Asus has tried and tried to fix the issues with WiFi and GPS on its Transformer Prime tablet using software, but that has eventually come up short of expectations. While the WiFi issues is being addressed through an updated production model that is slowly replacing the batches already in stores, the GPS issue is going to be addressed in another, rather uncommon way: a USB dongle.
First discovered by an XDA member via emails to Asus and later popping up through Asus’ website, the USB dongle will be a tiny dongle designed to attach to the Prime’s USB port and blend in as well as it can, all the while giving the Prime the GPS capability it was supposed to have all along. Despite the dongle being free, people aren’t overly enthusiastic – it’s essentially the ultimate proof that the problem is indeed major and unfixable with software when a company goes to this length to fix it. People are also less than happy about having to add a physical dongle to their device, taking up the USB port and essentially giving you another thingamajig to keep track of. On the other hand though, it certainly is honorable of Asus to admit the Prime has a problem and spend its money to help fix it. Remembering back to Apple’s way of solving the iPhone 4 antenna issues – giving away a free rubber band bumper case – this certainly takes that one step further.
