borntohunt wrote:The consumer reviews for Barnes & Noble's web site are not encouraging so protect yourself & browse what folks are saying about their online buying experiences there by checking the Reseller Ratings web link below. Looks like a much safer better experience doing business with Woot!

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Barnes_and_Noble#

Thanks for the link - I honestly did not expect so many one star reviews for them. Did a quick read and it sounds like a like of "no reason" cancellations and then holding your money for longer than they should.

I'm still assuming that there's at least a 50% chance that my own order will be cancelled. But we'll see what happens.

Why don't these tablet thingies come with a DVD player? How am I going to rip music and burn it, watch DVDs???

Bought this a few rounds ago. Would not buy it again. You will have to root it to get any value out of it. The dev community is doing a good job of trying to maximize it's value, but with ViewSonic announcing that if you root it you void the warranty, and that they will NOT release drivers for honeycomb -- well, it's viability going forward is slight. At this point I feel as though I bought the paper towel of tablets... meant to be disposable.

If you're a hacker who loves to tweak, you might enjoy it. I'm someone who'll tweak if I need to, but I'd rather not HAVE to... so I'm far less than happy with it.

nymphet wrote:Why don't these tablet thingies come with a DVD player? How am I going to rip music and burn it, watch DVDs???

External, usb, wifi? How do you burn or watch them with others?

I got one of these from Woot in April. It's fun to tinker around with flashing other ROMs and it's not a bad performer. But, take heed of the warnings about the screen. It's atrocious compared to just about every other native Honeycomb tab available. Don't even make excuses for it; it just sucks.

I ended up selling mine on ebay for $250 and got a Samsung Galaxy. You could compare benchmark scores all day long, but overall there's no real comparison.

If you just want to get an Android tablet on the cheap and the totally sucky viewing angle doesn't scare you off then the Viewsonic can pass muster. But if you get one, do yourself a favor and don't even think about looking at any of the current crop of Honeycomb tablets because you'll be envious.

Though this won't make sense to most people, you do NOT have to root this to put a custom ROM on it. They didn't lock it down, so there's nothing to work around to unlock it. Comes that way out of the box.

Build quality is good, though it will flex slightly if you try. Doesn't feel like you're going to snap it in half if you grab it by one corner though.

Entirely forgot about the non-backlit touch buttons; picked up a set of sticky-dots (meant for the blind) and just stuck them to the side.

Forgot an up-side too... doesn't carry the stink of egocentric entitlement like an Apple product does.

the view angle isn't that great, but after rooting it and putting on a Honeycomb based Rom its a pretty decent tablet. Just do not expect any support from Viewsonic. See the discussion page here. https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58738271675&topic=18712

roebeet wrote:

-- snipped --

I'm still assuming that there's at least a 50% chance that my own order will be cancelled. But we'll see what happens.

Why would your order be cancelled? Sold out?

I know that we all want to be 'Star Trek' with our technology...but I still think a Netbook is more, um...logical...having a keyboard, lots of storage, etc. that tablets do not have.

It's just a matter of time till they find a way to put a dvd drive in them, I think, and then they will be even better.

We shall see what comes next....and next...and next!

^^X^^

Weeeee... price drop! But I'm still enjoying the heck out of my Entourage eDGe, so I guess I'm gonna pass on the gTablet one more time, despite the 10" goodness.

Ok, forget the tablet for a second.

Of all the "product descriptions" I have read, and oh, how many there have been throughout the years, Woot "writers." Some painful. Some funny. Now though, in the description of this sad, sad Tablet you have finally achieved what I can only think of as Woot Zen.

You have made me, woman that I am, unamused by your purile humor as I almost always am, laugh out-loud and feel the need to take a shower concurrently. 10.5" Indeed. Lol, eeewww. Oh dear, excuse me please. I need another shower after checking all my closets with a gun. Oh Woot! Thou hast robbed me of sleep this night!!!

Batman4oz wrote:I know that we all want to be 'Star Trek' with our technology...but I still think a Netbook is more, um...logical...having a keyboard, lots of storage, etc. that tablets do not have.

It's just a matter of time till they find a way to put a dvd drive in them, I think, and then they will be even better.

We shall see what comes next....and next...and next!

^^X^^

try an OpenPandora?

fragdaddy2007 wrote:It takes 13 minutes (I timed it) to get it on 3.0.

Can you forward a wiki or instructions for this?

mebekili wrote:...You will have to root it to get any value out of it. The dev community is doing a good job of trying to maximize it's value, but with ViewSonic announcing that if you root it you void the warranty...

Your comment reminds me... there is NO REASON WHY YOU SHOULDN'T load up a custom ROM. ViewSonic won't honor a warranty for the gTablet EVEN IF you left it stock. Plenty of reports out there saying the exact same thing. Just a heads up. Wooters, be sure to SquareTrade this purchase if you decide to purchase it.

DaMummy wrote:try an OpenPandora?

http://openpandora.org/

Ha! That would go nicely with my Two-Way Wrist Radio!
Calling OMGOMGOMGPONIESOMG PWNIES Tracy!

(And I can't put D-i-c-k?!)

^^X^^

I have a gTablet, the screenshot isn't accurate it's not hurting my eyes.

The real issue with the gTablet that no one talks about is not the screen angle visibility issue, but the fact that the screen is completely unusable in portrait mode without severely hurting your eyes, there's a uneven brightness effect that's a deal breaker for me.

gXn wrote:fascists

Agreed, as above.

roebeet wrote:This is becoming a TP forum, now? Uh oh!

Honestly, no idea -- I actually know very little about the device, or if there's even a software update yet.

If my order isn't cancelled, I'll start researching. If there is an update, I would recommend holding off at least for the short-term. Hopefully a lot of developers have these devices in-flight so a lot could change in 1-2 weeks. For now, I'd just enjoy stock until we learn more.

Cool. Thnx for the reply. I can't wait to get my Touchpad, I haven't been this excited since I got the Gtab months ago. Well no, I was pretty excited about my Nook touch as well.

I cannot find a touchpad. Well to revise that statement:

I found the Touchpads at BN (Though with those reviews, I'm really hesitant to put 107 + Tax into BN's hands...), and several in the local Office Depot. The problem being is they are 140 bucks with tax, which is a slap in the face compared to the people who are getting them for 50$.

So anyone have any ideas on BN's reliability with online orders? I've had really great luck with their ebooks but some bad luck with their real delivery.

Ianmanzy wrote:Can you forward a wiki or instructions for this?

He left out the hours of searching and reading to find all the files and instructions to root it.

Go to xda forum and do some reading.

I'm running Flashback 7.2 rom now and it's great for this tablet.

gidgiddonihah wrote:I cannot find a touchpad. Well to revise that statement:

I found the Touchpads at BN (Though with those reviews, I'm really hesitant to put 107 + Tax into BN's hands...), and several in the local Office Depot. The problem being is they are 140 bucks with tax, which is a slap in the face compared to the people who are getting them for 50$.

So anyone have any ideas on BN's reliability with online orders? I've had really great luck with their ebooks but some bad luck with their real delivery.

No one is getting them for fifty bucks, and if they are, there are extremely few people doing so. I got four at the $99/$149 pricepoint, and I felt very lucky to have found them. I'm no HP fanboy (are there any?), but the Touchpad is a solid tablet at the fire sale prices.

gidgiddonihah wrote:I cannot find a touchpad. Well to revise that statement:

I found the Touchpads at BN (Though with those reviews, I'm really hesitant to put 107 + Tax into BN's hands...), and several in the local Office Depot. The problem being is they are 140 bucks with tax, which is a slap in the face compared to the people who are getting them for 50$.

So anyone have any ideas on BN's reliability with online orders? I've had really great luck with their ebooks but some bad luck with their real delivery.

I don't know anyone getting them for $50, would definitely like to know where at and how. Even at their current prices of $99 and $149 they're real bargains for a good tablet. There's a reason why they're selling out so fast.

Roostalee wrote:No one is getting them for fifty bucks, and if they are, there are extremely few people doing so. I got four at the $99/$149 pricepoint, and I felt very lucky to have found them. I'm no HP fanboy (are there any?), but the Touchpad is a solid tablet at the fire sale prices.

One of the office stores were selling them at 99$ with the 50$ off (They all seem to blend togther now). It was a online and in store offer. I wish I would have found out sooner... Where did you get yours? As BN seems to be canceling all of the orders...

I don't want to fork over 140$ for an impulse buy... If I can't find a better deal I might go into Office Depot, but I'm not sure im going to buy.

davegong wrote:I don't know anyone getting them for $50, would definitely like to know where at and how. Even at their current prices of $99 and $149 they're real bargains for a good tablet. There's a reason why they're selling out so fast.

Here is the real deal, people...

Tablets suck... and they are not going to last, period.(s)....................

The move is going to be toward more portable and accessible devices like a PHONE - something you have with you at all times. Who does not carry a cell phone with them at all times? Some, I'm sure, but most cell phone people, at worst, would be roughly 80%. Right?

Tab/Padders are infrequent - I rarely see them in airports, coffee shops, or malls yet EVERYONE has a cell phone. Don't gimmick-up. I know a Man who'll Bojangle for you. Mr. Bojangles, DANCE.

Root this bad boy, add a custom rom, and you have one nice tablet. Some like to complain about the viewing angle being bad. I like it, keeps prying eyes away from what I am looking at.

jazzmotazzmo wrote:Here is the real deal, people...

Tablets suck... and they are not going to last, period.(s)....................

The move is going to be toward more portable and accessible devices like a PHONE - something you have with you at all times. Who does not carry a cell phone with them at all times? Some, I'm sure, but most cell phone people, at worst, would be roughly 80%. Right?

Tab/Padders are infrequent - I rarely see them in airports, coffee shops, or malls yet EVERYONE has a cell phone. Don't gimmick-up. I know a Man who'll Bojangle for you. Mr. Bojangles, DANCE.

I don't want one for what everyone seems to be buying them for. I am a journalist and honestly if you attend any big journalist thing you will see almost every single person using a tablet. And the people that are not, and somewhat smarter, are using a laptop. The real intelligent people are using a tablet for quick coverage then heading back to a table or something to do real work on a laptop.

E3 (the big game expo) for example. Two years ago I went and EVERY single person had a laptop. I went just this last year and already 90 percent of the people transitioned to a tablet.

However I do agree, it is a fad right now and it will die out soon. Leaving tablets to the more business friendly people, where they will be more cost effective.

I personally am debating if I want to throw down for an HP one or save and get the Toshiba one.

soldierone wrote:I don't want one for what everyone seems to be buying them for. I am a journalist and honestly if you attend any big journalist thing you will see almost every single person using a tablet. And the people that are not, and somewhat smarter, are using a laptop. The real intelligent people are using a tablet for quick coverage then heading back to a table or something to do real work on a laptop.

E3 (the big game expo) for example. Two years ago I went and EVERY single person had a laptop. I went just this last year and already 90 percent of the people transitioned to a tablet.

However I do agree, it is a fad right now and it will die out soon. Leaving tablets to the more business friendly people, where they will be more cost effective.

I personally am debating if I want to throw down for an HP one or save and get the Toshiba one.

I'm not so sure that tablets are a fad, but we will see in the long run. Anyways like I said earlier, I plan on getting the HP one (If i can find one)for a year or so for the tablet market to mature. I'll install android on it when it comes out for the Touchpad...

I like the Toshiba in the fact that it has a bunch of ports and that it supports netflix without rooting (Hey im lazy) .

I would have bought this if I didn't buy half a dozen touchpads...
Gary

garyhgaryh wrote:I would have bought this if I didn't buy half a dozen touchpads...
Gary

And I can't find any! I'm just going to go to bed, hoping that Newegg finally decides to go down to 99$.

I have one. It's not bad other than the display is just awful. The bright side is that it does convince me that I have a somewhat real use for a tablet, just not this one. I've seen the Samsung Galaxy 10.1, Motorola Xoom and Asus Transformer and they are certainly superior but at a higher cost. I have Android 3.0 Honeycomb on here and that is a must in my opinion. Unless you can deal with a display that you can really only see holding the device at one angle I would skip this one.

bmilne wrote:Even better than VEGAn ROM, I'm running Honeycomb 3.0 on mine without any issues. The build comes already rooted and overclocked and benchmarks show this device outperforming every other tablet on the market.

Have you got the camera and external SD card working? How about hardware acceleration?

I've got a gTab and like it, and most of the other posts are true--the viewing angle is less-than-optimal, but it's cake to put on a new ROM. I get an easy 12 hours from a charge, and standby is lots longer.

The biggest drawback in my opinion is the fact that all ROMs not based on Android 2.2 (Froyo) force you to give up something--Gingerbread ROMs don't have hardware acceleration. Honeycomb ROMs don't have the camera or SD card, or hardware acceleration (or all three, depending on which of the Honeycomb ROMs you use).

The developer community has done some impressive work on this, but you do have to ask yourself what's important to you. I thought I'd be getting a Tegra 2 device every bit as good as an Iconia, or Transformer. It isn't, if only because the Honeycomb port for the gTab isn't up to snuff yet, and probably won't ever be. The viewing angle actually doesn't bother me--it's easy to hold it so that you can see it.

Having said that, the Froyo ROMs are every bit as good. If you must have Honeycomb with everything working as designed, get a Transformer. If you don't need to be bleeding edge, this is a great buy.

Priced way to high after purchasing a HP Touchpad for $99.

I love how Woot does this a few days after all the retailers drop the price of the junk HP Touch Pad! This deal is for all those people who went completely mindless over the weekend trying to buy multiple units for $99 and felt so proud of themselves when they bought their expensive paperweight!

Hey look everyone, this device already runs Android Honeycomb, no need to wait months for developers to release an unstable copy of Froyo on your discontinued Touch Pad!!!

(typing this from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1)

I purchased one of these guys for my girlfriend the last time they were up here. The use of the tablet is OK overall but we have become very disappointed in the APP availability. If I had it to do over again I would spend the extra cash and get a IPAD.

I bought one during the June Woot for $255. Tried the stock ROM for a week or so, went on vacation and when I got back loaded Brilliant Corners and its updates - big thanks to roebeet! It's a completely different machine now. I see what people mean about the screen viewing angle, though, but since I'm not a gamer it doesn't bother me much. I'm waiting and hoping the Honeycomb ROMs get developed to full functionality before I upgrade to one of them. In the meantime this runs everything I need and I'm finding more things to use it for each time I turn it on.

And yes, after reading earlier comments, I did go to you know where and order a you know what. $87.44 shipped thanks to a gift card I had lying around. We'll see if I get it.

I'm wondering why everyone is saying don't buy these because of the touchpad. First of all they are GONE! Nowhere to be found. It's not like there was enough to go around. If Bestbuy did actually send some back they you will see them back up on hp's website, maybe. The point is, that deal is done, forget about it. This is the new best deal. Nobody should even be bringing up the touchpad.

And you B&N people, good friggin luck, lol!!!

The viewing angle does indeed suck, think back to the early days of LCDs where the colors would go inverted if you looked at it wrong.

That said, slap honeycomb on this bad boy and you'll have a serious powerhouse on your hands.

The Tegra 2 chip will let you play any of the latest 3D android games with blazing speed.

Also can emulate N64 if you can tolerate touch-screen controls (USB gamepags don't work yet, though you can connect a Wiimote to it if you want, but that gets bulky to carry around)

All in all it's a solid purchase, though with the great tablet depression of '11 going on you will probably find a better deal eventually.

Although with such a great independent developer community for this specific device you might not.

a Hacker's dream!
But for everyone else, it's best to pass this one by.

It's tablets like this one that make the iPad seem like a dream machine. At the original price, this was not competitive, but at this low price, it's worth purchasing just to hack around on... not to rely on for serious usage.

This is a tablet that could be much, much better, but at the same time it's worlds better than the Chinese junk sold on ebay for similar price.

This unit has no GPS, and you will want to load a new ROM for sure. The one I bought several offerings ago crashed constantly and was choppy on YouTube.

Also the ViewSonic image they load does not allow you to use the Andriod Marketplace....So trust me load a new ROM...fortunately that is fairly simple to do.

brendan948725 wrote:This tablet does NOT have a version of Android optimized for a tablet. Be afraid... be very afraid.

No one buys this tablet to run the stock rom. This tablet is awesome because of the hardware it has and the fact that its impossible to brick it. Here's a rom out that's pretty popular that puts honeycomb on the tablet. There's definitely a learning curve but its well worth it. http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/17863-rom-12-bottle-of-smoke-honeycomb-for-gtab-g-tabletzpad-t2/