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This Is Why I Love Asus

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I have never owned a single product from Asus. Not a  Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Not an Eee Pad Transformer. Not a monitor. Not a motherboard. Nothing. And the funny thing is, I absolutely love them – at least from a customer standpoint. The way they treat their customers honestly makes me wish that my office was filled with a bunch of stuff from Asus.

I’m not kidding.

Before I get to what triggered this, let me heap a little praise where praise is due.

Most manufacturers out there love to stay silent when it comes to bootloaders and Android updates. As a person who covers this stuff for a living, not a day goes by when I see people pleading for information, or change, only to have those pleas fall on deaf ears.

Asus

Or worse, some vague PR statement that ends up as a blog post which ignites the flames even more.

Asus is the complete opposite of most manufacturers in that it doesn’t mess around with its customers. It tells it like it is. For instance, when it got called out for locking the bootloader on the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, it immediately responded to its customers and promised to unlock it with a tool in the future. And then, on top of that, it announced a specific date for the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich roll out.

If you have ever owned an Android device, you’d know that most companies don’t announce release dates ahead of time. This isn’t the first time that Asus has been this candid. It seems to always be. It’s like, gasp, it wants to keep its customers in the loop.

Shocking, I know.

That kind of communication was one of the things I want to see from the mobile space in 2012. Companies could learn a lot from taking a look at how Asus treats its customers.

In addition, instead of denying it like some carriers and companies often do, Asus acknowledged that there was a GPS issue with the Eee Pad Transformer. And instead of ignoring it, it decided to fix it.

An update that has greatly improved the GPS on the device rolled out today as a matter of fact.

Again, you just don’t get this kind of support from other companies.

I have almost written this post somewhere around 10 times in the past, including earlier today, but it wasn’t until I saw a post on the XDA-forums from, guess who, Asus, that finally pushed me to do so.

Asus’  Technical Marketing Manager Gary Key went into the XDA-forums, a place renowned for its software development for Android, and laid out a bunch of fixes of common problems that Eee Pad Transformer Prime users have been facing.

Just in case you own one, here they are:

BT/WiFi Fallout Issues

1. WiFi and BT turned on and active.
a. Stream a media source via WiFi for playback to a BT device (headphones, speakers, etc) and the signal degrades to the point where the streaming source stops and requires a reset to the BT device. This is the most common problem reported although using several BT devices (keyboard, mouse, headset) and using the Internet Browser to simply view media content has also been reported as a problem when using BT input devices.

Serial Number Not Found

1. System will not auto or manual update to the latest firmware or image.
a. Go to Settings, Backup and Reset, start a Factory Data Reset. Please do this and after the reset let the unit remain active (settings, display, sleep, always on) for 15 minutes with a WiFi connection active so the system can sync with the ASUS servers. Hopefully the system will see the update, if not please go to settings, About Tablet, and then double tap on System Firmware Update please. If that does not work, please PM the serial number of your unit.

Random Lockups after ICS update

1. System might randomly lockup or generate a blind screen effect after the ICS update. I have received a few reported cases matching this behavior and we will be in contact with most of you in the near future.
a. If we do not contact you directly, it does not mean we are not working on this problem. I have read all the messages and randomly selected a couple of users for further contact. We will have a fix for this problem shortly.

Key obviously did not have to do this, but he did, and Eee Pad Transformer Prime owners and really, all of us, are better for it. It’s not often that companies take the time to do this unless they are absolutely forced to.

Need some evidence?

XDA provides it:

To give you some history, we’ve tried working with HTC, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson in the past, but always ended up at a dead-end. The companies have a strange stance towards XDA: the more technical people at the companies see value in our community and what the developers do, but at the same time, executives are scared to do anything with us because we void warranties and all that stuff.

I’m not sure if I will buy any Asus products in the future but I do know one thing.

I wish more companies treated their customers like Asus.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Randall Garrett

    01/19/2012 at 7:00 pm

    Well said, Adam! I have been most impressed wit ASUS over the past 18 months.

  2. KC

    01/20/2012 at 12:36 am

    Yes, we love Asus too.  My daughter bought the Asus Transformer when it was first released, and we have not regretted since.  She was amazed and happy with all the updates she’s got for her tablet, and she’s now looking forward to her next Asus product.  We are looking NFC devices, and if Aus has any, we will definitely get one from them.

  3. maldives cruise

    01/20/2012 at 1:04 am

    I have been an 
    Asus’ model user for all my life and they never failed me. Loved the design, this is a great device!

  4. Guthrien

    01/20/2012 at 5:28 am

    I don’t like every item in the mobile space Asus produces, they aren’t as consistent as some other companies in that respect. But every item I’ve bought from them has had great, personal support. I’ve had issues with devices, but not major and not unaddressed. Other companies could definitely learn from that, but it’s just a different philosophy and space they inhabit.

    It’s rewarded them too, because at least mindshare wise, they’ve produced the first world class Android tablet in the Prime. It’s a great piece of kit.

  5. Feralboy

    01/20/2012 at 1:29 pm

    Adam, this is why you SHOULD buy from them. I’m not an Asus owner, but looking at the comments here, they’re now at the top of my list for future purchases. The only power we have is t hwiour dollars, and like you said, few companies are open and responsive to their users. That kind of stuff must be rewarded if we expect the industry to change.

  6. Saad

    01/23/2012 at 2:19 am

    I have Asus transformer, and I only use Asus motherboards for my PCs, never failed me since 1997.
    Compare this with Dell Streak 5 users (I was one of them) when the company announced not to release any future updates although the did recenlty but after I got rid of mine…

  7. Art Ander

    01/23/2012 at 5:55 am

    I had always bought Asus motherboards, and decided to buy a competitor (price reasons) and have been regretting it since. Asus products have always been great. I’m waiting for that thunderbolt chipset in April 2012 to swap my i7-2600 motherboard…

  8. dubv

    06/21/2012 at 11:55 pm

    Typing on an asus laptop with i7 processor, 8 gb ram, 17″ hard drive, and a solid state hard drive. Quality and gotten at a fair price. Nice laptop I’ve touched, and I’ve owned sony’s that cost much more. Too bad people can’t dual boot this thing with mac os. Apple would be quacking in their boots.

  9. PANAMIKE

    07/24/2013 at 11:09 am

    How I bought and got my A+mazing Asus laptop.

    I went to Best buy and was looking to buy a laptop and no specific kind or anything like that, but I was interested in something was in the Apple prices and not DELL,Toshiba,Sony something that is more focused on the product itself. I was looking at the Samsung laptop and didn’t like the way it looked it has a big margin space on the bottom that gives it an old kind of look so, I decided to go to a different best buy. I went to the one at the Best of the West Las Vegas Shopping Center. I went inside and saw almost the same computers and I already had my mind on buying the Samsung and the selection was the same. I walked up and down the aisles till something caught my eye this laptop is super nice and its a bit more than I wanted to spend but if you want to buy something durable and that last long you wouldn’t mind paying the extra buck. This laptop is so awesome the keys light up white it has 3 US,USB ports, it reminds of a Ferrari when it comes to talking about car engines. Back to my story now, either way I 110% changed my mind and bought my awesome ASUS laptop. It was one of my favorite and best purchases in a while. It’s light, typer friendly, extremely powerful, a CORE I7, perfect for having a lot of tabs open all at once without the computer freezing on you, stock friendly, and so much more. Thank you Asus for delivering a product that puts a smile on my face every time I see it.

  10. Rayan

    07/17/2014 at 1:59 pm

    I love my Asus laptop. My last four laptops have been one Dell, two Toshibas, and an Asus. The Dell was great but had battery issues so severe that I resorted to using ice to try and keep the thing cool. Twice I accidentally got water on it and the 2nd time it wasn’t able to recover. The two Toshibas both suffered the same fate- I dropped them each one time and immediately suffered hard drive failure. Plus, after normal regular use both of them started coming apart after a pitifully short time. I will never buy a Toshiba laptop again I don’t care how good the reviews are- the build quality is just terrible. My Asus, on the other hand, I’ve abused in the most obscene way. It has been dropped probably 10 or 15 times onto hard surfaces from considerable heights… yet the hard drive is still working fine. The cover of the DVD ROM drive has exploded out the side from these repeated drops… yet the drive still works. I’ve cracked the monitor and have exposed wires sticking out the sides… and the monitor still works. I’ve owned the thing for several years with the same battery and the battery life is still great. No overheating issues, nothing. The build quality for this laptop is truly outstanding. I just wish I could find a new Asus laptop without the vile Windows 8 pre-installed.

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