After I could not get it to charge up, I returned the ASUS TF101 tablet to Staples. The tech staff there gathered around to see what was wrong with the battery. Sure enough, it showed 0% charged, with the red exclamation mark.
Looking up their online support system, one suggestion was to reinstall Android. Tried it. No change.
So they got out another unit from the back. Same problem: battery level was 0%, and it would not charge. They hauled out several more units from the stock room. Same problem: battery level was 0%. Finally, they found one that had a battery with 1%, and after plugging it into the power supply, the battery began charging.
Looking up the problem online, I found that that ASUS made a design error. When the battery drains completely, it goes dead; it cannot be revived -- except under warranty replacement, should your unit still be under warranty!
Normally, all portable devices have a chip that monitors the battery level. When the level gets low, you get a warning; when the level gets too low, the portable device is shuts down to protect the battery. ASUS seems to have left out the monitoring chip, it is speculated.
Loving your tablet updates. Always educational to read how the other half (I.e. non-iPad users) live, for better or ill.
Posted by: Fox | September 26, 2012 at 12:37 PM
You have a serious case of bad luck!!! But what happened to your $150 Chinese Android tablet? I thought it was enough for your needs.
Since I decided to hold out on the Nexus 7, I spent some time looking at the Chinese tablets, mainly the Ainol Novo7 line which showed some appeal. But on the online forums people talk of serious hardware and software problems. This seems typical of Chinese products.
In the end, I bought a... Blackberry Playbook for $100CAD at Staples 3 weeks ago. Build quality is outstanding (dropped it from 3ft high and it hit the pavement on one corner; all it got was two tiny scratches on its rubberized case), really nice display (even if only 1024x600), and nice flat non-bevel edges. From what my brother tells me, and my limited use of his Acer tablet, the OS is more responsive than ICS. The OS feels well designed, less bells & whistles than Android but more coherent. Browsing is a lot more fluid than on ICS with the native browser.
And I may have done my part to stave off a Canadian company's bankruptcy.
Of course the Playbook has the same design defect than the Nexus 7: no SD slot. The email app sucks (hoping it gets better in the next 2.1 update). Bing Maps sucks. Blackberry AppWorld does not have as many apps (although most of Android's big games seem to be there). But a tablet is more of a gadget than an utilitarian device to me at the moment, and $100 for this one is great value. It will be enough while I wait for more Android Jelly Bean 7" tablets to come out.
Posted by: Normand C. | October 01, 2012 at 06:34 PM
The $150 tablet from China still works, but has one flaw: it is slow in switching apps. Once in the app, it runs fine.
But why did I get a new tablet? It was a birthday present to myself, with the 10% discount from Staples as the catalyst.
Using the ASUS Transformer TF-101 with its keyboard dock is an experience that I find amazing. Its is hard to describe. Here are a couple of points:
- everything is instant. There is no waiting for apps to load, just like on a smartphone -- but in a netbook package.
PS: I was tempted by the $100 RIM tablet, but the relatively low resolution and lack of SD card port turned me off. My ASUS tablet has a good 1280 resolution for browsing Web sites, and TWO memory card slots, one SD and one miniSD. I have 16GB in each, so a total of 48GB storage space.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | October 02, 2012 at 04:08 AM
I've had a TF101 for over a year now and it's been fine and I've enjoyed using it. I'll bear in mind what you say about 100% discharge. I've a keyboard (w.battery) and usually keep them docked so I've never been anywhere near 0% battery.
Not sure if there'll be a Jelly Bean update for the TF101 but I'm hoping there is. I have a Samsung Galaxy SIII that is at 4.1 (JB) and the GUI is pretty slick. Certainly better than ICS. Would love to be able to use Micacast on the phone (in particular) which is included in 4.2 but need to find a suitable receiver as my TV's pretty old (and not WIDI enabled). Any thoughts?
Posted by: Allanbehrens | November 08, 2012 at 03:30 AM
I am looking for ways to use an Android to show online broadcasts in my entertainment rooms 80 screen.
One solution I found is Splashtop 2.0, which is free when run over your local LAN/Wifi system. It reproduces the desktop screen on the Android; I hook my TF101s HDMI port to the projector.
See http://www.splashtop.com/splashtop2
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | November 08, 2012 at 07:58 AM
depending on what you display you can just stream - if your TV is DNLA compliant you may be able to use Skifta without physical cables(see android market). The HDMI output is superb - although I've not tried it you could test out one of the XBMC beta builds for Android. XBMC works great on my PCs and there are lots of add-ons for Streaming Radion/TV/Video etc.
Posted by: Allan Behrens | November 20, 2012 at 06:24 AM
Aah..figured it out the hard way..I ran out of warranty in Sept earlier this year and the dock was not charging (having discharged fully as my kid was playing on the TF101). But I was busy at work and hence couldn't look into it at that time, now during the xmas vacations when I looked into it, I realized that this is a design bug :-(
My experiences here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35904431&postcount=5
Posted by: Sam | December 27, 2012 at 08:37 PM