Unhappy with Eepad Transformer Prime: Help!!

[suirauqa]

Having started to play with an ASUS EEPad Transformer Prime TF-201 (armed with Android 4.0.3 ICS), I am already experiencing a host of difficulties. Because I have no prior experience with this platform, I am feeling quite at sea. I hope some kind folks in this forum would provide some pointers/directions.

(a) I have downloaded and installed the EEPad PC Suite (from ASUS Support) in my Windows 7 PC; I found it to be v-e-r-y slow, at least for file functions, like copying or moving. Is this normal?

(b) The stock browser that came with the TF-201 seemed nice. It had nice tabs, and worked pretty much like Chrome. But then I started realizing the major drawbacks. (i) It is generally rather slow. (ii) Even when I am accessing Gmail through the web interface, upon opening the compose menu and tapping the cursor into a text field (such as the 'to' field or the message body), the keyboard wouldn't appear. This happened to me just now. I stopped the process, started it again, but to no avail whatsoever. And this is just one of the issues with the stock browser.

(c) The stock ASUS email app is... weird, to say the least. I configured it to access my Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail accounts. I was happy using the stock email app, until I realized everytime I was sending a message from Gmail using the email app, it created a label called 'Imap/sent' in my Gmail account. If I moved a message to the Spam account, it would create a label called 'Imap/spam'; if I deleted a message, it showed up in my Gmail account with an 'Imap/trash' label, but is not actually deleted.

(d) Initially the TF-201 seemed to be pretty fast, as I had expected it to be. But I've already noticed weird glitches, time lags, performance issues. Particularly vexing has been the clock issue. There are four clocks that show time. (i) The system time in settings. (ii) Clock in the taskbar (right bottom corner). (iii) Clock that shows up at the right top corner of the pop up menu when the taskbar is tapped. And (iv) an analog Clock widget on my homescreen. The system time (in the settings) shows the correct time. However, all the three other clocks shows completely different and arbitrary times. Check the screenshot composite that shows all of the above 4 clocks.

(e) The non-inclusion of a good unicode-compliant non-English Foreign Language font is cramping my style, because I use such fonts often. It's particularly odd, since the use of this font works out rather well even in Google's Chromebook CR-48. Not so in the TF-201, where somehow even Google's own Transliteration IME doesn't work.

(f) The apps that I am used to in the iOS platform behave slightly differently, and not in a good way. For instance, the individual webmail apps (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) didn't perform as expected in the Android platform. Each of them had some design issues that made them inconvenient to use. The Yahoo mail, strangely, has no means to delete a message once I am reading the message. I have to get back to the message list in order to select the message and then delete it. It was not like this in the iOS.

(g) The Prime doesn't support 5GHz wireless signal. My Netgear router (dual band) does G at 2.4GHz and N at 5GHz, with two different SSIDs for each band. The Prime sees only the 2.4GHz. In addition, the Wi-fi signal drops inexplicably even when I am sitting at the same spot and not doing anything online. It keeps fluctuating when the wi-fi is actually in use. I can't understand why.

(h) In the ASUS task manager, apps that I am not using show up when I wake the device up from sleep. Apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Keyboard, Google+, Gallery, Calendar etc.) show up, even when I haven't used them at all; for instance, I have never opened Google+ or the Calendar on my device, and yet they show up in the task manager as running.

These problems have been so bad (especially when the comparison with iOS jumps naturally to my mind) that I am tempted to return the TF-201. A part of me wants to try rooting it and installing custom ROMs and stuff to see if it would solve my worries. But then I probably cannot return it any more. I hope sincerely that folks in this forum would be kind enough to provide me with some pointers for different aspects of Android.

 

[digitalslacker]

I'll try to help you out with a few since no one has gotten back to you yet.

(a) I have downloaded and installed the EEPad PC Suite (from ASUS Support) in my Windows 7 PC; I found it to be v-e-r-y slow, at least for file functions, like copying or moving. Is this normal?

I haven't used that app so I can't help with that one.

(b) The stock browser that came with the TF-201 seemed nice. It had nice tabs, and worked pretty much like Chrome. But then I started realizing the major drawbacks. (i) It is generally rather slow. (ii) Even when I am accessing Gmail through the web interface, upon opening the compose menu and tapping the cursor into a text field (such as the 'to' field or the message body), the keyboard wouldn't appear. This happened to me just now. I stopped the process, started it again, but to no avail whatsoever. And this is just one of the issues with the stock browser.

I don't use the stock browser that often, I prefer the Chrome Beta for ICS.

(c) The stock ASUS email app is... weird, to say the least. I configured it to access my Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail accounts. I was happy using the stock email app, until I realized everytime I was sending a message from Gmail using the email app, it created a label called 'Imap/sent' in my Gmail account. If I moved a message to the Spam account, it would create a label called 'Imap/spam'; if I deleted a message, it showed up in my Gmail account with an 'Imap/trash' label, but is not actually deleted.

It sounds like you have GMail setup to use the the email app to check the mail instead of using the stock Gmail app on the tablet. There are two email apps that come on Android. The Gmail & Email. Email should be used for everything that isn't Gmail. It's specifically designed to make use of Gmail features. It should be automatically setup when you signed into your gmail account on the tablet the first time. If you want to remove the one you setup in the Email app you can hit Settings > Accounts and sync. Remove the on with your gmail address that doesn't have the Google "g" next to it.

(d) Initially the TF-201 seemed to be pretty fast, as I had expected it to be. But I've already noticed weird glitches, time lags, performance issues. Particularly vexing has been the clock issue. There are four clocks that show time. (i) The system time in settings. (ii) Clock in the taskbar (right bottom corner). (iii) Clock that shows up at the right top corner of the pop up menu when the taskbar is tapped. And (iv) an analog Clock widget on my homescreen. The system time (in the settings) shows the correct time. However, all the three other clocks shows completely different and arbitrary times. Check the screenshot composite that shows all of the above 4 clocks.


Click to view quoted image

Never see that clock issue. Does it happen after a reboot?

(f) The apps that I am used to in the iOS platform behave slightly differently, and not in a good way. For instance, the individual webmail apps (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) didn't perform as expected in the Android platform. Each of them had some design issues that made them inconvenient to use. The Yahoo mail, strangely, has no means to delete a message once I am reading the message. I have to get back to the message list in order to select the message and then delete it. It was not like this in the iOS.

Android apps aren't iOS apps. Design and usability guidelines aren't the same either. I won't say that one is right and one is wrong but I will say that when you compare two things, it's natural to prefer the thing you already know assuming everything else is fairly equal. Android isn't perfect by any stretch and design is one area that they have room to improve one, which they are doing.

(g) The Prime doesn't support 5GHz wireless signal. My Netgear router (dual band) does G at 2.4GHz and N at 5GHz, with two different SSIDs for each band. The Prime sees only the 2.4GHz. In addition, the Wi-fi signal drops inexplicably even when I am sitting at the same spot and not doing anything online. It keeps fluctuating when the wi-fi is actually in use. I can't understand why.

There are reported wifi issues with the prime but I've yet to see them on mine. Maybe that's what you are seeing. Does that drop happen when you are near the router?
Prime doesn't support 5.0, just 2.4.

(h) In the ASUS task manager, apps that I am not using show up when I wake the device up from sleep. Apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Keyboard, Google+, Gallery, Calendar etc.) show up, even when I haven't used them at all; for instance, I have never opened Google+ or the Calendar on my device, and yet they show up in the task manager as running.

I really wish Asus didn't include that task manager, it's misleading. In Android, using 100% of your available memory isn't a bad thing like we're condition to believe it is on a PC. Android manages tasks and memory differently. It wants stuff you use in memory so it loads faster but it's good at clearing things out on it's own when you do something that requires more. Memory or tasks in Android don't need to be managed at all. I'd just get rid of the task manager off your screen and ignore it.
Google+ and Calendar are integrated into many parts of Android so it might run when needed by the OS even if you didn't start it. That's OK.
Putting the tablet to sleep will not close programs that you were using. If you open Facebook it will stay opened until Android closes it or you do with a task manager, which you shouldn't use because having Facebook opened all the time isn't hurting anything.

These problems have been so bad (especially when the comparison with iOS jumps naturally to my mind) that I am tempted to return the TF-201. A part of me wants to try rooting it and installing custom ROMs and stuff to see if it would solve my worries. But then I probably cannot return it any more. I hope sincerely that folks in this forum would be kind enough to provide me with some pointers for different aspects of Android.

I think Android is at the point now where rooting and romming isn't required to have a good experience with a device. It's fun and I've done plenty of it, but Android is good without doing that.

Both iOS and Android have strengths and weaknesses. It's about weighing those and picking the one that meets your needs the best. If that's Android and you decide to keep it, cool, there are plenty of people in here that'd be happy to help you out

 

[suirauqa]

Thank you for that most kind, very detailed reply. If this is the kind of reply one gets in the Android Central forum, I'd be sorely tempted to chuck iOS altogether and immerse myself in Android love.

I don't use the stock browser that often, I prefer the Chrome Beta for ICS.

I have been a long time Chrome user (I currently use the dev channel build) and consider it my primary browser in all my machines. Naturally, therefore, I chose to use Chrome Beta for ICS on the TF-201. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. It seemed to lack many of the Chrome features that I have come to deem essential to my daily use (yes, I know it's beta, but I'm talking about functionality), was quite slow, and in addition, did weird things to my Google account, like turned off my 'invisible' status and signed me on to Chat without my instruction or any kind of notification. This is why I had to fall back upon the Stock browser. However, someone in another forum pointed out the Dolphin HD browser, and I have been using it reasonably successfully so far.

It sounds like you have GMail setup to use the the email app to check the mail instead of using the stock Gmail app on the tablet. There are two email apps that come on Android. The Gmail & Email. Email should be used for everything that isn't Gmail. It's specifically designed to make use of Gmail features. It should be automatically setup when you signed into your gmail account on the tablet the first time. If you want to remove the one you setup in the Email app you can hit Settings > Accounts and sync. Remove the on with your gmail address that doesn't have the Google "g" next to it.

I guess I was relying on my iOS user experience to guide me, and that's where I was wrong. In the iOS mail client on my iPhone, my webmail accounts - Gmail and Yahoo amongst them - work via IMAP and work perfectly, no complaints. I was expecting something similar from the stock Email app on Android. Confession: I was using the Email app for another reason, too... :-[ I liked the envelope icon and the clutterfree, simple, transparent appearance of the ASUS Mail widget and the fact that it would poll my webmail accounts and readily show the number of unread mails.

However, it didn't at all perform as expected, which I have written about.

The Gmail app for Android had a slightly different interface, and seems less well-designed and intuitive, compared to the Gmail app for iOS which is really well-designed and works beautifully. I found the Android Gmail app disappointing and uninstalled it in favor of a mail app called K-9 mail - which someone had recommended in another forum. This K-9 mail app seems to work rather well with the webmail accounts and doesn't engage in any weird behavior.

Never see that clock issue. Does it happen after a reboot?

TBH, I never expected Android to even have the Windows' typical 'Reboot-and-everything-will-be-right-as-rain' solution to any problem. But it appears that that was the exact thing necessary. Following a suggestion found on the web, I tried to do a reboot by holding the volume button and power button down together. I am not sure if I did it correctly or if it had its intended effect, but after the TF-201 restarted, it has been showing the correct time in all four places. Huzzah!

Android apps aren't iOS apps. Design and usability guidelines aren't the same either. I won't say that one is right and one is wrong but I will say that when you compare two things, it's natural to prefer the thing you already know assuming everything else is fairly equal. Android isn't perfect by any stretch and design is one area that they have room to improve one, which they are doing.

Point taken. I think I just need some time to get used to the Android interface, warts and all. I hope they (Google/Android developers/tiny alien beings from Tau Ceti Prime) are working furiously towards reducing the app response lag that seems to dog the Android devices, even the ones with fast, more powerful processors.

There are reported wifi issues with the prime but I've yet to see them on mine. Maybe that's what you are seeing. Does that drop happen when you are near the router?

The router is in my bedroom. I prefer sitting in my living room, about 15-20 feet away, when I work. All my wireless enabled devices work fine at that distance, except the TF-201 which slows wi-fi signal fluctuating between very low and low. The reboot didn't solve this issue.

I really wish Asus didn't include that task manager, it's misleading. In Android, using 100% of your available memory isn't a bad thing like we're condition to believe it is on a PC. Android manages tasks and memory differently. It wants stuff you use in memory so it loads faster but it's good at clearing things out on it's own when you do something that requires more. Memory or tasks in Android don't need to be managed at all. I'd just get rid of the task manager off your screen and ignore it.

Old (PC) habits die hard. I am fighting the itch on my finger to close tasks the moment I am done with them. :-[

I think Android is at the point now where rooting and romming isn't required to have a good experience with a device. It's fun and I've done plenty of it, but Android is good without doing that.

I'd totally love to root this device and gain everything that I can from it. I just need to know one thing. Once it is rooted, it appears that ASUS will forsake it, cut it out of the will, never again look at it. Which is fine. But then... How will my prodigal Tablet get the updates? Always from the custom ROMs? By searching the cyanogen or x-da dev forums? How does this work?

Both iOS and Android have strengths and weaknesses. It's about weighing those and picking the one that meets your needs the best. If that's Android and you decide to keep it, cool, there are plenty of people in here that'd be happy to help you out

Of that I am mighty glad. I bought a 32GB micro SDHC card, and am going to put it in the device as a start. I may soon get so enamored of this device that I might not be able to bear the thought of parting with it. Let's see.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to reply.

 

[frankles42]

i was having awful wifi issues similar to yours (connection seeming to drop for no reason, very slow etc) with my prime for the first two weeks or so, to the point that i was considering just returning it and going back to a galaxy tab 10.1. then i decided to mess around with some of my router settings. specifically, i changed my routers broadcast channel from "auto" to something like channel 11. i have a feeling that my router was changing channels pretty frequently and the prime is just terrible at keeping up.

now i chose 11 specifically because it looked to be the least cluttered channel around me (i live in an apartment complex full of grad students), so i would suggest using the wifi analyzer app available in the market to scope out the different wifi channels in your area.

i was also mildly disappointed that the prime doesnt support the 5ghz band, especially when the galaxy tab 10.1 did

 

[digitalslacker]

Thank you for that most kind, very detailed reply. If this is the kind of reply one gets in the Android Central forum, I'd be sorely tempted to chuck iOS altogether and immerse myself in Android love.


I have been a long time Chrome user (I currently use the dev channel build) and consider it my primary browser in all my machines. Naturally, therefore, I chose to use Chrome Beta for ICS on the TF-201. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. It seemed to lack many of the Chrome features that I have come to deem essential to my daily use (yes, I know it's beta, but I'm talking about functionality), was quite slow, and in addition, did weird things to my Google account, like turned off my 'invisible' status and signed me on to Chat without my instruction or any kind of notification. This is why I had to fall back upon the Stock browser. However, someone in another forum pointed out the Dolphin HD browser, and I have been using it reasonably successfully so far.


I guess I was relying on my iOS user experience to guide me, and that's where I was wrong. In the iOS mail client on my iPhone, my webmail accounts - Gmail and Yahoo amongst them - work via IMAP and work perfectly, no complaints. I was expecting something similar from the stock Email app on Android. Confession: I was using the Email app for another reason, too... :-[ I liked the envelope icon and the clutterfree, simple, transparent appearance of the ASUS Mail widget and the fact that it would poll my webmail accounts and readily show the number of unread mails.

However, it didn't at all perform as expected, which I have written about.

The Gmail app for Android had a slightly different interface, and seems less well-designed and intuitive, compared to the Gmail app for iOS which is really well-designed and works beautifully. I found the Android Gmail app disappointing and uninstalled it in favor of a mail app called K-9 mail - which someone had recommended in another forum. This K-9 mail app seems to work rather well with the webmail accounts and doesn't engage in any weird behavior.


TBH, I never expected Android to even have the Windows' typical 'Reboot-and-everything-will-be-right-as-rain' solution to any problem. But it appears that that was the exact thing necessary. Following a suggestion found on the web, I tried to do a reboot by holding the volume button and power button down together. I am not sure if I did it correctly or if it had its intended effect, but after the TF-201 restarted, it has been showing the correct time in all four places. Huzzah!


Point taken. I think I just need some time to get used to the Android interface, warts and all. I hope they (Google/Android developers/tiny alien beings from Tau Ceti Prime) are working furiously towards reducing the app response lag that seems to dog the Android devices, even the ones with fast, more powerful processors.


The router is in my bedroom. I prefer sitting in my living room, about 15-20 feet away, when I work. All my wireless enabled devices work fine at that distance, except the TF-201 which slows wi-fi signal fluctuating between very low and low. The reboot didn't solve this issue.


Old (PC) habits die hard. I am fighting the itch on my finger to close tasks the moment I am done with them. :-[


I'd totally love to root this device and gain everything that I can from it. I just need to know one thing. Once it is rooted, it appears that ASUS will forsake it, cut it out of the will, never again look at it. Which is fine. But then... How will my prodigal Tablet get the updates? Always from the custom ROMs? By searching the cyanogen or x-da dev forums? How does this work?


Of that I am mighty glad. I bought a 32GB micro SDHC card, and am going to put it in the device as a start. I may soon get so enamored of this device that I might not be able to bear the thought of parting with it. Let's see.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to reply.

Replying from the tfp so i can't easily quote all our responses above and give individual replies

Keep in mind that the TFP is a solid aluminum device and that causes some havoc with wifi. That's a design oversight and testing downfall on the part of ASUS, no question. Newer versions of the Transformer line are plastic or have a plastic bevel along the top where the WiFi antenna is for this reason. Personally, no issues with Wifi so I guess i'm just lucky.'

With some of the work arounds you found above you are indirectly hitting on one of Android's major strengths, an eco-system that's open enough that smart developers CAN create apps to get around problems.

I think the reboot and try again mantra really applies to anything electronic

Regarding rooting and custom ROMs

Technically speaking, yes rooting/unlockig the device voids you warranty and technically speaking ASUS can use that as an out to deny support and or warranty claims. It's a risk you take. However, historically, at least with the devices I have used, it's not enforced. That doesn't mean it can't or won't be at some point but I've yet to personally experience or hear about a warranty claim being denied because the device is unlocked or rooted.

If you JUST root, you should still be able to take OTA (over the air updates) but you will probably lose root when you do that. I haven't actually done that with this device, but that's how other devices I have used have worked.

When you install a custom ROM however you are stepping off the main road and are now responsible for handling your own updates. Usually good ROM devs are pretty fast to merge in updates from ASUS so you won't typically be more than a few days away from getting a new version of your ROM with the latest and greatest stuff included.


In my experience the AC forums are some of the best and most helpful around. That's why they are the only ones I respond in. Members genuinely want to help each other and there is a very high level of respect that seems to persist among this group. Too often on other forums there are big egos and trolls that detract from the quality of the content. Not the case here. It's refreshing to see that people can still act like adults on the Internet, well for the most part anyway.

Im glad I could help and I think you'll find responses like mine to be more often the case than not so don't hesitate to ask if you have a question


Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[dbattenfl]

First let me say that I work in the IT industry and fix/correct WiFi issues all the time. When dealing with wifi routers, all the manufacturers set the routers channel to auto. One would think that it would mean scanning for a free channel. It DOESN'T!
The 3 default channel's that routers use are channel 1, 6, & 11. As another poster said, grab WiFi Analyzer from the market and scan for used channels and force the router to an unused channel. Your wifi will stop competing for signal strength with near by routers.
I use this app on my phone all the time in small businesses when having wifi issues.

Now for the 5ghz channels. 5ghz was used for 802.11A, then 802.11B was created using 2.5ghz frequencies and became the more popular wifi standard. After B, came G, then N and an increases in data speeds each time. All using the 2.5ghz
I am not sure if 5ghz was officially added to the "N" standard or just added by some of the wifi router manufacturers. But some makers have added 5ghz channel support.
Most wifi enabled devices don't support the 5ghz.

Now on my Transformer Prime, the wifi reception is a little weaker than some of my other devices. But so far, has not caused any real issues when the wifi is setup correctly.

Just yesterday, I was at the Magic Kingdom at Disney and scanned for wifi. I found at least 4 wifi signals on each of the 3 default channels. They were all secure and only for Disney, but would work much better if set to different channels. With the IT depth that Disney has, it is still setup incorrectly. Hard to believe!

Good luck with your wifi.
David

 

[digitalslacker]

+1 for Wifi Analyzer.

I scan the networks around me periodically to make sure that my network's channel is set as far away from the other's as possible.

We're in a FiOS area and it seems that even though the stock routers are set to "auto", they all operate on channel 6 or in that range.

I set my router to 2 or 10 to get away from interference from them.

This could be the reason that I don't see any WiFi issues with me Prime at all. Occasionally i do see signal strength that is lower than I would typically expect in an area of my house but I've never been able to attribute that to any performance problems. I just put it down to it being a metal case.

thanks dbattenfl!

EDIT: Anyone know the real benefit between 2.4 and 5? My Galaxy Nexus has 5 and I really don't notice any difference on it or any other computer I have that can do 5. Is it just a signal penetration or distance thing?

 

[frankles42]

+1 for Wifi Analyzer.

EDIT: Anyone know the real benefit between 2.4 and 5? My Galaxy Nexus has 5 and I really don't notice any difference on it or any other computer I have that can do 5. Is it just a signal penetration or distance thing?

pretty sure the only benefit of 5 ghz vs 2.4 is that the 5 ghz band is MUCH less crowded than the 2.4 band. things like microwaves and cordless phones work on the 2.4 ghz band which everyone around you is going to have at least one of. i know for sure that in my old apartment in undergrad, whenever i would use my microwave it would kill the wifi signal on my desktop. made for some interesting wow raids whenever my room mate or i would try to heat up a hot pocket~

of course you make a trade off by going with that clutter free 5 ghz band... i think ive read around that it doesnt carry over distance as well as 2.4 does so youre trading signal quality for coverage essentially.