ASUS Transformer Prime has been criticized a lot over the past weeks, for various issues and problems, either of hardware or software nature. People were complaining about the locked bootloader, software lag, the device getting blocked and GPS issues. The latter was tackled during a recent teardown of the slate, courtesy of the guys at Anandtech.
The GPS fix was spotted on a recent changelog for the device’s software update and some users said that the update really did solve the problem. Anandtech however claims that the problems with the positioning system are actually a design flaw and as such they can’t be corrected, but only tweaked. The original Transformer had a back side covered in plastic, while Prime is all about aluminum that may be pretty, but it causes some GPS problems.
Other aluminum slates that come to mind include the HTC Flyer and the iPad, but all of them have plasticky areas, that allow the wireless signal to go loose. This applies to Bluetooth and GPS signal as well and in case you ever felt that your WiFi was crappy on the Transformer Prime, know that the aluminum back was to blame here as well. Our review unit had excellent WiFi and even the GPS worked fine, so it’s hard to tell if the problems are widespread…
