back to article Retailer drops Eee Pad Transformer Prime, claims quality issues

Asus has denied that its Eee Pad Transformer Prime is suffering from the quality issues one retailer has claimed have necessitated withdrawing the Android tablet from sale. UK mobile retailer Clove this week stopped selling the Prime because it isn't convinced that "all units we could provide you with are working correctly". …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh well, plenty of other places selling it. Your loss, Clove.

  2. Peter Galbavy

    mine's good so far

    I guess I'm lucky but mine arrived from Amazon a week or so ago and I'm happy so far. I am now tempting fate I guess. I know the GPS had issues and don't really use it anyway - the rest is quite excellent.

  3. frank ly
    Headmaster

    "We refute any and all ......"

    I thought it was only politicians who used the word 'refute' to trick people into thinking they were denying something.

    1. Anonymous Coward 101

      Yeah

      'Refute' means to prove that a statement is false; it does not mean to merely claim that a statement is false, for which the word 'reject' is more appropriate.

    2. nichomach
      Joke

      Or...

      they basically make something up...

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/07/100721_palin_nh_sl.shtml ...

  4. technohead95
    Unhappy

    I feel sorry for all those early adopters who are suffering from the Prime issues. Although didn't Asus offer a full refund for those who were not happy? This is the main reason why I prefer not to be an early adopter, as they pay more and sometimes suffer the brunt of unexpected issues.

    1. Ammaross Danan
      Coat

      Pay more?

      "...as they pay more..."

      It can be had, with the keyboard dock, for under $500, which is better than the iPad of similar 16GB storage can claim. Only things that beat it would be sub-par 'droid-based tablets of a dual-core (or less!) variety. I, for one, am glad they stuffed it with a quad-core chip, decent RAM and storage, and pitched it at a price-point to make one seriously pass over a Galaxy Tab...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Ammaross Danan

        Calm your iRage, "pay more" in this case means an early buyer of an item pays the often higher initial sales price whilst a product is "positioned" rather than the equilibrium price it eventually sinks towards. Although I admit I am confused by your icon potentially indicating you're taking the piss versus your detailed statement indicating potentially otherwise.

        1. Ammaross Danan
          Coat

          Well aware

          I'm well aware of the "price it high to stab the initial buyers" of economics. The point I was making is that the Prime isn't stabbing at a lofty starting price (such as is done with graphics cards) and sinking down to a "reasonable" price. Much like the iPad (when have you seen the iPad2 base model "sink" in price?), it is sold at a fair price and doesn't necessarily "sink" toward an "equilibrium" price. Hence the comparison. I'm just pointing out the obvious benefits of the product; no "iRage" required.

          /coat due to being a quick comment that shouldn't have been bothered to be explained.

  5. DrXym

    Kind of their own fault

    Asus clad the thing in aluminium presumably to give the thing a "premium" look and jack the price up and now they're suffering radio issues.

  6. Stefing
    Megaphone

    An "early adopter" speaks

    I got mine on Day 1 of UK release (when Clove, like now, had zero stock) and have had ZERO problems. No "wifi issues". No "GPS issues".

    Sounds the like "men, they're all bastards, love" syndrome of the jilted girlfriend.

    1. Random Handle

      'We've cancelled your pre-order for your own good' sounds a lot better than 'we lack the buying power to fulfill your pre-order'.

  7. Anonymous Coward 101

    There are some nice cheap unbranded Android tablets on Amazon right now

    They have high quality capacitive screens and are quick for web surfing and playing games. If you want a tablet for that sort of stuff, look no further. The level of finish on the software and hardware isn't great, but it is better than you have a right to expect.

  8. James Whale

    Lockups and reboots after installing OCS

    All info contained in this thread:

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449992

    I got my Prime last Saturday with Honeycomb installed, which ran like a dream. Got ICS upgrade prompt shortly afterwards, and decided to take the risk. Ever since my Prime reboots randomly, once or twice a day. I haven't used it intensively yet, though - suspect if I did the reboots would be more frequent. I'm lucky insofar as many people have near-constant reboots (every 5 mins or so), so once or twice a day doesn't seem too bad.

    Mine is a C1 serial number and newer model than some - it seems earlier "B" serial numbers, broadly speaking, might be worse-affected. The reboots only began after the ICS upgrade (firmware version 9.4.2.11).

    Asus should have a patch available in the next day or two. There are reports that version 9.4.2.11.1 (only beta so far and undergoing select testing among a few customers) solves the problem.

    1. Mark 65

      9.4.2.11.1 brings a whole new meaning to "point release"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Mine is ok

      I have BCOKAS**** serial number Prime bought from Misco UK and it's ok. It gets some GPS signal inside, but outside instant fix on ~9 sats, seems ok walking, not tried in a car yet.

      WiFi is OK too, I thought mine was a dud until I checked with WiFi Analyser and discovered my crappy reception was due to my DG834 router's access point dropping out, bounced the router and everything works. Also works while transfering files via bluetooth while watching streamed video, something that other people have reported problems with.

  9. G R Goslin

    Not so good

    I bought the Prime because I was so impressed with it's earlier brother. The GPS function on that was superb. It would locate and lock to satellites faster than my dedicated GPS unit. Not so for the Prime. It suffered the seemingly common problem of not finding anything. The update to ICS was supposed to solve the problem, and didn't. A further update didn't either. Whilst I don't use the GPS system often, if it's there, I want it to work. I've now sent it back for a refund, and will try again later when it's definitely fixed. Comparing the two devices on a strictly cosmetic basis, I reckon that the old unit is far, far nicer, both in look and feel Aluminium has never struck me as a visually attractive metal. To me, the iPad has all the visual attraction of a rectangular frying pan, and I like the dark, warm look and feel of the textured finish on the old unit. Clove might be a good indicator. When they start selling them again it should be a sure sign that the problem has gone away.

    An odd thing. Since the GPS satellite signal is from overhead, how does a metal BACK to the unit hinder the signal?.

    1. frank ly

      re."... how does a metal BACK...?"

      Interference from reflected GPS signals?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Most problems resolved already

    and the outstanding ones are isolated and software-only, with pretty responsive patches from Asus.

    I can't complain, mines working brilliantly with ICS, and makes iPad2 look totally obsolete, if clove don't want to sell it, their loss, plenty of others do..

    This "news" is a combination of Clove getting some press attention, and other Apple/Android tablet manufactuers, with dual-core tablet-only devices feeling a little bit left out, so creating internet noise....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sorry Mr Shitpeas, we weren't supposed to allow that particular tablet to leave the company. Can we have it back so we can work out how to get the other 10 we've sold working?

    2. Silverburn
      Trollface

      Lol

      You simply can't do it can you? You can't post a comment without at least one dig at Apple...

      Internet noise? Oh, the irony...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Asus has had quality issues for years

    IME Asus has had QC issues on many of their products for years. Their Biz model seems to be crank out crap and then fix it if forced to.

    1. Neil Greatorex
      Coat

      crank out crap and then fix it if forced to.

      Bit like Microsoft then?

      1. Chris 228

        ...except Microsucks rarely actually fixes anything

        IME Asus and Microsucks tend to cause great harm in all of their so called "fixes". I hope Bill Gates and other CEOs who operate an unscrupulous Biz end up in prison for 30 years.

  12. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    Matches my own experience with ASUS

    My own experience with ASUS was also extremely negative. I don' t want to harp on the negative, but I made such a fuss that the store gave me my money back and I bought a new Toshiba, which has mostly been satisfactory. I don't want to say that the Toshiba AT 700 tablet (probably known as the X10 in English) is a perfectly mature machine, but it sure seems to be a heck of a lot better than that ASUS was.

    I will say that it was the ASUS website that pushed me over the edge. Living in Japan and having only limited fluency in Japanese, the thought of additional non-Japanese support seemed initially attractive. Turned out I was much better off just relying on my Japanese with a company that apparently cares much more about its reputation than ASUS did.

  13. httpss

    I've encountered this years ago wherebye units are bought at $200 dollars tested or $120 untested, and then fix or replace the recalls..

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Optional? Wow.

    Can I just say I quite like being a "late adopter". I bought (thanks to a Reg story) a Xoom for £249 from CPW. It's probably the best thing I've bought in the last 5 years. Brilliant.

    The apps of an iPad would be nice, but this does all I need - and I can't believe how little I need a keyboard - so web browsing/Reg reading, video watching, logmein-ing, checking email, is now easily done. Oh, and in a gadget that from Apple would have cost £579 (32Gb and I need GPS.)

    No issues of crashing or ICS problems either.

    But best of all, the late adopter dividend: for instance, an official car charger for 97p at PC World yesterday. Cases at £12. Motorola keyboards at half price. And this all for perfectly-usable tech that's only a year old.

    Pretty much everyone who has seen this Xoom wants one. Late adopting: it's the future! I must got and dig out my Z88...

  15. Noogie Brown

    Are you a small IT vendor that no one has heard of?

    Do you want to get some publicity on a tier-1 technology website? Well just make up some wild claims about one of the products you sell !

  16. irgxana

    My prime is damn fine

    Well it's their loss. With all the rumours, chat an banter about problems with the Prime I was worried about getting one. Bloomin glad I didn't change my mind. My prime is perfect. Not a single problem with it at all and I'm surprised how much it's surpassed my expectations. I admit I haven't used the GPS yet so unsure if it's up to anything, but the fact I've not needed it yet means no problems for me.

  17. mike09
    Unhappy

    Goodbye prime

    I purchased mine together with the keyboard dock. I did notice a little light bleed but it was just a small patch, and didn't really bother me. I had read that this was an issue. I loved the unit, no problems with wifi etc. Then the light bleed got really bad so returned the unit.

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