yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wynand32:
Actually, to me, this whole thing has been precisely what happens when you combine a whole bunch of people with a lot of pent-up emotions and very little reliable data, and then give them a method for interacting that's both instant and pretty much anonymous. It points out to why the scientific method is so important--you actually need to test things against controls and make sure you're testing the same things in the same conditions, which certainly isn't happening here.

The fact is that this has been something of a witch hunt. Over a period of a few weeks, some issues have been identified that may or may not be caused by the Prime's construction and we've worked up to a fever pitch here in the forums. Meanwhile, we expect ASUS to respond to us NOW!!!, even if they don't have the information necessary to come to a good conclusion.

What we fail to understand is that ASUS needs to approach things cautiously and scientifically, not knee-jerk like so many responses here. It's easy to us to arm-chair quarterback because we don't have thousands of customers we need to support. There's virtually zero cost to us in tossing out theories--heck, we don't even affect our reputations because we're anonymous.

I think a prime example of this (and one I'm guilty of) is the BT/wifi interference issue. The immediate assumption was that this is an issue with the Prime's radios and/or all-metal construction, but the truth is that the same effect happens with pretty much all devices (or, enough other devices that it could be considered relatively common). I know it happens with my Epic Touch, and is more likely something that most people just never noticed with their smartphones and other devices.

It's only been a few weeks. It wouldn't hurt to have just a tiny bit of patience.

---------- Post added at 09:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 AM ----------

I think that says it all, doesn't it? Lady at Best Buy (!) said her manager told her something. It doesn't make any sense, really, given everything we know--ASUS wouldn't discontinue the Prime in lieu of something to be released months from now--but still, a lady at Best Buy said her manager said it, so it must be reliable.

Funny how what the lady's manager told her just happens to coincide with the theories being tossed around here at XDA. Maybe the manager is a member here?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
did you ever think they might be taking down the advertising and saying they do not have them in stock because they are gonna start shipping with ICS! lol

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jrwingate6:
This model should be discontinued. The 700 will be out in a couple months and it is going to be what the 200 should have been. Anyone who plans on selling this thing should return it because the OG Prime isn't going to be worth **** in a couple months.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Evo_Shift:
I returned my second one to best buy today for another screen defect. She said she could not look up the item internally, even using the sku. It was not in her system, as if the product didn't exist. She said she could look on bestbuy.com but it was not showing internally.

Now, I have a dock, case and no Prime and am too nervous to order anything from anywhere I cannot easily return it. Not sure what I am going to do at this point.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] showstopper03:
well i was able to manually update to .33. I have done a factory refresh twice and the serial number still does not show up. i dont mind doing manual updates. when will ICS be available for manual install?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] junrider:
Exactly, same as my case. The customer service told me it was not at bestbuy's systems. And what she told me about what her manager said about it being discontinued came from them first. All I said was I needed to exchange my prime because of a dead pixel and nothing else. The only reason I got a new replacement was because I meantioned OMS and gave her my receipt. Other than that she said it wasnt in Bestbuy's systems anymore.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jrwingate6:
This is the sane thing that happened at the Best Buy store I went to a couple days ago. The guy I asked to look for it is trustworthy in my opinion and knows what he's doing. I've spent hours in Best Buy just bullshitting with him about our home theaters. He said he has never seen this before and he didn't know what to tell me.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Gary Key:
The TF201 is not going to be discontinued. As for the issues we are working through each one now, with most on an individual basis for troubleshooting particular setups.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jdbaker82:
How about just telling us what the hell is going on with the 100s of Primes locking up and rebooting what hardware is different among the first batch of Primes? What is ASUS going to do about it ?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Gary Key:
I spoke with the Best Buy account manager this morning and the Transformer Prime is showing in their system. I then went to two local Best Buys' and both looked up the Transformer Prime without a problem. They are currently out of distribution stock but the unit has not been discontinued. Please PM your serial number and the Best Buy location you visited and I will have their regional manager call the store manager.

---------- Post added at 02:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------

I honestly do not know if the number is truly in the 100s as stated since we have only had direct contact from less than 30 users at this point. As for hardware differences, there was a board level firmware revision implemented at the start of retail production that is different from the initial PR and supplier production run. Please PM your serial number and I will assist you further. At this point, I cannot find any private messages or emails from you asking for assistance.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Board level firmware revision implemented at the start of retail production that is different from the initial PR and supplier production run.

thanks for pointing that out. Alot of folks here can't seem to comprehend this.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] 3rdamention:
I did factory resets so many times, I heard to try that on several different forums, from several different people, Asus told everyone to do that, I did it on different days, different times the same day. No dice.

I am done even wondering about this issue. I could really care less about it anymore. I simple got rid of the problem and really have never felt better about it. I feel relieved to not have that $500 headache over my head, so relieved.

I tried to be patient, I called and contacted Asus (the ticket is to day 4 with no response by the way, the last 2 days it was supposed to be "Urgent" but no response), I called Best Buy Customer Support.

I appreciate you being so willing to help. I just wish Asus would have told me 2 days ago to PM you. That is the problem with this whole nightmare. You are on here working your ass off, and it is much appreciated. But your PM or email is not on the Asus Customer Service site. Who knew we had to get a hold of you on a random forum to get some help? That is awesome of you, but this should be handled on Asus' site if there were ways to get it fixed or remedied.

What about other people with these issues? How do they know to contact you to get help? You seem to be the only person that is trying to help people with "Serial Number Unknown" issues and you are almost hidden on a message board.

When you joked yesterday about how you may have to work Customer Service for Asus, I really wish that would happen. Or better yet, over see that whole operation.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jrwingate6:
Gary, I know that you had nothing to do with it in the least bit possible but I would really like to know how multiple engineers thought it would be a good idea to use a backing made completely of metal? I have no degree in engineering but even I know from personal experience that metal will effect GPS/WiFi. I do not believe that the current WiFi issues have anything to do with software and if I were a betting man, I would say they have everything to do with hardware.

Somebody at Asus obviously realized (to little to late) that the metal backing is the cause of signal problems which is why they decided on a different design for the new Prime. I would be willing to bet my entire years worth of pay checks that every single antenna whether it be WiFi, GPS or Cell is ran up to the top of the tablet where that plastic cutout is.

Maybe Asus needs to rethink their engineering department? Oh an while were at it. Tell them to stop soldering GPU's on their notebook motherboards. You can also tell them to use some real thermal paste.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wynand32:
Then why in the world are you still here? I honestly don't understand why anyone would continue to visit a forum for a product they no longer own. You returned it, you're relieved, which is precisely how it's supposed to work. Nobody should suffer from a case of buyer's remorse for a product with a return policy.

So, then, what possible value can you get from continuing to come here and gripe? Honestly, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it's just SO MUCH FUN to complain on forums for no apparent reason, and I'm just too square or out of touch to realize it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] L3rry:
We could really care less about your whining. Congrats, on getting rid of your Prime. Now you are going to have to find something else to complain about.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] junrider:
Sorry I dont have PM privileges yet. But I visited the 04086 branch of BestBuy.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BostonDan2:
Asus - please respond!!!!

Hi Gary/Asus:

I have been having issues with the browser locking up, browser shutting down on its own, and poor wi-fi performance. With all of the issues on this forum, the comments on other forums, retailers no longer accepting orders, and no clear message from Asus, other than acknowledging there are some performance issues with GPS, wifi, and bluetooth and the product is not being discontinued, I'm not feeling great about keeping this product. I'm not a gamer and reliability is more important to me than performance. ASUS has not made any public plan on how Asus plans to address the performance issues of users. Although I can live without GPS, I would have preferred that Asus stated the product has a design flaw than state that Asus planned it that way and marketing materials were changed for the users convenience. I don't feel like Asus is fully committed to this product.

A list of known bugs/concerns and how ASUS plans on addressing them would go a long way with making myself feel comfortable with keeping this product.

1) Have multiple revisions of hardware already shipped and are more revisions planned? - If yes, what issues did they resolve and will there be upgrades made available to users with older hardware?

2) Does Asus beleive that all known issues can be addressed with firmware updates? If yes, what are the known issues and what is the timeline for fixing them?

3) Can Asus tell us what's going on at retailers, why Amazon and Newegg have stopped accepting orders, while another retailer showed it as discontinued?

Something beyond "the TF201 is not discontinued" would go along way to making myself feel good about the purchase and not return it. I really want to keep it, feel good about my purchase, and hope Asus can make me feel at ease. If not, I plan to return this for an IPAD-2. I really don't want to end up an Apple customer. Please provide us the Asus plan and help keep me in the Asus corner.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] junrider:
I thought ASUS would run variety of tests of all the features and record them to assure its up to standards before releasing it to the public. Definitely, some people on the department were sleeping to not notice wifi and GPS problems.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] cjbailey75:
I just remember Asus stating that their was not a wifi problem and they were trying to find the false leak of info. I don't understand this company. But I do love my prime and despite the weak GPS n avg wifi.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] LiqMat:
Average. Yes. I know.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] royredman:
It has also been thought that they are taking it off stock because they may be removing the GPS feature off the boxes. who knows :/
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] chevdor:
Just imagine for a second that you are Asus...

You make a great products with unfortunately issues.

There are now a bunch of tablets to sell but it has been proven threat the GPS does not perform so good. Quick fix: you fast hey forget it, there is no GPS, so there is No problem:-)

My problem (as consumer here) here is that the GPS has been "removed" (from the box for those who did not follow) but the priced remained unchanged.

Changing the boxes probably generates a little mess in supplying products to the vendors, thus this rumored discontinuation of the product. You would be asus, would you discontinue the product? Probably not, and definitely not admit it.

IMHO, asus will keep selling those tablets to get rid of the stock. They will make a new version (that w may

Know already as TF700T). Of course they say it is no replacement. They have to make the new tablet:

- better (GPS, wifi, ...)

- and keep up with competition

- back change

- sd card slot design

- ...

By the time the 700 comes out, most of the 201 will (hopefully.... ) have been sold. The price of the 201 will drop and the tab will disappear.

So I would say that the 201 will probably not have a long life but for sure, you will still be able to buy it within ever next months.

Of course there would be an option of making a fixed version, some kind of TF202. But does it makes sense to keep those specs while the competition keep pushing and considering that asus aims at making an high end product? That probably only depends on the expected release date of the 700 and its performance (ie does a bigger resolution makes it"slower" than the 2xx serie).

I don't have the answers to the questions above but I think we can make educated guesses:-) if we step out of our BUYER shoes for a second and jump into Asus ones.

PS: I do not work for asus. I consider(Ed) buying a 201. I may simply patiently wait and see.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] chamberc:
The fire sales on them are the clear evidence. Think about it... If they're still in high demand, why drop the price to 449 or 399 as we saw this week. That completely violates the law of supply and demand.

You'd never reduce the price of a current product where people were still waiting for the device. I actually don't think it is completely discontinued, just the initial SKU and a redesigned product is coming. Think of it as version 1 and 2 of Linksys routers. At a minimum they have to remove GPS from the packaging.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
Opps I did not mean to thank you accident

But anyways Its no fire sale at all

Microcenter has 50 dollars off all tablets you would have known if you read about it and the 399 was just some special deal found.....

Yes I bet the new ones will have GPS removed from the packaging but it will still be in the product because it has to have one for the market!

Also the new ones will come stock with ICS

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BostonDan2:
Asus - please post something clear

If ASUS would just post a clear message to put all the rumors going around as to new revision, unofficially discontinued in favor of the new TF7xx prime, it can't be fixed with firmware and requires a new hardware design, etc.... Asus being silent makes me feel like Asus want to hide information to prevent returns.

Asus, please prove me wrong and post something with a clear message as to what is happening.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Swiftks:
Fail.... no fire sales. $399 was a mistake on part of dealer/vendor, that they are nicely enough honoring for those lucky enough to order.

$449 Micro Center is their own $50 off all Android tablet promotion.

Sent from my CM7 Atrix 4G
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
It has been posted Gary_key Is an asus marketing manager He knows what he is doing! and is very helpful! He knows how to do his job! Idk if he joined the fourm on his own or if asus sent him to keep watch on us after the social media attack!?

He confirmed it is not discontinued

and that the 700 is a big brother to the prime

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BostonDan2:
I posted to Gary earlier and he did not answer me entirely. I'm just looking for an official statement from Asus on what is happening. The product may not be officially discontinued, but that doesn't mean that Asus is going to stand behind it fully. So can someone from Asus make an official statement that known issues can be resolved with a firmware patch and do not require a hardware rework. If there are issues which are not going to be fixed(GPS), that's fine, but just be up front with what is going on. If I sound frustrated, it's because I waited a long time for this product and I'm very disappointed in how Asus is handling issues that people have run into. Even though it wasn't a requirement for me, I'm concerned that how Asus handled the GPS issue is a sign how they will handle future issues.

Since this forum seems to be getting more attention than their support e-mail account, I ask again, someone from Asus, please post some clear messaging.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] diecast17:
Didn't Asus already say it was the aluminium back and there is nothing they will do??
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
He has already stated in multiple threads how the issues are being addressed and that the TF-201 is not going to be discontinued and still receive full support.

He not gonna jump up for someone every time they feel they want a statement when its already been stated. If we can find the information in threads then so can everyone else. No one is so special they need a special announcement or statement just for them.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BostonDan2:
HELP ASUS!!!!!!

Yes, he has already stated in multiple threads how the issues are being addressed and that the TF-201 is not going to be discontinued and still receive full support.

He has not provided details of what 'full support' means or how issues are going to be addressed or supported. Is it going to be through repackaging as they did with the GPS. I'm concerned that the next message from Asus will be: "Wifi works at full speed when on a all G network and will have lower throughput when on mixed N networks. It was the intention of Asus to design it that way" Sorry, but I keep focusing on how they handled the GPS issue and that this is how they will handle other issues. They also haven't explained what's happening at retailers, Amazon pulling the product, others not accepting preorders anymore. Asus needs to be upfront with the issues and how they are going to support them so I know where I stand if I am to keep this. I don't think I'm asking for too much. This is why I'm asking for something with more detail.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Rogue100:
Has anyone here at this forum successfully fixed this problem with this method? If so, please post your experience, and the exact series of steps taken. For anyone for whom this has worked, has this actually fixed the underlying issue (allowing the serial number to display correctly, allowing the root method to work correctly, etc.)?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
OK, I agree then. They need to be more upfront with more details instead of giving broad statements that leaves room for interpretation and speculation. Maybe he will be making a sticky Announcement thread soon. I think that would be a great idea. He make a thread that states in details what's going on and how trying to find a solution is coming along.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] SonicTab:
Gary - might be a idea to start a new thread for the unknown serial issue and your suggestions, followups, etc.?

Right now your posts on the issue are in a couple different places both with titles not reflecting the concern, just an idea.

I started one here, if that helps

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1447239

I'll try your suggestion above now... result, no changes still unknown serial and unable to download OTA ICS.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] junrider:
Apparently, he is the only one with full support from Asus. The rest are saying GPS problems? No, worry we will rewrite our Description of the Prime saying it doesnt have GPS or or its only AGPS. Instead, of fixing their mistakes they are releasing with a new model with all the fixes and a better resolution. Leaving the rest who bought the TF201 in the air. Poor decision for Asus from release date to the path they are taking. They need to start firing people and get quality ones like Gary. If this was a car and the description said it has a rear view camera, and when you tested it it didnt work. You would take it back to them and they will make it work and not just cross it out of the description or say is Arearviewcamera where its now assisted rearview camera where you have to turn your head to see whats in the back. Its true we paid for all the features, it should operate up to standards. And its the Asus testing departments fault and to not properly test the features, why should the comsumers have to just deal with it for something we were promised in writing. I think Asus should recall all the primes and replace it with the new TF700T rear cover since they already have it made and tested that would fix the problems of the TF201.

Asus should man up and do the right thing, its their fault!:mad:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] MHoefler:
Again: it might be true that the model TF201 is not discontinued, but it's highly probable that it will not be produced like the original model anymore! It does not make sense to continue producing flawed devices, especially if so many customers complain and the fix is easy!

Probably the TF201 will continue to be sold, but as a new hardware revision which fixes the known issues. Asus is currently selling off the current stock and the new models will have a new hardware revision - probably the plastic cover part on the back, which fixes most of the problems. This explains why the current model is "discontinued" in many stores and Asus is not giving them a new delivery date. They will roll out the new revision as soon as possible (and hopefully tested thoroughly).

That's an easy and clean fix and the only reasonable way to go for Asus (if they can't release the TF700 fast enough). This way, they also can claim that the TF201 will not be discontinued!

Regards!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] junrider:
I personally think they should not sell any unsold primes left for the full amount at least. And do a return and exchange showing the receipt for consumers who paid full price when and if they decide to fix their mistakes.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Evo_Shift:
$399 at hhgreg was a mistake. He just honored the mistake for the 5 people that actually got one.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] chamberc:
Right, fire sales. Getting rid of the current revision.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] royredman:
But if this is true that The Asus rep told us its not discontinued, why haven't they created a large message to the population about this? Its one thing to tell the forum this, but its completely a different thing to announce this to the world....