Vizio Tablet $198

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

My Vizio tablet arrived today. WOW! This thing is on a whole different level compared to the cheap tablets.

I've only had it a little while, but so far I think it's nicer than my Nook Color, and I'm a big fan of the Nook Color.

Congrats!

[SteveK]

JAcheson - Several of the reviews I've read have commented on how well-built the Vizio is compared to other tablets in its price range. No wiggle in the power button or volume buttons, for example. The unit does seem to be well-made and feels solid when you pick it up.

More importantly, it seems to run most of the apps available, although admittedly I haven't tried that many as I usually run only a few games, etc. Regarding the storage problem, the "App2SD" application saves most applications to the SD card, so finite storage space should be less of a problem unless you run many applications that can't use the SD card.

Glad you're pleased with your Vizio so far.

Enjoy!

SteveK

[JAcheson]

Wal-Mart has rolled the price of the Vizio tablet down to $198 permanently, from what I saw at my local store last night.

I am very pleased with mine.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

Wal-Mart has rolled the price of the Vizio tablet down to $198 permanently, from what I saw at my local store last night.

I am very pleased with mine.

Does the Wallmart model have real GPS?

I can't find any mention of it on wallmart.com and it's strange that they wouldn't list such an important feature.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by delphin

Does the Wallmart model have real GPS?

I can't find any mention of it on wallmart.com and it's strange that they wouldn't list such an important feature.

My experience is that if it has a "feature" they brag about it, if they don't say anything, they ain't got it.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by wodin

My experience is that if it has a "feature" they brag about it, if they don't say anything, they ain't got it.

Last year during the holidays I was looking at a Toshiba NetBook which Walmart seemed to have at a competitive price till I found out that it was a stripped down model with a three cell battery pack.

Funny thing was, the fine folks at Sleaze-Mart listed the model number EXACTLY like all the others who were selling the regular model which came with a six-cell pack with TWICE the battery run time.

Since I don't have time to do detailed technical evaluations on everything I buy to make sure they aren't ripping me off, I find it simpler to just make my purchases somewhere else.

[delphin]

I didn't mean to put the damper on this thread . . .

The reason I asked the above question is that I have seen some 8 inch Vizio tablets out there listed with no GPS, and a few with only 2 Gigs of internal Flash Memory.

But having seen the Vizio 8 inch tablet, I have to say if you can find one of the full spec units (8 inch 1024x768 capacitive screen, 1G processor, 512k RAM, 4G flash, Front Camera, GPS, etc) for anything less than $200, it is one hell of a great deal.

[Noah98]

It's a good value to be sure, but there are some things that I don't like about it:

1. Apps can only be installed on the internal memory. You can't move them to the sd card. With only about 2gbs available to the user, that is a problem if you want to play some of the Gameloft games that have huge files that usually default to the sd card.

2. The viewing angles can be quite bad at times. If you are holding the device in landscape mode, and move it even slightly to the left or right, the image deteriorates. This is the single biggest flaw of the device, and it is surprising given that Vizio is a tv manufacturer.

Still, I'm glad I bought one for my dad (for Christmas). He won't be playing fancy games on it, and the display is good enough for casual use. Also, I think he will enjoy the HDMI out, which works fine.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by Noah98

It's a good value to be sure, but there are some things that I don't like about it:

1. Apps can only be installed on the internal memory. You can't move them to the sd card. With only about 2gbs available to the user, that is a problem if you want to play some of the Gameloft games that have huge files that usually default to the sd card.

This has been hashed out over and over, with "definitive" answers both pro and con.

All I can say is that, so far as I know, ALL Android 2.3 devices have the same basic limitations and capabilities in this area, i.e. that they CAN move apps to SD card memory, but ONLY if the app allows it. Fortunately, most 'huge' apps now DO allow it.

Originally Posted by Noah98

2. The viewing angles can be quite bad at times. If you are holding the device in landscape mode, and move it even slightly to the left or right, the image deteriorates. This is the single biggest flaw of the device, and it is surprising given that Vizio is a tv manufacturer.

There are two elements to this, one is the viewing angle of the LCD panel itself, and the other is the backlight system.

Apple has made a big deal out of the IPS LCD panels used in iPads (and some other high end tablets), but the fact is that most LCD's now have quite acceptable viewing angles, but in a tablet device this may not even be the biggest limiting factor.

What becomes a second, and more significant limiting factor is the viewing angle of the LED backlight system. Just like a LED flashlight, the LCD panel's LED backlight can be designed for a wider or narrower beam angle. If you view the panel from the side, beyond the viewing angle, then things will dim way down making the device unusable from that angle. If you look closely you will see that the image has not turned negative, or shifted color (which would be the case if the LCD was at fault) it just lacks brightness when viewed off axis.

This is not about the quality of the LCD panel (IPS or otherwise), it's about power management.

If you are wondering why the backlight angle needs to be restricted, you might want to think about this comparison -

My PC NETBOOK has a 1GHz processor (powerful enough to do nice tricks like playing streaming Adobe Flash videos from the web) and it runs about 5 hours on a charge.

My ANDROID TABLET also has a 1GHz processor (also powerful enough to do nice tricks like playing streaming Adobe Flash videos from the web) and it also runs about 5 hours on a charge.

BUT THE NETBOOKS BATTERY IS RATED AT 48 Watt/Hours, WHILE MY ANDROID TABLET HAS TO GET BY WITH A MUCH MORE COMPACT BATTERY RATED AT ONLY 12 Watt/Hours.

So the tablet has to try to do the same tricks WITH ONLY A FOURTH THE TOTAL BATTERY POWER AVAILABLE. One way that this is accomplished is to use a very efficient LED backlight that doesn't waste power by throwing light all over the place (where you aren't), and instead trys to beam it within a much more controlled angle (where you are).

So tablets are, in general, not as good for off-axis viewing or viewing in direct sun, because tablets are, in general, ALL power-challenged devices.

If you widen the viewing angle, you have to give up something elsewhere. For example, if you widen the viewing angle, the straight-on brightness will suffer, but if you try to get the brightness back by raising the backlight power, then the overall battery runtime will be less.

Originally Posted by Noah98

Still, I'm glad I bought one for my dad (for Christmas). He won't be playing fancy games on it, and the display is good enough for casual use. Also, I think he will enjoy the HDMI out, which works fine.

I agree. I think the Vizio is still very nice for what it can do, and it's a pretty good value (even given some of it's limitations).

One thing I think everyone should understand is that Android is, in general, still a work-in-progress (yes even 4.x). Android started life as this silly little 'smart phone' thing, that is slowly being forced to adapt (kicking and screaming all the way) to the job of being a full general purpose operating system.

Sadly this is still true whether you pay 600 bucks for the latest snooty-tab Android 3.x device, or buy a simple Android 2.3 tablet for 200 dollars or less.

iPads, being conceived as full blown tablet devices right from the start are a little more refined in the operating system department, but even the mighty Jobs couldn't make them violate the laws of physics, so despite their lofty price tags, iPads still look like crap in full sun, just like every other power-challenged tablet device.

Truth be told, if you want less buggy software, a brighter screen, and just generally more bang for your buck, you are much better off with a small 200 dollar Netbook, which will run both Linux and Win7.

. . . but tablets are very cool for some dedicated applications such as for use as an ebook reader - or hand-held media and game console, etc. and I think they are a good value in those applications if you can keep the price reasonable.

Android has the potential to become a really high quality multi-window, multi-tasking operating system for both desktop and tablet devices, pretty much the be-all and end-all O.S. for all devices everywhere, but only when the Goggle geeks who created it grow the hell up and start taking their little creation seriously.

Until then, I can't see paying $500 dollars or more for ANY Android based device.

[Noah98]

[QUOTE=delphin;1892979]
This has been hashed out over and over, with "definitive" answers both pro and con.

All I can say is that, so far as I know, ALL Android 2.3 devices have the same basic limitations and capabilities in this area, i.e. that they CAN move apps to SD card memory, but ONLY if the app allows it. Fortunately, most 'huge' apps now DO allow it.

Not true; all Android 2.3 devices do not have the same basic limitations. The Vizio does not allow you to move apps to the actual SD card memory because it has a fake internal sd card partition (this was a poor decision by Vizio). Unfortunately, when you try to move an app to the actual sd card, it just moves it to the internal "sd card" partition. Other 2.3 devices don't do this (for example: my Samsung Galaxy Tab, and my old rooted Nook Color). You can only use the actual sd card for music, movies, videos, etc., but not apps. Other Vizio tablet owners can confirm this unfortunate memory partitioning.

As far as the viewing angles go, there really is no excuse. My Samsung Galaxy Tab (which is not ips), Blackberry Playbook, the Nook Color, and my wife's Kindle Fire all have wonderful viewing angles. The only tablets that I have seen with bad viewing angles are the Acer Iconia A100, Viewsonic Gtablet, and to a lesser extent, the Vizio Tablet. Bottom line, there are enough tablets on the market with acceptable viewing angles, that I have to call shenanigans on any excuses for Vizio.

I'm not running the device down. I think it was an excellent value, and my dad is going to love it for Christmas. I just want both the pros and cons clear so that potential buyers know what to expect. I think the best thing about it is the size and aspect ratio of the screen.

[SteveK]

Nsoah98- I agree it was an unfortunate decision to use a virtual SD card. However, "App2SD" and similar applications will let you move an application to a real SD card without difficulty. I have relatively few applications so I haven't bothered, but I do have this application just in case.

SteveK

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by SteveK

Nsoah98- I agree it was an unfortunate decision to use a virtual SD card. However, "App2SD" and similar applications will let you move an application to a real SD card without difficulty. I have relatively few applications so I haven't bothered, but I do have this application just in case.

SteveK

I haven't tried that yet because my dad isn't going to be installing a ton of applications. Can you move additional program files as well? One area where we had trouble was with the GPS maps. They take up like 1.7gbs, so putting them on the virtual SD card would have used up all of the memory. Will the GPS program see them after I move them to the real sd card through Apps2SD?

[SteveK]

Noah98- I haven't used the GPS feature so I'm not sure. However, I believe it only works for applications, and you might need to use a file manager to move the data files. That's certainly a LOT of data!

For applications, a small portion of the program stays on the Vision and most is moved to the external SD,but I'm not sure how it would work with GPS.

SteveK

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by SteveK

Noah98- I haven't used the GPS feature so I'm not sure. However, I believe it only works for applications, and you might need to use a file manager to move the data files. That's certainly a LOT of data!

For applications, a small portion of the program stays on the Vision and most is moved to the external SD,but I'm not sure how it would work with GPS.

SteveK

I can move the maps to the sd card with the file manager, but the app doesn't recognize them there. I was hoping that apps2sd would move them and maintain the link between app and data.

[SteveK]

Noah98 - It might, but I'm not positive. When you run App2SD, it shows the size of the application separate from the size of the data, but I believe it would move both the app and the data - and maintain the required link to the data.

The app is a free download and it's very easy to use. It lists all the apps you have on your tablet, and you can readily tell whether or not the app can be moved to SD card as it has separate tabs for "on phone", "phone only" and "on SD card".

I'm not sure it would solve your problem, but I believe it would.

Good luck!
SteveK