ViewSonic gTablet with 10" Multi-Touch LCD Screen, Android OS 2.2

by ViewSonic

• Google Android OS 2.2, 1 GHz Dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor
• 16GB internal memory (expandable up to 32GB via SD Card), 512MB DDR2 memory
• 10.1-inch TFT-LCD with LED driver system and 1024 x 600-pixel resolution
• Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
• USB 2.0 (Slave), Mini USB 2.0 (Host), 3.5mm stereo headphone, Dock for HDMI/Headphone/USB (optional)

Product Description

Amazon.com

Fitting both your on-the-go lifestyle and comfortably in your hand, the Android-powered Viewsonic G Tablet offer a slim go-anywhere design and intuitive touch navigation via its bright 10.1-inch display. With the Android 2.2 OS (dubbed "Froyo"), the G Tablet offers full support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for accessing Flash-enabled websites, watching video and playing games. And thanks to built-in support for ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi, the G Tablet's portable screen is ideal for watching the latest movies and entertainment.

The Viewsonic G Tablet features a 10.1-inch multi-touch display, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and 16 GB internal memory (see larger image).

 

Equipped to handle mobile applications, play games in HD, and surf the web at blazing speeds (see larger image).

 

Weighing in at 1.5 pounds and just 0.5 inches thin, the G Tablet has a super slim and sleek design and feels very comfortable in your hands with its smooth beveled edges. The crisp and vibrant 10.1-inch capacitive touch screen display offers plenty of real estate for even the most demanding tablet users. It's great for multitasking, viewing multiple apps, browsing entire web pages, and sharing entertainment and photos.

With integrated Google technology, the G Tablet brings one-touch access to the popular Google mobile services millions use every day, including Google Search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, Gtalk, YouTube, Picasa, and contacts/calendar synchronization. Gain access to thousands of leading Android apps via an Apps Store icon located on the home screen.

You'll enjoy 3D-like graphics, 1080p HD video, and speedy responsiveness from the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and 512 MB of DDR2 RAM. Typing messages or notes is simple and easy with the G Tablet's virtual QWERTY keyboard. It's outfitted with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Other features include Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, 16 GB internal memory, microSD memory expansion (via optional cards up to 16 GB in size), HDMI video output (via optional dock), and up to 8-10 hours of on-the-go battery power.

Key Features

Fluid Navigation

Engineered with you in mind, the navigation is practically instinctive. You find the buttons exactly where you would have placed them, which will have you toggling. Searching, going back and moving forward all at lightning speed. On-display buttons include: Search, Home, Menu and back. Volume rocker is located on top.

Power and Speed

Experience the power of NVIDIA's latest processor. Designed for mobile applications, you will experience super fast gaming, crystal clear 1080p HD video, blazingly fast web access and surreal HD video chatting. Processing power at it's finest.

• 1 GHz Dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor
• 512MB DDR2 memory
• 2D/3D Graphics processing
• HD Video encode and decode
• Ultra-low power GeForce GPU
• 1080p video playback processor
• OpenGL ES 2.0
• 32-bit LP-DDR2, DDR2

Google Android OS 2.2

The G Tablet runs Google's latest and greatest OS 2.2. Android 2.2 offers a handful of new features and benefits such as faster web browsing, simple app launching and updating, and a completely more intuitive experience through Google's impressive services. Features include:

• Improvement in JavaScript loading
• Better overall performance of Android OS
• USB and Wi-Fi Internet Tethering
• Microsoft Exchange integration
• New and improved browser.
• Compass support for Google Maps
• Improved Google Voice Search, recognizes long and complicated sentences easily

 

Do More, See More... All at the Same Time

The G Tablet lets you work and play like you do. Read your email while catching up on sports scores and the latest gossip. Open multiple apps with the flick of a finger. Then casually pinch, scroll or zoom to your hearts content. It is so intuitive, you'll be able to do more and see more--all at the same time.

• Switch between apps and tasks instantly
• Listen to music while checking email
• Jump from reading your eBooks to keeping up with your favorite blogs
• Multi-touch capabilities: pinch to zoom, two-finger rotating, scrolling, etc.
• Download apps while updating your calendar

Multimedia Powerhouse

You get an awesome performance from practically any source with this tablet. Play music files or watch movies with ease. Or upload images from your camcorder and share entertainment with your friends on the go.

• 1080p playback (HD)
• Extensive format support includes: H.264, WMV, WMA, MP4, DivX and more
• Expandable memory: up to 32GB via micro SD
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• Mini USB port
• USB port
• HDMI dock (optional)

Stay Connected Anywhere

Now you can contact anyone just the way they like. Use email, video chatting or tweet them on Twitter even update your status on Facebook. It all plays on this tablet. With Wi-Fi support and a long battery life, you won't have to miss a thing.

• Wi-Fi b/g/n support
• Video conferencing via 1.3MP camera
• 8-10 hours battery life
• Bluetooth support

You Move, It Moves

Applications and games come alive in your hand with the G sensor. Your gaming imagination never has been this real or this wild. An ambient light sensor also automatically reduces brightness in dim lit settings to conserve power. It follows your every move. It feels what you feel.

Specifications

• 10.1-inch TFT-LCD with LED driver system and 1024 x 600-pixel resolution
• 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU)
• Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n
• 16 GB internal memory
• microSD slot for expansion using optional cards up to 16 GB
• 1.3-megapixel camera
• Music playback: AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
• Video playback: S1080p H.264/H.263/ VC-1/MPEG-2/4/WMV9/DiVX 4/5
• Video encoding: 1080p H.264/MPEG-4 Video
• Connectivity: USB (slave), mini USB (host) microSD slot, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• Battery: 3650mAh Li-ion polymer battery for up to 8-10 hours of battery life
• Dimensions: 10.5 x 6.8 x 0.54 inches
• Weight: 1.55 pounds

What's in the Box

G Tablet, USB cable, power adapter, cleaning cloth, ESD cover, user guide, quick start guide

Product Description

The ViewSonic gTablet has a crisp and vibrant 10.1” capacitive touch screen display is plenty of real estate for even the most demanding tablet users. Great for multitasking, viewing multiple apps, and especially browsing the web, viewing pages in their entirety. Sharing entertainment and photos on this gorgeous display is truly a delight.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

408 of 412 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome product after you install the latest update from Viewsonic March 8, 2011

By Tony.A

Amazon Verified Purchase

So after I spent a couple of days exploring my new Viewsonic G tablet, I felt like I had to write a review and let everybody know how cool this device is:

I did my homework and researched the G tablet thoroughly before I decided to buy one. I read tons of reviews on various websites before I finally decided to go for it (over an iPad) for the following reasons:

1. Price!
2. Super fast Hardware (Tegra2 processor)
3. USB Port
4. SD card slot for additional storage
5. No need for a sync software!
6. Access to the file system
7. Customizable desktop (live wallpaper, widgets, icons..etc)
8. The availability of custom firmwares (XDA-developers)

Note: I ended up NOT installing a custom firmware, I am pretty happy with the latest update from Viewsonic, which is a must have!!

The tablet was a horrible experience out of the box. No matter what I did, everything seemed to just crash!! Then I got the Update notification as soon as I connected my G Tablet to my home WiFi. After the download was done, the update installed and the device rebooted. I finally went through the setup process (create a new profile..etc) and Voila. Let me tell you, The update is pretty damn stable and seems to boost performance significantly.

The latest update from Viewsonic lets you choose between the crappy TapNTap interface and the standard Android 2.2 interface.

Flash: I got Flash working by simply downloading a Flash .apk (Android application) available on Viewsonic's website. YouTube never looked better!!

USB: I tested the USB port by connecting a thumb drive. The drive was recognized without problems. Got a decent data transfer rate (~3 Mbps). I also connected a physical USB keyboard. The G Tablet recognized it almost immediately.

SD card slot: I also tested the SD card slot with a 4 GB SD card. no problems there! I love copying media files over to my G Tablet by simply dragging them from my PC and dropping them on my G Tablet!! Good Bye iTunes!!

Bluetooth: I was able to pair my G Tablet with my Bluetooth headphones. Also, I was able to get Google Maps to connect to an old Bluetooth GPS receiver I had purchased a couple of years ago (you will need an app called BlueGPS for this).

WiFi: Connected to my home WiFi without issues.

Webcam: The built-in webcam is good enough, may not be the best but it's good enough for me (1.3 MP).

Screen: The touch screen is pretty responsive. Yes it does get fingerprints but that's the case with my iPhone too!! The viewing angles aren't the best on this device. They aren't as bad as other reviewers had described though. it only gets bad when you tilt the tablet away from you in landscape mode. I found a cool way to get a better viewing angle: turn the tablet up-side-down!! the desktop will not rotate though but apps will.

Media: Tested a few videos with different formats. The tablet couldn't play a VOB. AVI's and mpeg's played fine. Performance is amazing thanks to the Tegra2 processor. My favorite music library stored on the SD card got recognized just fine and imported into the device's music library.

Web browser: unmatched browsing experience with the stock browser. Pinching and double tapping work great for zooming in/out. I can't stress enough how easy the virtual keyboard is to use! And it has spelling suggestions too!

Apps: Out of the Box, the G Tablet doesn't support the Android market but it does offer an alternative which is Handango. I was able to find almost every app I wanted and for free: Google Maps, Pandora, file browser, weather channel, Skype...etc. To install the app, simply download the .apk to your G tablet and execute it.

Mail: I was able to setup my Hotmail account in less than a minute. The Contacts app lets you import all your Gmail contacts to your G Tablet. If you have a Hotmail account you can simply create a Gmail account, import you Hotmail contacts to Gmail (web) then import from Gmail to your G Tablet.

Battery: battery life is Excellent. I browse the Net while listening to Pandora radio (yes, multitasking!!! ) for hours.

In summary, I love my new G tablet. I highly recommend it. Wait until you have installed the latest update from Viewsonic before judging it!

Thank you Amazon for such an awesome product at such an awesome price! Got mine for $359.99 :)

Note: I have been updating this review as I come across new features.

***Update 06/15/2011***
I have flashed my G Tablet with a custom ROM: Vegan Gingerbread (Google it). The reason for this is to have full access to Android market. Note that the stock firmware works just fine so you don't really need to flash a custom ROM if you don't want to.
Also, I thought I'd share that there are currently at least two Honeycomb ROM's being developed by the XDA folks. They're still in alpha but fairly stable.

537 of 549 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Next gen hardware, but the software needs improvement December 16, 2010

By roebeet

After mulling over the Archos 101 back in October, and increasingly frustrated with their delays, I found this gem in my local SEARS. It has a Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, which you will probably be hearing about increasingly in 2011. A really nice device overall, but it's not without its faults which I will summarize. First, the hardware....

Hardware Pros:

- Tegra 2 chipset dual-core with 512MB RAM. Bleeding edge hardware, so much that the software has not caught up, yet (see more on that, below).
- MicroSD slot, which supports up to 32GB.
- A full USB port. You can hook up peripheral devices to it, such as a USB keyboard.
- Micro USB port (not proprietary) , for mounting to your PC. Forgot your cable and you're at a friends house? No worries, just use any micro USB and you are in.
- Front facing camera. It's not the best, but it works.

Hardware Cons:

- The LCD. Yes, ironic given that this is packaged by a company known for its displays. The 1024x600 10 inch screen is essentially a netbook screen. It's actually not bad at all when looking at it straight on, but the viewing angles are not very good. This is critical if you were planning on using this as a gaming device where you'll be moving it around.
- h264 support is limited. This is confusing to some, as technically h264 works in certain configurations. 1080p "high profile" encoded videos do not work, whereas "main profile" does work. The bottom line here is that you might find issues with certain high-def videos that will be very choppy or flat out crash the device. My understanding is that this is a limitation of the Tegra 2 chipset itself.

The hardware is very impressive, overall. However, where this device loses a full point is the software that is supplied out-of-the-box. Although it's Android based, the stock launcher is replaced with a interface called "Tap N' Tap", which is actually a third party vendor. I don't particularly like the interface myself - it's slow, buggy with a tendency to "Force Close" very often, and the Marketplace that's been recently added is very different than the Android Marketplace you might be used to on your phone (and not in a good way). Overall, it's just plain bad.

If you are technically inclined or don't mind thinking outside the box, there are already several alternate firmware replacements for the device that can be found by Googling "Viewsonic G Tablet xda-developers". These mods can turn the device into something you are more familiar with, if you use an Android phone. But, keep in mind that these alterations are not supported by Viewsonic and you could void your warranty. So buyer beware.

The other major problem is that Android itself is not built for tablets, yet. But version 2.3 is about to be released, which could change things considerably in the next few months. Whether or not the GTablet eventually gets an official 2.3 release, or a more Android-looking interface that is fully supported by Viewsonic is anyone's guess at this point - so, just know what you are getting into.

12/21/10 EDIT: The next official firmware slated for release this week by VS should allow the user to bypass the Tap N' Tap homescreen, and use a more vanilla Android interface. This is a step in the right direction, imo.

04/17/11 EDIT: I've gotten some heat for the title of "Next Gen Hardware". Remember, this was written in December - that's an eternity in technology terms. The GPU is actually still up-to-date as of this writing, but Android devices with better screens are starting to show up (ie. the Xoom and soon the Transformer). So just keep in mind when this review was written....

04/23/11 EDIT: I'm hearing reports that these new Amazon GTablets MIGHT be arriving with the latest Viewsonic firmware - this firmware adds a lockscreen, Adobe Flash and French / Spanish languages and a few other things. You can tell if you have this new firmware if you go into Settings -- About Tablet and check the TapUI version -- "1.2" means the new firmware, and "1.1" means the old firmware.

If you have a "1.2" firmware, please be careful with mods on XDA (as of this writing) as they are generally built around the "1.1" firmware, only. Or, alternatively, you can try the few 1.2-based mods at Slatedroid (just Google "Slatedroid Gtablet 1.2" and you'll find them). You can downlevel your firmware from 1.2 to 1.1 - but there is a small chance that you could soft-brick your device, especially if you don't read directions carefully - there are specific steps to take. Just be careful, and have fun with your new tablet!

7/28/2011 EDIT: VS has recently stated that there will be no Honeycomb support for the GTAB. However, there are unofficial mods on both XDA and Slatedroid.com, if you are willing to risk it and void your warranty of course. And 1.2 based firmware has become much more common on XDA, since April. If you do plan to mod your GTAB, just be aware of the differences between these branches so you don't risk a soft-brick.

2/10/2012 EDIT: There is a new update (build 5699) for the Gtablet that's now live, but still Froyo-based. However, Viewsonic has now officially (and since this is now a week old I'm guessing there's no going back) moved to a 1.2 firmware base. Again, I would be wary of any older mods that are 1.1-based as you could soft-brick your tablet. But, given that this has been a known factor for almost a year now, hopefully most of the mods have taken this into consideration - best to read the mod's release notes to be certain.

Also, there is an unofficial ICS beta for the Gtablet, care of TeamDRH (teamdrh.com will get you to their site). As with any mod, use at your own risk but for a beta product I've found it to be fairly stable. Kudos to that team for their hard work!

531 of 550 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sweat Equity Pays Off with Viewsonic G Tablet December 14, 2010

By Alexc

I own a G Tablet. I like my G Tablet. Let me tell you why no-one is raving about the G Tablet.

The electronics exceed the iPad at time of writing. The form factor is nothing to write home about. The viewing angles on the screen are sub-par, which is surprising given the device's provenance. The Tap n' Tap user interface is a disaster. I say again, a disaster. Slow, inelegant, and insufficient.

There is good news. First, the price is right. It can be had for as little as $380.00, a far cry from its competitors. Second, the user interface can be replaced. There are communities of individuals (XDA), who have very graciously put their hard work and talent into producing replacement ROMs for this device which override the existing software with something that is much closer to the standard Android OS and that interfaces correctly with the Android App Market. It is DIY, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-dig-into-it work to install a new ROM and get it running properly. Even then there will be charming bugs to fix. Expect this to become a minor hobby.

In conclusion, the G Tablet is a conditionally five-star device. It is inexpensive, the hardware is perfectly solid, and a technically minded individual who is willing to spend some time tinkering with it can turn it into a very useful tool.

If you are Viewsonic, or work for Viewsonic, or know somebody who's cousin might work at Viewsonic, then please tell them; ditch Tap n' Tap as soon as humanly possible.