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My Short OTA 3116 Review -- Add Yours!

By the time I got 3116 downloaded, several other people had made varying comments so I didn't really know what to expect.
Here are my observations:
1. Update was flawless and no instability afterward that can see.
2. I wouldn't say it seems "fast" -- but I definitely would call it smoother and more polished.
3. I neither like nor dislike the TnT launcher, but I do appreciate that they put the Android-like option in there. I'll use that more than the stock launcher.
4. They should have put flash in. From a public perspective, it was hugely necessary. And it it was an Adobe holdup, they need to get their PR flacks on line making sure people know they tried!
5. All the apps I have added since the update seem to have loaded and are working fine.
6. I'm still exploring, but I put an SD card in /sdcard2 with a couple of albums on it. Told the music app to start -- it said it was searching -- it found my music and played!!! That was nice. Now will have to test photos, videos, etc.
7. It just runs and that helps!
Summary: Given what's in and not in the update, I suspect this is an effort by the TapNTap people to get out from under the whole situation. It looks to my eye (and I have done a fair amount of programming) like when the furor over the interface started, someone started working real hard to make TapNTap work well. I do agree with somebody that while I am not happy with what came in the package, I believe it probably will be enough to satisfy casual, non-tech users if the VS marketing people can get the word out and generate some interest.
I'd give it a thumbs up with the proviso that somebody better bring some meat and potatoes before long to go with the appetizer!
Rev

I agree.
The stock Android-like launcher is nice. The speed and stability is much improved. We are spoiled with the speed-fix that all the aftermarket roms have in them. I have used TNT lite and Vegan since I got the tab new. I have installed this update and have been usingit for the afternoon. I think it is nice and this can be a mainstream tablet now. The only thing it needs is the flash, which will be forthcoming.
I was one of the people that was very down on the stock firmware. This device is now able to compete head to head with any other android tablet and can go head to head against the Ipad. Once flash is added, this is much better than the Ipad.

It seemed very usable. Pretty nice for people who want something that just works rather than learning how to use Android. The only instability I experienced was some incompatibility with my Exchange mail crashing the mail app every time.

upgrade
Is this the so called 12 19 update??

2insane,
Yes, apparently Roebeet caught it early and D/Led it and posted the link for others who wanted to try it.
There are quite a few posts explaining people's opinions about it.
Rev

A vast improvement.
I only used the new update shortly after install today. I believe for most people purchasing the tablet the update will be enough to keep them from returning the product. It's not going to show the potential of the Tegra processor, but the unit is usable.
The one glaring issue I think is when changing orientation. The gpad is slow and unsure, both the iPad and Samsung tab are instant.
Even though it is a vast improvement it should be more. How is that a few developers on this site can come up with much better software with limited resources and access to key information than the company selling the product?
I had given up my tablet and found the update looking for the stock flash to return the unit. It was fun tweaking it, but I was using time that I really couldn't spare trying to get it work. Not sure I would have followed through with returning yet.
I did a complete wipe and reformat of the system and partitioned the sd card. Installed the update then installed VEGAn Beta 3 without wiping and all I can say fantastic.. Not sure what changed, but VEGAn runs even better now. I have been using my tab for about 6 hours now trying to get it to act up, so far no problems. I have not attempted the Adobe Flash install. Flash would be nice to have, but really is not all that important for my use.
Some of you like numbers, here are some Quadrant scores. Viewsonic Gtablet 2538. My Samsung Galaxy Tab 976. I can assure you that in daily use the speed difference is not as dramatic as the numbers suggest.
To those of you who are frustrated and thinking of returning the unit, you might give it a few more tries. At least give the update a try, it won't run at full potential, but the update appears to make it a very usable device. Even with just the Viewsonic update I have trouble believing that this is the same piece of junk I brought home 7 days ago.
I believe I have a keeper now thanks to the people on this site that share there work and knowledge, with a little credit due to Viewsonic.

[Q] after viewsonic's upgrade

I did the upgrade that VS pushed out....greatly Improved! Is there still an advantage to rooting the device andgeting tent lite?

There sure was for me. I bought my G last friday afternoon while out Christmas shopping with my wife. My first impressions were that it sucked wind pretty mightily. Even after the upgrade to 3389, while it was better, it was still pretty sad. Too many missing things, their gmarket was nothing short of sad and inadequate. I started experiencing a tons of FC's and I was set to return it back to Sears yesterday.
Instead, last night with help from rothnic he walked me through adding clockwork mod and then rom'ing it with tnt lite. What a world of difference this device is now! Runs faster, it now has Android Market and availability of apps that I want to run (BUT, remember that this is a tablet and not a phone and tons of those apps are made for phones specifically), the FC's have gone away and I'm a happy camper.
The screen issue is still a mighty ***** but I can live with that until someone finds a screen replacement that is reasonable in cost and easy to install.
If you think that its a nice unit now, just wait until you get tNt lite added to it and running some of the apps on a ten inch screen.
R

thanks
Can you or someone walk me through thisor point me to some step-by-step step instructions?

Check out this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842004 and if you're not comfortable doing this yourself check the irc channel that is listed in the thread that has been made sticky. User rothnic from here walked me through it there and it was a piece of cake.
If you do get him (or anyone) to help you make sure that you make a reasonable donation to them for their help. Who knows, you just might need them again and havingn them happy with you is a great start to getting help when you need it.
R

thank you all who have put in so much time to the roms. i just compleated my first flash to VEGAn-tab betta 4...holy cow what a difference. im a serious noob lol it was easy just follow the instructions to a T

THANKS!!!!
instructions were great! Performance improved on quadrant benchmarks from 1845 to 2417

Vegan versus TnTLite?

From what I've seen there are 3 devs working on Vegan and 1 on TnTLite. There also seem to be a ton more adopters of Vegan.
Currently I'm running TnTLite 3.1.4 because the first root/mod thread I landed on pointed toward 2.2.0. Is Vegan a better system though? Why is it garnering all the interest?

cnathanw said:
From what I've seen there are 3 devs working on Vegan and 1 on TnTLite. There also seem to be a ton more adopters of Vegan.
Currently I'm running TnTLite 3.1.4 because the first root/mod thread I landed on pointed toward 2.2.0. Is Vegan a better system though? Why is it garnering all the interest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Longs story short... they are all working together. Rothnic, Roebeet, and GoJimi are all working on the VegaN together. When these tabs were first released (early November) and all the Hype started I believe that Roebeet was the first to successfully rip TNT apart to develop a more 'vanilla' version, hence the TNT Lite. About the same time Rothnic got a hold of the ZPAD (international version on GTab) firmware and started making it work here. I don't have all the details about where GoJimi came from but I think that he was working in quietly in the background with both of these guys (ahhhh the rumors). When the Advent Vega firmware came out they all decided to collaborate together to help develop a ROM based on that. I think that each has their own 'talent' and decide to work together to provide yet another option.
At, least I think that's how it all came about?
Between the three available ROMS it's all about personal preference. Like buying a car; it's just what suits you. The nice thing about the way all is set up is that technically you can test drive all three of them within an hour and decide for yourself.
Good Luck!

I personally, use TNT Lite. I went over to Vegan Tab for a short bit, then went back to TNT. I think I just got used to TNT and that is why I went back. There was nothing wrong with Vegan Tab, as it had a few different enhancements. However, TNT, felt like "the one" for me. We have been married for a month and a half now and couldn't be more happier.

I use TnT Lite myself. I tried an early build of Vegan, but TnT for me just seems to feel right for the GTab. But I agree with it2steve, both are excellent and it just comes down to personal preference. I suggest trying them both out, as well as CyanogenMod 6.1, and see which is right for you.

I guess that it is a very popular question for new Gtablet owners. there are several threads discussing the Pros and Cons of each ROM and there was a poll for it as well.
I like Tnt Lite for some features and I also like Vegan for the general UI. Just wondering will we see a hybrid version of TntVegan.
Actually, I am finding more fun to switch from one ROM to another ROM in a few weeks to try something new. I was on tnt lite 2.2, Vegan beta3, tnt lite 3.1.3, Vegan beta5.1 and then I am back to tnt lite 3.1.4.
I backup through CWM each time and I use Titianium backup to back up every apps I use.. (and it takes about 1 hour for me to switch ROM and restore most of my apps).

I have an N1, it is my first Android phone. I've been using plain old stock Android since the 2.1 days. I was convinced by users at another site I frequent to get a GTab.
Personally thought it'd be fun to play around with the GTab and make it function correctly through rooting (I had never done it before). I heard it was a great piece of hardware with a substandard operating system and purchasable at a great deal. Since purchasing it, I've been reading about development focused on GTab at XDA developers forums. The GTab is a very nice piece of hardware and I enjoy seeing the potential of it being unlocked day by day.
I've used both TnT Lite and Vegan. I only briefly played with stock TnT and almost immediately learned how to flash TnT Lite. In my opinion, it was alright, definitely better than TnT, but not what I was expecting when I first bought the GTab.
Since it was quite simple getting TnT Lite on the GTab, I considered flashing Cyanogen, but the lack of consistent updates made me reconsider, especially with the constant updates to TnT Lite and Vegan.
I've since moved on to Vegan which more closely matches stock Android in comparison to TnT Lite and I am quite happy with it.
My girlfriend was using my GTab while her piece of junk 1st gen MacBook was being worked on. Since getting it back, even after a complete data wipe and new OS install by a friend who works at Apple, it still doesn't function correctly, so now it just sits in the corner of the room and she uses my GTab when browsing the web and watching streaming video.
To my understanding, the XDA GTab community has just accessed the second core of the GTab's processor, so for me at least, these are exciting times indeed. The GTab has preformed better than expected and now, someday soon, it'll only get better.
If only there was a way to port over or convert iOS apps and games, I know my friends would all jump ship from iPad...well, I guess that kinda goes without saying.

I am a relative newbie to the gtab scene. I waited on the stock rom for the update from viewsonic, but due to many ongoing stability issues i decided to root and rom my tablet. I personally enjoy switching and updating, but i have tried both vegan and tnt lite. I really enjoy tnt lite, but its a personal choice. I just constantly check back, awaiting more updates and to see this tablet get faster and more "tablet like."

Both are good, take a look to a small poll that I create some time ago. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894578

I like Tnt lite, but I think Vegan is a hair more stable.
I get less FC from Vegan.
But I like the features of Tnt lite.
BTW, which one is closer to stock android?

ive tried tnt and vegan and prefer vegan... but maybe thats because it works like id expect? not different and "tablet like". works almost as good as my phone! lol.. i wish we could get some of the phone guys over here to make roms! my phones rom is light years ahead of vegan...(pheonix) i wonder if those lil perks just cant happen on this tab? like power control in the drop down notification area.. seems like a no brainer if your making a rom? but vegan does work well, and fast... not a fan of the tnt look, reminds me of the nightmare stock set up!! i hated it...
but hopefully the roms get better and this tablet really shines!

Thanks for the backstory! I had been dying for an iPad but knew I really wanted something I could use cards/usb to get stuff in and out. I HATE being locked in like they do. But while the EPAD APAD stuff on ebay doesn't sound bad for $200 I wanted more and I didn't want to have it shipped from China. I was holding out for the NotionInk Adam but who knows if that'll ever happen.
With the stars aligned and all bills paid just after Christmas I had enough sitting there to do something. Just by chance I came across a link to the gtablet on sale at SEARS. I'd come across one in Office Depot a week before but dismissed it after seeing the stock TNT. Once I saw all the rooting/moding I RAN to Sears.
Purchase made I went for TnTLite 2.2.0 first cause that's the link I found, ran that way a while and then jumped to 3.1.4 about 2 days before jumping to Vegan51. I still have the backup of Lite 3.1.4 but I don't think I'm going back to it. I've already begun learning the interface and altering the icon spacing and all that fun stuff.
Just updated the kernal mod from cygna(sp)...today. It just seems to move faster and I actually like the front screen lock. Anyhow, very happy to have found the forum and that the devs are creating something we can actually USE with this hardware. Stock TNT = no purchase. I'd already walked away.
Glad I found that Sears ad

Tried both tntlite and vegan....prefer vegan..
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0B5.1 using Tapatalk

First flash was TnT-lite 2.0, right after I unpacked it and let it fully charge. Second tab, bought about a week later, went thru zPad and VegaN, a couple of days on each Rom, but eventually ended with TnT-lite. I prefer the "tablet like" feel of it. The other Room's are pretty solid, but reminiscent a phone too much.
Sent from my gTablet-TnT-Lite-4.1.0 using TapatalkPro

[Q] Which rom do you recommend?

I know, not another best rom thread. But I've been reading as many of these threads as I could and there still seems to be some disagreements among power users.
Right now, TnT lite vs Vegan 5.1. Am I missing something else here that is more stable?

I'm not sure there's THAT much difference in stability between these ROMs. Of course Vegan is heading toward a Gingerbread release which might be worth picking up soon.
A lot of it comes down to personal taste, as well as some particular things being a bit easier on one ROM or another.
I don't think you can go that wrong with either of them. That all said, I did vote for Vegan since "for me" it has worked best.

So someone actually picked the "idiot" option on the poll. Very classy. I will admit that the OP should not have even given the option to choose that since the "true idiots" will always show up and be true to their nature.
I enjoy Vegan 5.1 here.

sirspongy said:
So someone actually picked the "idiot" option on the poll. Very classy. I will admit that the OP should not have even given the option to choose that since the "true idiots" will always show up and be true to their nature.
I enjoy Vegan 5.1 here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, I was 1 of 2 who voted the idiot thing. Since I haven't got a g tab, not yet anyway. I'm still feeling the water before I decide to jump in. I am 70% sure I will get one. But once I get it, I want the most stable rom. You guys are nothing to me but guinea pigs.
Edit.
I'm the less techie between my boyfriend and I. I'm not going to be asking for his help at all, so I don't want to have to deal with apps crashing or infinite boot-up loops or such problems.
With vegan, do I still need to apply the fix for force closing?

Vegan has worked great for me with no additional "fixes". I use it to watch movies, surf the net, play games, and as an ereader. Probably 4 hours avg per day on it, and Vegan has given me no issues. I tried TnT lite as well, and while I saw no problems, I just preferred the feel of Vegan.

Vegan is a good Rom I used it for a while. I have been impressed with calkulins gtab rom. Very fast and nice tweaks.

I refuse to use Vegan simply because my serious disdain for Vegans in general. Petty? Sure. I don't care
So.. I use TnT Lite, and have for a while now. Quite stable, no major issues, the 5.0 upgrade was a bit of a pain but its been rock solid so far. Does everything I need it do. (To be fair, Vegan does too)
Though with the Gingerbread on Vegan soon, I may switch over to check it out..

May I ask what your disdain of vegan is about?

Ive run the gambit of roms on my gtab over the past two nights.
Vegan gingerbread + updated gb kernal rules them all.
And its experimental! This rom is headed in the right direction.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk

goodintentions said:
I'm the less techie between my boyfriend and I. I'm not going to be asking for his help at all, so I don't want to have to deal with apps crashing or infinite boot-up loops or such problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on these comments I recommend a ipad.

my g tab will get here tuesday, im in school and going to use it primarily to read textbooks on pdf and full screen jpeg scans of the books. it was either spend $400 this semester on books or get a gtab and magic wand scanner, figured id have more fun with the gtab than a book i wont have to buy books in future semesters plus i can use the internet for research and all that
so would you guys think the vegan gingerbread rom would be good enough for this, i know its still experimental. plus id like to be able to surf the net and view flash videos on a few different sites besides youtube.

There are a handful of little things holding back vegan GB but no show stoppers.
The gb keyboard has some issues (missing #s, no type ahead)
Market can be painful at times. There are a couple apps (like mvideoplayer pro) that I can't purchase and my apps comes up blank without a creative work around.
I believe the kernel is missing video hardware acceleration or there's something buggy with gfx/gl. Even with this issue it still scores a 2000 quadrant.
Latest version of Google maps FCs but 5.0.0 works fine.
For something that isn't even beta yet it is super nice and does an awesome job demonstrating the tablet capabilities of GB. Very tablet friendly.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

Slow Development?

Not to be a downer, but the infinity came out for almost a month and a half now. Yet, the development is really really slow. I think its a great tablet and everything but i also want more dev support.
Did anyone hear any news about dev update from other teams?
Thanks,

ugotproblemz said:
Not to be a downer, but the infinity came out for almost a month and a half now. Yet, the development is really really slow. I think its a great tablet and everything but i also want more dev support.
Did anyone hear any news about dev update from other teams?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The closest anyone has gotten is birdman which got AOKP to boot. Currently he is trying to fix BT and GPS before releasing anything. You can follow him at https://twitter.com/_mrbirdman_ for updates.

ugotproblemz said:
Not to be a downer, but the infinity came out for almost a month and a half now. Yet, the development is really really slow. I think its a great tablet and everything but i also want more dev support.
Did anyone hear any news about dev update from other teams?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was an early adopter of the TF201. It took a while for it to going with nothing but stock roms available for what felt like an eternity. Give it some time and they will start appearing...

ugotproblemz said:
Not to be a downer, but the infinity came out for almost a month and a half now. Yet, the development is really really slow. I think its a great tablet and everything but i also want more dev support.
Did anyone hear any news about dev update from other teams?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am sure I am going to get flamed for this, but I have to chime in on this one...six weeks is hardly "slow" for development. This is a) an extremely expensive tablet and most devs pay for their own equipment b) there have been lots of issues around unlocking the bootloaders for ASUS tabs, which is a pre-requisite for tablets, c) JB is just now hitting the streets which impacts development and d) most devs are doing this for the love of it, which means they pretty much all have other things that are full-time occupations.
The fact of the matter is that we do have a couple of custom ROMs out there, so there are devs working on it. It just takes time and goodwill, and a more realistic set of expectations.

pbrauer said:
i am sure I am going to get flamed for this, but I have to chime in on this one...six weeks is hardly "slow" for development. This is a) an extremely expensive tablet and most devs pay for their own equipment b) there have been lots of issues around unlocking the bootloaders for ASUS tabs, which is a pre-requisite for tablets, c) JB is just now hitting the streets which impacts development and d) most devs are doing this for the love of it, which means they pretty much all have other things that are full-time occupations.
The fact of the matter is that we do have a couple of custom ROMs out there, so there are devs working on it. It just takes time and goodwill, and a more realistic set of expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cost of the tab is a bit intimidating, and also, the new toy is the Nexus 7, as a Google nexus device, is cheap and fun to play with for the devs, who are having a competition to see who can push it the farthest. Lots of great teams are really hung up on it right now, and not showing a lot of desire to pull themselves in a new direction, it seems.
I would also be sceptical about getting a tf700, and sticking my neck out with so many complaints about its build quality and performance. I think it's an amazing device and I love mine, but someone who just casually checks the new device forums might be a bit put off. I know that I was with the Nexus 7, which also had mucho complaints at first. I got mine and it was great, and a lot of people got good ones and then the development floodgates opened wide. The same may happen here.

pbrauer said:
i am sure I am going to get flamed for this, but I have to chime in on this one...six weeks is hardly "slow" for development. This is a) an extremely expensive tablet and most devs pay for their own equipment b) there have been lots of issues around unlocking the bootloaders for ASUS tabs, which is a pre-requisite for tablets, c) JB is just now hitting the streets which impacts development and d) most devs are doing this for the love of it, which means they pretty much all have other things that are full-time occupations.
The fact of the matter is that we do have a couple of custom ROMs out there, so there are devs working on it. It just takes time and goodwill, and a more realistic set of expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I would second the JB just hitting the streets. Why put so much work developing custom ICS roms when JB is just around the corner?

ugotproblemz said:
Not to be a downer, but the infinity came out for almost a month and a half now. Yet, the development is really really slow. I think its a great tablet and everything but i also want more dev support.
Did anyone hear any news about dev update from other teams?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also not to be a downer, but you can always start your own development endeavor to speed things up and have some fun along the way

If I was going to do any dev for this tablet, I would be waiting for the JB update to come out before I started. I expect we'll see more updates once it's out, but as some have already stated, 6 weeks for a new tablet is hardly slow.

I dont think jellybean has anything to do with it... just not many devs picked up on the device... I would love to see miui on this baby. I was thinking about switching to the note 10.1 just BC development looks like its going to be better for that tab but the screen was a let down.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

hopfully...it will make this tab SOOO much better...

Novel idea guys......why not simply do your buildprop tweaks, speed things up a little, and just enjoy the beautiful product that asus has given us, as it is? I love development as much as the next person....but my C7 model Infinity, aside from a little notification menu lag, runs fantastic, stock. I mean.....if you can not enjoy this product even as it is right now, without dicing it up with some currently half-baked efforts. Do you ever really enjoy any of your devices at all, or are you so caught up in the flashing addiction, that you fail to appreciate the truly awesome hardware underneath? I just love owning this little piece of work, walking around with it, being proud that I am an Android owner in a sea of iPad users on campus.
If you must have something custom, then use Zeus. It runs pretty slick as well. I would just stop complaining though everyone, give development time to kick in, and enjoy your product in the time being. I had the Prime, and it took FOREVER for real development to catch on....practically until the day I traded it in for this. LOL

TheAnarchist1 said:
Novel idea guys......why not simply do your buildprop tweaks, speed things up a little, and just enjoy the beautiful product that asus has given us, as it is? I love development as much as the next person....but my C7 model Infinity, aside from a little notification menu lag, runs fantastic, stock. I mean.....if you can not enjoy this product even as it is right now, without dicing it up with some currently half-baked efforts. Do you ever really enjoy any of your devices at all, or are you so caught up in the flashing addiction, that you fail to appreciate the truly awesome hardware underneath? I just love owning this little piece of work, walking around with it, being proud that I am an Android owner in a sea of iPad users on campus.
If you must have something custom, then use Zeus. It runs pretty slick as well. I would just stop complaining though everyone, give development time to kick in, and enjoy your product in the time being. I had the Prime, and it took FOREVER for real development to catch on....practically until the day I traded it in for this. LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for this response. I have rooted and tweaked my build.prop, and then frozen some of the bloat and am loving the device without having done anything else. Compared to the Prime (I got one of the very early ones and then went through 4 of those) this is SO much better.

Thanks! Yeah, same here. I had an early model Prime, went through no less then thirteen exchanges, the situation barely got better. I traded up on the same money from the Prime, and I have been happy since I had this. It strikes me, as though unlike the Prime, MOST of the flaws, and shortcomings of this device, are thankfully software related, and not hardware. Once applying the proper buildprop tweaks, installing Apex Launcher, and getting my trust application roster settled. I have been happy as a clam. YES, Jellybean, and most definately CM10 will make this device FLY (it almost managed to redeem my Prime even, right before I traded it) and I am as excited, if not more, then the average person, but my Infinity is (thankfully) fully functional, great battery, MOST applications work in some way shape or form, (excepting a few games). I can simply take a look at the Infinity, and tell, by the attention to detail, that this has become asus's baby, and mine as well. I appreciate it, and can wait forever for development to catch on. :laugh: