Who's keeping their Prime?

[JAy3001]

My only concern for the Prime is that there just won't be enough apps for ICS to support the device. Considering ICS is the first version of Android to try and unify all the devices together, i'm not really sure if ICS devices will be the ones to invest in.

I feel it will probably be the next iteration of Android that will have the wow factor and really hit hard, then there is the worry that the Prime will be out dated by then.

Meh, I don't know..

 

[Treknologist]

My only concern for the Prime is that there just won't be enough apps for ICS to support the device. Considering ICS is the first version of Android to try and unify all the devices together, i'm not really sure if ICS devices will be the ones to invest in.

I feel it will probably be the next irritation of Android that will have the wow factor and really hit hard, then there is the worry that the Prime will be out dated by then.

Meh, I don't know..

I hopy you meant the next iteration of Android....

In any case, what you are saying makes little sense since you could assume that each time there is a new major change to the OS, there will not be a lot of apps for it early on. That is also assuming it lacks backward compatibility. You don't think ICS has the wow factor?

 

[JAy3001]

Opps, yeah I meant iteration.

Well, what I am taking into consideration is that this is the first proper Android version designed to work on Tablets and by wow factor I mean enough to interest the big players in the developers market to invest in ICS software along side iOS.

 

[sleightofhand]

Well I must be lucky cause mine seems to be fine also. The screen is also beautiful, and the tablet feels very well built. So much better then the og transformer. Feels right on par with my ipad.

Love how light it is and how good the text looks. Now I am feeling pretty good with this and my rezound. Very happy to be rid of using my og transformer, and galaxy nexus.

Hope those of you not happy find a better alternative for your situation.

 

[Treknologist]

Opps, yeah I meant iteration.

Well, what I am taking into consideration is that this is the first proper Android version designed to work on Tablets and by wow factor I mean enough to interest the big players in the developers market to invest in ICS software along side iOS.

I think you may be confused. Honeycomb was the first version of Android that was developed to run on Tablets and it is considered a tablet-only OS. ICS actually merges Honeycomb and Gingerbread so that there is only one Android OS that works on all hardware. This is something that developers should more than welcome as they only have one code to deal with. In addition, the current policy Google is taking regarding their ICS theme will help with that. So, yes, ICS should definitely have the wow factor.

 

[andygu3]

keeping.

NOT happy with GPS. Happy with ICS in 2 weeks or less. Happy with root there after. Maybe root can help some of the GPS issues as I really think and believe in software as a culprit as much as the claimed metal case. Happy with the tablet overall as it is pretty awesome.

Let's see what some developers can do with this thing but I'm with you, I believe the GPS issue could be just as much a software/kernel issue as a design flaw

Mine doesn't have this issue. So far, I've had no hardware issues with mine but I only got it yesterday. Maybe I haven't had it long enough to discover any! Here's hoping there are none to discover.

No troubles here with mine and considering I tried GPS navigation before the recent update and navigation was spotty at best and after the recent update, I'm getting a better lock but it's still spotty. But if it's getting better as far as GPS, I'm still leaning on the side of a software issue and the GPS situation could get better with future updates/development

My only concern for the Prime is that there just won't be enough apps for ICS to support the device. Considering ICS is the first version of Android to try and unify all the devices together, i'm not really sure if ICS devices will be the ones to invest in.

I feel it will probably be the next iteration of Android that will have the wow factor and really hit hard, then there is the worry that the Prime will be out dated by then.

Meh, I don't know..

ICS support will get better seeing that only 2 devices have ICS on them right now. Give it 3 months and we'll see plenty of ICS compatible apps

I think you may be confused. Honeycomb was the first version of Android that was developed to run on Tablets and it is considered a tablet-only OS. ICS actually merges Honeycomb and Gingerbread so that there is only one Android OS that works on all hardware. This is something that developers should more than welcome as they only have one code to deal with. In addition, the current policy Google is taking regarding their ICS theme will help with that. So, yes, ICS should definitely have the wow factor.

Thanks for the info.

ICS definitely has a different look to it I'm looking forward to seeing it on the tablet. My Evo 4G runs ICS pretty well and so far, I'm liking what I see

 

[jhawkkw]

I don't know where a lot of the hate for ICS is coming from, but my experience with it has been amazing. Most apps have already been updated for it, not all, but every app i had on my droid charge now works with my galaxy nexus after the nfl mobile update last night. The interface is ultra smooth with none of the android lag that isheep knock android for. I'm excited for ICS to come to the tfp so both of my devices are on it.

 

[Treknologist]

I don't know know where a lot of the hate for ICS is coming from, but my experience with it has been amazing. Most apps have already been updated for it, not all, but every app i had on my droid charge now works with my galaxy nexus after the nfl mobile update last night. The interface is ultra smooth with none of the android lag that isheep knock android for. I'm excited for ICS to come to the tfp so both of my devices are on it.

I don't get it either. ICS is moving Android in the right direction and is a very nice OS. I can hardly wait to get it on my Prime!

 

[andygu3]

I don't know know where a lot of the hate for ICS is coming from, but my experience with it has been amazing. Most apps have already been updated for it, not all, but every app i had on my droid charge now works with my galaxy nexus after the nfl mobile update last night. The interface is ultra smooth with none of the android lag that isheep knock android for. I'm excited for ICS to come to the tfp so both of my devices are on it.

Agreed, I'm liking the possibilities of ICS and how a phone/tablet developer will have more options when developing their apps

 

[jhawkkw]

Agreed, I'm liking the possibilities of ICS and how a phone/tablet developer will have more options when developing their apps

The other things is that there have been some grumbling about apps not having a tablet version. In theory, ICS should eliminate this fragmentation and make apps compatible with both types of devices equally. That is one of the reasons they made ICS the way they did.

 

[rsarno]

The other things is that there have been some grumbling about apps not having a tablet version. In theory, ICS should eliminate this fragmentation and make apps compatible with both types of devices equally. That is one of the reasons they made ICS the way they did.

I dont know much about what it takes to make an app work in ICS, which is sad since i work in mobile development lol ...

But what is on my mind is that there are many old apps that still have decent functionality or value, but will never be updated due to the developer giving up on them, or running out of funding, etc.

It seems that it will severely reduce the amount of apps available to us, which is already significantly less than another platform. At least for right now until developers catch up.

So we will end up with a lightning fast device, but not a lot to do with it lol

 

[rsarno]

Also for my own information
ordered 12/23
recvd 12/28
from besbuy.com

Does anyone happen to know my return date?

Haven't made up my mind completely, but want to make sure i know my deadlines.

Thanks

 

[golfernut78]

Also for my own information
ordered 12/23
recvd 12/28
from besbuy.com

Does anyone happen to know my return date?

Haven't made up my mind completely, but want to make sure i know my deadlines.

Thanks

14 days from the date you received your items (bestbuy.com return policy) for computers, phones, tablets, etc.....

what are you going to do if you return it? go to apple? if so, wait for the ipad 3?

 

[rsarno]

I thought i heard they were extending returns through the month of Jan?

And IF i return, im not going directly to an ipad ... if this were my phone i'd have to make some rash decisions, but with my essentially unneeded tablet, i have the luxury of waiting for the next round of goodness

 

[tmaxey1]

The other things is that there have been some grumbling about apps not having a tablet version. In theory, ICS should eliminate this fragmentation and make apps compatible with both types of devices equally. That is one of the reasons they made ICS the way they did.

I keep hearing about ics making phone apps and tablet apps the same. I don't really know if that's a good thing. The problem with tablets vs phone is screen size. So on a tablet you are left with large amounts of unused screen. How can 1 app use this extra screen space without making it hard to read and almost unusable on the phone?

I wonder if we need tablet apps and phone apps due to screen sizes.

 

[JackG058]

Gave my wife my iPad 1, and I'm not looking back. I love this Transformer Prime. My screen is flawless, with zero light leakage. I'm finding the WiFi to be on par with my laptops. Downloading some files the other evening, for example, I was pulling down speeds pretty much as I see them when using my laptops (I've got a couple of those). I'd even say the WiFi signal I get is a bit stronger than what I experienced on the iPad. GPS I'll never use on the tablet so I haven't really looked hard at that. Stock browser is laggy slow, but Dolphin HD and Opera take care of that. Asus keyboard is also laggy slow, but built-in Android keyboard resolves that.

And if you want to see some of the Nvidia quad core power, download Shadowgun THD for $4.99. It is a stunning game that really shows off the power of this tablet. Not that I bought it to play games, mind you.

 

[JAy3001]

I think you may be confused. Honeycomb was the first version of Android that was developed to run on Tablets and it is considered a tablet-only OS. ICS actually merges Honeycomb and Gingerbread so that there is only one Android OS that works on all hardware. This is something that developers should more than welcome as they only have one code to deal with. In addition, the current policy Google is taking regarding their ICS theme will help with that. So, yes, ICS should definitely have the wow factor.

Thanks for that Trek. There was indeed a grey area there for me, it does get confusing with all these versions.

In regards to ICS, I am certainly not being negative about it - I mean I have not even seen it running on anything yet and am looking forward to the release.

It is just a worry that it won't be taken up in a massive way. The major floor & bonus in android is that you can get different hardware to run it giving us massive choice. But this also has a massive negative factor when you consider you may buy a phone 1 month and the next find it will not work with the latest update unlike iOS.

Or newer apps that have come out do not support your phone and its this fraction between devices that puts consumers off. There are certainly stories floating around where people try Android once and then go back to iOS because of the confusion in updates and devices.

Personally - Now this could be a contentious issue.. I feel the reason Android market still lags behind iOS is the fact you can use other markets that allow you to install full versions of games without paying. This hurts sales and puts off developers. Although, with the introduction of in game purchases this is negating the illegal side of Android somewhat. But it still hurts the little guy, so maybe its time to disable this ability? Or maybe, dare i say better DRM.

I know these views might go down like a lead balloon, but certainly valid and its not like I am against other market places as I use them too. But how do you protect a system that you love using without some form of whip cracking?

 

[Treknologist]

In regards to ICS, I am certainly not being negative about it - I mean I have not even seen it running on anything yet and am looking forward to the release.

I have seen it running (on a Nexus S) and it is fantastic! I can hardly wait to have it on the Prime.

You have to remember that this is not Apple. It is a different model and it is meant to be that way. ICS will start coming to phones, new phones will come out with it, etc. Remember the CES is next week and we are bound to see new phones and other hardware that will have ICS. I'm not concerned about it not being taken up in a big way because I know it will. This is Android moving forward!

About the updates...Google is finding ways of addressing this. They now have a new policy about the ICS theme that is required in order to facilitate updates.

Insofar as the Market lagging behind the Apple Appstore...it seems the reason is money. iOS users pay more often for their apps than Android users. But I do agree that having some "markets" let people download apps that should be paid for without charge is not good either.

 

[edster]

I returned a 32GB grey Prime yesterday. I still have a 64GB Champagne Prime on order at Amazon, it isn't expected to ship 'till 1/25 - 2/8 so I think it will come with ICS installed and hopefully ASUS will have done something to tweak the GPS by then. Like most others, I don't foresee using the GPS for navigation but I'd still prefer that it be fully functional.

 

[andygu3]

I have seen it running (on a Nexus S) and it is fantastic! I can hardly wait to have it on the Prime.

You have to remember that this is not Apple. It is a different model and it is meant to be that way. ICS will start coming to phones, new phones will come out with it, etc. Remember the CES is next week and we are bound to see new phones and other hardware that will have ICS. I'm not concerned about it not being taken up in a big way because I know it will. This is Android moving forward!

About the updates...Google is finding ways of addressing this. They now have a new policy about the ICS theme that is required in order to facilitate updates.

Insofar as the Market lagging behind the Apple Appstore...it seems the reason is money. iOS users pay more often for their apps than Android users. But I do agree that having some "markets" let people download apps that should be paid for without charge is not good either.

ICS is pretty cool. It runs great on the Evo 4G and it's still in alpha form. Obviously, the Evo 4G is a single core processor, so seeing ICS on a quad core tablet should be very impressive. I'm excited about it myself

 

[jhawkkw]

I have seen it running (on a Nexus S) and it is fantastic! I can hardly wait to have it on the Prime.

You have to remember that this is not Apple. It is a different model and it is meant to be that way. ICS will start coming to phones, new phones will come out with it, etc. Remember the CES is next week and we are bound to see new phones and other hardware that will have ICS. I'm not concerned about it not being taken up in a big way because I know it will. This is Android moving forward!

I have to agree, and for anyone who doesn't know much about ICS, go watch the ICS press conference from back in October on android's youtube where they debut the galaxy nexus. Not all of the features will be on the tablet, like beaming, but it will give you an idea. that press conference is the reason I own that phone.

if you don't feel like watching it, go to your nearest corporate Verizon store and play with it. try not to focus on the phone stuff like size, camera quality, etc. It really is shame that the oem skins like sense, touchwiz, motoblur, are going to hinder a lot of phones from getting this os.

 

[andygu3]

if you don't feel like watching it, go to your nearest corporate Verizon store and play with it. try not to focus on the phone stuff like size, camera quality, etc. It really is shame that the oem skins like sense, touchwiz, motoblur, are going to hinder a lot of phones from getting this os.

Fortunately, the Prime is fairly stock without all of the overlay from sense, touchwiz.....this is one of the reasons I chose the Prime with its stock google os look. Owning a HTC phone with sense is nice but running an AOSP rom from source gives a whole different feel

 

[jhawkkw]

Fortunately, the Prime is fairly stock without all of the overlay from sense, touchwiz.....this is one of the reasons I chose the Prime with its stock google os look. Owning a HTC phone with sense is nice but running an AOSP rom from source gives a whole different feel

The interfaces are pretty, but add to ram as well as power usage. I feel bad for the people who own a galaxy s1. Samsumg has basically admitted that they won't get ICS because there is not enough ram to run touchwiz on top of ICS. Which is a real kick in the groin because the nexus s has roughly the same specs as the galaxy s line, it it seems to run fine with vanilla ICS. It's going to be up to the devs to do what Samsung won't.

 

[JackG058]

The interfaces are pretty, but add to ram as well as power usage. I feel bad for the people who own a galaxy s1. Samsumg has basically admitted that they won't get ICS because there is not enough ram to run touchwiz on top of ICS. Which is a real kick in the groin because the nexus s has roughly the same specs as the galaxy s line, it it seems to run fine with vanilla ICS. It's going to be up to the devs to do what Samsung won't.

I read somewhere that Sammy is actually reconsidering ICS for the GS1. Seems that it is already running on some devices in the dev community.

 

[jhawkkw]

I read somewhere that Sammy is actually reconsidering ICS for the GS1. Seems that it is already running on some devices in the dev community.

That was the word about a week ago, then they said no and instead considered a "value pack" of ics features. Just a couple days ago they said no to the pack, always citing hardware as the problem. There are indeed a couple of ics roms for sgs phones out there. They're kind of rough around the edges at this point, but always improving. I know the Verizon fascinate is one such device with a rom.