GPS (possible issue)

slybarman · Jan 1, 2012

It also wouldn't be the first time a tech support agent made a statement and didn't know what the F they were talking about. Have you ever called Sprint tech support?

Not saying "Jerry" was right or wrong, just saying it may or may not constitute Asus' "official" position.

bestco · Jan 1, 2012

tdp252 said:
deviouskater said:

I called support and they offered me an RMA, and the tech suggested that there was a fix for my issue but seemed very nervous about our conversation and wouldn't elaborate. I told him I'd wait to see if others who RMA have good results because I wasn't convinced ASUS has a fix and would send me another unit with the same issue.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

If what the tech said was true, then looks like we got ourselves the answer - it is a hardware issue and it does require sending the tablet back to Asus to fix it! I'm done with further GPS testing at this time (waste of time). I'm going to wait for Asus to make the official announcement next week and send my Prime back for repair.

slugbug2010 · Jan 1, 2012

BarryH_GEG said:
......... .

When anyone says it's working it's because they've gotten a lock (Wi-Fi or stand-alone) and haven't changed the position of the device. Once it has to reacquire the satellites without the assistance of Wi-Fi it will fail. The reason it fails the driving test consistently is because the chip isn't able to keep up as position changes. And that's because it can't get a clear and consistent signal. And that's because of the aluminum back cover. And it effects every Prime equally.

You'll be fat, dumb, and happy if:

1) You only use GPS when you're connected to Wi-Fi.

2) You only care about GPS when you're stationary.

3) You never intend to use the device for any type of mapping or navigation that requires moving the device any distance.

You quoted my response that my GPS worked before I installed the update when you wrote this. I specifically pointed out that I did not have wifi on. I was responding to others that were pondering whether or not it worked prior to the the update. Since I hadn't updated yet, I did the best I could to test and then only updated to see if it made a difference. Under the exact same conditions, the only difference being the update.....the GPS failed to find any satellites at all after updating. I still can't lock onto any satellites from my place even after I've let wifi "find me" first - prior to turning wifi off or even if I keep it on, and it never finds a satellite

I am not implying that it would have "passed" the driving test prior to installing the update. I have since been to several locations with mixed results. The only constant is it rarely locks on right away, and from there I varies on how long it takes lock on. I have not driven with it but trust the results would be the same as you and everyone else has described.

Thank you for the valid points you made. Hopefully more people will understand and make informed decisions.

I may never actually use GPS without wifi or for navigation but I for one am most definitely not fat, dump and happy. I paid $500 for a tablet and one of its features is broken. I am very confident this will get fixed by Asus. It's not a deal breaker for me personally, but I say that knowing I still have 5-6 weeks to return it. I won't sent it in to get fixed. If it bugs me, I'd return it and wait until units are released that are fixed so that I would have a new one.

shinzz · Jan 1, 2012

tylermaciaszek said:
They addressed it and watch when they find a fix they will put it back up they just took it down for future buyers so they don't buy it for gps

---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 PM ----------

It's not software related but they can do their best to optimize it on the inside

First of all, the whole entity of Asus has not addressed the GPS issue. Some Asus websites (such as USA) have removed "GPS" off of their spec list, but Asus Global website has "GPS" included.

The response by Asus of USA (I'm guessing) CSR:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
The ASUS Transformer Prime is made from a metallic unibody design, so the material may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites.

From his word.. it MAY affect..
Since he chose to use "MAY", one can guess that it also has a chance of working properly. However, what's the % of current owners who has working GPS properly (at least comparable to other tablets)?

Now, the disagreement between that many of us are currently having: Did Asus respond officially?

I, for one.. do not think they have. I'm looking for crystal clear response & statement. It's confusing when their own websites have conflicting information listed. Although.. if logic dictates.. Asus isn't going to do anything.

the_game_master · Jan 1, 2012

slybarman said:
It also wouldn't be the first time a tech support agent made a statement and didn't know what the F they were talking about. Have you ever called Sprint tech support?

Not saying "Jerry" was right or wrong, just saying it may or may not constitute Asus' "official" position.

this.

simply going by some CSR from ASUS is simply not enough imo.

PrimeTimeBro · Jan 1, 2012

slybarman said:
It also wouldn't be the first time a tech support agent made a statement and didn't know what the F they were talking about. Have you ever called Sprint tech support?

Not saying "Jerry" was right or wrong, just saying it may or may not constitute Asus' "official" position.

This is why someone has to crack one of these open and test the GPS with the cover off because you might be right. Jerry may simply be the voice of India repeating what jdbaker82 told them because ASUS actually called him back and he told them he took his back cover off and the GPS worked which he just made up he didnt really take the back cover off.

slybarman · Jan 1, 2012

When my wife's new Prime arrives on Wednesday, I could disassemble it to have a peek . . . but then I will have to come to live with one of y'all.

slugbug2010 · Jan 1, 2012

I have to laugh at this :

" Please understand there are some limitations when using the GPS function.Some scenarios you may encounter when experiencing weak GPS performance:

1. Using the GPS while traveling in a car: The roof of a car, the insulation, bridges and other factors can affect signal reception.
2. High density areas with large buildings and structures that can block line of sight communication with GPS satellites."

I was essentially told the same thing by Sprint when the GPS did not work on my first Evo. I'm sitting there in my CONVERTIBLE, on a beautiful clear day, and no trees, no buildings, no bridges, no mountains, no hills. I told the report "I'm looking through the top of my car and don't see a thing that might interfer".

I've had "professional GPS devices" drop signal when I've needed it and it sucks! Nothing like riding your bike around in circles in the middle of nowhere trying to crab signal again so you can ride your way back.

Yeah.....they are gonna need to fix this. I am sure they will. To *not* do so could be disastrous to "shelf sells".

bestco · Jan 1, 2012

this thread needs a wiki section on the first page, reading 90+ pages aint easy.

Alloster · Jan 1, 2012

Any one tried this solution?

An Acer Iconia A500 user, paying attention to the Prime but didn't read all the posts.

Many Iconia A500 devices have issues with GPS too. It took long time to find and fix with GPS status. After replacing the sock gps.conf with a new gps.conf, it takes less than 10 seconds to fix 6 satellites (my case). I am wondering if this would work for the Prime. See detail in the following link.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1152318.

Good luck,

n11 · Jan 1, 2012

Alloster said:
An Acer Iconia A500 user, paying attention to the Prime but didn't read all the posts.

Many Iconia A500 devices have issues with GPS too. It took long time to find and fix with GPS status. After replacing the sock gps.conf with a new gps.conf, it takes less than 10 seconds to fix 6 satellites (my case). I am wondering if this would work for the Prime. See detail in the following link.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1152318.

Good luck,

Would that require root?

RussianMenace · Jan 1, 2012

Alloster said:
An Acer Iconia A500 user, paying attention to the Prime but didn't read all the posts.

Many Iconia A500 devices have issues with GPS too. It took long time to find and fix with GPS status. After replacing the sock gps.conf with a new gps.conf, it takes less than 10 seconds to fix 6 satellites (my case). I am wondering if this would work for the Prime. See detail in the following link.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1152318.

Good luck,

Needs root

Alloster · Jan 1, 2012

It worked with my unrooted device. I used ES File Explorer to copy and paste the file, and was told that the paste was failed. But surprisingly, it worked.

PrimeTimeBro · Jan 1, 2012

Any rich people have a prime that can rip the backplate off and test the GPS

tch098 · Jan 1, 2012

I have both Asus 101 and 201 and both on the lastest updated i tested both using GPStest and the 201 took 4 times as long to get gps working and finding the signal and the 201 found fewer signals but it works. I assume there are some units out there that are not working but that will be the ame with all tablets and I am sure that Asus will fix the problem.

rdalev · Jan 1, 2012

1. Can't believe someone at the Asus factory didn't walk outside and try the GPS on the Prime before giving it the thumbs up !

2. I do believe Asus should fix this issue on future Primes by placing a small piece of plastic, that looks amazingly like brushed aluminum, over the affected area !

3. That Asus should issue every current Prime owner an expedited RMA to replace the current cover with the new one that has the "piece of plastic that looks amazingly like brushed aluminum over the affected area" cover OR issue $100.00 rebates to all current owners to keep the peace !

Didn't really purchase mine for the GPS features, but then again I did pay for it !

BarryH_GEG · Jan 1, 2012

slybarman said:
It also wouldn't be the first time a tech support agent made a statement and didn't know what the F they were talking about. Have you ever called Sprint tech support?

Not saying "Jerry" was right or wrong, just saying it may or may not constitute Asus' "official" position.

"Jerry's" real name is probably Nimish and he makes about $2 an hour in an Indian call center. Jerry/Nimish most likely has never seen an Asus product except in pictures. He works for an outsourced call center and anything Jerry/Nimish says is from a script or boiler plate provided to him by Asus. Jerry/Nimish's previous script prior to the GPS reference being pulled off the website(s) told him to say "turn on Wi-Fi" and if that didn't work "hard reset." Someone way higher in the food chain put new words in Jerry/Nimish's mouth.

Sokonomi · Jan 1, 2012

I was (perhaps foolishly) depending on GPS working on the prime since my old tomtom died centuries ago.
I do still have the old (slow as jesus, 4Mhz or something) bluetooth GPS mouse laying around though,
but for 830 dollars (thats what we pay in europe) I was kinda expecting everything to be all good 'n dandy.

If only someone was brave/foolish enough to get that backplate off and give it a go,
wed all know where we stand with the whole GPS problem supposedly caused by the backplate.
If its still garbage with the backplate off, someones got some explaining to do.

Ciddy · Jan 1, 2012

My final "testing" experience.

Ok, another GPS experience today after the early afternoon garden wait with 8 minutes of "sats in view" and no lock; Early evening I jump in my car to drive across town to my Dad, switch on the Prime, it still has like a micron of Wifi and the second i switch on GPS test, I get a lock on 6 sats. So I think "whoa?!?" and start the navigation, and then start driving. 150 meters down the road, the lock is lost, only to be regained every 30s or so. Occasionally it kept the lock, but the accuracy circle kept pumping like a champ every second. On the way back (general direction north) on the 5 km drive I only got a lock once or twice for a few seconds. Then, however, it was amazingly accurate.

So my sum up for today and this being my final "tests" (as was said:"waste of time") - waited 8 minutes for a lock while standing in the garden with no fix, hopped in my car got an instant fix and it was bearable for navigation, not really dependable on that one drive. On the way back it was unusable.

My next step is to decide how badly I want to use the GPS functions and based on that to return it or not if there is no news til saturday. Because it's still an awesome device... Oh, dang!

vbman213 · Jan 2, 2012

Not sure if this has been posted yet:

http://www.wirelessgoodness.com/201...ime-gets-torn-down-kal-el-pictured/?nggpage=2

Includes some nice pictures of the Prime's logic board and various assemblies.

GPS (possible issue)

GPS working for you?

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