ICS coming to Transformer Prime January 12, unlocked bootloader soon

ASUS has announced that they will be delivering Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to Transformer Prime tablet owners on January 12. The company released an incremental over-the-air update yesterday that improves focus issues with the tablet’s camera and provides better touchscreen response and GPS performance.

ASUS took to Facebook to announce the pending update, thank customers for their support and address some of the growing issues that the Transformer Prime is facing. The first issue on the docket has to do with the aforementioned GPS performance problem.

As ASUS explains in the post, the Transformer Prime is made from a metallic unibody design meaning that the material may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites. The company reminds users that the tablet isn’t a professional-grade GPS device and that signal strength can be influenced by a number of additional factors. To avoid any further confusion, ASUS has removed the GPS function from their specification sheet and marketing materials.

Regarding the locked bootloader, ASUS was required to lock it due to content providers’ requirement for DRM client devices to be as secure as possible. Specifically, the locked bootloader is necessary to access content from Google’s video market. They are well aware that this doesn’t sit well with the modding community, however, and announced that an unlock tool is being developed for those that choose to use it. Note that your warranty will be void and Google video rental will be unavailable should you choose to root the Prime.