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Friday, August 03, 2007

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ASUS announces R1E and more

- Hugo Ortega

Today I was lucky enough to spend time with one of the Australian ASUS Sales and Marketing Staff. Nice guy and really open and willing to share information. The first thing he decided to cover off with me was the new ASUS R1E Tablet PC. In keeping with awkward naming conventions plaguing Tablets at present, it seems as though ASUS has taken one step backward in order to take one forward, R1F has now become the R1E.

ASUS R1E Specifications:

Intel Centrino Pro Processor Technology
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processors T7500/T7300/T7100
- Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset
- Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN
Genuine Windows Vista
- Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
DDR2 667 MHz up to 4GB
13.3" wide active matrix TFT, WXGA
SATA 120/160GB (5400rpm)
10/100/1000, 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR
3x USB(1x e-SATA combo port), 2x Audio Jacks, 1x LAN RJ45, 1x Phone RJ-11 jack
1x TV-out, 1x VGA port
31.7 x 23.2 x 3.5 cm, 1.98kg (sorry about the metric specs)

The first thing you will note when you look at the machine is that it is the same ASUS R1F we met last year but sporting the now almost ubiquitous Santa Rosa platform by Intel. This can only mean one thing! The R2H UMPC will become Santa Rosa-fied soon too!

While the ASUS R2H has not been given the Santa Rosa treatment just yet it has been given a bunch of great improvements. I will describe them below but before I do I managed to pry a scoop from my new found ASUS friend, i.e. that the R2H will have embedded HSDPA come Quarter 4 this year! Now before you flood little ol' ASUS with emails wanting to place your orders you might want to remember that Fujitsu, Lenovo and many others have been touting HSDPA inside for quite some time but have yet to come to the party on many models.

ASUS R2Hv Specifications:

Intel Pentium M ULV723 Processor, 1.0 GHz
Genuine Windows Vista
- Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
On board 256MB, DDR2 667 MHz, up to 1280MB
7" WXGA LCD, ASUS Splendid Video Intelligent Engine
PATA 1.8" HDD 4200RPM 30/40/60/80GB
Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR, 3x USB, 1x SD Card Reader, 1x GPS, 1x Finger Print
23.4 x 13.3 x 2.8 cm, 830g

While information on the R2Hv is not hard to find I thought I would take the time to mention one of the neat new features I found interesting. In the new version you can now attach an external antenna onto the GPS. While this may sound menial to some of you,a lot of you may recognize this is as a great improvement especially if you use the R2Hv in trucks or caravans (campervans).

Oh! Before the ASUS dude left the building he confirmed one more thing...SSD R2H is on the road map and it might be available sooner than we all think!

Hardware | Asus | Tablet PC | Ultra Mobile PC

8/3/2007 8:30 AM MST

ASUS announces R1E and more Comments [16] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Friday, August 03, 2007 6:41:42 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hugo,

Does the R1E screen have a jog-dial (scroller) on it? The R1F we evaluated did not, which was a deal-killer for us. Not being able to scroll a document without the pen in slate mode is absurd IMHO.

Mark

Friday, August 03, 2007 7:18:38 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

The R1F to R1E upgrade does not ellicit a yawn or a gasp of excitement its simply a shock that this company has the audacity to re-release a faulty design (failing batteries, parts falling off) using the same materials as its predecessor upon the public yet again in order to continue getting more money from unsuspecting consumers. Upgrading a faulty product to a faster chipset simply leaves everyone with, guess what, a faster faulty product.

In the meantime other loyal customers of Asus R1f tablet pc's are simply being forgotten about as their warranties run out. And Asus couldnt care less. The build quality is terrible, the implimentation of its features flawed and the customer service (UK) is the worst I have experienced in 20 years dealing in tech. Perhaps this company should not be continually promoted considering their attitude towards people who have spent alot of money and been left with faulty product.

Jurisprudence

Friday, August 03, 2007 11:31:01 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

@Mark:

Hi Mark,

Regrettably I have to assume this one does not either! It is the same chassis as the R1F and it would be hard for me to believe that it has changed. I will find out from ASUS Dude and get back to you here.

Thanks for the comment.

@Jurisprudence:

Hello Sir,

Firstly let me thank you for taking a moment out of your day to express your feelings. It is regrettable that a Giant like ASUS has let someone as important as you get as disgruntled as you currently are. personally I was not aware of the extend of the problems R1F users were seeing and I would be happy to hear from othrs if this was the case.

Onoe thing we pride ourselves of here at GBM is the ability to get OEM to pay attention and if your comment is anything to go by then surely ASUS should be made to pay attention.

Thank you for your comment.

Hugo Ortega

Saturday, August 04, 2007 1:25:16 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

hi

mr Jurisprudence

don't be like that ASUS R1 is the best tablet in the market now and you can ask to get the answer

see here http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=728

ASUS R1 is the best and ASUS R1E will be great with Santa Rosa paltform

hamud

Saturday, August 04, 2007 1:26:53 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Does the R1E screen have a jog-dial (scroller) on it? The R1F we evaluated did not, which was a deal-killer for us. Not being able to scroll a document without the pen in slate mode is absurd IMHO.

Yes it has you can use the Printfinger as a scroll and it will be great

hamud

Saturday, August 04, 2007 4:38:40 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Hugo and Hamud,

Just a couple of points, 1st to hamud. If you like linking to www.tabletpcreview.com why dont you and everyone else who is considering purchasing this tablet link to this to see how Asus, UK or otherwise treat their customers.

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=8857

or this for a blow by blow pre-repair smash-up

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread198633.html

And honestly had you looked at the tabletpcreview forums you would have noticed the shear amount of issues people who have purchased the R1F have experienced including those who are now on their 6th battery, static issues, fingerprint readers falling off, wireless issues, overheating etc. My own tag is Jurisprudence again but you can look up many of the users there you have had major problems.

Hi Hugo, thanks for the reply. I have already been in contact with you via your email on your blog to desperately ask you for help for not only myself but others who have purchased the R1F and have been left not only with faulty product but severely diminished faith in the tablet pc concept. Unfortunately I never received a response. But thats whats happens when your up the wall trying to keep up with the world of tech so no hard feelings at all. I dont consider myself important at all but I dont want anyone else to suffer the same as I have. I also hate to see the tablet pc being broght down in peoples minds by bad product and service when people such as yourself and others on GBM have put so much time and hard work into making it a success.

Jurisprudence

Saturday, August 04, 2007 5:48:33 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi, I'm from tabletpcreview and here in support of Juris. Absolutely everything he has stated is true and not exaggerated. I am on my 5th or 6th RMA now. This is due to several unit changes, motherboard swaps because of the static from the audio jacks, battery exchanges, loose thumb print reader and pen silo scratches. Of all the above issues, only the thumb print reader was reglued into place and pen silos replaced (heck the pen still gets scratched up, but not as bad as before). The static is still at large and so is the battery wear problem.

My warranty is about to run out, so I'm being extra careful not to run the battery past 20% (or it will result in 4-5% battery wear).

We at tabletpcreview have tried numerous approaches to Asus and have still failed to gain their attention let alone assistance. We've tried calling only for them to deny any issues with their "perfect" tablet. We've tried emailing, only to be mislead and lied to. We've tried RMAing .. clearly not going so well, especially one poor guy who received it smashed and banged up. Asus; thugs? I think the words can relate.

Ever heard of the Kübler-Ross model (aka stages of death)?
The stages are:

Denial : The initial stage: "It can't be happening."
Anger : "Why ME? It's not fair?!" (either referring to God, oneself, or anybody perceived, rightly or wrongly, as "responsible")
Bargaining : "Just give me a modular bay battery."
Depression : "Asus screwed me. RMA's don't work. Why bother trying anymore?"
Acceptance : "It's going to be OK. I'm going to sell this piece of &*#% or run it over with my car 100 times, not sure which one gives me more pleasure"

By all means, if you think you have the power to grab Asus' attention and do something about this, please do so. I don't mean to spam, but I don't think repeating everything what was said there here will do much good. All the details you need are at tabletpcreview.com ... I think I still have faith ...

Cheers

Eva04

Saturday, August 04, 2007 8:05:59 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Thanks for chiming in on these difficulties with Asus. It is a shame that they don't respond. We'll see what we can do to raise awareness.

Warner Crocker

Saturday, August 04, 2007 10:35:52 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

hi guys

may be you have a problem in UK because in Taiwan I know a lot people who have this model and there are very satisfied and no battery problem and nothing bad ,, the tablet work great !! I'm really confused ! I don't know what to say !! But R1 is great with my Friend and I ordered one for me but it will take 2 weeks because the laptop is out of stock in Taiwan

thanks

hamud

Sunday, August 05, 2007 4:50:28 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Hamud,

Unfortunately the issue is not localised to the UK. Im Irish so I have to deal with UK tech. Asus have no representatives in my country. However, Eva04 is Australian. We have Americans, Canadians, various other members from the European Union too many places worldwide to list really. Asus refuse to admit to an issue dispite it being obvious. I would like to state for the record that it would appear that the Asus UK CS staff have added to the faulty product by laughing at me, lying to me, denying me my consumer rights (im a law student and a CS/tech suppport agent so I really really know how this is meant to be) and now ignoring me after they allowed their repair company CRC UK to steal equipment from my ensemble and smash my laptop after waiting 6 weeks for the repair which they did not in fact do. Im very happpy to hear your friend has had no issues and I truely wish you a good experience with yours but I fear you may just end up another statistic which Asus refuse to admit exists.

Jurisprudence

Sunday, August 05, 2007 7:01:34 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

hi Juris,

I'm very sad to hear that from you but please ask about asus in Taiwan there service is great I really love them!! I bought 4 laptops from Taiwan last 2 year and all of them was ASUS and never have any problem with them and when I have a simple problem they solved it immediately better than any other brand , but your problem makes me confused I don't know why ASUS do this with you !! if I were you I will be like you !! I read a lot of asus in UK and all of people complains from asus !!!

And did you any other brand for tablet which will better for me ( I'm a student in university and need it to write a lot of notes )

:S

hamud

Sunday, August 05, 2007 10:30:08 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Hamud,

Thanks for the response again. From reports we have received Asus CS in Asia appears to be 1t rate. If your European then expect them to treat you like a pariah. All manufacturers will experience issues with some models which they produce. Not all Asus laptops are effected by these issues. The mark of a good manufacturer is how they deal with thee issues when they occur. Asus have chosen to stone-wall their customers who have purchased this series of tablet. This is not the 1st time this has occured. The Z71 series had serious issues which Asus denied repeatedily before issuing a recall. The difference here is Asus are discriminating against those who have purchased the R1F as we are far fewer in number than those who purchased the Z71.

Having sold Acer, Toshiba, HP and IBM tablets previously, and used them myself I would honestly recommend any of these companys. The reason I purchased Asus was because it appeared to suit my needs based upon its specifications and having purchased other Asus products. I will never purchase another Asus product again. This design is flawed and should not be re-released under a different name.

For your own needs check out the new HP2710i or Dell latitude XT. I would personally go for the HP as Dell are using a non-wacom digitiser which may become an issue in college if you lose your pen. Also the X61 from IBM has garnered much praise and they have a very good reputation worldwide for customer service.

Jurisprudence

Monday, August 06, 2007 2:13:15 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Everyone that contributed to this thread,

Obviously when I wrote the post I did not know the can of worms I would be opening up! This turns out to be a really god thing as between you all we have been able to clarify and confirm several burning issues which seem to revolve around the ASUS R1F.

Personally I have alredy sent a link toseveral Seniors in ASUS (on my personal contacts list) and will be asking them to pass up the ranks in their office. I will also sen it to the Heads of the Australia ASUS office as I have more leverag and frequent contact there.

Thank you Juris and Hamud for your feedback - both vlaid, and thank you Eva04 of chiming in with a very valid contribution on this thread.

I'll get back to this thread if I here anything more. It is a big battle but it is one worht fighting for the greater good. GBM can bring weight and we will be adding TabletPCReview to our armor on this one.

Thanks again everyone.

Hugo Ortega

Monday, August 06, 2007 5:31:44 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Hugo,

Thank you very much for the assistance already and for passing the details on to Asus Australia. Im kinda over the other side of the globe in Ireland and have little faith in Asus UK even listening to their bosses in Australia or Asus Global or being competent enough to deal with the issue and so I have also scheduled a meeting with my solicitor regards the issues raised above. I will be furnishing him with documentation, pictorial and video evidence of not only the deteriorating condition of my unit (including the smashed state it returned from repair) but also of the evidence regards this not being an isolated issue with my R1F. They are in clear breach of Irish comsumer legislation and if they are reading this thread I would like them to understand that this issue will be resolved, if need be through the courts and the media whether that be to my satisfaction or to everyone who has been sold goods which are not of merchantible quality. If you or any of your contacts in Asus would like further evidence of the issues I would be more than happy to furnish you with it. Thanks again and take care.

Jurisprudence

Monday, August 06, 2007 10:37:47 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi everybody,

thanks you Hugo for the assistance , and we wait you to listen more from you

Mr. Juris,
I told you that I ordered asus R1 from Taiwan and they told me that I must wait coz it's out of stock since it's hot product in Taiwan , and when I talked to you I'm really now want to cancel the ordered and go to HP or Getaway ,but it seems that I can't !!! and I called asus Taiwan to ask them if there any plans to produce asus R1E and they told me that they will not produce this and they don't have any plans for that in this time ,, and may be there will be new tablet with new design .

thank u all

hamud

Tuesday, August 07, 2007 6:40:04 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Humud I see no reason why the company you ordered the R1 from should not cancel your order. A couple of points on this matter. From what you have stated the company does not have the product in stock, they have not spent any of their money in ordering it. They are acting as if the contract to purchase the laptop has taken place. This has not occured as you are not in possession of the laptop. Also they cannot charge you a re-stocking fee as they do not yet have stock nor have they handed the tablet over to you. They have suffered no detriment in taking your order and should not be able to deny repayment of the monies. I would demand the order cancelled and if they do not agree then contact your credit card company (hopefully thats how you paid for it) and cancel the transfer with them. It is highly unlikely that the company you ordered from will want to play legal pinball against a credit card company. Although I am not versed with the law of Thailand in Ireland their refusal would simply not be allowed. Please query your local comsumer affairs office asap.

As for Asus the R1E most certainly appears real, that fact that Asus does not that they have even produced it does not surprise me at all. The staff in Asus UK tech support did not even know that they produced a tablet pc at all and the head of Asus UK CS had to be repeatedily corrected from calling it the R2H. If a new tablet is indeed being designed we will have to wait and hope the diseased design of the R1F/R1E is not hereditary.

Jurisprudence

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