Viewsonic g Tablet

TallMomof2 · 04-16-2011, 07:35 PM

So, I purchased a Viewsonic g Tablet from woot.com a couple of weeks ago. It arrived yesterday. The stock UI is blah. For some reason it wouldn't update to 4349 after it updated to 3859. I decided to try one of the ROMs from XDA.

Currently, the VEGAn-TAB GingerEdition is installed and it is very nice. The only problem is that I can't get my books stored in Calibre to download via the web. But that is a minor problem. My only other complaint is that I prefer the original keyboard but that's another minor issue.

Kindle and Aldiko work fine. The only app I haven't been able to get working is Weatherbug Elite.

I have Google Android Market and all Google applications on the g Tablet. It's a very nice 10" tablet.

RainingLemur · 04-16-2011, 10:05 PM

How's the screen on it? I saw it on Woot, too, and almost snagged one. But, held off cause I'd not been able to see one in person.

Noah98 · 04-16-2011, 10:44 PM

How is the screen in portrait mode? I've heard conflicting reports about it.

devilsadvocate · 04-17-2011, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

So, I purchased a Viewsonic g Tablet from woot.com a couple of weeks ago. It arrived yesterday. The stock UI is blah. For some reason it wouldn't update to 4349 after it updated to 3859. I decided to try one of the ROMs from XDA.

Currently, the VEGAn-TAB GingerEdition is installed and it is very nice. The only problem is that I can't get my books stored in Calibre to download via the web. But that is a minor problem. My only other complaint is that I prefer the original keyboard but that's another minor issue.

Kindle and Aldiko work fine. The only app I haven't been able to get working is Weatherbug Elite.

I have Google Android Market and all Google applications on the g Tablet. It's a very nice 10" tablet.

+1, I love this thing. No one's using the stock ROM I don't think. I just switched to GingerEdition as well (I was using Zpad-3.0 previously) and I love it. You think it's fast now, try using LauncherPro instead of the VeganTab launcher and it flies. Really, switching ROMs on this isn't nearly the challenge it can be on some phones. I did a howto on my site that is similar to the one at XDA only using the ZPad-Clean ROM if anyone's interested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah98

How is the screen in portrait mode? I've heard conflicting reports about it.

They're conflicting reports because not only do people have different uses and expectations but also because it's different on each unit: From what I can tell it's the way the backlight LEDs are situated behind the screen, and it varies from one to the next. Talk to a manager wherever you look for one of these and ask them to waive the restock fee if it's not to your satisfaction (I did so at TigerDirect). My personal opinion: It's not as wide a field-of-view as the Xoom but in trade you get more tweakability (and, of course, at half the price). If you'll use your tab for watching a lot of movies this one might disappoint (despite being HD-capable). For reading it works well, not much heavier than an iPad. I found the latest free version of Aldiko to be kind of a pain but my wife feels this might be a matter of opinion as well.

Noah98 · 04-17-2011, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

+1, I love this thing. No one's using the stock ROM I don't think. I just switched to GingerEdition as well (I was using Zpad-3.0 previously) and I love it. You think it's fast now, try using LauncherPro instead of the VeganTab launcher and it flies. Really, switching ROMs on this isn't nearly the challenge it can be on some phones. I did a howto on my site that is similar to the one at XDA only using the ZPad-Clean ROM if anyone's interested.

They're conflicting reports because not only do people have different uses and expectations but also because it's different on each unit: From what I can tell it's the way the backlight LEDs are situated behind the screen, and it varies from one to the next. Talk to a manager wherever you look for one of these and ask them to waive the restock fee if it's not to your satisfaction (I did so at TigerDirect). My personal opinion: It's not as wide a field-of-view as the Xoom but in trade you get more tweakability (and, of course, at half the price). If you'll use your tab for watching a lot of movies this one might disappoint (despite being HD-capable). For reading it works well, not much heavier than an iPad. I found the latest free version of Aldiko to be kind of a pain but my wife feels this might be a matter of opinion as well.

This device certainly has great value if the screen is reasonably usable in portrait mode (my preferred orientation). Office Depot had it for $280 last week, and it looked really nice, but the display was bolted down so I couldn't check the viewing angles.

TallMomof2 · 04-17-2011, 02:48 PM

I've been using my mostly in portrait mode and it's fine. IMO, the screen quality is better than my Galaxy TAB. I don't care about the view angle, with my thick glasses anything other than headon is iffy.

I just hope that NVidia continues with product development because from what I've read the G Tablet is no longer being produced.

I had some issues with installing the ROM. Apparently, my G Tablet was one that had the wrong partitions. I had to NVFlash it back to original stock, get the OTA update to 3588 and then install CWM .8 and then VEGAn Gingerbread.

I sold some of my other gadgets to get this and I like reading on it.

04-16-2011, 07:35 PM	#1
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	Viewsonic g Tablet So, I purchased a Viewsonic g Tablet from woot.com a couple of weeks ago. It arrived yesterday. The stock UI is blah. For some reason it wouldn't update to 4349 after it updated to 3859. I decided to try one of the ROMs from XDA. Currently, the VEGAn-TAB GingerEdition is installed and it is very nice. The only problem is that I can't get my books stored in Calibre to download via the web. But that is a minor problem. My only other complaint is that I prefer the original keyboard but that's another minor issue. Kindle and Aldiko work fine. The only app I haven't been able to get working is Weatherbug Elite. I have Google Android Market and all Google applications on the g Tablet. It's a very nice 10" tablet.

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04-16-2011, 10:05 PM	#2
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	How's the screen on it? I saw it on Woot, too, and almost snagged one. But, held off cause I'd not been able to see one in person.

04-16-2011, 10:44 PM	#3
Noah98 Eccentric Posts: 510 Karma: 342150 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Florida Device: The nook, ipad 3, Kindle Fire HD (8.9), Kindle Paperwhite	How is the screen in portrait mode? I've heard conflicting reports about it.

04-17-2011, 02:48 PM	#6
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	I've been using my mostly in portrait mode and it's fine. IMO, the screen quality is better than my Galaxy TAB. I don't care about the view angle, with my thick glasses anything other than headon is iffy. I just hope that NVidia continues with product development because from what I've read the G Tablet is no longer being produced. I had some issues with installing the ROM. Apparently, my G Tablet was one that had the wrong partitions. I had to NVFlash it back to original stock, get the OTA update to 3588 and then install CWM .8 and then VEGAn Gingerbread. I sold some of my other gadgets to get this and I like reading on it.

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