rushmore

Not "getting" the Xoom. Though nice display:

1. Over $900 out of pocket (one way or another)
2. No USB host
3. Microsd is gimped and Moto is waiting on a Xoom specific patch from Android.
4. Did I mention it is $900 out of pocket?
5. About a month delay for Flash

gTablet with same chipset, has USB host, less than half the price and already mature with XDA community. For $150 less than that, I have a gTablet and a 64gb iPod 4. Not to mention can tether with my Incredible and not pay a high data plan.

Viewsonic blew it:

Viewsonic could have had HUGE sales with the gTablet and all they needed to do was embrace a few folks from XDA and use their talents. Heck, Viewsonic even posted at XDA and were aware of the efforts there.

Are Archos and Viewsonic ran by the same nuts?

The_Chief

I agree: Viewsonic simply BLEW it when it came to marketing the gTablet. I guess they just shipped it out to vendors and trusted THEM to do the advertising. BAD MOVE.

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kimkgk

I just read an entire article on Xoom. It sounds like a catch up try to the viewsonic for twice the money. I don't get why one person would buy this tablet rather than the Gtab. I must reeeeely be missing something here. Bigger camera - who cares - this isn't a camera. Oh lets see .....nothing else. Jeez

The_Chief

Add to that Verizon's disastrous PR move that required at least one month of 3G in order to unlock the XOOM's wi-fi capability. Thankfully they did away with that little caveat but I'm not betting on a lot of XOOM sales. Not at that price and not in this economy.

xmr405o

I'm waiting for the wifi only Xoom before I pass judgement. Initial reviews are positive but doesn't seem to justify the $900 price tag. I'm hoping all the kinks of the UI, more tablet apps, micro sd fix and any other shortcomings of the xoom will be rectified before the wifi xoom comes out. As for the gtablet and VS, I've noticed that as people search to find another tablet within their price, the gtablet is becoming more and more of a viable option that people look at or choose. So that's a good thing for VS.

To this day, I do not regret my purchase of the gtablet.

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SamuraiBigEd

Viewsonic most likely did not heavily market the G Tablet because it is not even their product, it is a re-branded Malata Z Pad. They seem to be focusing more on their own line of tablets which unfortunately are inferior to the G Tab, even the 10S falls short while still having similar specs.

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hkklife

I am honestly starting to think that Google and their hardware partners secretly want to cede the entire tablet to Apple. Either that, or Android's smartphone success is a fluke and will NOT translate to other formfactors.

Motorola blew it:

-Bending over for VZW (ie their MAIN customer) and not listening to the end-users & mod community that propelled the original Droid to the top of the heap in 2009-2010.

-No wi-fi version at launch (nor any official word on one)

-No "lesser" model to counter the $499 16GB iPad. Even if Apple leaves the $499 SKU unchanged, $500 + the Apple brand cachet & iOS ecosystem is a LOT closer to impulse purchase territory for most people than $800+

-Surprisingly inelegant & rushed/sloppy Moto hardware choices: charging via separate AC plug instead of microUSB adapter, fiddly power button, no user-replacable battery, no 4G LTE + no microSD at launch


Viewsonic blew it:

-Over-reliance on the TnT rubbish. A simple BONE STOCK Froyo would have done wonders for them. While they have sort of given a wink or two to XDA, a clear statement on their plans for the future of the GTablet and some kind of OS roadmap would do wonders for them in restoring faith in them since their huge wave of negative publicity in late 2010 (see below).

-Poor packaging + poor retail POS displays/presence. They never really recovered from the huge wave of negative publicity from the Staples recall. Heck, you can barely even find the Gtablet on the VS website!

-Not being completely clear with the community on future update plans. The current GTablet with stock Froyo, Gingerbread or Honeycomb could be effectively marketed as the "anti-iPad" as well as the "Xoom on a budget". Instead, Viewsonic is intent on pushing their other half-baked tablets, smartphones and TVs that no one really wants.

Right now, I am thinking Toshiba may be our only remaining chance to get a solid, well-buiot, wi-fi Honeycomb device that's competitively priced.

SolidOrange

i am also shocked that the Xoom has no hard function keys. sure, ours aren't backlit, but the Xoom just left them off altogether! what is with that?

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Papadroid

With honeycomb they are built into the UI, which is what I prefer. I can't tell you how many times I accidentally hit one of thsoe buttons. Also as much as I love my Gtab there is one thing I haven't seen anyone mention yet as negative on the Gtab in this thread, the screen. I'll bet the xoom screen blows the Gtab out of the water. But that does not justify the price of the xoom IMO.

SolidOrange

i like having them both in the UI and physically. i do wish that someone would build an option to turn them off like you can with auto-rotate. the only time i have a problem with accidentally hitting them is in the dark, it would be nice to have a quick option to disable them in those situations.

xmr405o

Button remapper has the option to disable the physical buttons.


Set the buttons to "focus" to disable them. Button remapper isn't free though.

Last edited by xmr405o; February 25th, 2011 at 03:13 PM.

xmr405o

I'm not sure if the Xoom screen blows it out of the water but I know the viewing angles are better with the Xoom. I like the gtablet's screen resolution, I just don't like that the fact that the screen's image quality goes down drastically when viewing at certain angles.

SolidOrange

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UijO7ZFhwWc&feature=player_embedded#at=34

SPOILER: G-tablet wins 3 of 4! and he's using TnT lite, scores could be even higher with VEGAn. they always have been on mine.

The_Chief

"Benchmark P-I"? Not Benchmark Pi?

I know VEGAn Quadrants in the 2400s but I guess he was comparing stock to stock. Fair enough... gTablet WINS!

xmr405o

I swear if Moto would stop being buttheads and let XDA mod their ROM I bet it would run way better. But no! They don't learn, give up the files Moto.

SlvrScoobie

You guys dont get it:
People that buy this stuff on a whim, and lets admit it, most people buy ipads on a whim, they buy it cause it LOOKS nice. The Gtab, as much as I love mine, does not look mine. Sure its built better than the Archos, but the Screen itself - Meh. and dont even THINK about putting it in portrait mode! Eek!
The xoom is Twice the price because the screen is Twice as good, Great viewing angles, decent color and brightness. Still no Ipad, but its getting there. I have a feeling, and im sure im not alone, that a LOT of apples sales are made because of thier personal interaction. Its got a NICE, Colorful, Bright display on EVERYTHING they make and the UI is simple.
I hate apple, but they use some DAMN good screens - but you pay for it

xmr405o

First may I say, I resent that you think that I don't get it. haha jk

I agree with your take on people buying things because it looks nice. Apple relies on first glance consumers. First glance consumers see how pretty the Ipad is and they see that the price of the Ipad is cheaper than the Xoom or is almost the same price as the gtablet so they tend to buy the Ipad. They don't stop and check the specs or anything else.

I'm not sure if you are saying that the Xoom with it's way better viewing angles and it's slightly better screen resolution constitutes an over 200% price margin difference compared to the gtablet is reasonable. At first, I thought it was reasonable even with the lack of a working SD card slot, flash and usb port but after finding out that the wifi version would be around $600 or less...that totally changed my perspective.

I now think the Xoom 3G/4G is overpriced. It's not just an expensive tablet. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the Xoom wifi version is a lot cheaper. But at the same time, it makes me think that Moto and their initial pricing of the 4G version (off contract) is unfair.

Of course, this is totally my opinion.

PSkeptic

The initial off-contract pricing in very unfair. There's a reason for it. If you think about it enough, you'll understand why

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rushmore

If the wifi only version of the Xoom had USB host, I would give my gTablet to my wife and get the Xoom. Display and extra 16gb is nice, but I LUUUUVV being able to use USB thumbdrives and a 64gb loaded with movies and PSX roms. Cool thing is I notice no addition battery drain. Sure there is some (must be), but I do not notice it.

PSkeptic

If you use just thumb drives, the power drain for them would be negligible. Now, if you plug in a powered HD...

Yeah, a USB host on the Xoom would make me do the same. I use the USB port WAAAYYY too often to not have it.

rushmore

Agreed. Too used to having the function now with a tablet.

SolidOrange

well, the usb host argument is gone now:

USB host mode enabled on the Motorola XOOM || Android Central

still love my g-tab though!!

rushmore

.......... I luv my G too, but looks like my wife will be taking it over now

Well, when I see the Xoom for around $550 or less, that is.

ChiTownJim

I just ordered a Gtab for $380 total . But if I could have gotten a new zoom for under $500 I would have gone that route.

Most likely I'll hold on to my Gtab for 12-18months as all I really want it for is wireless home music player and couch surfing . I won't be doing gamming or anything intense with it .

rushmore

Sans the viewing angles, I luv my G, but the wife wants a tablet too...

I may still hold off and see how the Toshiba pans out, since it has a full size USB port and host function without hacking.

I am getting tired of the constant need to hack. I just want something that WORKS If the iPad 2 worked with Flash..... Nah!

RedBear'n

Sometimes when I sit back and really think about what it means that the Xoom costs $900 I just.... I recently purch'd a Laptop (4GB RAM i5 540), the Viewsonic G Tablet, and switched phone carriers to pick up the Epic 4g for around that price tag. There is no way anyone short of Daniel Day Lewis could convince me that what you have there is a justified price tag...on any of the "household name tablets."

rushmore

Closer to $500 is the sweet spot for higher end Android tabs. I fell off the Xoom wagon now that I found out the USB host is a half-fix, due to it not being designed for host, so not enough voltage fed through the connector to cover many thumb or hard drives.

Once you get used to using thumbdrives for mass storage and having the device with host function, anything else seems a step down for me.

Besides, a decent 32gb sd card is about $60 or more. 64gb of space on the Xoom would be $660 (wifi version). I have almost 144gb (64gb thumbdrive + 32gb sd + 16gb internal) for $500

Last edited by rushmore; March 22nd, 2011 at 02:38 PM.