It seems ASUS are partly shooting themselves in the foot with the Transformer Prime as they’ve said there will be no 3G version as they don’t see the need. This news comes as ASUS choose not to sell the Transformer Prime on its own in Australia, instead choosing to bundle it with the keyboard dock for a premium price.
Considering this is the first Android tablet running on NVIDIA’s Quad-Core Tegra 3 CPU and Android 4.0, you would think ASUS would make every variant possible to suit a larger market and sell more units. Evidently they’re not too fussed with sales figures at the moment and continue to tout their products they plan on launching later this year.
Source: The Verge.
I wont be buying an ASUS until they build in 3G! I’m waiting for another brand to get smart and add all of the features that customers want now – i.e. 4G, a USB slot or two, hdmi etc etc – and then i shall buy from them!
we surely can tether from our mobile phone. it saves money.
but having an extra option (gsm/3g/cdma/lte) will also satisfy many users.
you can still use tethering from your mobile phone and avoid using the 3g feature
having the 3g feature is really useful sometime
personally i prefer devices with maximum possible features.
If asus sees no need for 3g, i would see no need for asus.
I couldn’t of said it better myself !
Don’t need 3g, would rather tether, I don’t need to spend all day on it when I can interact with real people.
Having said that I am not going to buy one because they waited too long to release it here and really, $150 more for the honour of buying it locally. Not a chance. Win8 tablet here I come.
I already have the TF101 (First version of Transformer) with the dock and I could not imagine NOT wanting the keyboard dock when I buy the new version. Albeit I think I’ll wait out the Prime and get the newer High Res screen version relvealed at CES 2012 (I think they call it the Transformer T700 series) which is supposed to also have better GPS function as it doesn’t have the metal back casing (Yes I do use the GPS in my tablet) If you are thinking of buying the Prime I would certainly only recomend buying it with the… Read more »
Until the networks allow multiple sim, shared data, for most people the 3G is useless. Wasnt it something like 80% of ipad use is in the home, for a “mobile” device. I get their point, but I too am one of the ones that is always looking for 3G sim card slots in my devices, too bad its so hard to find them.
In the meantime I will continue to try and crack my MyFi-esque hotspot so it works with Telstra and not Voda..
Without 3G it’s just another laptop, all pro’s and con’s being considered I’d rather get MacBook Air instead of this. Data through tethering on a “phone contract” is ridiculously expensive, especially when you compare it to “data only” 3G plans. Using your android phone as a WiFi hotspot? Be prepared to charge it multiple times a day.
For the record, I use 3G version of the original Transformer every day and I would not buy any other version.
Idiots! I was waiting for a 3G version. I spend 2-3 hours a day commuting via train and it would of been the perfect solution.
Guess it’s a 3G lappy or a SG Tablet.
I think this is a stupid decision by Asus, and they will loose out in the end. I would rather pay for a second contract (or like I have already done bought a pre paid telstra SIM with a bulk amount of data) than deal with my phone
constantly dying. I have a HTC Sensation and I barely get 12 hours without having to charge it, but everyone says “just tether it” what a joke. Well I say to Asus, and I know others who are saying the same thing, it will be hello Acer A510 or Lenovo.
I agree with Paul. If you are on the android train, turning your phone into a portable WiFi hotspot is easy.
I’d rather bump up the data on my phone and share it than have another plan/ sim.
I agree. What’s the point paying for another 3g plan, where everyone got smartphone that can do tethering these days.
Would be better if there is a 3G version while whole world is now seeing 4g tablets as well 🙁