Asus promises to allow Transformer Prime unlocking
Asus has buckled to demands that it let owners of its Transformer Prime Android tablet unlock the device so they can install customised versions of the operating system.
The company reversed its stance less than two days after members of the XDA-developers forum kicked off a campaign to free the tablets from their constraints. The Transformer Prime comes with an encrypted bootloader, but Asus said on Tuesday that it was developing an unlock tool for enthusiasts.
Asus explained that the tablet had been locked down for the benefit of movie studios and other rights holders. It also said it would release an over-the-air firmware update in January that would upgrade the Transformer Prime from Honeycomb to Android 'Ice Cream Sandwich' (ICS) 4.0.
"The reason we chose to lock [the bootloader] is due to content providers' requirement for DRM client devices to be as secure as possible," the company said in a statement quoted by BGR. "Asus supports Google DRM in order to provide users with a high quality video rental experience. Also, based on our experience, users who choose to root their devices risk breaking the system completely."
"However, we know there is demand in the modding community to have an unlocked bootloader. Therefore, Asus is developing an unlock tool for that community. Please do note that if you choose to unlock your device, the Asus warranty will be void, and Google video rental will also be unavailable because the device will be no longer protected by security mechanism," Asus continued.
Asus is not the first company to cave into pressure over a locked-down bootloader. Following a similar campaign last year, HTC delivered an unlock tool for its own tablets and smartphones in September.
Other manufacturers including Sony Ericsson and Samsung have also embraced the ROM modification community, although they all tend to warn that 'rooting' their devices nullifies warranties.
Asus's ICS update will begin deployment on 12 January. In its statement, the company also referred to a possibly separate over-the-air update that would "improve the focus of the camera, the fluidity of the touch experience, and the APK capabilities in Android Market".
The manufacturer also addressed a different set of concerns with the Transformer Prime that had been expressed by the XDA-developers members and others: the tablet's poor GPS performance.
The news here was not good for those hoping to use the tablet for reliable satellite navigation — Asus said it was unable to fix the problem, so it would stop advertising it as a feature of the Transformer Prime.
"The Asus Transformer Prime is made from a metallic unibody design, so the material may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites," Asus said. "Please note that this product is not a professional GPS device, and signal performance can be easily influenced by factors including, but not limited to: weather, buildings, and surrounding environments."
"Please understand there are limitations when using the GPS function," Asus added. "To avoid inconveniencing users who demand a powerful GPS device, we made the decision to remove it from our specification sheet and marketing communications. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused."