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ASUS Transformer Prime Update Features Outed; Face Unlock, New Lock Screen Notifications, And More

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Remember yesterday when ASUS teased an awesome new update for the Transformer Prime? Well, it seems we’ve already gotten a sneak peak into what to expect. The new information is courtesy of the ASUS Italy Facebook page. According to them, we’ll finally be getting Face Unlock, a feature that is standard in Android 4.0.

There will also be new lock screen notification control. They don’t describe what this means, but it could just be the ability to access the notification pane while the screen is locked (something not currently possible). They’re upgrading ASUS Vibe from 1.0 to 2.0 (improved interface and more content), updating the Market, Google Books, Google Music, etc. to their “Play” counterparts, implementing a new upgrade path for the camera to allow them to update the camera with a firmware update, the ability to switch between portrait and landscape when hooking the tablet up to your TV via HDMI, and the ability to use a USB-to-Ethernet UX cable (sold separately) to support USB LAN connections.

If you were to tell an average user that ASUS didn’t have such awesome support, I’d think you were fibbing. Oh, and they say the update is due March 29th. Even if that is the case, other regions aren’t guaranteed to get the update at the same time. This all sounds pretty great to me. What do you guys think?

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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33 Comments

  1. While the Prime had a rocky start, their support has ALWAYS been top notch. 

    1. Have you ever had to send in a warranty repair?  I’m trying to see if they have a way to view status of the warranty on the website before pestering someone with a phone call, and can’t find anything…  But their support section is a bit of a maze…

      (I want my Prime back!  :( )

    2. Unless you had to send your unit in for repair :)

  2. and the OG TF101?

  3. Thats awesome but will it be coming to the original transformer an if we’ll get another update to fix my constant random reboots on the original?

    1. I had that problem as well until I disabled the Asus settings.  I think it was the battery monitor or the notification tweaks, can’t remember  but it hasn’t happened since disabling them.

      1. I’ll give that a try thanks, hopefully that will work for me too

    1. wait for the TF-701 infinity :p

  4. I can access the notification bar while the screen is locked on my GNex

    1. I might be wrong, but I think that the article is about the Asus Transformer Prime…

      1. no way thats preposterous 

        1. Indeed. ;)

  5. Any update on performance?

  6. I hope we get all these updates on the Asus Eee pad aswell.

  7. hmm upgrading the market to the play counterpart? but my primes market and all the google services are already updated lol

  8. “Awesome support”?! That’s laughable. I’ve spent the last month dealing with the douche bags from ASUS trying to get them to do something about the plethora of software issues and the inability to charge/draw power my Prime is suffering through. Updates are great, but only when they’re supplemented by great customer and technical service/support so that you can actually use your damn device to take advantage of those updates in the first place.

    1. Updates are great if you have good hardware.
      Asus is NOT a company who do great hardware unfortunately. Never again made in china/Taiwan

      Whats the point in having timely updates for software when your hardware sucks so baf it is beyond repairable with updates??

      1. HTC is taiwan. Bad idea to walk. China though…..i might agree.

      2. ipad is made in taiwan/china.

    2. I totally agree…ASUS support Su*ks. Looks like some 1st grader are working in their support department including head of support. I would never want to buy ASUS product anymore just for that reason.

      They make you pay for shipping to fix under warranty product and takes 3-4 before you can get it fixed. Looks like from support perspective they are living in 16th century…Stay away from ASUS if you can…

      Also, why they will not give same features in Transformer epad ?. This is software feature such as face recognition etc.

  9. I think it would be more awesome if they’d fix the damned GPS…

    1. whats wrong with the gps?

      1. The GPS does not work at all in a lot if not all units!

  10. Anyone know where to order the USB-to-Ethernet UX cable? Is it Asus propriety?

    My Prime streams live baseball games fine with router 50+ ft away, but if this is even faster, even better.

    1. It’s a common adapter even, Apple makes one you could use.

  11. Whats the point in having timely updates for software when your hardware sucks so baf it is beyond repairable with updates??

    1. what type of problems ?

  12. Whats the point in having timely updates for software when your hardware sucks so baf it is beyond repairable with updates??

  13. Why do I have to be forced to update my Google Music and Google Books app with this update?
    I’ve been holding out on updates for those apps simply because of the “Play” name and new icons. (Well, the Google Play Books icon looks rather nice to me.)

    I was really happy about this update (last update made my TF201 slower than my 1.5 year-old Droid X) but now I have to chose between my apps or update. =/

  14. no update here – Switzerland

  15. I have to say, after owning the 201 for 3 months i am quite disappointed with their tech support.

  16. I got the update, seems to be more stable. I had one of the Primes that was massively F’d at first, but since the .15 update has been ok. I too have disabled all the ASUS stuff, that seemed to fix a lot of it for me. The .21 seems ok, haven’t had much time to play with it fully yet. I think Asus should apologize for the Prime random reboot debauchery and give all of us who paid over 500 bucks to beta test their product, a free tf701 upgrade or something. Just my opinion from dealing with weeks and weeks and weeks of frustration from what was supposed to be the TOP NOTCH Android tablet we’ve all been drooling over.

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