Viewsonic G-Tablet review UPDATE

[rushmore]

I did my research but these instructions really pulled it together for me. I followed it today and had a flawless flash to tnt 2.2. Thanks!

Welcome!

 

[rushmore]

I went to check this out at an Office Depot. They had a demo unit, and I don't know if it was unique to this unit, but the screen was not very responsive, had to select the icons multiple times to make it work. And the fact that it didn't have Market, it's ridiculous. Sure, there are work arounds, but if they really want a tablet to be a contender, they shouldn't release it like this.


I was looking at the front facing camera, and what application it used for video chat, and one of the salesman told me that it wasn't capable, and that only the camera application could be used. What's the point of taking pictures of your own mug

I asked the manager what his return policy was, as I wasn't sure about the demo unit, and wanted to give another one a try. The manager told me that if I bought it, it's mine, as they wouldn't accept returns, just exchanges. That pi$$ed me off, and said no thanks.

If this had been a unit for me, I would have taken on the challenge, and made it work, load custom roms, and waste a few hours making it work. But this unit is for my mom, and she is not technical person at all. I signed her up for email, facebook, etc. But I wanted something easy for her to use, and this unit wasn't it.

So, Mr. Jobs, got my business, as much as it pains me, I ended up buying an iPad, for my mom it was the best choice, solid interface (not customizable though) and she can easily access all her needs (facebook app sucks though). But I didn't see this G-Tablet as a good product, sure , us propeller heads can enjoy this, but if it's going to be used to see pictures of the grand kids, the apple boys have a better product. For now.

Thats is the infamous Tap UI slowing it down. The dev of that should be banished from the land, as well as anyone else related to it being approved for the device

TAP UI IS KILLING SALES OF THE DEVICE.

 

[karmacomposer]

I am getting really fed up.

I returned my first gtablet due to rebooting loop. 2nd gtablet reboot looped without any help from me.

I decided to use these instructions and it worked . . . for about 10 minutes. After the 1st force close, I turned it off and . . . reboot loop again.

Using clockwork .8, I tried to follow the exact same instructions, but they are not working this time. I cannot find any way to mount the sd card2, where I put a fresh copy of tnt 2.20's update and recovery folder. There is no recovery folder on the sd card in the system (the hard wired one) and I had no time to make a backup using clockwork.

Any help is appreciated.

Mike

 

[karmacomposer]

Can you take clockwork off and put the system back the way it was? I have the original rom image of the tapntap that came with the gtablet, but somehow I wiped the SD card in the gtablet and now I am truly screwed. It will not let me mount the external SD card. I have a 8GB micro sd card with the tnt 2.20 rom and recovery folder. It will not allow me to choose it.

What can I do? I really need some help!

Mike

 

[xmr405o]

Can you take clockwork off and put the system back the way it was? I have the original rom image of the tapntap that came with the gtablet, but somehow I wiped the SD card in the gtablet and now I am truly screwed. It will not let me mount the external SD card. I have a 8GB micro sd card with the tnt 2.20 rom and recovery folder. It will not allow me to choose it.

What can I do? I really need some help!

Mike

So can you still get into Clockwork? If you're still rebooting, you can try this...

Re-run clockworkmod recovery and re-partition your SD card. Suggested setup is 2048 and swap 256 or max. (this last step will wipe the /sdcard data, so keep that in mind).

Is this why your SD card is wiped now?

To get into this setting in CM, go to advanced> Partition SD card> then choose 2048 and then 256

 

[karmacomposer]

Yes. I can get into clockwork and I formatted the SD card to your specs.

Thank you for your help. Now what do I do? How do I get the rom back on the gtablet?

Mike

 

[xmr405o]

Yes. I can get into clockwork and I formatted the SD card to your specs.

Now what?

Mike

reboot. Are you still boot looping? If so, I suggest to head over to XDA. Here's one solution I found over there for bootlooping..

xda-developers - View Single Post - TNT keeps force closing on newest OTA update

 

[karmacomposer]

Actually, somehow that worked and now android is coming back. YEAH!

Thank you.

Mike

 

[karmacomposer]

Now I am making a backup in clockwork - JUST IN CASE.

I really did not do anything except install the flash fix, Titanium backup free and then I was trying to fix the market when bootloop just started happening.

Mike

 

[karmacomposer]

This is my second gtablet. My first one had an amazing battery - was lasting forever. This new one seems to drain very quickly. I made sure to charge the new one first - I plugged it in till I got the green light.

I also turned on any battery saving features. I had bluetooth and WIFI enabled on the last one and it still seemed to go for a few days before needing a charge. This one looks like it's going to need a charge after a few hours.

Is it faulty, you think, or is there something I can do?

Mike

 

[xmr405o]

This is my second gtablet. My first one had an amazing battery - was lasting forever. This new one seems to drain very quickly. I made sure to charge the new one first - I plugged it in till I got the green light.

I also turned on any battery saving features. I had bluetooth and WIFI enabled on the last one and it still seemed to go for a few days before needing a charge. This one looks like it's going to need a charge after a few hours.

Is it faulty, you think, or is there something I can do?

Mike

Check spare parts and see what's draining ur battery. My gtab can go about 3 to 4 days without charging but I turn off my gtab every night. But I don't think I'm a heavy user.

 

[rushmore]

I am getting really fed up.

I returned my first gtablet due to rebooting loop. 2nd gtablet reboot looped without any help from me.

I decided to use these instructions and it worked . . . for about 10 minutes. After the 1st force close, I turned it off and . . . reboot loop again.

Using clockwork .8, I tried to follow the exact same instructions, but they are not working this time. I cannot find any way to mount the sd card2, where I put a fresh copy of tnt 2.20's update and recovery folder. There is no recovery folder on the sd card in the system (the hard wired one) and I had no time to make a backup using clockwork.

Any help is appreciated.

Mike

As long as you have clockwork working you should be good. You can mount to internal space using the mount USB storage mode at bottom of options. It takes a few seconds, but should pop up on your computer when connected to USB.

Place the 2.20 update.zip in root directory

Get out of USB storage mode

In clockwork, clear cache and data

Choose to update.zip

Reboot

Should be good

 

[karmacomposer]

Thank you. For now, I seem to be working. We'll see how long it lasts this time (lol).

I wonder if it's a wayward app that is causing the bootloop?

I am going to carefully monitor each app I download and see if it causes force closes and then the dreaded bootloop.

The thing I hate most about the bootloop, besides getting it, is that to solve the problem, you have to start over - and that means entering personal info and all the stuff you like to have your tablet do and look like over and over and over.

I love the speed of tnt lite and HATE the look, feel and unstable cripped state of the stock OS, but why, oh why can't there be a stable, reliable OS that does not force close everything and go into a state of constant looping?

The ipad may not be my cup of tea (I have the iphone and it's definitely a love hate relationship). I checked out the ipad and was not impressed at all with it. The specs for the gtablet are so much better, hardware wise. However, you cannot argue that the stability of the ipad is much better thus far. I wish I could say that about my iphone, but I can't. I have the 3g and ever since the 4.0 update that was forced on me, now I miss calls, don't get all texts, have crashes, slow-downs and calls that mysteriously stop for no apparent reason (and not because a tower is out of range or a weird no-(call zone).

This is certainly a stressful hobby!

Mike

 

[karmacomposer]

So far so good. Still works.

Mike

 

[xmr405o]

That's good to hear. Trust most of us, if not all, have done something to their gtab to make it all crazy. What's good with this tablet, its virtually unbrickable.

 

[karmacomposer]

My battery still drains minute by minute - even with battery saving features turned on. It's very upsetting because I have this working just the way I want it and bought some apps as well. I'd hate to return it and have to start all over again!

Mike

 

[jtbnet]

My battery still drains minute by minute - even with battery saving features turned on. It's very upsetting because I have this working just the way I want it and bought some apps as well. I'd hate to return it and have to start all over again!

Mike

Sounds like you have some runaway process eating battery... load OSMonitor from market and see what's using so much CPU and thus battery... typically mine sits mostly idle using 2-6% cpu... and battery lasts days...

 

[rushmore]

I updated the OP review based on the super-stable TnT lite 2.4

 

[xmr405o]

Dang I have Vegan b3 and its really nice. I might have to try tnt 2.4.

 

[mqureshi79]

9. USB sticks and 500gb hard drives (all fat32) work great.


Really? I plugged a fat32 formatted drive in and nothing happened. .. I'm running tntlite

Also my battery seems to be permanently at 100%... any thoughts?

 

[rushmore]

9. USB sticks and 500gb hard drives (all fat32) work great.


Really? I plugged a fat32 formatted drive in and nothing happened. .. I'm running tntlite

Also my battery seems to be permanently at 100%... any thoughts?

Battery gauge works sometimes and then shows full and suddenly drops about 20%. I just have a general rule of charging everyday, but do know I have gone two days without charging.

Try a thumbdrive in fat 32 and insert while in sleep mode. Should show up in a few seconds. Hardrives can take up to 30 seconds to index- depending on what is on the hard drive.

Since no mount / unmount function for USB host in Android, I always insert and remove the USB while in sleep mode.

 

[rushmore]

Updated today. Stock official update now results in a good tablet and you can add the Folio Flash apk. Quadrant score is 1800

Catch is better Nvidia drivers with TnT Lite 3.0 (2400 Quadrant).

Question is has Viewsonic done enough to turn the tide?

 

[xmr405o]

Updated today. Stock official update now results in a good tablet and you can add the Folio Flash apk. Quadrant score is 1800

Catch is better Nvidia drivers with TnT Lite 3.0 (2400 Quadrant).

Question is has Viewsonic done enough to turn the tide?

That should help the average consumer. Is the app market still handango?

 

[rushmore]

That should help the average consumer. Is the app market still handango?

Still the same, but their site offers more links. All but 3g versions of Galaxy have no normal official market, ATM.

 

[RichSan]

@Rushmore on 11/13/10 -
I just got a Gtab yesterday; downloaded the update from Viewsonic and started playing with it. The Gsensor burp I refer is that when it is in Landscape and I set it down flat on a table, it flips to Portrait after about 10 secs. Is this the type of problem you mention in your 11/13 comment on the acclerator?
Also, sometimes when using the browser or viewing a video, it jumps to the home page when the tab is tilted (I verified that my fingers were nowhere near the 'home' button or 'back button'); it does this intermittently.
I called tech support to ask about this and was told that it may be firmware or hardware, no way to know and that a future update may fix it.
My solution right now is to exchange it.
Any thoughts on this anyone?
Thanks