Asus drops GPS from tablet spec after issues emerge

Asus has dropped the word 'GPS' from its Eee Pad Transformer Prime spec sheet after early adopters of the 10in Android tablet found the gadget's satnav tech doesn't work too well.

Forum postings between Christmas and the New Year show a number of Prime owners peeved by the tablet's apparently poor ability to pick up a GPS signal. Their tablets will get a satellite lock eventually, but it takes too long to be of practical use.

During that time, Asus' Transformer Prime page had references to GPS removed, as a host of before and after screenshots posted on a variety of websites, such as Land of Droid, show.

Asus has since confirmed the issue, emailing at least one aggrieved punter to say that the Prime's "metallic unibody design… may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites".

Of course, other GPS-equipped tablets have metal backs and they don't appear to be similarly challenged, so the Prime's GPS woes may run deeper than first thought. That said, some Prime owners have reported that their devices' GPS pick-ups do work as expected.

The 10in Prime is the first tablet to use Nvidia's five-core Tegra 3 processor. ®

Thanks to Rick K for the tip