bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

http://www.buy.com/prod/viewsonic-g-...219101228.html

froyo
512 mb ram
g sensor
no gps

Thinking to get one. Main purpose is to watch tv throughout the world, and occasional surfing

good experience, bad experience, please dont, whatnots; greatly appreciated

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

You want advice? OK: STOP WATCHING TV!

Just kidding. I dropped in to see what the ol' Maemsters have to say about the N9, and, to my delight, there you were.

As someone who, apart from movies, watches no television other than an occasional show of Jeopardy, I gotta ask: what the heck do you find to watch?

[Tapped out on my trusty N800, while, of course, lying in bed on my back]

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I like to travel. I like to watch things around the world. But we all know, that is prohibitive. First, you dont have that much money. Second, you dont have that much vacation time. Third, you dont know how to accomplish that. So, I resort to watching tv all over the world, to enjoy their cultures, to enjoy their language, to enjoy what other earthlings are doing.

The VirginMobile cellphone, LG optimus V, can do ALL of the above, anywhere. Problem, a 3.2" screen.

So I want something like the above, but with bigger screen, and HDMI output to my projector.

I guess my goal is a lot more straight forward than most geeks :)

What the hack I got to watch, natures, national geographics, Discovery, Animal Planet, E!Online (mainly jen aniston and bradjoly, its fun and other pretty girls), msnbc gossips, TV (regular tv), PhoenixTV (TV china) CCTV (TV China),

Skype for talking without paying

Realtor.com, look for house

HomeDepot to buy things to fix my old house

Walmart to buy grocery/food

and most of all, turn by turn Google navigator. The only gripe I have is not enough driving when going to work, my driving time is only 10 min. with the google navigation, I wish I have like 20 - 30 min to drive to work :)

Is that enough to justify to buy a dumb tablet for fun?

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Get it. Froyo sucks balls big time, but xda developers has many roms for it, even honeycomb alpha. viewsonic is pretty mum on honeycomb on the gtablet though. battery life is great, lasts about 6-8 hours full usage. size is a bit prohibitive becuase it's big! screen viewing angles suck bigtime, but not a major problem if single user. Now if only someone would get meego netbook or tablet ui running on the gtablet and viewpad 10s, life would be beautiful.
Hope that helps.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

@joelsk: Sounds like a recommendation. Thanks. Without gps and 3G cellphone, it lost a lot of fun. I guess BT GPS is an option. Hope it has BT.

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

It has bt. the size prohibits usage outside the home so gps isn't really a problem. If 3g is a deal breaker, thenm dun get it. I've been using the 10s (same as gtablet specs) for a few months now, other than a serious dislike of froyo, i don't have any problems.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

The LCD Display really bad big time. So if you are thinking to put it in somewhere where u can watch video or using it as an e-reader think again :).

I would suggest spend a little bit extra to get a better one.

Go to a shop where u can at least try it. Really the LCD display will annoy you.

Even I have gotten used to it, but well, sometimes still wondering why dont I spend extra to get the Asus /Acer (forgot which one is cheaper).

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

It can't connect to ad hoc wifi and has no bluetooth-pan profile. Therefore if you wanna tether to your mobile phone for internet connection you might have to struggle a bit, unless you could find an app I don't know which could solve the problem.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Hotspot will take care of it. Wifi hotspot, my LG Optimus V can provide that.

I found another one, and I think I may like this one better, http://www.buy.com/prod/viewsonic-vp...218018747.html

cnet review:http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/view...34165135.html; and it takes tmobile sim card too.

it is 3G ready w integrated gps and smaller. What do you all think? I think this is what I am after.

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

What is a LCD display? Is the N900 display is a LCD display?
TIA,

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Is Tegra 2 Nvidia something good to have? Every tablet are advertise about it, and I have no idea what so good about it, lol.

and the viewsonic tablet has ambien light sensor, just like the N900

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Are you sure your LG Optimus V could provide infrastructure mode WiFi hotspot? Most phones can only provide ad hoc WiFi hotspot due to hardware limitation. The default G-Tablet cannot connect to ad hoc mode WiFi hotspot without a fight, so you must make sure your phone can do that. (I'd definitely go buying an Optimus if it can do that)

IMHO 7" has better form factor than 10" tablet, as such it can be slip into the inner pocket of my suit. Again, stock android cannot connect to ad hoc wifi, has no bluetooh-PAN profile. You need to research a bit to get it tethering to your phone. Otherwise, you'd better get the 3G version (if available) and plug your sim in it.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

LG Optimus V can provide wifi hotspot for the android 2.2 tablet. I just tried it, it connects in seconds and surfs the internet, the optimus has 3G connection from sprint and provided the wifi hotspot for the android tablet. How can one tell whether this is infrastructure or ad hoc hotspot?

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

The Hotspot app should tell you. Otherwise, check the WiFi connection with a PC.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Most complaint about the viewpad7 is the cpu clocked at 600 MHz would be very slow. Can one overclock it?

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

@bun:

I wrote about the really subpar screen here:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...&page=250#2500

On the next page (if your tmo view preferences are still at the default 10 posts per page), there's mention of the dock as well. It's worth getting the dock, if you plan to use it.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I might use the wrong term :). But if you see the screen at different angle. The color is "out". Really "ugly". You wont be able to read or watch video.

You can only see the screen at "1 angle" if not mistaken 90 degree, any other angle, you will not be able to view it.

From processor point of view -> Tegra 2, so no complaints.
The only problem is the "Screen". Thats all :).

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I would suggest http://www.slatedroid.com/ for getting some helpful info about android tablets. I currently use a Pandigital PDN which is nice, got it for $115 and it does everything I want. Pandigital just released "Planet" tablet which seems to be getting positive response.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I have a g tablet (10") since a couple of months, running Cryanogen Mod 7.03. It replaced my faithfull N900 for casual browsing and a lot of my ever-important time-wasting activities.

On the other hand, it looks like there's no Linux installation available yet. I'd like to run Meego or Natty on it, to make it a useful tool (for mindmapping, OpenOffice, etc.) People have documented some attempts, but it doesn't seem stable...

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

BTW, if you can wait you could consider this: http://www.huaweidevice.com/resource...FcgCHAods3krMw

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I'd recommend waiting for a bit after the MediaPad is out before I'd consider it. I have a S7 (7" tablet made by Huawei) that I got from BestBuy for $250 on sale.

1) Huawei has essentially no support for customers.
2) Huawei released a 2.2 upgrade in Singapore (and a couple other countries now) but has yet to release an official upgrade for the US.
3) The S7 has some issues with accelerator axis being messed up, causing some apps to not work correctly. No information on a fix available.
4) There aren't any accessories available (despite being demo'd with a docking station w/ tv out).
5) The Slim (s7 successor) can be found at BestBuy for $299. It also has some issues (non-working hdmi, market issues).

All in all, the S7 is solidly built, heavy, has some quirks, but I like it. However, I'd take a wait and see approach with Huawei, see if there are any quirks with the MediaPad, and if they do better with support and accessories.

The slim (@ bestbuy) is 1Ghz, single core, 512mb memory, capacitive screen.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Then Huawei is really a crappy company. Thank you very much for the information.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

@bun

The choice comes down to what you need and what you expect to get, then price.

Remember "tablets" are a new product category and still in its infancy. So far, they are aimed at becoming netbook replacements; usually maximizing content consumption but some have content creation ability. After some searching, here are the tablets worth considering:


$99 Web Special - ZTE V9 (7" WVGA resistive touch, 3,400mAh, HTC Legend CPU, Telephone+3G)
$165 - The Superpad2 (the current craplet king)
$200 - Nook Colour (lots of love at xda)
$300 - Original 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab (bang for buck)
$300 - Advent Vega/Viewsonic G-tablet (was my favourite)
$400 - Malata Zpad/Woow! The One (predates iPad2)
$400 - ASUS Transformer (now favourite) + $150 LaptopDock
$490 - New Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (brilliant)
$500 - New Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (great)
$500 - RIM Playbook (many strengths and many disadvantages)
$500 - Apple iPad (needs no introduction)
$600 - iPad 2 (double the capability of the original)
$650 - Exo-PC (mediocre tablet, but has good touch-software)
$800 - HP Slate 500 (best x86 with 2 major flaws= small battery and no touch software)


Read the last entry of this blog for a good analogy of your situation :)
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=971432

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I like the viewsonic 7 spec very much, everything is to my likeness except 600 MHz cpu. That is where I am hesitating.

What I want to do with my craplet (I like the term :)) ?

Watching TV and shoot it to my home theatre projector system., some navigation, and very little surfing and almost NO TALK. I am not a talking guy :) I smile a lot, especially when I meet a pretty girl or run out things to say.

I may just wait for the motarola triumph, http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/06...video-roundup/

and here

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

What about a nook color? Cyanogen supports it and we 've seen running meego on it. Also, it is very cheap.

Take a look on Xda-developers forum.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I saw it too and it is advertised for $199. I dont know too much about it though. They said you can surf the web but no cellphone subscription required ?! I think they meant wifi?

So is the color Nook an android tablet? TIA,

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Nice

Nice list, but the $ are way out dated :) I guess if you are not in the market it is difficult to keep track. Color Nook $199, Viewsonic gtablet $279. Viewsonic 7 (galaxy tab equivalent, I dont know) $289.

A little side note, if the $ is falling, like viewsonic 7 dropped from $599 to $289 while ideotphone keeps its listing price, does that tell you about the shortcoming of the device or just a marketting ploy? Just a thought.

Again, nice list for the one looking,

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

It has similar hardware to N900, A8 cortex but 1ghz (overlocked up to 1,3 stable, 1,6 unstable), 512mb ram, 8gb internal memory (6 real), 4 amper battery and micro sdhc support. It is advertised as an e-reader from B&N and coming with a tweaked froyo version.

I didn't catch what you mean about cellphone subscription.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Thanks. Reading your description is 100 X faster than reading those useless endgadget release.

I am referring to the advertisement "... FREE web surfing with the new color Nook ... " How do you do web surfing without cellular connect? I think they must refer to wifi connection.

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Yeah probably the mean wifi. I ordered a new nook and expecting it this week. Here I got some advantages and disadvantages.

+It is fast, watch on youtube some videos with last cyanogen nightlies
+Nice 7" ips screen (same with ipad)
+Unbrickable, you can always return to stock firmware
+Usb on the go
+Meego was running pretty well on that video
+You can pair a gps if you want via bluetooth (short range though) - columbus on maemo supports that function

-It doesn't have cameras if you re interested for them
-No compass (probably useless for a tablet)
-No built-in microphone

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Good! We all look forward to your experience with the color Nook. How much and who is your vendor? thanks

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I got it for almost 250€ from a company that brings goods to Greece. It's a bit expensive but you see, nook isn't been sold outside usa.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I don't know if you already chosen to buy a tablet but I thought to write here my impression about my nook color.

I own it for almost 3 weeks and it's awesome. A true value for money. The screen is great, battery life is perfect:) It lasts over 1 day with continuous usage (all day). I flashed the last nightly from cyanogen and it got better (300mhz-1,2ghz low voltages)! I m sure that it is not a placebo effect. With normal usage it maybe last for 2-3 days. Most apps from market will work, obviously except those which need a camera or a mic. As I had told you, you can use your N900's gps via bluetooth. Accelerometer into some games may not work (eg shaky tower) but most games will work. Also, usb host do work.

If you have further questions do not hesitate to ask me.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Thanks for the review. We have our color nook in US for $249 from some place, cant remember. During shopping, I bumped into the Augen genbook, the infamous kmart $179 netbook/android tablet. It has been refurnbished and running 2.1 Eclair. and onsale for $79. It is soooooooooooooo bad, that even at this price, I am planning to return it. It is so bad, you wont believe it. I have lots of fun to 'tame' this beast, it finally able to root and install apps and surf the net. It a full 10.2 inch crisp clean screen with 8G storage, USB host, and a full keyboard. Just the spec would make anybody drool. Trust me, dont take it, it requires a lot of work. Wifi catch-on is a hit-or-miss. and development by the community comes to a halt. Anyhow, I have fun playing with it and will return it to kmart next week.

Really feel bad to turn away a $79 netbook/tablet with full functioning keyboard. But, it is really poorly made.

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

I didn't know anything about this "thing". I searched for it and oh man, it do looks ugly! Only 400mhz cpu and 128 mb ram, pff no. I think that you should return it and get a nook. Much much better in several ways from this cheap crap.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

That is the difficult part! The spec on the internet are wrong. It is a 256MB ram, 8G storage, 800 MHz, 300 MHz DSP 10.2 in screen with full keyboard and fully function USB host. I just cant believe this company put in so nice hardware and dropped the ball on its software implementation, kind of like Nokia :)

I read, this new startup has only 13 employee, from CEO to janitor. It is funny. Anyhow, it has very nice hardward, sexy body, but its the software that kills. You got to be a full developer, maybe bundyo, could make this better. But, for another 100$ I could get something fully running, why waste my time? It is a pity to turn away such nice hardware for this price. Oh well...

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

How about a 7" Archos for $200. Most reviews seem quite high on it so long as you are willing to tinker a bit (and, bun, I know you are) and don't expect to tether for 3G. Other issue is limited upgrade potential since only 256mb RAM. But sounds like current incarnation can run very smoothly, comfy to hold, and tv shows (at least downloaded ones) and video in general get very high marks. Also has good TV-out.

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

$200 for 256 mb was April's price. Today, anything more than $150 is 512 MB and that is my shopping. See the pos augen genbook I got from kmart is $79 and has 256 MB ram already. The Archos 7" WAS my favorite in April, now is July and the choice are way too many. Since there are more choice, I would try to stay away from name brand, as they are usually less easy to tinker with. I would go with something that has a large community, like the maemo, which would has more of chance of upgrade than depends on name brand. Obviously micky mouse tinker is what I am good for, but writing customize ROM, I am not there yet :) . In fact, the pos genbook is very good in media rendering, able to play HD youtube without problem.

BTW, I am really please with VirginMobile's data plan and the Optimus V, except the 3.2 in screen. 7/19 VirginMobile is going to unleash a 4.3 in Motorola Triumph for $299. That is going to be my phone.

$80 discount, not bad. gsensor, multitouch capacitance, 7", gps?, for 200$ with a huge Archos community behind. I think it is a pretty good solid buy. Of course, in a few month, you may not need the $80 discounts. Android tablets are like no name IBM PC in the early days.


Really nice to see you around.
Cheers,

bun

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

Hey bun,
What is your budget? (e.g. less than $300)
What size are you aiming for? (e.g. 7" /8" /10")

I might be able to narrow your search.

My preference:

8.9" tablet
>1280x800 screen with good brightness, non glossy, no glare, good viewing angles
Capacitive multitouch + A-digitizer
Dedicated stylus in the tablet
Android 3.1/2.3.4 with unlocked bootloader
OMAP4430 (or better)
1GB DDR3 RAM
>8 GB NAND
Full SD slot, 2MP ffcamera, 6-axis gyro, proper GPS-antenna
Full HDMI connection
Full USB with host
...
+ Transformer dock
I'd pay upto $750 for it

Re: bunanson wants to buy viewsonic gtablet $260 shipped; any advice?
 

bun's preference () and starred:

* (5 - 7") -8.9" tablet
* >1280x800 screen with good brightness, non glossy, no glare, good viewing angles
* Capacitive multitouch + A-digitizer
* Android 3.1/2.3.4 with unlocked bootloader
*(512 MB) 1GB DDR3 RAM
* Full SD slot, 2MP ffcamera, 6-axis gyro, proper GPS-antenna
* (not v critical) Full HDMI connection
* Full USB with host

Thanks. That is quite a good sexy body. Well, the price is 3 hi, more than 2 hi. This is my hobby, I doubt with my conscious, and not in any drunken state, I would pump 750$ into a hobby, a business tool is a different ball game.

I am looking for a 5 or 7 in with the starred nicety for under $400, or preferably $300. I know, you goin to say, there is no such thing. Then I will wait or just window shopping. Man, if you tally my hobby expense since I 'accidentally' bought the 770, for a little bit under 4 years, my expense is easily into 4 grand. For a hobby, I think I need to back off a bit before my miss would sit down with me :p .

I am blessed with 770, N800 X3, N810 X2, N900, Dell x50v (winCE), Toshiba 570 (winCE, busted screen), palm X3, MIDnight tab (android 2.2 tablet), and 3 drawers of accessories, batteries, cables, sd cards, SD readers, BT toys keyboard/GPS... millions outdated flipphones, the latest addition augen genbook (a real POS), I think it is time to take my kids to the park for a change :) I am sure most forum members here are in similar boat. No, I tend to keep things, I may put it to ebay once a blue moon.

bun