I am having the hardest time pulling the trigger...I really want this, but something is stopping me. Can anyone give me a push in one direction or the other? It is only $15 more on other sites, so this is not really a great deal. I have been considering a Nook color to root, but think the 10" screen might be nice to have...Opinions? Rooted Nook Color or this?

Out of the box, mine was buggy. But then I found the wonders of installing an alternate ROM on it. Once I got Vegan on it it has been running great. The normal google market is working fine and also I have Amazon's app market as well. It is quirky once in a while, such as sudden white noise sound or no sound.. but a quick few seconds to restart it and all it fine again. Personally, it is a small price to pay for so much more functionality than the stock ROM. As a disclaimer, I'm sure it probably voids the warranty.

The screen isn't the best in terms of viewing angle, but I find the colors look pretty natural and motion is excellent. Most games run great.. much smoother than my phone (droid x). Fruit Ninja is even more addictive on a tablet screen.

Battery life so far seems well beyond anything I was hoping for. I've been using it for watching certification videos (mixture of FLV and m4v formats) and haven't even come close to running out of battery power yet. I could probably watch them continuously for 8 hours but I've not tried yet.

One confusing aspect is that it comes with 16gb internal "SD card" in addition to a micro SDHC slot. So in the OS the "sdcard" is the internal and "sdcard2" is the slot.

Kindle usage is moderate. The viewing angle issue is most noticeable when using Kindle, but I have not tried reading for any length of time yet to see if there's extra eye strain because of it.

Thanks to everyone from the epic thread from the last woot-off for all the helpful info; in for one!

I dithered the last time this was up so I've been regretting not getting it since then. I was hoping it'd be back!

Does it work well with slingbox? I am torn because of no netflix on android

Bought this the last time around.
Here is what I have to say.

Pros:
Cheap tablet. Lots of available apps.
Good battery life.

Cons:
Worst screen ever. Seriously has almost no viewing angle at all. (Yes even upside down.) Even worse in vertical.
On second developer based ROM and still crashes frequently on various apps and while browsing. The one it ships with is close to unusable even after updating.
Likely it will never see Honeycomb support except from developers who have the time.

Conclusion:
If you absolutely need a tablet now and are prepared to do a little work to hack it, it isn't the worst thing ever.
Otherwise, get an iPad or wait until real Honeycomb based tablets start to hit the market.

I really want this but don't have time to root 179 and I am there. BTW the Asus eee transformer is coming soon releases in Asia this week. Best buy will have that for 399 I would get that one.

ehhh pass

Lokisince89 wrote:Does this have any support for GPS?

No gps support

I just got an Atrix and its smooth like butter, if I got this and rooted it would I be disappointed?

Does this tablet actually have a Tegra 2? The specs say so but I can't believe it for that price.

chrismarois wrote:How does it perform as an e-book reader?

Great! I picked up Aldiko from the marketplace and read on it all the time. Aldiko has online connectivity so it will connect to several online bookstores as well as the "web interface" of Calibre ebook catalog so I can remote download books from my personal library anywhere in the house using wireless connectivity. Definitely recommended as an ebook reader.

As a side note, the bad screen angles pay off here. When I am reading at night, if the screen is too bright, rather than having to fool with the brightness, I just tilt the g-tab back a little bit to dim the screen "manually".

jgiannon wrote:cnet reviews aren't good. Flesh the rom and you will have a great tablet

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the CNet reviews were done prior to the latest update to the device from ViewSonic. I hear that it greatly improves the Tap n Tap interface. Regardless though, everyone who gets this should Flesh it with a new ROM.

kpk021 wrote:....The screen isn't the best in terms of viewing angle.........

I think you mean to say...it doesn't really have one...

what exactly is "rooting"? is that similar to jailbreaking an iphone?

Yet another iPad wannabe. FAIL!!!

This tablet is capable of, and will be updated to, honeycomb (Android 3). There are already some builds floating around, although ViewSonic will likely have an official build quite soon.

Overall, the gTablet is a great value! The Vegan rom from XDA runs beautifully:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884103

spcanf wrote:Does it work well with slingbox? I am torn because of no netflix on android

There is a slingbox app for android that people have used on the gtablet. people say they need to run it a few times sometimes before it starts but then works fine

I scored an iPad 2 Saturday so I'll just sit this one out.

too many cookies! Next item!

thebrickwall wrote:Got one in the last offering and love it. Immediately took off Tap n Tap (I think that's it) and put on the Vegan-TAB ROM. It was very easy to do this, no dev knowledge needed (I have none, step-by-step instructions are on the XDA forums). Now have Google Market and Flesh. Hardware is similar to the Xoom but at a fraction of the price. Definitely worth getting one to sate any tablet cravings until the market develops more.

Do you guys make up words to make the rest of us feel like dummies?

amyteg1 wrote:C'mon, cheap MP3 players!!!!!

It's a capable android tablet once you install VEGAntab on it

Got one last time and flashed it to Vegan Tab 5.1, but I'm still not getting full access to the Android Market. I have numerous Market apps on my phone that I can't find on the Market accessing it through my g Tablet. Anyone else noticed this or have a solution?

GSAGER wrote:No gps support

Actually, I thought sure I read somewhere that it will accept an external USB gps antenna "puck" thing. I haven't tried though and can't remember which site I read that on.

GSAGER wrote:No gps support

You can use a GPS receiver with it though. Same thing pretty much just a small extra piece of hardware. There is a whole thread over at xda discussing it.

Bought one, mostly very nice. Web browser is buggy on certain pages, longing for Android 2.3 on it.

Man I had remorse from not buying it the first time it came up. I just got a bonus check direct deposited SOOOO....

WOOT!WOOT!WOOT!

bigray57 wrote:Yet another iPad wannabe. FAIL!!!

BAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Once rooted, I like this as much as my iPad. So do my kids and my wife.

AND, if I drop the sucker, I'm out $279 instead of $499.

rmcangus wrote:what exactly is "rooting"? is that similar to jailbreaking an iphone?

Similar but different. Gives your root "administrator" access to phone. Allows for things that could potentially break or "brick" your device. Not to be used lightly but if you follow the directions it works great. I run a rooted Droid 2 Global so I am excited to grab something else I can root/hack.

martinbogo wrote:This tablet is capable of, and will be updated to, honeycomb (Android 3). There are already some builds floating around, although ViewSonic will likely have an official build quite soon.

Overall, the gTablet is a great value! The Vegan rom from XDA runs beautifully:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884103

they must have 98768757865 of these judging from the progress bar despite the fact that everyone is glowing about them....

Already got mine and got one for my girl, we both love them.

chrismarois wrote:I am having the hardest time pulling the trigger...I really want this, but something is stopping me. Can anyone give me a push in one direction or the other? It is only $15 more on other sites, so this is not really a great deal. I have been considering a Nook color to root, but think the 10" screen might be nice to have...Opinions? Rooted Nook Color or this?

The Nook doesn't have Bluetooth. Well it does, but it isn't setup to work and it is only good for 15 inches if you can get it turned on.

I just bought this and will be giving my wife my Nootered Nook.

I'm highly considering this purchase. However, can I download programs from the internet if there isn't an app for them?

Example: Let's say that AIM doesn't have an App (I'm sure it does, but let's say it doesn't). Can I download AIM off the internet and run it like I would a normal PC? In other words, my taps would just be read as the mouse clicking?

kpk021 wrote: As a disclaimer, I'm sure it probably voids the warranty.

You can always put it back to factory before shipping it back if defective so messing with the software on it won't void it unless you ship it back rooted and ROM'd.

dialsoft wrote:I bought one of these last time. so buggy its not funny.

I dont know how anyone can use it. I mean compared to my IPAD its a joke. The interface, the touch sensitivity and the flow of the device is sad.

The default interface definitely leaves a LOT to be desired. Viewsonic dumbed it down too much. This is primarily why it failed to sell. Hardware is rock solid, though. All you need to do is unlock the potential with new software.

To do this, just follow the Yellow Brick Road!

mknittel wrote:Got one last time and flashed it to Vegan Tab 5.1, but I'm still not getting full access to the Android Market. I have numerous Market apps on my phone that I can't find on the Market accessing it through my g Tablet. Anyone else noticed this or have a solution?

This worked for me...


Market fix

That write up was by far the funniest comparison between the two i have ever seen. If i didnt have a laptop core 2 duo laptop that has a 14 inch tablet built in and runs windows 7 instead of Jatravartid android i would get this.

I don't know if this was posted but it's now on sale for $225 at geek land. But for some odd reason the pics looks like an Ipad or maybe it's an Iphone? I don't own either and ignore Icrap when ever it's around me.

http://www.geekland.co/Flying-Touch-101-Android-21-Tablet-Camera-3G-Wifi-84617950.htm

Couldn't help myself. It's only $20 cheaper than Buy.com, but I was originally looking at getting the Nook Color and converting it. This is more than $30-35 better than that.

hour and a half left of this

Still waiting for mine from the last sale to arrive. DAMNABLE FedEx!

jgiannon wrote:if you are talking about Honeycomb, you can't

Yet. Though since google hasn't released the complete source of 3.0 yet, it may be a year off before custom ROM devs have 3.0 working on a gtab (if ever).