Free GPS kit from Asus

[Aznflawless]

Mine just came in the Mail from FedEx!
Here's a picture : http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/ikevin57/?action=view&current=fixedgps.jpg

 

[Devinator]

You might wanna repost that pic with your name and address covered up. But, thanks!!

 

[malicefox]

Just got my dongle too. Larger than i was expecting it to be. Oh well. It provides a handle to carry it lol.

 

[jordo487]

I just got mine today too. I think I will never use it, but it is free and just in case I guess. With my case or soon to have docking station, it can't be used anyways, but will be nice to have around.

 

[Devinator]

Yea, but, like you said, it was free, so, no reason not to get it. Besides, you probably have a phone you can use anyway.

Also, you can use it with the dock, you just have to undock it. Undocking it is quite seamless. You will be quite pleased with your dock, I know I am.

 

[flipbeats]

it doesn't look to bad, that would be cool if they included an HD camera on it also and security lock to lock the thunderbolt when close lol

 

[Devinator]

it doesn't look to bad, that would be cool if they included an HD camera on it also and security lock to lock the thunderbolt when close lol

An HD camera on what? The GPS dongle?

Lock the Thunderbolt? You mean lock the Prime when it's closed? If so, when it's closed in the dock its real snug the way it is.

 

[gbarrett71]

Ok so please tell us about the dongle in use. Does it fix the GPS issues? I'm still waiting on mine to be delivered and am excited! I plan on using it regularly.

 

[flipbeats]

lol ya sorry for extreme typos, I was kidding though about all that, the prime is good just the wifi could be better..

 

[Devinator]

Ohh, okay, gotcha.

Yea, agreed, WiFi could be better. I've had some problems streaming. :'(

 

[Gary Stellpflug]

To c00l0ne,
Had to register my Prime 4 times. Even paid close attention to ones vs ells and zeros vs ohs, and still wouldn't register. The 4th time it took?? Then it took me directly to the info that ASUS was sending me a GPS kit and it was on order.

 

[Devinator]

This entire thing has been quite the debacle. I like Asus a lot, but, they definitely aren't handling this well. If it was more important, I might care more, but, it's just a GPS dongle. Still waiting on mine.

 

[MA2GA28]

I received mine today, and it definitely helps. Stronger signal, pings a lot more satellites (19 vs. 7 without it), and locks the signal better (narrowed me down to 38 feet and held it below 100 feet while walking when it never narrowed below 300 feet without the dongle). But, it doesn't work with my cover and seems to drink battery juice quite steadily. I think Asus did a nice job handling the situation, but the solution isn't exactly convenient.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Devinator]

Figures. I wonder if that's because it's working properly? Or if it's using more power because it's a dongle? I wouldn't think so, but, it's possible I guess.

 

[MA2GA28]

It doesn't kill the battery. But, it did seem to drain it a bit quicker for the half hour or so that I had it on and tested it. I did have Maps on for a bit, but only for a couple minutes. So, just to clarify, its not draining the battery with normal use, but it is taking up some extra juice.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[c00l0ne]

To c00l0ne,
Had to register my Prime 4 times. Even paid close attention to ones vs ells and zeros vs ohs, and still wouldn't register. The 4th time it took?? Then it took me directly to the info that ASUS was sending me a GPS kit and it was on order.

The Asus tech support manually registered my Prime for me,

 

[False_Aesop]

I received mine today tried it out, worked better than my Dinc2 in regards to precicely showing my location. I do find it interesting that right on the unit it states "Please remove GPS Extension Kit when not in use to save power." Yet it covers your power/data port so that you can't charge while driving, if you have a car to USB plug to tap your proprietary ASUS power coord into.

I'll try it out as a GPS device later, see how well it works, but it seems for now I'll still use my phone those times I need it.

 

[Kmcferrin]

Mine arrived today and I tried it out. Outside the house, on a clear and sunny afternoon I could get ZERO satellites using just the Prime. Adding the dongle immediately got me 5, and then a few seconds later 17 satellites. So it seems to work quite well. I personally DON'T use GPS on my phone UNLESS I have a mapping app up because it kills the battery so fast, so I have to imagine that this would be similar.

 

[gbarrett71]

Got mine today with mixed results. It definitely increases the satellites it detects but it is sporadic as far as fixing onto them. I'm using GPS Test plus and GPS Status apps for testing.
I am not on the stock ROM- I'm using Virtuous ROM
Hang in there Devinator... You should have yours by tomorrow if you got signed up on the first day of the extension kit offer. Oh and BTW, even though you don't have a tracking number, call Fed Ex and give em your name and address... They can tell you when it should be delivered. That's how i found out mine was due to arrive today. Tell them its being shipped Ground- that will help them pinpoint it. Im in Indiana and according to the map on the FedEx site, IN is a 4 day shipment from CA, yours should be 5 days for PA.

 

[False_Aesop]

I generally only use the GPS on my phone when I'm driving from one state to another. I know my city and I never use it while driving around town, but today I decided to slap on the dongle and take my Prime for a spin to see how well it tracked me, and to test some other things.

I used "Navigation" from google. Typed in my destination while still on a wifi network. Then I went out to my car and drove. I didn't check while driving (that would be stupid) how many satalites were tracking me, but it seemed to follow me well, always knew where I was, followed the turns immediately. I specifically drove off course to make certain it could recalculate without a data connection. It did without a problem and rather quickly, though beiing a short trip and near my destination I don't think it would have much of a problem.

My concern is, though the trip only took about 15 minutes (in retrospect I really wish I had timed it more closely), I ended up using 5% of the battery, which seems to give it about a 5 hour use time. Granted I had the tab in "Balanced" mode and the screen brightness on minimum. Navigation of course disabled the screen sleep mode and I imagine one could extend use time by turning off the screen (as voice directions will still activate).

Still it seems that the extention kit does drain the battery, as is warned right on the unit. "Unplug unit when not in use to save power"