The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is great – great enough to be our top tablet pick for 2011. And early adopters are already seeing an update to Ice Cream Sandwich, albeit a somewhat rocky one. But Asus also promised to upgrade the original Transformer to Android 4.0, and hundreds of thousands of Android fans are waiting with bated breath for some shiny new software. According to a response to a curt question on Asus North America’s Facebok page, they won’t have to wait much longer: the update is currently scheduled for mid-February.

Since the Transformer remains one of the most popular Honeycomb tablets out there (and arguably, it was the first hardware/functionality/price point combination to get people really excited about Android tablets) getting it to run Google’s latest and greatest is a top priority. There are already aftermarket ROMs for the TF-101 based on the open-source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, but there are plenty of users out there who prefer to play it safe and wait for an official update. Mr. Alan Warrick on Facebook seemed pleased at any rate.

We spend a lot of time ranting about manufacturer and carrier timetables for Android updates, or lack thereof, so it’s only fitting that we stand up and recognize when someone does right by their customers. Good on ya, Asus, for providing timely updated and honest feedback to your Android-using customers long after the final sale. Samsung, inventor of the “Value Pack”, could surely learn something from your example. Unlocking the Transformer Prime bootloader is just icing on the cake.