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April 15th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda COMMENTARY | When it was released, the Transformer Prime was the latest and greatest of Asus‘ Transformer tablets; Android-powered gadgets which “transform” into notebook computers through the use of an add-on dock, sold separately, which extends the battery life and adds a keyboard and touchpad.
But the trademark lawsuit from Hasbro, maker of “Transformers” branded toy robots like Optimus Prime, wasn’t the biggest problem faced by the tablet. Besides the dismal sales numbers released during the lawsuit — only 2,000 units preordered and 80,000 shipped to retailers, compared to millions for Apple‘s iPad — its all-aluminum chassis caused serious problems with locking onto a GPS signal, which weren’t solved by a software update.
The hardware giveaway fix
About a week ago, Asus confirmed that it would be fixing the problem by giving out “a kit users can add to their existing tablet“, according to Ina Fried of All Things D. The kit consists of a hardware dongle, or add-on attachment, which takes up the same port that they keyboard dock normally plugs into.
Tyler at Land of Droid has posted numerous pictures of the attachment, or at least of an “engineering sample” thereof which lacks Asus branding. It’s a black plastic bar about two-thirds the length of the tablet, which locks into place and sits on the bottom of the unit below the screen. An over-the-air update has already added support for it, and Tyler reports that “this product works very good and will massively improve GPS like Asus says it will.”
Asus will begin taking signups for the add-on on April 16, and says it will take about two weeks for it to get to people who request one. It has not yet confirmed whether the add-on or shipping will be completely free.
Asus isn’t alone
Nor is it the first company to fix a hardware bug by giving away new hardware. The iPhone 4’s launch, for instance, was marred by “Antennagate,” in which some customers reported that the way they held the phone kept it from getting a good signal. Despite the fact that this problem had appeared on other phones before without similar outcry, Apple resolved the issue by giving out free hardware cases to all iPhone owners who wanted one, which helped position people’s hands so they weren’t blocking the antenna.
About a year later in 2011, Verizon and Motorola shipped the Xoom, a tablet which lacked certain key, promised features (like Adobe Flash and 4G internet connectivity) when it was shipped. Flash was added later in a software update, while Xoom owners who wanted a 4G wireless radio had to wait months for the upgrade to be ready, before mailing their Xoom in for it. Verizon stopped offering the upgrade this March 31.
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