yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
OK. I can answer both of these at once. lol. The person told me that actually a small "community" of Primes out of all shipments has wireless issues. He said this was due to older, I guess faulty, firmware on board. So that means the remaining Primes have no wifi or GPS issues. That's why we have a range of results here in the forums on wifi. Some works perfectly great n on par or better than other devices. Some people state their wifi is showing issues like slow speeds etc... As far as GPS goes, a prime with newer firmware, majority of primes, will have GPS functioning properly as Asus sees fit for it to perform. Remember they said itbwas never meant to be a dedicated GPS device anyways.

So with that said, when the guy tested his Prime(which works with no issues, everything working properly, probably on new firmware) against the TF-700, as far as wifi and GPS goes, he said the results were the same. No noticeable improvement on results of newer device. that doesn't mean they both performed ****ty..lol. that means they both worked like they were supposed to.

As far as whybthe redesign of the back, the newer model is an upgrade version anyways. they took into account the full metal back might be causing issues, like from reports, so they added the plastic strip. Remember, the back is still mostly metal with onlybthebplastic strip up top. so i would think even with the plastic strip, the signals might still be slightly affected as tradeoff for aesthetics. So a properly working Prime on newer firmware should have no wifi or GPS issues.

I'm just relaying what I was told. word for word basically without reposting something sent to me in confidentiality. As far as how or the methods he used to test, I'm not sure. I didn't ask. I was just surprised he answered my questions period. I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just think this info is informative as to debunk some rumors floating around and to give more insight into new TF-700. As I'm sure GPS will be brought back up after this post, I guess it works well enough on both devices up to Asus standards. Rwmeber this person Prime doesn't exhibit the issues people here on forum have. So it could be said he has a normal Prime working like its supposed to. when he tested against new model, they both were on par with each other. WHY u may ask? because both devices were performing like they were supposed to.

I know this probably leads to even more questions but this is all I know from what the guy(Higher ranking Asus official, not some best buy floor manager..lol) relayed to me. Once Asus clears these issues up and make sure everyone has updated firmware or whatever on board, then Prime, even with metal backing should perform a whole lot better as far as wifi/GPS/BT goes. It will work as its supposed to.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
well maybe if some people were smart enough to ask the right people that appeared on the board lately they would get the same answer. I'm not gonna reposting his message to me as you not supposed to do that. just like people who posted the exact email and name of customer service rep wasn't supposed to do that. you can get in trouble for that. I remember a letter I got from Asus and it had in hug letters on the bottom that the message is in confidentiality of agent and recipient and can't be reposted or put up publically.

Anyways believe what you want. I was helping out just relaying info told to me by this person. Open your eyes more n look around here n you would know who to ask. I'm saying nothing more. plus people assuming when he performed tests both results sucked. NO. both devices worked as they were supposed to. no matter what using any metal on backing will degrade signal slightly, even with a plastic RF window. a device with metal back with plastic RF window will still get less quality than a device with back fully made of plastic. no matter what the metal still affects signal but its still more then good enough to use. zif you have some better info or facts that conflict with what I said, from someone that works for Asus. please share. As there are no official statements been let out recently. so this is the most recent news I found out. take it as you want. I have no reason to make b.s. up just to amuse you people. Can't please everyone and I'm not going to try to. you want further details, then direct them to the right person.

plus that post doesn't hurt Asus. It cleared up rumors and showed that a properly working prime with metal back world just as good as newer model coming out with plastic strip up top. plus this more than likely was a simple test. not full blown going out and driving around town looking silly trying to compare signals..lol.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Yes, that's what he told me. plus I mentioned how my Gamestop return window was getting close to ending and he said if their fix is not good enough for my tastes not to worry about Gamestop return/refund window. They said they would work with Gamestop.

I forgot to mention all that in OG post. but that's what he said also. now that's all Info I was told.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] btmec:
This is exactly why I went ahead and returned mine. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to return it if I went outside the return window. I sent mine back today.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jrwingate6:
Let me see if I have this right. Are you telling me that the guy you supposedly talked with did a WiFi comparison between a full production product and a product that is a half of a year from being released. I don't care if this is true or not. Anyone can see the ill logic with the way these tests were conducted. Asus has many more months to tweak, replace and redesign the wireless card and antennas.

How did the guy you were talking to get his kits on one anyway. There are only 6 of them in existence and 4 of them are in Nevada. This tablet still has ways to go before it can be called a final product.

Hooray for the OG Prime hangine with its pre production big brother and performing as well during WiFi tests.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
I see what you saying but like I said, this was what I was told based on the questions I had asked him. More than likely the mini test was done at CES where he is right now, I believe. Plus he works for Asus. Need I say more. plus I doubt if the model shown was a prototype. seemed alot further along in developement than that. close to production model if not one itself. what you said makes sense though but that's what I was told. Just relaying what I was told. I know it leads to even more detailed questions. Direct them at the right person and you might get the answers. I had the chance to ask some questions I thought was important to Prime and the reply was what I said here. this thread was to mainly clear up rumor of discontinued model and device coming out soon. it'll be 4-5 months at earliest before we see tf-700. that's what he said. plus other members here on forum was told some of the same answers. look through the threads n you would see.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
You realize how implausible this sounds, no matter who gave you the information, right? Why would Asus publically devalue a product just as its being launched, blaming the issue on the metal back cover, if it was "a small community" of devices that were affected by s/w? And removing the GPS toggle and config files in ICS is going the opposite direction of what you're saying. I know your heart is in the right place, and you believe what you posted, but it doesn’t add up.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] clouds5:
This makes alot of sense to me, as similar devices (ultra thin with aluminum) like the ipad had similar problems. No GPS and OK but not outstanding wifi performance. I'm still sooo looking forward to get mine...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Hey, they're basically saying its a mixture of metal backing and software. even with new model having RF window, signal will still be affected because the back is still mostly metal. it'll be different if it was a complete plastic backing.

I get what you saying and where you coming from though. Hey like I said, just relaying info basically word for word from what I was told. plus anyone could ask the same person these questions in a pm. that was the answers given to me based on what I asked.

Question:

1) Is it true Asus is discontinuing the current prime, like I have for a newer model, the TFP-700 or something like that,with defects and issues fixed?

2) If so, what will happen with all the people like myself who paid full price for this device that's been found to have several issues or defects? main one being metal back plate.

3)Will Asus allow some sort of exchange plan or offer for newer model with defects fixed for people who have proof of owning an original Prime. Maybe ones bought before a certain date or something before Asus pulled GPS spec down from page and addressed wifi issues also
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
Should have asked about the ad hoc network issue in ICS
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Good point as it was found out that the Ipad1 has alot stronger wifi signal then the slimmer ipad2. with ipad2 they had to relocate the antennae near the speaker grill or something since original location,like on ipad1 couldn't be used anymore due to the slimmer profile.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
damn! my bust as this is very important also. it slipped my mind as i was only thinkng of the Prime itself at the time.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
Well... I have the email of an Asus support person who was asking about one of the other threads & they finally answered my email & said they would kick that question up to engineering & get back to me.. I'm wanting to get thus ad hoc issue nailed down
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] gogol:
Yeah we knew that.

AnandTech got that one.

They got a replacement and retested it.

ASUS also said that they fix it.

And still, wifi is weak.

AnandTech tested it and a lot of users here tested it.

It is performing adequately, but not optimal. It is weak, we all know that.

I can't believe your source told there is no issues anymore, and tf700 will perform the same as the supposed to be fixed TF201.

That's really stupid move from ASUS.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jzen:
All TF201s have weaker (than most other tablets) wifi, GPS and bluetooth signals. It is all due to the frying pan styled metal backing.

And i do believe that any High ranking Asus official has probably about as much knowledge and care about the product as a Best Buy floor manager...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
actually no..lol even Anandtech himself said wifi signal was just as good as original. As far as the Asus guy goes, he has been more than helpful around here and knows slot more than you might believe.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] MHoefler:
What the original poster said is all BS, believe me! Don't listen to such people who are just trying to confuse others to make up for their own disappointment with the purchase of a faulty product!

Why am I so sure? Here's why:

1) If the GPS problem was just a firmware issue, it would have been fixed already with an OTA update for all customers!

2) If they could fix it with a FW upgrade or if it just affected a few early devices, they wouldn't have removed the "GPS" from the technical specifications.

3) They would not use the plastic cover part on the TF700 if everything worked fine with the all aluminum back-plate.

You see, this is clear proof that the statements of the OP are just rubbish!

Regards!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] fingery:
^^

We have a winner!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] the_game_master:
when ASUS themselves officially said its possible due to the metal casing. There was no longer any need to push the "it's software" banter further. This right now is a new unofficial report.

I wouldn't be so quick to say "I told you so" just yet. they already released ICS 4, that only marginally improved some things (created new issues).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] gogol:
And also, ASUS will not come out and admit the problem and the root cause PUBLICLY.

Why would they do that if there is no problem or the problem can be fixed simply with software or firmware upgrade.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Diamondback:
Lol.

Do you even read anything at all? :D

1: You clearly have no idea about how software development works. You can't just push a fix in some days. Especially not if you are not 100% sure where exactly the error is.

Apart from that the Prime was never intended to run HC 3.2. They had a bare 4 days to see how ICS runs on all the Primes and to analyze what errors there are.

2: ASUS themselfs said that they remove the GPS AS LONG AS THE ISSUE IS NOT CLEARED UP.

This move was made to not confuse FUTURE customers. YOu can read that up on your own.

3: The plastic cover is mainly used because the TF700 is a 3G device...

You guys you really can't expect that ASUS fixes all your problems within two work days...

I wish more people would work in software development.... :rolleyes:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Danny80y:
He said she said.....He thought she thought....This whole thread is too funny...lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] MHoefler:
Actually I am a software developer and if any of our products showed such horrible bugs that are caused by software / firmware, I would fix it in a matter of minutes or hours! I would personally make sure nobody of our development team sleeps until the issue is fixed! And I would tell my customers EXACTLY where the problem lies and that we will fix it with a SW update.

You just seem to be unable to admit that Asus messed up big time here and you are probably desperately hoping for a wonder update that fixes all problems of the prime!

Don't worry, it will come! But as a new HW revision or a new model and not as a simple firmware upgrade...

Regards!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jrwingate6:
The TF700 is not a 3G device. The 3G version will have a different model number such as TF701.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Tempie007:
And then the big question: will the tf202 contain a tegra3+ chip? I think it will , if it really takes 4/5 months to be released...

Or a tf301?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
The first one saying what I said was rubbish was really funny. lol. FOR THESE 3 PEOPLE I QUOTED, SINCE YOU SEEM SO DAMN SMART, TELL GARY WHAT HE TOLD ME IS B.S. THEN. DAMN! people can be so narrow minded. It isn't my fault I was one of the only ones smart enough to ask the right person the right questions instead sitting around on a forum gossiping about stuff that has no basis. LIKE in my other post, I asked the questions I stated. That was the response I got.

No one ever said this was some fullblown test of the two hooked upto meters n all that. This was just an observation that was made when the chance came around to do a personal quick test of the two.

Gary would know the facts or details surrounding what is on going with Prime or new model more than any of us. Plus some people obviously can't read properly or only reading what they want to. They clearly missed the part that said his own personal prime doesn't have the issues some here are having. SO that means his Prime is working completely fine. Just as you have lots of people here stating their prime works fine also. including GPS.

So what happens when you have a Prime that works as it supposed to? that means EVERYTHING WORKS IN IT INCLUDING WIRELESS. So using two devices, that work as they supposed to, will yells similar results. Plus this comparison was only done in an enclosed area. it was tested over a longer range or distance. Don't be mad that person Prime works as its supposed to and that the problems experienced here are only small in numbers compared to total units shipped and in peoples possession. Xda doesn't even represent a fraction of the total number of people who own a Prime. People seem to think these issues affect everyone's device. Don't let yourself think that our numbers constitute any major percentage of devices. Maybe if the whole entire xda but its not. We are just the lil Ol Prime section of XDA. We are the early adopters here of a great piece of technology. Don't flatter yourself thinkn we are that important or have that much influence, as far as numbers go. Prime section here is far from that.

This isn't meant to be a debate anyways. lmfao This is just relaying what was told to me when i asked certain questions. So if you got a problem with it then go back to reading your National Enquirer of tech news n rumors tl get your info. For me, at least I was smart enough to ask someone who would know more about what's going on then any of us. Be thankful he is even here on this site trying to help people out.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Now this is the "Winning" statement :p. some people can be so hard headed..lol just let them keep gossiping amongst themselves like women. They seem to love it anyways as evidence of all the rumor threads that has no basis on truth. As soon as someone sees Prime out of stock or sold at a promo Price, OH NOOOOOO....IT MUST BE DISCONTINUED....lol. keep dreaming people.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
new TF-700 is going to have exact same Tegra3 that's in the Prime. Same speeds and everything. As shown in various videos, Tegra3 seems to handle the HD screen pretty well. Tegra3 rated to handle screens even higher in resolution than that. Tegra3 is a beast. You can almost guareentee though that current Prime will be faster overall and score higher in benchmarks and run faster FPS. Main reason being our resolution(which is a great one) is not as high as the 700 therefore it doesn't have to work as hard to perform the same tasks.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] grumblers:
Another dev here. I echo your feelings about fixing and *especially* communicating bugs. I have also been around long enough to know that we don't run the show. Realistically the problems are probably a lot more complex than we consumers like to admit. Having owned many non-gadget Asus products I have confidence in their engineering dept. to get to the bottom of this eventually (if they haven't already but are being silenced for internal political reasons).

That said Asus's inexperience in the gadget world is really painfully shining through here. Their marketing guys really need to learn that people expect more communication from the company when a $500 tablet is buggy vs a $150 easily returnable, always in stock motherboard.

After the emotional outrage subsided I've decided to keep my Prime even with weak GPS. All things considered it's still a very impressive device.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] parker7:
You beat me too it. The plastic strip is purely for 3g, and the tf700 is the 3g version with slight upgrades. The plastic strip also helps the gps, but that is a side benefit. Well, that's my opinion. Also, great point on the software updates, some people think they have a magic wand. With people saying how the OG tranformer got fixes, i have confidence in asus to solve any issues with this TP.

My gps doesn't lock, but it knows my position within 20m from wifi. That's good enough for me, but maybe not for others. I'm happy so far, I just want asus to release more ICS updates because there is some slight bugs, but nothing that worth mentioning.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nyijedi:
If some Primes have good firmware and others (a small batches according to the OP's source) have old/bad firmware, why wouldn't Asus just push out the new firmware to everyone?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] sdelliott31:
C'mon mannnnnnn! If you put a strong post out there like this and can't link to a source makes it here say,no matter how much I want to believe you.

I heard that the world is ending this year but I can't reveal my source (a friend of a friend knew people who met a guy who said he knew this girl who's family met a Mayan).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] ToneyEricsson:
My old Asus 1000HE netbook WiFi performs better than my new Prime. Surely WiFi and GPS will be better on the upcoming Prime.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Good question as the word "firmware" was what was used. I'm not sure. It may not be that simple. think this is related to that other thread that says some Primes are good n some are bad. The op of that post said Asus Engineer said that people having issues with wifi/BT were more than likely having older hardware/firmware. Maybe another reason into why alot of people here had issues when ICS was pushed out. It was meant for a certain hardware/firmware or whatever and when people that had older stuff got it, it didn't mesh well.

Compiling the new software to address only the ones that aren't up to date or whatever may not be that simple, like Diamondback said. Maybe they are working on it. I don't know. I'm just like alot of you in that what I was told leads tl even more detailed questions. I don't work for Asus or represent them in anyway. Just relaying info I found out that might clear up some silly rumors floating around. It is very interesting that the Prime yeilded same results as new model with plastic strip. All that means to me is that it gives current Prime owners hope that wireless issues some experience can be fixed to an acceptable degree.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
Actually I revealed it a couple posts back as to **** the Trolls up. since they think they know so much. Tell the person that told me what he said was b.s. then. lol or ask him your own questions. I can't be faulted for being smart enough to ask the right questions when i had the chance to.

My Prime, as far as wifi goes, Performs better than my Ipad or my Atrix4g. I pull faster download and upload speeds than them and the strength and range is right on par with them.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] gogol:
This came from ASUS Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ASUS/posts/300815559961849

So, there, THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE GPS.

If you or Gary said there is NO GPS PROBLEM, then yeah, I believe what ASUS official statement rather than random guy posting "secret" message like you.

And that's enough for me to cancel my order, and not recommending this TF201 to all my friends and families, unless ASUS changed it or released a new product.

I am not against ASUS, company makes mistake, granted, they admitted it. Good. That does not change the fact that the product has design flaw, has defect, imperfect, has issue, whatever you call it.

A lot of evidence already around the web, users testing etc. etc. Owners cancelled their order, returned it, RMA'ed, you can see those here. You simply cannot deny that facts.

You can say there is no problem, yeah, that's your opinion. And without any solid proof, that means nothing. Really, nothing.

Oh well ...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
OK...BYe Bye then...lol. you not hurting anyone by canceling your order or recommendations. that was funny.

See yaaaa...wouldn't wanna be ya....Majority of people will still be here enjoying Their Prime. Go get yourself a Pantech or KindleFire or something..lol. obviously Prime tl complex for you to understand.