This article is for majority of ViewSonic G Tablet users who want to use their tablet for work, productivity and entertainment instead of spending more than 5% of their use time, fixing it. However, if you enjoy playing with your device configurations or if you are a professional developer who do this for living obviously this article is not for you. Like many others, after I bought the G Tablet I ended up rooting it and soon after it started to give me problems. After crashes, flushes, factory resets and reading 100's of comments and solutions on different sites with complains of bricked, flushed, crashed and frozen devices and applications, I came to the realization that rooting G Tablet is way overrated and in majority of cases completely unnecessary. It has now been a while since I have gone back to the original stock Gtablet ROM with the conclusion that the majority of tasks can be performed with ease and speed on the g-tablet without rooting. By not rooting the tablet and instead following some of the set-up guidelines below one can put his/her new tablet to its best use. Those who already have rooted their Gtabs and happen to be tired of encountering one problem after another (or after facing such issues), may consider un-rooting (Completely flush before doing the factory rest). The question that first one must ask him/herself is: Why do I have the g-tablet and then proceed with customizing it for that purpose. With that introduction, here are my responses to some of the frequently addressed reasons that have lead users to rooting: 1- I do not like the G Tablet operating screen. Just click on the "classic" icon at the bottom and thereafter your tablet will load in a classic mode; very similar to typical android environment. You can also download programs such as LaunchPro for more options keeping in mind that the more changes you make to any standard environment, the more problems you might encounter in future. 2- G Tablet classic screen does not have the scroll down screen. On the top right, there are three small icons that show WIFI and battery status and another with exclamation point which if touched it drops down the notifications such as running applications, downloads, emails etc
So you're telling US not to do what WE want to with OUR tablets, because you found apps that make it do what we want to already? (kinda?) Find me an app that puts the entire Honeycomb 3.0 OS on my tablet, and I'll buy a whole new gTab and never root it. Ever.
You must have not read the FIRST paragraph! So many articles have been written about how good rooting is and I didn't see anyone get offended! In my case, if I want to own a WORKING tablet with Honeycomb 3 , I buy something else and not what Gtab was intended for. Do as you wish with your tablet and in life always
Fair enough. As for a "WORKING tablet with Honeycomb 3", that's exactly what I had with Bottle of Smoke, minus a camera. Then again, who's going to use 10" tablet for taking pictures? Spending $300 for a gTab and installing HC on it > spending $600 for a tablet with HC preinstalled that does the same thing.
Hi David Welcome to the forums! Great write up. First comment, yeah, most people who root or install custom roms are "tinkerers" so flashing roms on a daily is nothing to us. Anyways, one suggestion... If you don't want to install a custom rom, at least consider installing a custom recovery like clockwork. Clockwork is great for backing up your entire set up just in case something goes wrong. It looks like you put a lot of work in researching and installing apps on your gtab. What I've found with stock roms is that they get corrupted pretty easily. You'll know it's corrupt when you start getting "acore" force closes. Most of the time, wiping cache or data can fix it. However, with the acore errors, you won't be able to get to the tapntap settings to wipe cache/data because it'll keep giving you those errors. Best option is to wipe data or cache in Clockwork Recovery. You can also revert back to your last back up file if necessary. Also, one more thing. Check your PMs, please.
Hello xmr405o Thank You for the kind welcome and good words. I sure will look in to the Clockwork Recovery
Oh, and I seem to put myself in a negative light, now that I re-read my posts. I wasn't trying to post in a hostile manner, if that's how it came across. Welcome to the forums!
I just noticed that the ES File Explorer that comes with the G Tablet comes with more options that I gave it credit for including uninstall of applications, so the Quick Uninstall Application that I recommended is not necessary. In general I avoid having applications that do the same thing to keep the Gtab clean and with less problems. Also since the write , I had some issues with Mail Droid which is the only application that I had recently installed and noted in this article. So for now I stick to the Email that comes with the Gtab which I actually like its look anyway.
xmr405o I did try installing Clockwork via SD card both by use of power+volume up and also by installing ROM Manager, neither of which worked. I can only presume that is because my device is not rooted which in that case I will seek other options. As a matter of fact I have not been experiencing Force Closes since I un-rooted my device. However if you or anyone knows a work around to install Clock Work Recovery on un-rooted G Tablet please advise. Thanks imnotmikal Thank you for the welcome
I had the following issues with stock: 1) things would FC on me fairly often. It was rare I got more than an hour of use without an FC. 2) GMail, GVoice, GTalk are critical apps for me. I use them on my phone and want the same ones on my tablet (personal preference). For those reasons, and for simplicity, I went with TnTLite. I have far less issues with it. (Those PopCap games freeze.) I don't plan to change until the HC ROMs have been stable for a couple months.
Don't use ROM manager. It doesn't work well with the gtab...sometimes. I have to ask...how did you root the first time? The gtab doesn't need to be rooted to install a custom recovery or custom rom using the stock recovery method. The Gtab is a very open device where the standard recovery will let you install anything. Custom roms are already pre-rooted. I wonder what method you used to root or did you install a custom rom? If so, which one? Using the standard recovery rather than clockwork makes the custom rom more unstable than if you would have used clockwork. Anyways, before trying to install clockwork. Make sure you are using the right version for the correct bootloader. If you don't know which bootloader you are on, go to settings>about tablet and check to see what version of TapnTap UI you are on. Any version prior to 3991 should indicate that you are on BL 1.1. If you are, then try using the non sd card method found on this post. http://androidforums.com/2218928-post34.html Let me know how it goes.
the HC ROMs are stable now, just not fully functioning, so it all depends on what you do with your tablet. CM7.0.3 works great, I didnt find anything that didnt work that you would actually need.
Gmail works on stock Gtablet. I am also informed of Google voice messages and can read and respond to them. Not being a phone , Gtab can not use the call feature anyway. Gtalk. Also works as is. The biggest draw back to me has been the Calender which is not sync with Google.
DavidET, Thanks for this great information. The info on where to download apps outside of the Android Market is particularly of interest. I think no matter what we do with these Android devices, phones included they will still be subject to glitches and idiosyncrasies. It is of course always safer not to modify or experiment. I have spent countless hours fiddling with various Android and other devices. I think some people would rather do this than play golf. I am one of them. Thanks again, SH
Ok cool! You're on Bootloader 1.1. You can go a couple of ways. There are Froyo, Gingerbread and HC roms for your bootloader so you don't need to upgrade. You don't need to use any root apps to root. All you have to do is install the clockwork file that I pointed you to.
For the most part I agree with your post. However, I can't download Audible and it's driving me to distraction. This is really the only reason I want to root my tablet. Any suggestions?
Actually, I have a regular phone number for my GTab and I can make/receive FREE regular calls (local or LD) any time I am within range of WiFi. I can do video chats or just a plain phone call. I can do Bluetooth or use the speaker. I also have HDMI out, and unlimited (free) texting to/from any other text-enabled phone. It works great - including sync with Google Calendar. I have instructions on my website: GTab works for REGULAR phone calls. I have also included full instructions for installing ClockworkMod and custom roms. I have explained the bootloader issue (primary reason people "brick" their GTab) and instructions for determining which version you have and how to change it and how to UN-brick a GTab. I have tried the stock Tap-N-Tap (both versions) and there is NO WAY that it comes close to my CM7.0.3. Primarily because it is so much faster. But also because it so easily syncs up with my other Google-enabled services & devices. Nubie users using my guide often finish flashing CM7 in 30 mins or less. But, as you said, it is a personal decision.
