The Transformer Prime tablet from Asus only started shipping, at least to some customers, a few weeks ago. At the time the tablet, with its powerful quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, was running Android 3.1. Now Asus has announced, via a post on its Facebook page, that owners of the Transformer Prime will be able to upgrade to the new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system starting on January 12.
The tablet will be one of the first products that will be running Android 4.0 since it was introduced late in 2011 with the launch of Samsung"s Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
In addition to the Android 4.0 upgrade date announcement, Asus also posted up some information about two items that users of the Transformer Prime have raised some concerns about. One is for the device"s GPU support which has not worked as well as expected. Asus says that due to the "metallic unibody design" of the tablet, "the material may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites." Asus said this was the reason why the feature was in fact removed from the device"s marketing materials and specification sheet.
The other issue is the locked bootloader which has given some Android modders some issues. Asus states, " ... the reason we chose to lock it is due to content providers" requirement for DRM client devices to be as secure as possible." However, in order to appease the mod community, Asus says it " ... is developing an unlock tool for that community."