TF701 Build Quality Issues

[Snah001]

I set up this thread to report and discuss build quality issues with the TF701.

Myself I already received a replacement because when docked the connection between tablet and dock was for a short moment gone when tilting the screen forward or backward to adjust the viewing angle.
You can see this for example when you have a sdcard in the dock and it comes with the message that it mounted the sdcard again.

This is my second TF701 and I didn't have any of other build quality issues.
The screen is flawless mounted on both.

 

[elrar2012]

I set up this thread to report and discuss build quality issues with the TF701.

Myself I already received a replacement because when docked the connection between tablet and dock was for a short moment gone when tilting the screen forward or backward to adjust the viewing angle.
You can see this for example when you have a sdcard in the dock and it comes with the message that it mounted the sdcard again.

This is my second TF701 and I didn't have any of other build quality issues.
The screen is flawless mounted on both.

Having the same problem going to try if they are going to replace it

 

[aznmode]

Jsut received mine but don't have a dock so I can't comment on the dock issue. However upon opening the unit I noticed the glass was separating on the left and right side. I popped them back in. But I can tell its not as solid built as my tf700. I can stick a credit card between the glass and the back and could probably separate them if I tried. Im not sure if I received a defective unit but can you guys confirm what im seeing.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[elrar2012]

Having the same problem going to try if they are going to replace it

I went back to the store. They did agree disconnects are not normal.
In the store we tested two new tablets with dock and both had the same problem. If you move the screen the dock disconnect from the tablet.
Another this they refunded my money

So for me the TF701 is not the replacement for my old TF101

I hope anothers have more luck then me

Elrar

 

[GitAlongLilDoggies]

Mine just arrived a couple of hours ago. The tablet is perfect.

The dock on the other hand has a couple of issues. The first, when I docked the tablet with it running the screen went black. Happened a couple of times. Then I remembered the teardown someone posted and I pressed firmly all around. Heard a couple of clicks like the plastic catches engaging. Since then no more issues docking and undocking. The other problem is it wobbles quite a bit in the dock, going to take a look at adjusting the clamping mechinism....

....Great, just happened again. Docking causes the screen to go black. Think this might be a bug. It only seems to happen if I have the charger plugged into to the dock when I attach the tablet to the dock. Another issue, the tablet fits so loosely in the dock it wobbles, there's like a 1/8 inch gap. When I pick up the docked tablet there's an icon at the top of the screen that shows the keyboard disconnecting and reconnecting. I'm going to send this back and take the hit with the 15% restocking fee. Argh....

 

[EasyOne]

Mine just arrived a couple of hours ago. The tablet is perfect.

The dock on the other hand has a couple of issues. The first, when I docked the tablet with it running the screen went black. Happened a couple of times. Then I remembered the teardown someone posted and I pressed firmly all around. Heard a couple of clicks like the plastic catches engaging. Since then no more issues docking and undocking. The other problem is it wobbles quite a bit in the dock, going to take a look at adjusting the clamping mechinism....

....Great, just happened again. Docking causes the screen to go black. Think this might be a bug. It only seems to happen if I have the charger plugged into to the dock when I attach the tablet to the dock. Another issue, the tablet fits so loosely in the dock it wobbles, there's like a 1/8 inch gap. When I pick up the docked tablet there's an icon at the top of the screen that shows the keyboard disconnecting and reconnecting. I'm going to send this back and take the hit with the 15% restocking fee. Argh....

I'm having the same problem with my dock, it disconnects every time you move the screen. My TF700 does not have this problem - the clamping mechanism comes up onto the screen quite a bit farther which keeps it from wobbling as much. This new dock is useless, gonna have to send it back which sucks because the dock is the reason I bought the tablet in the first place. I really like the Transformer design but Asus screwed up the TF700 with slow I/O and now they've screwed up the part they had right. aarrgggg!

 

[gregpilot]

I'm having the same problem with my dock,

Updated: . The clamp does not appear to be easily tightened, at least without risking breakage. I thought I might try applying some 20 mill (thick) electrical tape to the inside faces of the clamp to reduce the wobbling of the tablet when docked, It helped a lot, but when I paid close attention to the charging indicator and the mounting of the sd card, when docked, keyboard working then as soon as I touch the screen the keyboard disconnects and the sd card is unmounted, there was no change. I am done. Back it goes (dock). I must say I think the docking connector on the 700 is more robust. This is ridiculous to buy full retail and have these issues. (rant off)

***end update**

I agree this is a problem. Just got mine today. I am going to look at the hinge clamp, my clamp is rather loose and the hinge pins are tight. I think if the hinge pins were loosened a little it would move more easily and not flex as much at the connectors.

There was someone who adjusted theirs, I think it was for a 700.

I have a **theory**, actually a guess as to why the redesign of the hinge. I had returned my (new) tf700 because of a display issue where upon power-on, the screen would be all white. If the OS was running (sleeping) momentarily pressing the power button to sleep and repower would usually fix it without rebooting. But booting into recovery was a pain. If the screen was white you had to keep rebooting until the screen worked. I returned the tablet because a product should not be defective out of the box.

This problem happened two-thirds of the time when docked, about 1 in 8 when undocked. Opening the (docked) tablet with the firm hinge put pressure on part of the display, I think. So Asus redesigned the hinge.

I still liked the hinge clamp on the 700. Anyone got a broken 700 keyboard? I wonder if the hinge can be swapped and the new design charging connector moved to the old style hinge.?????

 

[GitAlongLilDoggies]

Updated: . The clamp does not appear to be easily tightened, at least without risking breakage. I thought I might try applying some 20 mill (thick) electrical tape to the inside faces of the clamp to reduce the wobbling of the tablet when docked, It helped a lot, but when I paid close attention to the charging indicator and the mounting of the sd card, when docked, keyboard working then as soon as I touch the screen the keyboard disconnects and the sd card is unmounted, there was no change. I am done. Back it goes (dock). I must say I think the docking connector on the 700 is more robust. This is ridiculous to buy full retail and have these issues. (rant off)

***end update**

I agree this is a problem. Just got mine today. I am going to look at the hinge clamp, my clamp is rather loose and the hinge pins are tight. I think if the hinge pins were loosened a little it would move more easily and not flex as much at the connectors.

There was someone who adjusted theirs, I think it was for a 700.

I have a **theory**, actually a guess as to why the redesign of the hinge. I had returned my (new) tf700 because of a display issue where upon power-on, the screen would be all white. If the OS was running (sleeping) momentarily pressing the power button to sleep and repower would usually fix it without rebooting. But booting into recovery was a pain. If the screen was white you had to keep rebooting until the screen worked. I returned the tablet because a product should not be defective out of the box.

This problem happened two-thirds of the time when docked, about 1 in 8 when undocked. Opening the (docked) tablet with the firm hinge put pressure on part of the display, I think. So Asus redesigned the hinge.

I still liked the hinge clamp on the 700. Anyone got a broken 700 keyboard? I wonder if the hinge can be swapped and the new design charging connector moved to the old style hinge.?????

I was thinking the same thing, swapping out the new hinge with the old from my 700 dock. The other thing I was thinking is maybe the TF600 dock might work without mods. I'm going to stop by Best Buy this weekend and see if I can get them to take one out of the box and try it.

BTW After manually updating to the latest OS version I'm not seeing the disconnects nearly as often. There were dock firmware updates in V10.14.1.45 and V10.14.1.47. I'm guessing they increased the timouts before the keyboard disconnects.

 

[gregpilot]

Please keep us updated on what you find out. We live in a rural area, there is no "going to the store" option to test fit docks.

I'm returning my dock, however I'm thinking the replacement won't be much different. Possibly there are variations in thickness of the tablets depending on where they are made? My 700 had the glass face flush with, the top edge of the aluminum chassis, on my 701 the glass is raised about 1/16 inch (1.2 mm) from the aluminum.

It seems firmly attached but not as tight as on the 700.

In any event depending on what you find out I might look on eBay for a broken 700 dock for hinge oarts.

Its a shame such a nice design has these build issues ((

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2

 

[GitAlongLilDoggies]

Did some research on the net. Doesn't look like the TF600 dock would work. The connectors don't line up. Oh well...

 

[EasyOne]

I was thinking the same thing, swapping out the new hinge with the old from my 700 dock. The other thing I was thinking is maybe the TF600 dock might work without mods. I'm going to stop by Best Buy this weekend and see if I can get them to take one out of the box and try it.

BTW After manually updating to the latest OS version I'm not seeing the disconnects nearly as often. There were dock firmware updates in V10.14.1.45 and V10.14.1.47. I'm guessing they increased the timouts before the keyboard disconnects.

Upon further testing the disconnect problem between my tablet/dock appears to be a fault with the tablets new connector as well as well as the loose fit in the dock. When plugging the tablet into my computers USB port I get the same random disconnects, the slightest tap on the tablet connector causes it to disconnect from the computer. This is a consistently repeatable and obvious fault - been in the tech repair business for 40+ years, I know a faulty connector when I see one. I don't know if this is a design flaw in general or confined to my particular device. In any case, this puppy is going back. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else can reproduce my results, might help me decide whether to get an exchange or refund. Thanks.

 

[gregpilot]

I'll take your suggestion and check Friday

Upon further testing the disconnect problem between my tablet/dock appears to be a fault with the tablets new connector as well as well as the loose fit in the dock. When plugging the tablet into my computers USB port I get the same random disconnects,......... I'd be interested to hear if anyone else can reproduce my results, might help me decide whether to get an exchange or refund. Thanks.

May I ask where did you get your tablet? US or WW?

Yea I'm afraid the dock/usb/power connector on the new 701 is not as stout as the one on the 700. Its a sign of the times, save a penny here and there. I would not be surprised if the poor fit on the dock is just flexing the connector inside the tablet also until it just fatigues to the point where it randomly loses connection.

I'm away until Friday night, I have been rather pre-occupied with the dock issue and put the tablet aside. I will test my USB then on the tablet, if it shows the same disconnects its a deal breaker for me. Pretty sad what 600.00 will not buy. Great design. S***itty production.

 

[EasyOne]

May I ask where did you get your tablet? US or WW?

Yea I'm afraid the dock/usb/power connector on the new 701 is not as stout as the one on the 700. Its a sign of the times, save a penny here and there. I would not be surprised if the poor fit on the dock is just flexing the connector inside the tablet also until it just fatigues to the point where it randomly loses connection.

I'm away until Friday night, I have been rather pre-occupied with the dock issue and put the tablet aside. I will test my USB then on the tablet, if it shows the same disconnects its a deal breaker for me. Pretty sad what 600.00 will not buy. Great design. S***itty production.

US version.

I contacted Amazon and they are overnighting a replacement, amazing since I live in "the middle of nowhere" Montana. I think I'll hold off sending in the dock until I get the new tab.

I agree, the new connector looks pretty flimsy. I only had the dock for an hour and the tab one day before the problems started. Also I confirmed that (very) slightly bending the USB/charging cable in the same manner as it would be flexed in the dock causes it to loose connection to the computer or charger - suggesting you are likely correct about the poor fit fatiguing the cheap connector or the connector inside the tab has little or no strain relief and quickly fails. If the replacement has the same defect I'm afraid I'll be done with Asus. For $600 there must be another Android tablet that works as well as my ancient Acer A-500 that my GF is still happily using.

 

[gregpilot]

Holy Cow Batman!

US version.

I contacted Amazon and they are overnighting a replacement, amazing since I live in "the middle of nowhere" Montana. .

This can't be a coincidence. I'm in Montana, too. NW part.

 

[EasyOne]

This can't be a coincidence. I'm in Montana, too. NW part.

Kalispell?

 

[AngryDinosaur]

i find the maximum brightness still very dim.

anyone else?

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 PM ----------

and it gets hot!!!!, holy crap, performance not really that good

 

[EasyOne]

i find the maximum brightness still very dim.

anyone else?

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 PM ----------

and it gets hot!!!!, holy crap, performance not really that good

Mine gets VERY bright if I turn outdoor mode on. Unfortunately auto brightness is a disaster, it changes brightness about every 2 seconds, looking at if for more than a couple of minutes gives you a headache. Hopefully the replacement unit that's on its way won't have the same problem. Mine gets a bit warm and totally screams compared to my TF700, but it hasn't actually worked long enough to heat it up much.

 

[AngryDinosaur]

Mine gets VERY bright if I turn outdoor mode on. Unfortunately auto brightness is a disaster, it changes brightness about every 2 seconds, looking at if for more than a couple of minutes gives you a headache. Hopefully the replacement unit that's on its way won't have the same problem. Mine gets a bit warm and totally screams compared to my TF700, but it hasn't actually worked long enough to heat it up much.

ya i take back the dim display, found the outdoor mode ya the heat issue is weird, im downloading the latest firmware the xxxxxxx .47 version. maybe they addressed it

 

[gregpilot]

Unfortunately auto brightness is a disaster, it changes brightness about every 2 seconds, looking at if for more than a couple of minutes gives you a headache.

Yes when I was playing with my 701 I turned auto bright off. It kept dimming to the lowest level. I am sure its a software issue however I am not going to invest more time in the 701 until I can get the dock connector issue resolved (or not).

 

[AngryDinosaur]

Yes when I was playing with my 701 I turned auto bright off. It kept dimming to the lowest level. I am sure its a software issue however I am not going to invest more time in the 701 until I can get the dock connector issue resolved (or not).

Power saving mode is on by default, go turn it off to remove random dimming