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". …
"...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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?.
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....
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.
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...
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.
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