[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Blairware:
Easier said than done.

The GPS was just improved dramatically with the update yesterday. Now it just sucks and is horrible. Before it was not functional in any way. I disagree with the post that said "yours is no worse than any other" as I truly believe some units are less affected by this than others. The same way some got screen banding & Some got lock/ reboot issues with ICS. Look at what AnandTech got for testing: One that got almost no Wifi, one that got poor Wifi ( He stated that the diversity antenna was not enabled) and a third that worked about as good as a Prime can be expected to with the current backplate design. That's 3 units and three different results. Does not say much for QC/QA Process Control at Asus.

I never saw a single satellite indoors, even in a alcove with windows on 3 sides and where my Inspire 4G got instant lock on 6 Sats, the Prime saw nothing. Under the best outdoor conditions I never saw more than 5-6 satellites, and never had a lock even briefly. With the new update, I got a lock within 2 minutes, indoors, at a location with a single, north facing window, surrounded by trees, and the blinds were closed. Did not last, but so much better, it was encouraging. Outdoors I get lock pretty consistently, but not good enough for Navigation. If they could bump the performance up once again this amount (or get twice the current gains, I should say) I would probably be able to use it. For now, it's just a tease.

I have a Bluetooth TomTom Receiver from Amazon ($14 with both power sources) It's super portable, and other that the minor annoyance of running an app on the prime, is probably all I will ever need.

STILL, I want the Prime GPS to work!

Why? Because it's THERE, that's why.

On the redesigned back panel thing. While this may be a good way for Asus to recover a lot of lost faith and good will, this is no simple thing, and it is not as Rosshalz envisions it. That back cover is super difficult to remove/replace as the gasket is pretty much all that holds the internals into the metal section. It is part of the Tablets structure, and it is the MAIN part that provides strength, structure, and integrity to the entire package. The other part, the Corning Gorilla Glass that covers the LCD is the other, but contributes substantially less. If you were to create a plastic section, or worse still an all plastic or polycarbonate, the unit would likely be a creaker and a squeaker. Plus, I think just disassembling these breaks the integrity of the unit, and I am not convinced that they can reassemble them as well as the manufacturing line can when they are built. A lot of reports came out of screens moving or being partially detached. Check the threads and see, but I suspect these were units disassembled for Wifi fixes perhaps. All I know is, cosmetically, mine is perfect, and I would be very concerned if it went in for service. Kind of like giving your Aston Martin to the tire guys at Walmart. You know they can do the work, but worry about what respect the hardware will get (usually it's none)

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------

Asus did take another whack at it, and got some decent, if a long way from workable, progress. Will it ever work acceptably? I would say it is an extremely long shot at best, and if it were my call, I would bet against it ever being viable in the current enclosure. That said, I was reasonably impressed with yesterday's update. I will rely on my BT GPS unit for the present, and take a wait & see on Asus's approach.

By the way,, they may have removed the toggle form the "Quick Control Panel" but it sure as heck still exist in Settings, Location Services, under "Let Apps use GPS to pinpoint your location" I think the using the word "Pinpoint" was a wee bit optimistic. Unless a football field can be called pinpoint that is.