looking to do some mods to the dock.
Thanks Markolino72.
Internally mount and wire a 32gb memory stick to the USB port so you get a 32gb hard drive added whenever you dock It might even have enough room for a portable USB hub so you don't lose use of the external usb port?
does anybody think it will be easy to make a DIY dock fix for those with battery draining issues like me?
It seems like it would be relatively easy - just make a switch to either connect or disconnect the cords coming from the docking point.
Or even better, maybe if you put the correct microcontroller in there you can have it switch the pins to floating, if it senses that there is no tablet connected (not sure about the details though)...
ydnality said:
does anybody think it will be easy to make a DIY dock fix for those with battery draining issues like me?
It seems like it would be relatively easy - just make a switch to either connect or disconnect the cords coming from the docking point.
Or even better, maybe if you put the correct microcontroller in there you can have it switch the pins to floating, if it senses that there is no tablet connected (not sure about the details though)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you seen the post in the General forum (2nd page now I think)? Posted by Asus_USA themselves, if you prove the 6 steps that your dock has the issue you can get a new one! I really do hope that I can get mine exchanged, waiting on a reply from my local service center..
Regards.
In regards to the hardware mods, that really looks amazing. Would love to put in my mifi there as well, attach it via USB to charge = your own 3g model Maybe a little modding you could get the mifi to power on only when the dock is connected (remove the battery of the mifi?) so that when it powers on it'll power on the mifi as well. Only a few thoughts.
Maybe a little modding you could get the mifi to power on only when the dock is connected (remove the battery of the mifi?) so that when it powers on it'll power on the mifi as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's a good thought but the mifi I have (novatel 2200) wont work without the battery, for some reason if the battery is bad or removed you cannot run usb, it must be the way they have the power run through the battery or charging. Not sure if all are like this or not.
andrewklau said:
Have you seen the post in the General forum (2nd page now I think)? Posted by Asus_USA themselves, if you prove the 6 steps that your dock has the issue you can get a new one! I really do hope that I can get mine exchanged, waiting on a reply from my local service center..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I talked to the Asus service rep about it. They currently won't give you a new one since they have a hardware upgrade to fix it. If you wanted a new one you needed to do before they solved the problem. I'm waiting on the upgrade part to be delivered for for mine. Should in a few days.
A switch should theoretically work. The guy at the service center said the replace something that goes into the hinge of the dock. Looking at the teardown pics, you can see a wire goes into each side of the hinge, so I think they replace the wires and maybe make a new connection somewhere on the dock.
Surprising how much wasted space there seems to be in the dock -- it's nowhere near as tightly packaged as the tablet itself. Looks like Asus can optimize the size or fit some more features in future versions, if they want...
Let me see if I am thinking correctly...Your saying using something like mifi installed via USB wires (will it be always on?) then connect via WiFi on your transformer? So basically your putting the mifi in a case that can never be opened without a screwdriver? I guess one would always have access for your other devices as well as long as the TF is in the vicinity.
P.S. I think I think this is a good idea, not decided though. I like to think of it in a real world application.
there is another post with a guy putting in an SSD, but it bulges at the keyboard. A 32g SD card would be nice.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
typci said:
I talked to the Asus service rep about it. They currently won't give you a new one since they have a hardware upgrade to fix it. If you wanted a new one you needed to do before they solved the problem. I'm waiting on the upgrade part to be delivered for for mine. Should in a few days.
A switch should theoretically work. The guy at the service center said the replace something that goes into the hinge of the dock. Looking at the teardown pics, you can see a wire goes into each side of the hinge, so I think they replace the wires and maybe make a new connection somewhere on the dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are getting the replacement part? bought mine on the US, but live in chile... would really like to somehow get the part that needs to be replaced and do it myself
tanguita said:
You are getting the replacement part? bought mine on the US, but live in chile... would really like to somehow get the part that needs to be replaced and do it myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's very little chance they'll give anybody the part, and nothing in the previous person's post suggested they're doing so for him.
Talk to Asus Chile and get it serviced by them:
http://www.asuschile.cl/
http://latin.asus.com/Static_WebPage/Service_center_chile/
knoxploration said:
There's very little chance they'll give anybody the part, and nothing in the previous person's post suggested they're doing so for him.
Talk to Asus Chile and get it serviced by them:
http://www.asuschile.cl/
http://latin.asus.com/Static_WebPage/Service_center_chile/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I ended up calling them. I would have to ship the dock to "someone" in the US, have them ship it to the repair center, fix it, ship it back and then ask that "someone" to ship it back to me... sooo, I'm basically screwed... I ended up with a nice 150US paperweight (not even considering the horrible light bleed on the transformer).
tanguita said:
Well I ended up calling them. I would have to ship the dock to "someone" in the US, have them ship it to the repair center, fix it, ship it back and then ask that "someone" to ship it back to me... sooo, I'm basically screwed... I ended up with a nice 150US paperweight (not even considering the horrible light bleed on the transformer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, actually, I hadn't realized that but it does say it clearly on the product warranty page:
"Brazil and South American countries don’t support global service"
http://support.asus.com/warranty.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=20&s=16&m=Eee Pad Transformer TF101
took mine apart also and there is quite a bit of room.
i plan on putting a 128gb usb flash drive inside the dock and soldering onto the usb connections once i get all the bits in.
Any bigger pictures? Are the screws under the rubber feet?
just two screws under the rubber feet near the hinge then it just pulls apart from the top
had to take mine apart as the spring/clip mechanism for the sd card wouldnt lock the card in.
now the card is stuck in with no nails haha a simple fix.
This is good news. I hacked a Crystal HD decoder card (pcie), USB wifi dongle, a logitech nano receiver, and a 4 port micro usb hub (from a touch screen setup) into a Dell mini 9 and there was absolutely no room compared to this.
They even have covers for the USB ports, so if you remove a header and solder wires up you just have to hot glue / epoxy that cover from the back and you are money. Looks clean and stock.
I have an old 64 GB thumbdrive that might find a new home. Maybe a 1.8" usb HDD would fit in there with the battery, without the battery who knows.

[Q] anyone else think the hardware keyboard should be a blue tooth keyboard

It seems like the keyboard should be able to connect to the tablet via blue tooth when it's not connected to the tablet.
I wonder if there is anyway to mod it be a blue tooth keyboard?
There are times where it's nice to use the transformer as a tablet, but during that time the keyboard is totally useless.
Can the keyboard even be connected to the tablet via cable to use the battery but without having to hold up the extra bulk and such?
No, if you want a simple keyboard buy one. This dock is a dock, not simply an external keyboard. Bluetooth would just rape the battery on both and limit the functionality of it.
tazmeister said:
It seems like the keyboard should be able to connect to the tablet via blue tooth when it's not connected to the tablet.
I wonder if there is anyway to mod it be a blue tooth keyboard?
There are times where it's nice to use the transformer as a tablet, but during that time the keyboard is totally useless.
Can the keyboard even be connected to the tablet via cable to use the battery but without having to hold up the extra bulk and such?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In one word...No
There are lots of bluetooth keyboards you can find if you want one. As they say ...it is what it is.
I still use mine as a tablet. I usually plug the charger into the dock when I'm using it as a tablet only.
You can pick up bluetooth keyboards for cheap. Doesnt hurt to have several options.
LG G2x - Miui
www.SnapSiteAdmins.com
www.MiiWiiChat.com
it's really diapointing to see how little thought went in to the few responses.
does this sort of lack of thought and imagination really epitomize the general population here?
has anyone heard of the idea of a dual or multi-use tool?
and what about an on/off switch for blue tooth?
oh well, dead topic at this point
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
tazmeister said:
it's really diapointing to see how little thought went in to the few responses.
does this sort of lack of thought and imagination really epitomize the general population here?
has anyone heard of the idea of a dual or multi-use tool?
and what about an on/off switch for blue tooth?
oh well, dead topic at this point
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you made a thread asking if people agree with your opinion; they don't, and you call them dumb?
Also, yes, we are the epitome of the general population (...lol, wut?)
but to answer your question, the keyboard could have been a Bluetooth keyboard as well as a dock. no one is denying that. could it have been better if it were, probably. would it cost even more, most likely. would the additional cost justify the very limited uses of bluetooth-mode (uses that can't already be accomplished by the dock, in a close-range configuration) ?
nope.
so in conclusion, no.
I think the dock should have bluetooth so the keyboard could be used even when the tablet is detached. It's a shame, they didn't think of it.
@finalhit - the dock already is overpriced. I think they could easily added bluetooth without changing the price.
Get an ipad. It's probably got the most number of choices for bluetooth keyboard.
IRT the topic title: no.
Why? The Bluetooth stuff is in the tablet. To use the keyboard dock undocked via Bluetooth would be a cool feature, even if the battery drain would surge.
Versus how much that feature would increase the cost of the dock, I don't think it is a good idea: versus letting people buy a seperate Bluetooth keyboard if they need that sort of thing. My Transformer's dock is a pretty cheap piece of equipment, few moving parts if you please. The most expensive thing is probably the battery/charging stuff.
$150 extra for the dock makes a very good ROI versus just getting a standard netbook or tablet.
Spidey01 said:
IRT the topic title: no.
Why? The Bluetooth stuff is in the tablet. To use the keyboard dock undocked via Bluetooth would be a cool feature, even if the battery drain would surge.
Versus how much that feature would increase the cost of the dock, I don't think it is a good idea: versus letting people buy a seperate Bluetooth keyboard if they need that sort of thing. My Transformer's dock is a pretty cheap piece of equipment, few moving parts if you please. The most expensive thing is probably the battery/charging stuff.
$150 extra for the dock makes a very good ROI versus just getting a standard netbook or tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed, why would i want to rape the dock which is essentially a back up battery? makes no sense
tazmeister said:
it's really diapointing to see how little thought went in to the few responses.
does this sort of lack of thought and imagination really epitomize the general population here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I thought about it. I just thought it was a stupid idea. I like the way the dock works now (actually, I should say my girlfriend does since she stole mine and I haven't used it in months).
Go into the hardware mod and do it yourself, I dont want to add $50 for a feature that would drain both batteries faster and I would never use. How hard is it to have the TF in the dock if you are using the dock? I dont see a need to have the TF across the room while typing on the keyboard dock.
Magnesus said:
@finalhit - the dock already is overpriced. I think they could easily added bluetooth without changing the price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been hearing this since day 1, asked for someone to produce evidence (or product) of something that does the same for less, still haven't seen one example. Only bad examples of USB keyboards that don't provide the USB host control, SD card reader, stand and 6 hour battery functionality (with pass through charging).
I'm sure it is possible with enough effort to take a Bluetooth keyboard, replace the bottom with a custom module that provides mounthing for hard drive, card reader, battery, etc; or perhaps fashion a custom USB 3 hub you can rig for docking+charging.
In the end, unless you're the kind the get hackish at a work bench (I wish I had one), just using the dock when you want a keyboard, is a good idea. Much further away then docked somewhat minimizes the utility of a TOUCHSCREEN as well, unless you go bluetooth rat as well.
I think most people don't understand what we want - the dock should work as intentended when attached but switch to bluetooth when detached (could be switchable to preserve battery). There is no reason it would be in any way worse than it is now. Cost - as I said, it's already overpriced, so adding bluetooth doesn't have to increase it.
What value do you see in doing it that way? From what I can think of, I'd still opt to just pay less for the dock.
I could see the dock having bluetooth when detached beneficial when the tablet is hooked to my TV and I want to control it from my couch and the tablet is across the room hooked to the TV. Does someone make a bluetooth remote that can do this?
Magnesus said:
I think most people don't understand what we want - the dock should work as intentended when attached but switch to bluetooth when detached (could be switchable to preserve battery). There is no reason it would be in any way worse than it is now. Cost - as I said, it's already overpriced, so adding bluetooth doesn't have to increase it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, we understand. We just dont agree with either the usefulness or your judgement about them being able to do it without any cost impact.
if its that easy put it in yourself.
The whole purpose of the dock is to bring netbook like functionality and portable to the tablet. Using the dock/keyboard with bluetooth would defeat that purpose. Imagine sitting on a bus or train and trying to support the tablet and use both hands to type on the keyboard. You wouldn't be able to do it, unless you have extra arms, but as far as I know, I only have two.
Same thing with connecting the dock to the tablet with a cable. Defeats the whole portability the Transformer was made for. Portability is one of the Transformer's major selling points. And let's be honest, do you really need 16 hours of life on your tablet? Mine is off the charger from 7 am to around 11pm when I go to bed, and since I hardly use it at school, it can still have 85% battery when I plug it back in.
---------- Post added at 10:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 PM ----------
Magnesus said:
I think most people don't understand what we want - the dock should work as intentended when attached but switch to bluetooth when detached (could be switchable to preserve battery). There is no reason it would be in any way worse than it is now. Cost - as I said, it's already overpriced, so adding bluetooth doesn't have to increase it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, Bluetooth defeats the whole point of the dock. The dock wasn't meant to be used detached from the tablet. If that's the case, Asus would've just installed a little touchscreen LCD where the touchpad is and let it run HC as well. That's like saying a car should be able to run on apple juice, even though they are built to run on gas -.-
You think a keyboard that gives you USB ports, an extra 9 hours of battery (?), and the ability to add another 128GB+ to your tablet is overpriced at $100? Wow.
jimbobalu said:
I could see the dock having bluetooth when detached beneficial when the tablet is hooked to my TV and I want to control it from my couch and the tablet is across the room hooked to the TV. Does someone make a bluetooth remote that can do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW I saw this and thought it might be useful to you; didn't have time to look at the thread very closely though!
I thought of the same thing and even posted this idea to the Design Team of Asus. But I didn't get a response.
It would be a brilliant idea. I even tried to connect a BT dongle and see if they could pair up. Didnt work.
Suppose I want to read a book and didn't fancy swiping across the screen - I could use the dock remotely and turn the pages.
That still makes little sense? Who reads a book on this thing without holding it in their hands or having it in their lap?
About the only scenario that has made any sense at all was the one using the TF to power the TV with the dock remotely connected but even then I doubt 99.999% of the users would ever do that (ive only even powered a TV twice. once to test and a second at a friends house to show them something).

I Hope ASUS fixed the grounding issue with the charger.

I just hope (pray is more like it) that Asus made the stupid USB proprietary charging cable longer than the ridiculously short one with the original Transformer. The goofy thing was like 3 feet long, could barely reach a tabletop or desktop from a wall outlet. And for anyone just getting a TF for the first time, note that you need USB 3.0 spec extension cables to extend the charging/sync cable that ships with the Transformer Prime; 2.0 would not charge since the pin-outs are different. My cheat? I uses a regular ac extension cord, and plugged the charging inverter (transformer?) into the regular ac extension cord, that way I could extend it as long as I liked, with no concern about leakage, signal loss etc...
Oh yeah! One BIG THING: I hope that the Prime does not have the quirk where the power supply, when oriented "right side up" (plugged in with the ASUS logo readable) has a grounding issue like the Transformer TF101 did. Anyone who had one might know what I mean. If you lightly touched the metallic sections when charging with the cable oriented one way, the thing had an electric "Buzz" running through it, like a fine vibration. Not dangerous to people, I would think, but when first noticed it I was seriously concerned. I did a bunch of research on it, and basically, if you flipped the charger around in outlet, it went away. All they had to do was make one blade of the plug wider, but perhaps grounding is different in some markets, so they weren't able to do that.
They had several revisions for it, but never fixed it, as far as I know, and I had one of the last serial numbers.
All I know is you take a reasonable durable electronic device, but one where there is no "Frame" or "Chassis" because they wanted it to be ultra slim, and what they do is solder components onto a board that IS the chassis. That, along with a nice strong piece of Corning Gorilla Glass, and you have a reasonably rigid, strong, yet extremely thin device. I think they outright stole the process from Apple's Mac Book Air, and did it first with the Zen Book (Another device I am lusting after, but a bit short on the cashola to be grabbing anytime soon, LOL!)
My concern, if you want to call it that, is that improperly grounding a "durable" but in other ways "sensitive" grouping of electronic components, so much so that the user can literally feel the stray voltage, can not be all that good for the components. I mean, it's not exactly ZAPPING you when you touch it,but it feels downright creepy.. and I do not like it. I think, f my new Asus does this as badly as my old one, I may give them a heard time about it. But I will not be shipping my unit in for inspection - No freaking way. If they want to reproduce it, they can just grab one of their own and work on it. Just don't stand in a puddle during testing, okay guys?
SmartAs$Phone said:
I just hope (pray is more like it) that Asus made the stupid USB proprietary charging cable longer than the ridiculously short one with the original Transformer. The goofy thing was like 3 feet long, could barely reach a tabletop or desktop from a wall outlet. And for anyone just getting a TF for the first time, note that you need USB 3.0 spec extension cables to extend the charging/sync cable that ships with the Transformer Prime; 2.0 would not charge since the pin-outs are different. My cheat? I uses a regular ac extension cord, and plugged the charging inverter (transformer?) into the regular ac extension cord, that way I could extend it as long as I liked, with no concern about leakage, signal loss etc...
Oh yeah! One BIG THING: I hope that the Prime does not have the quirk where the power supply, when oriented "right side up" (plugged in with the ASUS logo readable) has a grounding issue like the Transformer TF101 did. Anyone who had one might know what I mean. If you lightly touched the metallic sections when charging with the cable oriented one way, the thing had an electric "Buzz" running through it, like a fine vibration. Not dangerous to people, I would think, but when first noticed it I was seriously concerned. I did a bunch of research on it, and basically, if you flipped the charger around in outlet, it went away. All they had to do was make one blade of the plug wider, but perhaps grounding is different in some markets, so they weren't able to do that.
They had several revisions for it, but never fixed it, as far as I know, and I had one of the last serial numbers.
All I know is you take a reasonable durable electronic device, but one where there is no "Frame" or "Chassis" because they wanted it to be ultra slim, and what they do is solder components onto a board that IS the chassis. That, along with a nice strong piece of Corning Gorilla Glass, and you have a reasonably rigid, strong, yet extremely thin device. I think they outright stole the process from Apple's Mac Book Air, and did it first with the Zen Book (Another device I am lusting after, but a bit short on the cashola to be grabbing anytime soon, LOL!)
My concern, if you want to call it that, is that improperly grounding a "durable" but in other ways "sensitive" grouping of electronic components, so much so that the user can literally feel the stray voltage, can not be all that good for the components. I mean, it's not exactly ZAPPING you when you touch it,but it feels downright creepy.. and I do not like it. I think, f my new Asus does this as badly as my old one, I may give them a heard time about it. But I will not be shipping my unit in for inspection - No freaking way. If they want to reproduce it, they can just grab one of their own and work on it. Just don't stand in a puddle during testing, okay guys?
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you''d think with the new product...with the safety of ground vs hot....they would have fixed it ..but NOOOO....i felt this "vibration thingy" last night and thought something was wrong. I know i have dirty power in my house...and it doesnt do it while plugged into the USB of my computer....
Glad to see this was an earlier issue and although i thought i moved to different sockets in the house..i cant honestly say i truly "tested" flipping the plug around. i'll try that when i get home.
ps. it's retarded that the only way to charge is via the plug. 12v. really? oh and charging my tablet yesterday after picking it up and opening at work revealed a dead tablet...the plug was super hot after charging for about 4 hours...
SmartAs$Phone said:
I just hope (pray is more like it) that Asus made the stupid USB proprietary charging cable longer than the ridiculously short one with the original Transformer. The goofy thing was like 3 feet long, could barely reach a tabletop or desktop from a wall outlet. And for anyone just getting a TF for the first time, note that you need USB 3.0 spec extension cables to extend the charging/sync cable that ships with the Transformer Prime; 2.0 would not charge since the pin-outs are different. My cheat? I uses a regular ac extension cord, and plugged the charging inverter (transformer?) into the regular ac extension cord, that way I could extend it as long as I liked, with no concern about leakage, signal loss etc...
Oh yeah! One BIG THING: I hope that the Prime does not have the quirk where the power supply, when oriented "right side up" (plugged in with the ASUS logo readable) has a grounding issue like the Transformer TF101 did. Anyone who had one might know what I mean. If you lightly touched the metallic sections when charging with the cable oriented one way, the thing had an electric "Buzz" running through it, like a fine vibration. Not dangerous to people, I would think, but when first noticed it I was seriously concerned. I did a bunch of research on it, and basically, if you flipped the charger around in outlet, it went away. All they had to do was make one blade of the plug wider, but perhaps grounding is different in some markets, so they weren't able to do that.
They had several revisions for it, but never fixed it, as far as I know, and I had one of the last serial numbers.
All I know is you take a reasonable durable electronic device, but one where there is no "Frame" or "Chassis" because they wanted it to be ultra slim, and what they do is solder components onto a board that IS the chassis. That, along with a nice strong piece of Corning Gorilla Glass, and you have a reasonably rigid, strong, yet extremely thin device. I think they outright stole the process from Apple's Mac Book Air, and did it first with the Zen Book (Another device I am lusting after, but a bit short on the cashola to be grabbing anytime soon, LOL!)
My concern, if you want to call it that, is that improperly grounding a "durable" but in other ways "sensitive" grouping of electronic components, so much so that the user can literally feel the stray voltage, can not be all that good for the components. I mean, it's not exactly ZAPPING you when you touch it,but it feels downright creepy.. and I do not like it. I think, f my new Asus does this as badly as my old one, I may give them a heard time about it. But I will not be shipping my unit in for inspection - No freaking way. If they want to reproduce it, they can just grab one of their own and work on it. Just don't stand in a puddle during testing, okay guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have this with my HP laptop, which also has an aluminium shell. I think that is normal.
EDIT: My Desire Z (G2) also had this, pretty sure that is normal.
The Prime "buzz"
Mine definitely has the grounding issue / buzz. Inverting the plug alleviates the problem but you'd think design measures could be taken to eliminate the problem.
the tf201 charger is unchanged from the tf101. the replacement/spare asus sells is a single part # for both.

GPS Extension Kit Version 2.0

This is really a concept, and perhaps a request, nothing more and it is directed at Asus, who seem to not be shy about using its relationship with the user community to better it's products. This is directly inverse to Samsung who (at least with mobile phones, I cannot speak to the way they manage tablets) It appears that Samsung would rather pretend they aren't aware of the ICS "Leaks" that are coincidentally issued at regular intervals, only to hit the enthusiast user base in the form of an Odin leak, and then multiple re-worked ROMS with bugs identified and often resolved. Sure, this is speculation, but if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck... Particularly "coincidental" is the way every succeeding "leak" has the fixes that were either identified or requested during the public alpha testing phase.
I admire Asus (partly) for their more direct approach, even if it feels like the moves of a smaller company, which of course they are. For the most part Asus has tried to directly engage the user community with unprecedented moves like entry into these forums. Unfortunately they haven't been super successful at getting perfect results from the approach, even if they have found some solutions. A perfect example is the GPS Extension Kit - an antenna when you boil it down. Yes, it solves an issue. It does so effectively, it IS an elegant solution in spite of claims to the opposite. Where it falls down is an R&D, something that Asus seems to be inconsistent with. The "kit" does not allow for charging while in use, something that most agree would have been possible, via a pass though port. In fact, were such a port present (an this may or may NOT be physically possible) Asus might have been able to either a) Attached the keyboard, not directly, but with a small cable via said pass-through port. Or, consider THIS: If a small cable attachment were part of the kit, might it not be possible to attach the antenna via a cable TO the attached docks charging port?
Okay, okay, I am straying really far afield here. None of the ideas I mentioned are elegant in any way, nor are they simple and clean as the actual design was. BUT they do illustrate that with further R&D, a more fully fleshed out concept might have been designed.
Now, two things in Asus' defense:
1. They were under tremendous pressure to design a fix quickly as the backlash from the original GPS flub (R&D falls down again)
2. It needed to suit both Tablet-only customer and Tablet-Dock combinations.
With that in mind, the singular, basic design makes sense. More to Asus' credit, it works. Quite well. But the absence of a pass-through for charging, on a device that says "Please remove GPS extension when not in use "to save power" is just poor design. My daughter (9 years old) suggested Asus build an "a" and "b" version for attachment to the tablet and dock respectively. Not bad. I suggest Asus get BACK to the drawing board and great a GPS Kit v2.0 that has some or all of the above mentioned capabilities.
ESPECIALLY the power pass through. If a re-design is not practical (likely as the cost would not make sense from a ROI perspective) then what about a Y-splitter? It WOULD be a complex little adapter, one that effectively allows a pass-through, and assuming firmware could be designed, might also fill the requirement for a keyboard/dock connection while the antenna could still be connected. Visualize: a pair of female connectors, one to the port on hinge side of the keyboard, one to the exiting GPS Extension antenna. Now a short section of durable cable, and put a male connector on that end to attach to the base of the Tablet's screen, which, although not nearly as "elegant" as the kit by itself has the singular distinction of allowing Prime owners to charge while navigating, and/or attach the keyboard dock while navigating. It may not LOOK elegant, but on a technical level, is as elegant as you could wish for.
Well, my views on the GPS Kit they sent out are:
Aesthetics:
- I am not too impressed with the fact there are three screws on the front, wouldn't it of looked better the other way round? [Minor]
- The color looks a tiny bit different because the Dongle has a sparkly type paint where as the prime has a solid color with the pattern. [Minor]
- It's bigger than I expected, I would of liked a smaller more compressed one. [Minor]
Functionality:
- I put it on and tested my GPS and It found 5 satellites but couldn't get a lock on any of them and I left my prime trying to get a lock for over an hour, I rebooted and tried it again, It just found 13 satellites and locked onto 8 of them with a accuracy of 16ft (Inside a solid brick house) which quite impressed me.
- It has no slot to enable charging which is a major flaw.
- You can't dock your tablet to the keyboard so you can't take screenshots or obviously use the keyboard.
- The lock & unlock toggle is not spring loaded, which is poor design.
- It does however make the tablet on it's own easier to hold, less slip chance.
- Because it's not a permanent solution it prevents some of my security working as it is supposed to and it also prevents me from having the keyboard attached and having a lock on for Google Latitude.
You can't dock your tablet to the keyboard so you can't take screenshots or obviously use the keyboard.
You can take screen shots without the keyboard. Hold down recent apps button.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Smurphjw said:
You can't dock your tablet to the keyboard so you can't take screenshots or obviously use the keyboard.
You can take screen shots without the keyboard. Hold down recent apps button.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Correct. Also as was mentioned the lack of a pass through charging port is unforgivable, no matter how "rushed" they were to provide this (and they were rushed). GPS is a major power drain, so much that Asus has a sticker on the dongle telling you to take it off when not in use. A pass through port would have been easy and not add a tremendous amount to the cost. Of course the firmware would need to support it, but we all know how good Asus is with tablet firmware. :silly:
Or.........
they could have added a wifi antenna or module where the GPS on the module could be switched off through software (or hard wire; easy block to do)
Or........ they could have impressed ALL of us by adding a separate BT, wifi, and GPS chip. Albeit, more expensive but how many of us wouldn't have paid for the more expensive option if given the chance?
now the AIO combo (wifi, bt, GPS) is equally impressive but it still doesn't solve the charging problem. extended antennas however would have allowed to provide better signal though. they did solve the wifi issue, if not more than 6 months later, by holding steady, staying mum and not publicly addressing the issue, and RMAing when appropriate (even if it didn't solve the problem).
There is a thread i posted a while back in reguards to adding a power input (+15v) to the gps dongle to power the prime. Find the thread about it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633747
Because of the extremely fine pitch leading to the dock connector and the lack of space and general lack of time on my part (school started up, derp) i have not had time to move the project forward however i will def help if someone wants to give it a shot.

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