Things I would like improved in the ASUS Transformer Infinity (TF700T)

[bromptonista]

So, I've spent a couple of months with the ASUS TF700T and its keyboard dock. Time to rant about things I don't like.
1) Startup time. Cold boot takes more than a minute. This is truly sad when Windows 8 Ultrabooks and Macbooks boot in seconds. Slower processor based android phones also boot faster. Why ASUS? What are you doing in this minute?
2) Critical Bugs. By that I mean glitches that cause the tablet to hang, randomly reboot or randomly shutdown. It's not hot. It's not being used for hours. It just crashes the kernel. It should NOT do that ASUS. I don't need that. Crash the app if you have to, not the whole tablet! Similarly with hot-plugging the dock sometimes.
3) Non-critical Bugs. That refers to little things that don't really affect productivity with the tablet but are driving me (and many others) insane.
a) What is this graphics card driver / whatever else issue that causes the random black lines to flicker on the screen at random intervals? What are these lines? ASUS, you can definitely reproduce this. This is not found on any other android device that I own (Samsung and HTC phones and tablets mainly). I realise it may not be a big deal (stuff does not crash at least), but this is a £500 tablet. This should not be an issue. Really.
b) What is wrong with the keyboard driver? Why do I need an independent app (External Keyboard Helper) to enjoy my hardware keyboard dock that you charge £100? How can this guy make such a great app, with no issues with dead keys (you know what I mean - greek 'tonos' or accent), and you, ASUS, after breaking this functionality on Jelly Bean, can't find a fix? Buy his keyboard and bundle it with your tablets, that's my answer. Give up on this ridiculous "ASUS Keyboard". It's a joke needing a separate keyboard for every language, particularly one that does not work properly. Use Google's standard. Use Hacker's Keyboard from the market (free!). Use Swype. Whatever.
4) Missing features. You give us a tablet with a hardware keyboard having a USB slot. What do people use USB for? No, it's not to plug in a keyboard. It's probably not to plug in a mouse either. External storage maybe, but less so in this cloud-ridden world where everything is on Dropbox.
Charging their phones is what they will use it for. Their iPhones, Androids and whatever. Why can't we do that with the tablet screen off ASUS? Is Apple smarter and they can code the Macbook Air circuitry better? Is this not something people want? I may not need 18h of tablet time - just a charge for my phone. Why should I need to keep the tablet on for that?
5) A 3G / 4G / whatever model, priced competitively. I know I can tether. I'd like to save myself the trouble, and my phone's battery since it is so damn difficult to charge with the built in dock anyway. It's not that hard, it will let carriers offer your tablet as a bundle, it will make you money. The iPad does it, Samsung does it. The only tablets that don't do it are Amazon's - and there are 3G Kindles out there.


5 things. Can you fix them?
Note that stuff like "my generation 1 iPad browses and reads email faster" and "X phone / tablet costing half as much is on 4.2.2 already" and "why should I need to void my warranty to install custom ROMs" are left out here. I don't particularly care about these.


I think the TF700T is an amazing feat of engineering. An incredible, sharp screen, a great form factor, a good looking set with the dock keyboard. But I'm sorry, I'm a guy who regularly forks out £600 on tablets or gadgets and my next tablet will be an iPad or a Samsung or a Kindle. It's just not worth it. I have no patience anymore, because I know that I can get my work done more efficiently with a 3rd party external keyboard and any other tablet. Heck, I can even get a phone, a keyboard and a HDMI screen for the money, and even run Ubuntu more stably.


PS: I am posting this on every android forum I know, just in case find a solution for some of these problems...

 

[leeshor]

1) Startup time. Cold boot takes more than a minute. This is truly sad when Windows 8 Ultrabooks and Macbooks boot in seconds. Slower processor based android phones also boot faster. Why ASUS? What are you doing in this minute?

I guess you think that's a fair comparison, I don't. Every current generation android phone I have seen boots faster than any other current generation android tablet. Especially if the tablet is loaded with apps. It's mostly a difference in the form factor.

2) Critical Bugs. By that I mean glitches that cause the tablet to hang, randomly reboot or randomly shutdown. It's not hot. It's not being used for hours. It just crashes the kernel. It should NOT do that ASUS. I don't need that. Crash the app if you have to, not the whole tablet! Similarly with hot-plugging the dock sometimes.
3) Non-critical Bugs. That refers to little things that don't really affect productivity with the tablet but are driving me (and many others) insane.

Not only am I not seen those problems on my 700 but neither are my other customers who own 700s. If that's bugging you a lot, maybe you should consider a factory reset. That would also least temporarily correct some of your booting time issues.

If you think the keyboard is so ridiculous, sell it. All my customers use the keyboard, but not necessarily all the time. It is a productivity tool for some, extra battery life for some, and yes even useful USB port and SD card slot for others. I've never used the keyboard to charge anything. But, I do use it every now and then.

 

[bromptonista]

Thanks for replying.

I guess you think that's a fair comparison, I don't. Every current generation android phone I have seen boots faster than any other current generation android tablet. Especially if the tablet is loaded with apps. It's mostly a difference in the form factor.

That's strange. I do use the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 as a phone, but why would it boot faster than the TF700T??? I don't have other 10" Android tablets to compare.

Not only am I not seen those problems on my 700 but neither are my other customers who own 700s. If that's bugging you a lot, maybe you should consider a factory reset. That would also least temporarily correct some of your booting time issues.

If you think the keyboard is so ridiculous, sell it. All my customers use the keyboard, but not necessarily all the time. It is a productivity tool for some, extra battery life for some, and yes even useful USB port and SD card slot for others. I've never used the keyboard to charge anything. But, I do use it every now and then.

I have done factory resets. I will RMA the tablet.

 

[leeshor]

Thanks for replying.

That's strange. I do use the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 as a phone, but why would it boot faster than the TF700T??? I don't have other 10" Android tablets to compare.



I have done factory resets. I will RMA the tablet.

The 700 has a larger screen AND a higher resolution. But it's difficult to compare even 2 of the same models of tablet. No 2 are configured exactly the same. Boot time can be improved by disabling some of the stock apps.

What problem is causing you to RMA the tablet?

 

[bromptonista]

As you said, you have not seen these problems. A quick look at the forums shows they are rather common... I expect a device I want to use daily to be free from these. Random crashes, screen "tearing", the serial missing from the "About" screen, unable to register for ASUS device tracking etc.
If 10% of TF700Ts don't have the line tearing problem I think I will RMA the tablet until I get one of these.

 

[leeshor]

The ASUS tablets have NEVER actually displayed the device SN that is on the outside of the tablet by the charging port or also on the box it came in.

All my TF700 users got theirs from different sources and at different times. No problems on any NOW and the only one that did was solved with a factory reset.

 

[bromptonista]

The ASUS tablets have NEVER actually displayed the device SN that is on the outside of the tablet by the charging port or also on the box it came in.

All my TF700 users got theirs from different sources and at different times. No problems on any NOW and the only one that did was solved with a factory reset.

I'm sorry, you may not have seen it - it's in the About / Status screen. The problem is described here (and sometimes solved using Ratchet) e.g. Looking for answers in Serial Number Issue for OTA and Unlocking - xda-developers

 

[leeshor]

That just goes to show you can't believe EVERYTHING you read. There is an internal SN that is not the system serial number and on some TF models, especially when the TF201 came out, that number was not being displayed. It never was the actual SN that ASUS uses. As I stated before it is either located at the charging port or on the original packaging.