Viewsonic gTab Q&A thread

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Got the gTab here for a bit. Default UI is horrible. Was told it was even worse before today's update. Good thing ADW drops right in

No market or Gapps, but they are available for download.

Flash isn't in the browser yet, but again just sideload it and it works. A few tests so far, it's doing pretty good. The browser itself seems really nice, javascript works, and it renders well.

This thing is wide open, and super easy to hack. I'll mess with it for a few days and see what's up

 

[Menno]

Is this the 10.1 incher? I messed with the display model at staples today.. that ui is horrible, you're right.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Yep. The 10 incher. Once Android is able to support both cores, and the UI gets smoother, it might be better. In the meantime, it's pretty fast with adw launcher on it.

gonna play with it stock (well, stock+flash) for a day and get some video, then hack the crap out of it and see what we can do before it leaves

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

well crap. wrong account lol. Apparently logging into the front page also logs you into the forums on the gTablet, just like it does on a desktop browser.

 

[ls377]

How hard is it to get the market on there? I read that you had to do a little hacking to get it on.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

How hard is it to get the market on there? I read that you had to do a little hacking to get it on.

Haven't actually done it yet, but it looks like the hardest part will be getting a windows driver for the darn thing. Nividia devices aren't in the SDK just yet, so the .ini file needs edited by hand.

Z4 roots it easily (confirmed)
from there, its only a matter of pushing the files to the right spot, rebooting, and going through the setup. I'll be sure to write all that up when I do it tomorrow

 

[ls377]

Doesn't sound too hard. Now I just have to convince my mom to let me void the warranty

Glad to know ADW works though, the default reminds me of the Weatherbug app. And not in a good way.

Does anyone know if anywhere other than Staples would have a floor model of this? We're tablet shopping for my dad, and I'd rather get a hands-on with something before jumping in. Sears only had a cardboard cutout wedged between the netbooks and a wall. Rather depressing.

 

[NoSpin]

I purchased one to give as a gift as well. If you go into it knowing the device needs to be rooted and roms flashed before it works well, it's not half bad.

 

[ls377]

Is there a method to unroot it yet? If I can do that, maybe I can justify rooting it.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Z4root both roots and unroots the gTab. I've been monkeying with it all afternoon. Have all Google services running, the Market working, Flash, and even Angry Birds going strong. Going to write a gTab hacking megapost this evening, as well as a quick review for the blog.

But the good news, is you don;t have to root it. Hacking a pre rooted ROM with most everything you need is as easy as shutting it off, then powering it back on while holding the volume switch

 

[rothnic]

Hi, I've done some work on the gTablet over at the XDA forums. Mainly by maintaining a trimmed down version of our sister Zpad firmware and GS theme, a gapps/TnT keyboard/live wallpaper patch, and getting swype working. Additionally I have been heading an effort to stay involved with our Chinese friends that have the zpad to try to work out getting some of the drivers we need to build our own kernel.

We are also trying to work out how to attack the legal angle.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/eaokz/viewsonic_blatantly_violating_gpl_by_not/

I encourage everyone to check out some of the alternative ROMs we have atm with cyanogenmod or the zpad rom if you are a bigger fan of the stock android look.

So in the review are you implying that you applied the galaxy s lag fix patch, or think it could be done?

 

[dan1431]

I am running Cyanogen 6.1 BETA4 and I am very impressed with this device, the bad it lacks GPS, but other than that and some strange SD issues this device is a keeper.

Dan

 

[Prof-KOS]

I am really thinking about picking this up if it breaches the Canadian border. I am keeping an eye out for it.