Viewsonic G-Tablet review UPDATE

[xmr405o]

Thanks again! I'm going to wait to do anything now until the OTA update that's supposed to happen today comes through (and I just might end up doing TNTlite anyway). And no, I hadn't seen that thread, though I was looking for something exactly like that. (I've gotten Gmail sideloaded and Maps working even without a ROM, which makes me the most happy, though I'm still not able to get the fuller Market going, since I can't figure out the Titanium Backup "wipe" workaround people are talking about. Still trying....)

And again, thanks so much!

So did you flash TnT lite 2.0?

 

[jacindc]

So did you flash TnT lite 2.0?

I did! And it worked! (also now have clockworkmod in place) Did the Flash fix and the Market fix, and now pretty much have the tablet I thought I was getting when I bought it. I was looking for something to have while on the sofa watching tv in the evenings for surfing, social networking, Kindle, and maybe one or two or a thousand runs at Angry Birds. Wish that I could get my Google calendars working, but I've got Gmail, which is more important.

I understand what people are saying about the viewing angle, but that hasn't been enough for me to give it up. Basically, I wanted a toy while waiting for the "real" tablets with Honeycomb to come out next year, and this fit the bill. Can hand it off to my parents when I'm done with it. (Though, with the dual core Tegra 2, Honeycomb might not be an impossibility for it.) Just didn't want to spend all the $$ on a Galaxy Tab when others that will probably be better are not far off.

My phone is a Nexus One, so it's not like I'm truly missing out on any Android-y goodness, anyway. I just wanted a bigger screen for leisure-time stuff.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[xmr405o]

I did! And it worked! (also now have clockworkmod in place) Did the Flash fix and the Market fix, and now pretty much have the tablet I thought I was getting when I bought it. I was looking for something to have while on the sofa watching tv in the evenings for surfing, social networking, Kindle, and maybe one or two or a thousand runs at Angry Birds. Wish that I could get my Google calendars working, but I've got Gmail, which is more important.

I understand what people are saying about the viewing angle, but that hasn't been enough for me to give it up. Basically, I wanted a toy while waiting for the "real" tablets with Honeycomb to come out next year, and this fit the bill. Can hand it off to my parents when I'm done with it. (Though, with the dual core Tegra 2, Honeycomb might not be an impossibility for it.) Just didn't want to spend all the $$ on a Galaxy Tab when others that will probably be better are not far off.

My phone is a Nexus One, so it's not like I'm truly missing out on any Android-y goodness, anyway. I just wanted a bigger screen for leisure-time stuff.

Thanks again for your help.

That's awesome. I'm planning to do the same thing when the new honeycomb tablets come out. I think the Tegra 2 will be the main platform for the next gen tablets, so pretty soon will have two Honeycomb tablets...woohoo!

@rushmore

a little off-topic but dang!!! you got chewed out at the Archos forums haha. One guy really went off on your post. geez. You took it well though.

 

[boatman]

Yep, the viewing angle is what made me return mine. Other than that this was a descent tablet.

Are the viewing angles on all these tablets the same, including the ipad. I know that it is not like e ink with this kind of display and screen, I was planning on mostly using indoors anyway.

I don't want a 7" galaxy, I want 10", was waiting on archos, but this might be the one.

 

[xmr405o]

Are the viewing angles on all these tablets the same, including the ipad. I know that it is not like e ink with this kind of display and screen, I was planning on mostly using indoors anyway.

I don't want a 7" galaxy, I want 10", was waiting on archos, but this might be the one.

If you want to see the viewing angles, there's a vid on youtube that shows the viewing angles on the gtablet. I wanted to link it but I can't access youtube right now.

IMO, the viewing angles on the ipad and galaxy tab are great especially compared to the G tablet. I believe all the other tabs will suffer the same viewing angle deficiencies as the gtablet including the Archos 101.

I think the horizontal viewing angles are fine but the vertical viewing angles take a dive when the device is on landscape. Portrait mode...is blah!

 

[mvl]

I just got this today for my wife. Our first Android device of any type. Selling point was the large screen, great hardware specs, and price.

I've been a hobby programmer off and on for a couple decades, and was a cell phone geek in the early 2000's and lately a GPS geek.

I'm a bit confused by the prior posts, but I'm sure I'll catch up.
1) What's the problem with the stock firmware regarding the appstore? The model I got (from Staples) had a G Marketplace icon, powered by handango, that seems like a fully stocked Android Marketplace. (I updated to the latest app the second I turned it on, perhaps it's a new feature in the 11/22 release)
2) There's an insert in the box saying viewsonic will get Flash installed by mid-December. I was able to download youtube from the appstore which was my wife's primary flash need, so I don't see any real rush to mod to beat that date.
3) I may extend my hobby development to writing an app or two for Android.. I'll see how it goes.

 

[SuperSteve]

Flashing is pretty simple. I suck at writing instructions but I'll try to write it as if I'm telling myself how to do it. haha.


http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842004

All you need to do is download the ROM from the link provided in the XDA thread. You'll need an account I think.
Unzip the RAR file, and in there you'll find an "update" zip and a folder called "recovery".
Plug your Gtab into the computer and turn on USB on your Gtab. You should now be able to see your gtab's storage.
Just drag the update zip and recovery folder into your Gtab's main storage. You can turn off USB and unplug the USB cord.
Then turn off your Gtab, and then power it on by pressing the power button and the volume up (volume +) so you can enter into recovery.
Hold it for about 7 secs, then if you did it right you should see little messages on the bottom left of your gtab screen. It's flashing the ROM you put into your SD card.
It'll reboot by itself.
After that, it's suggested by the Dev to run recovery again by repeating the pwr button and volume up process.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for this helpful info. I have one question if you don't mind. When you say "Just drag the update zip and recovery folder into your Gtab's main storage" are you talking about the G-tabs on board storage or the SD card? I am only asking because a little later you say "It's flashing the ROM you put into your SD card".

P.S. I am interested in the TNT Lite 2.0 ROM. Will this tutorial work for that ROM? Also, do you know where I can find that ROM? I have been looking for it without success. Thanks Again.

 

[xmr405o]

I just got this today for my wife. Our first Android device of any type. Selling point was the large screen, great hardware specs, and price.

I've been a hobby programmer off and on for a couple decades, and was a cell phone geek in the early 2000's and lately a GPS geek.

I'm a bit confused by the prior posts, but I'm sure I'll catch up.
1) What's the problem with the stock firmware regarding the appstore? The model I got (from Staples) had a G Marketplace icon, powered by handango, that seems like a fully stocked Android Marketplace. (I updated to the latest app the second I turned it on, perhaps it's a new feature in the 11/22 release)
2) There's an insert in the box saying viewsonic will get Flash installed by mid-December. I was able to download youtube from the appstore which was my wife's primary flash need, so I don't see any real rush to mod to beat that date.
3) I may extend my hobby development to writing an app or two for Android.. I'll see how it goes.

I'm glad u like the device as is. The marketplace by handango is much different from the market google has specific for Android. There are a lot more apps in the Google market that are not available in the app store. A lot of us have been spoiled by custom roms that make our android devices faster and provide us with upgrades that usually take weeks or months to get from the original manufacturer. Thus we tweeked our devices to have flash now and get a UI that improves our overall android experience. Rooting and customizing is always a choice so if your happy with the device as is then keep it stock.

 

[xmr405o]

Thanks for this helpful info. I have one question if you don't mind. When you say "Just drag the update zip and recovery folder into your Gtab's main storage" are you talking about the G-tabs on board storage or the SD card? I am only asking because a little later you say "It's flashing the ROM you put into your SD card".

P.S. I am interested in the TNT Lite 2.0 ROM. Will this tutorial work for that ROM? Also, do you know where I can find that ROM? I have been looking for it without success. Thanks Again.

Sorry, yeah its the internal sd card. my bad. Yes this tutorial is for the stock recovery process. This is assuming u didn't install clockwork mod recovery. If you don't know what that is then you're still on the stock recovery.

Anyways, here's the link...you'll probably get better instructions there haha. I suck at writing tutorials lol.

Alternate GTab Firmware - TnT Lite (stock based, adds the Marketplace) - xda-developers

 

[SuperSteve]

Thank you very much

 

[cbrownesq@gmail.com]

Flashing is pretty simple. I suck at writing instructions but I'll try to write it as if I'm telling myself how to do it. haha.


http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842004

All you need to do is download the ROM from the link provided in the XDA thread. You'll need an account I think.
Unzip the RAR file, and in there you'll find an "update" zip and a folder called "recovery".
Plug your Gtab into the computer and turn on USB on your Gtab. You should now be able to see your gtab's storage.
Just drag the update zip and recovery folder into your Gtab's main storage. You can turn off USB and unplug the USB cord.
Then turn off your Gtab, and then power it on by pressing the power button and the volume up (volume +) so you can enter into recovery.
Hold it for about 7 secs, then if you did it right you should see little messages on the bottom left of your gtab screen. It's flashing the ROM you put into your SD card.
It'll reboot by itself.
After that, it's suggested by the Dev to run recovery again by repeating the pwr button and volume up process.

I hope that helps.

These instructions were great. I was able to download tnt lite 2.0 and 2.02 and everything now looks like what I expected from a Droid device but the only flash that I am able to get to work is the YouTube player. Shouldn't I've able to get flash at CNN or hulu? Should I have installed TNT LITE versions 1.0 first? It seems like folks were able to get there flash working after the earlier versions were installed. Should I revert back to factory and then reinstall TNT? Thanks for your help?

 

[yaryar]

i have flashed the rom and i like the launcer better. only thing is at first angry birds worked and now it disappeared and cant even be found in the market. also the market will not find anything i search for. any idea what i have going on

 

[jacindc]

These instructions were great. I was able to download tnt lite 2.0 and 2.02 and everything now looks like what I expected from a Droid device but the only flash that I am able to get to work is the YouTube player. Shouldn't I've able to get flash at CNN or hulu? Should I have installed TNT LITE versions 1.0 first? It seems like folks were able to get there flash working after the earlier versions were installed. Should I revert back to factory and then reinstall TNT? Thanks for your help?

You need to sideload the Flash Folio fix. There's a link in the TNTLite thread at xda.

 

[mvl]

I'm a bit confused by the prior posts, but I'm sure I'll catch up.

After a few hours of use, I'm realizing that the non-market doesn't give me too many app options. Even things like Adobe AIR and Facebook don't exist outside of the market.

Otherwise, I'm not complaining about the Viewsonic menu screens. It allows 8-10 customizable buttons on the home screen, and that's enough for my wife to do her normal tasks. I'm sure stock Android would be better but I'm hesitant to mod a brand new device without much experience (I've modded tons of Moto phones in my day, so I'm sure I'll get more comortable as time goes on).

Is there a way to just load the Market, and leave the original Viewsonic OS intact? Is it as simple as looking for the attachments in the xda site, finding an apk that looks like "Market", and installing it?

Or do you have to "fake out" the model so that Market will properly load?

 

[xmr405o]

i have flashed the rom and i like the launcer better. only thing is at first angry birds worked and now it disappeared and cant even be found in the market. also the market will not find anything i search for. any idea what i have going on

You'll need to follow the instructions here to have the market show all the apps including angry birds.

Working Market fix (tested on TnT Lite, should work elsewhere) - xda-developers

Your basically clearing the cache from the google framework and market apps.

 

[xmr405o]

After a few hours of use, I'm realizing that the non-market doesn't give me too many app options. Even things like Adobe AIR and Facebook don't exist outside of the market.

Otherwise, I'm not complaining about the Viewsonic menu screens. It allows 8-10 customizable buttons on the home screen, and that's enough for my wife to do her normal tasks. I'm sure stock Android would be better but I'm hesitant to mod a brand new device without much experience (I've modded tons of Moto phones in my day, so I'm sure I'll get more comortable as time goes on).

Is there a way to just load the Market, and leave the original Viewsonic OS intact? Is it as simple as looking for the attachments in the xda site, finding an apk that looks like "Market", and installing it?

Or do you have to "fake out" the model so that Market will properly load?

I'm not sure if that's possible..when I got my g tab I rooted and flashed the custom rom as soon as I charged the battery. There's a super thread found at xda that may answer your question. Sorry.

 

[SCB1898]

I bought this tablet, from Sears, on 11/27/2010.
I got it home and used the UI. I said to myself, it's going back real real soon!! TapnTap UI is slow as HECK!
It also does not come with any of the Google apps I've come to love on my EVO.
Let me tell you that Android, XDA Developers, LauncherPro and some dedicated time have made this a Great tablet!

I installed LauncherPro, and it flies now!
I rooted it with z4root!(still running the stock software it cam with.)
I've installed a working Market, Gmail and Flash. The Youtube app does not run well on my G Tablet, but that is why there is Flash in the browser.

Greatest thing is now Angry Birds is running on my tablet, and I couldn't be happier!!
Battery life is damn good!

This is everything you need.
Viewsonic G Tablet - xda-developers

 

[mvl]

I'm not sure if that's possible..when I got my g tab I rooted and flashed the custom rom as soon as I charged the battery. There's a super thread found at xda that may answer your question. Sorry.

Thanks for the response.

I'm realizing that she can't connect to her Nokia N97 hotspot either (N97 only does ad hoc) without at least rooting.... Apparently all Android devices need root for ad hoc. I'm going to have to build up my Android dev knowledge fast.

Any recommendations on a step by step how-to where a veteran non-Android "rooter/programmer" can both read and understand the rationale relatively quickly? Is it standard in the industry that rooting voids an Android device warranty? Any way to "backup" before rooting?

I'm straying out of G Tablet territory into generic Android territory, but my suspicion is that over half the Viewsonic owners may end up rooting their devices

Or, maybe I can achieve this a different way. Has anyone built a bluetooth DUN client for Android? I could run bluetooth DUN to get online via the N97 too.

 

[xmr405o]

I bought this tablet, from Sears, on 11/27/2010.
I got it home and used the UI. I said to myself, it's going back real real soon!! TapnTap UI is slow as HECK!
It also does not come with any of the Google apps I've come to love on my EVO.
Let me tell you that Android, XDA Developers, LauncherPro and some dedicated time have made this a Great tablet!

I installed LauncherPro, and it flies now!
I rooted it with z4root!(still running the stock software it cam with.)
I've installed a working Market, Gmail and Flash. The Youtube app does not run well on my G Tablet, but that is why there is Flash in the browser.

Greatest thing is now Angry Birds is running on my tablet, and I couldn't be happier!!
Battery life is damn good!

This is everything you need.
Viewsonic G Tablet - xda-developers

Yeah, I keep going to XDA and they always have something new that they fixed for the Gtab. I swear this feels like my Moto Droid experience all over again.

 

[xmr405o]

Thanks for the response.

I'm realizing that she can't connect to her Nokia N97 hotspot either (N97 only does ad hoc) without at least rooting.... Apparently all Android devices need root for ad hoc. I'm going to have to build up my Android dev knowledge fast.

Any recommendations on a step by step how-to where a veteran non-Android "rooter/programmer" can both read and understand the rationale relatively quickly? Is it standard in the industry that rooting voids an Android device warranty? Any way to "backup" before rooting?

I'm straying out of G Tablet territory into generic Android territory, but my suspicion is that over half the Viewsonic owners may end up rooting their devices

Or, maybe I can achieve this a different way. Has anyone built a bluetooth DUN client for Android? I could run bluetooth DUN to get online via the N97 too.

I knew it would only be a matter of time haha. Anyways, XDA forums specific to the Gtab is the best place to read. There's probably things in there that you'd understand as an programmer that I have no clue about. You might even be a big help in solving some of the common issues found with the Gtab. Roebeet, Rothnic and Bekit are our ROM devs over there. i believe the forum link is posted in this thread.

And your other questions, yes there's a fix for allowing our Gtab to see adhoc tethering. There's an update to allow our Gtablets to see devices to wirelessly tether to.

As for voiding the warranty and all that stuff...no comment but it is said that the Gtablet is nearly unbrickable due to it being able to be connected as an APX device. I have no clue what that means (haha) but I was able to use NVflash to reflash my system when my gtab got stuck at a bootloop. And yes there is a way to perform a back up the system but it requires Clock work Mod which is a totally different recovery system. It's actually much better than the stock recovery. The way you load ROMS ion the gtab will change after you switch to Clockwork Mod. There's a thread about this recovery system in the XDA forums.

Have fun MVL!

 

[ChudleyOne]

Refurbs from Sears Outlet are priced at $279.99 as shown <HERE>. Need to decide if I need something this big, go for a Nook Color or wait for Adam. Damn decisions!!!

 

[xmr405o]

Refurbs from Sears Outlet are priced at $279.99 as shown <HERE>. Need to decide if I need something this big, go for a Nook Color or wait for Adam. Damn decisions!!!

I don't want to sound like a salesperson but....

For $280 that the G-tab is a steal. The adams I believe is worth the wait. And the nook, has such a nice display. That is a tough decision. If it was me, I would either get that G-tab or wait for the Adam.

 

[kisby]

I'm looking at getting one of these. Can I download the kindle and/or nook apps for books? I want this to be a good ereader, too.

 

[xmr405o]

I'm looking at getting one of these. Can I download the kindle and/or nook apps for books? I want this to be a good ereader, too.

Yes you can. The google market can be added.

 

[boatman]

if you want an ereader, get the nook color, it is now rooted by xda, and should perform like tablet too!