Related
I have been reading the same information as the rest of you about the VS G-Tablet, Staples and now Sears.
And I wonder how everyone is coming up with such wild suppostions based on almost NO really factual information.
Staples recall of inventory is a fact. I noticed that they are returning stock to VS because of some kind of flaw. We don't know what it is. We don't know if it is terminal or fixable. We don't know anything about remedies.
But whatever it is, it's not serious enough for them to start calling or notifying customers to return units and get their money back?!? If it really is a fatal hardware flaw, surely they will not get by without taking care of customers who already have purchased tablets.
Seems to me we need more info about why Staples did what they did and what is wrong before anything realistic can be determined.
Also, someone reported Sears is following Staples' path. Not trying to flame the poster, but we have (1) a report of no stock in that area (No Big Deal -- we never had any here!! ); and (2) we have an employee (not likely management at the level that would cover Sears corporate operations) saying they've had a lot of returns and don't know when they'll get any (again, nothing new there). Certainly not a stock recall like Staples.
I was in one of the area Sears stores here today and the little cardboard display they put up when they don't have VS G-Tablets in stock was still there. In fact, it had been updated to show the $379.00 price available today.
My point is that until we find out what the problem is that Staples is using as a reason for their action -- we really are just wasting our time speculating. And I certainly think the news media and the A**** fanboys are just spewing the garbage I would expect of them.
Am I the only person around who has noticed that a pile of us -- ranging from devs and hardware experts, down to just every day good old folks -- have been using, programming and flogging the G-Tablet for what (five-six weeks now?) and not one of us has raised a report of a fatal flaw????????????????
Sure. Grant that VS and whoever didn't do an adequate job of development and rushed the G-Tab to market. Grant that the software is not what we think is needed nor what we want. I can see that if it worked faster and better, it might be okay for some basic users.
Those of us who want more seem to be doing all right.
And one by one we have been fixing things.
Speaking for myself, I am not writing off the G-Tablet yet. I have two -- one from Sears and one from Office Depot. I could run down and return both right now.
But I'm not. I'm going to use the stuff that is available to me now to make both work like I want. Whatever else someone may say, it will do what I want it to do with the resources we already have on hand. And unless everyone else gives up, I see no reason we can't go right on and stay ahead of all the folks who are not smart enough to see the potential and go after it.
I am the minister -- so please don't start on plans for the funeral until the patient is pronounced dead for real. I don't see anything remotely close to that yet!
Rev
P. S. -- Sorry this rant got so long, but I just felt someone had to put some balance into what is being said about all of this. And I intended no flames for anyone who may disagree with my point of view. I am a minister and I am redemptive -- it's my job to try to "save" things!!
100% agreed...
As long as they release the kernel source, I don't really care whether Viewsonic recalls all their G Tablets or not. Because I am 100% certain there will be lots of other Tegra 2 tablets which will ship with updated firmware, which will give us a base image for Gingerbread and for Honeycomb down the road. As long as there's somebody willing to compile kernels and glue a kernel into the ROM images from very similar devices, well, we'll be just fine here and the G Tablet will continue to provide us with plenty of useful life over the next few years.
From what I can see from an earlier thread about a poster mentioning using the fact that several of the abilities the gtablet has on the cover do not work out of the box to return the tablet without having to pay the restocking fee. I believe that Sears and Staples are sending the units back to viewsonic and demanding that the touted abilities actually do in fact work before they get them back. (this can only help the tablet unless Viewsonic decides to give up.)
I really hope it stays around, Bought one for the wife, now I want one. (I got a nook color that behaves even worse out of the box. but I figure i'll root/rom it until it does work as the smaller size is definitely more portable.)
Even if Viewsonic were to give up I don't see our tablet caring much. The Zpad firmware works pretty well, the VegaN that I am running now is working very well, and TnTLite works pretty well.
I feel for the customers that bought this and are not techies. I recall the first time I turned mine on it was a barrage of force closes. Everything you touched would force close. It took a factory reset from the settings menu to make it stop. Flash was non-existent, clock had amnesia on wakeup, wifi lost it's mind.... If I was a regular customer I would have been PO'ed... Not known what to do, and it would have gone back with a "I will NEVER buy another Viewsonic product ever" mentality.
If all the above had not occurred out of the box this tablet may have been kept by more people. I'm sure lots of folks would have been plenty happy if it just worked. Most would not have known the real potential that was being strangled by the software overlay, and most would not care.
I think the biggest issue has to do with how things are sold in this country nowadays. Back when America made things, they had control of them. They touched them, tested them, and had a lot of pride in making sure they sold a good product. Viewsonic gained it's reputation by selling one of the best products.
This tablet is not made by Viewsonic. I don't really know how much Viewsonic had to do with it besides just signing on to have there name on the device in hopes of name recognition boosting sales. It reminds me of how companies sign athletes to endorse crappy products in hopes people will buy it because of the name. That is going to bite a lot of companies in the behind. Unless my perception of how American companies desire to do business is completely wrong then this path needs to stop.
Everything seems to need to be done as fast as possible, and with profit being the main goal. Who cares if it is the best.. Who cares if it could be better.. Just get it out there and make money.. Support? Why should we support our product? Why should we put a restore image online? Why should we update our website with info that might help folks understand what is being done about the issues?
This same stuff is happening with lots of companies. Sylvania is another example of the outsourced spin off type of product, there are many others.
I think we deserve better, and if a company has to have there rear end handed to them to figure out that quality, and customer satisfaction still counts then so be it....
If and I mean if VS decided to bail on the gtablet I would think they open the source code to the community. This is a great device.
At this point it doesn't matter, even if viewsonic abandons it.
It's a reference tegra 2 device for current app developers in the states (at least that's how I see it), we have badass roms for it, the advent vega is getting 2.3 which is easily ported...so it's all good.
No mystery
Nice posts. But there is no mystery that VS is getting these back. It's about their profit from sales of a marketable product. Whether this tablet goes the wayof the Edsel is immaterial to us afficianados but its still been a good ride. I think other tabs may sink us but so what.
It's still fun.
Mojav
here's my take on it, and what they need to fix for Joe Consumer
I can readily guess why these are going back, and a Staples rep I talked to actually mentioned that same thing. The stock firmware is bad.
But I don't mean just the Tap N' Tap UI, I mean the boot loops and FC's that occur. We've all seen them, even on TnT Lite. There is some instability that I am convinced has to do with how these devices were imaged.
Here's the problem -- here in XDA, we have clockworkmod and a great community to get us around those issues. But Joe Consumer has neither (unless they search on their own). And due to TnT's stupidity, they can't even download an offline update to at least attempt to fix the problems. Think about it...you're a user with a reboot loop, so you call Viewsonic for help. What can they do? There's no way to wipe the cache, wipe user data or even re-flash the device using the standard tools. It's insane.
What they need to do ASAP is deploy a firmware update that 1) can be run offline with a microSD card and 2) has a more enhanced recovery like clockworkmod to at least give the user the ability to wipe the user data or cache. And, if the user doesn't have a microSD card, they should send them a 1GB card, preinstalled with the recovery image, at no charge. I think it's an absolute requirement I hope VS are reading this and rip their TnT devs a new arse to fix this debacle before they give up on the device completely.
Still, worse case scenario is that we lose VS support but still have the zPad and Vega to look at, even it we don't have source. We have options, at least.
Sprdtyf350 said:
Even if Viewsonic were to give up I don't see our tablet caring much. The Zpad firmware works pretty well, the VegaN that I am running now is working very well, and TnTLite works pretty well.
I feel for the customers that bought this and are not techies. I recall the first time I turned mine on it was a barrage of force closes. Everything you touched would force close. It took a factory reset from the settings menu to make it stop. Flash was non-existent, clock had amnesia on wakeup, wifi lost it's mind.... If I was a regular customer I would have been PO'ed... Not known what to do, and it would have gone back with a "I will NEVER buy another Viewsonic product ever" mentality.
If all the above had not occurred out of the box this tablet may have been kept by more people. I'm sure lots of folks would have been plenty happy if it just worked. Most would not have known the real potential that was being strangled by the software overlay, and most would not care.
I think the biggest issue has to do with how things are sold in this country nowadays. Back
when America made things, they had control of them. They touched them, tested them, and had a lot of pride in making sure they sold a good product. Viewsonic gained it's reputation by selling one of the best products.
This tablet is not made by Viewsonic. I don't really know how much Viewsonic had to do with it besides just signing on to have there name on the device in hopes of name recognition boosting sales. It reminds me of how companies sign athletes to endorse crappy products in hopes people will buy it because of the name. That is going to bite a lot of companies in the behind. Unless my perception of how American companies desire to do business is completely wrong then this path needs to stop.
Everything seems to need to be done as fast as possible, and with profit being the main goal.
Who cares if it is the best.. Who cares if it could be better.. Just get it out there and make money.. Support? Why should we support our product? Why should we put a restore image online? Why should we update our website with info that might help folks understand what is being done about the issues?
This same stuff is happening with lots of companies. Sylvania is another example of the outsourced spin off type of product, there are many others.
I think we deserve better, and if a company has to have there rear end handed to them to figure out that quality, and customer satisfaction still counts then so be it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got my g tab and am having all the issues u described out of the box. Internet crashes,WiFi dropping, force closes and all, did u just do the restart and it fixed everything? If so how do I do that and if u did more, what else do I have to do? I love my tablet and think it so much better than my friends ipad, but the issiues do bother me.....but I'll never return it, just want to fix it
Thx in advance
juda222000 said:
I just got my g tab and am having all the issues u described out of the box. Internet crashes,WiFi dropping, force closes and all, did u just do the restart and it fixed everything? If so how do I do that and if u did more, what else do I have to do? I love my tablet and think it so much better than my friends ipad, but the issiues do bother me.....but I'll never return it, just want to fix it
Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I got my very first device (before TnT Lite existed), it was terrible. Lots of FC's, and at least twice it rebooted on me for no reason and wiped my user data. As I recall, doing a manual data wipe helped but it was never really fully stable until I wiped it with nvflash (the bekit image).
Since then, they only time I've ever seen major instability is either when testing mods, which is understandable, or going back to stock.
roebeet said:
When I got my very first device (before TnT Lite existed), it was terrible. Lots of FC's, and at least twice it rebooted on me for no reason and wiped my user data. As I recall, doing a manual data wipe helped but it was never really fully stable until I wiped it with nvflash (the bekit image).
Since then, they only time I've ever seen major instability is either when testing mods, which is understandable, or going back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies,is that an app I can download out of the market? sorry still a newb... and what mod do u use that makes it run so well now? Is that what nvflash is?
juda222000 said:
I just got my g tab and am having all the issues u described out of the box. Internet crashes,WiFi dropping, force closes and all, did u just do the restart and it fixed everything? If so how do I do that and if u did more, what else do I have to do? I love my tablet and think it so much better than my friends ipad, but the issiues do bother me.....but I'll never return it, just want to fix it
Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well.... We have to go back in history. (Only about 6 weeks ago)
The force closes "Might" go away if you can get into settings and find the factory reset selection. It may be under the privacy tab. I can't tell you for sure because I am not running TnT right now.
The wifi issue was a problem when the device woke up and there was a patch made by a smart guy named Bekit.
The time issue was something where the time zone would not stick. It would always reset itself back to GMT if I recall.
There were patches for all of them back then, and I had them all installed at one point. None are needed anymore.
My suggestion to you, if you actually want to keep the tablet is to read the instructions in the post below and flash a new rom. TnTLite is based on your stock firmware. It just has the bad parts removed, and good stuff put in. All of the major issues should hopefully go away. As Roebeet just told you Nvflash could be in your future to do a clean wipe but I hope not. The stock out of the box firmware is really bad. It is unfortunate because the hardware is really good.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842004
juda222000 said:
Apologies,is that an app I can download out of the market? sorry still a newb... and what mod do u use that makes it run so well now? Is that what nvflash is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, nvflash is fairly advanced stuff so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are fairly technical or if its the last resort. You need APX drivers setup on your PC as well as the nvflash image.
Try a user data wipe, as a first step. In stock, it's under Settings and Security, I believe. If that doesn't help, I'd recommend clockworkmod recovery next and try to do a clear cache, user data wipe and a SD partition fix, in that order (do the next if the previous one doesn't fix it). I'd do nvflash last.
I personally love nvflash, but like I mentioned you need to be somewhat technical to use it.
See the FAQ area under my sig for some pointers and links, to start you off with.
roebeet said:
No, nvflash is fairly advanced stuff so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are fairly technical or if its the last resort. You need APX drivers setup on your PC as well as the nvflash image.
Try a user data wipe, as a first step. In stock, it's under Settings and Security, I believe. If that doesn't help, I'd recommend clockworkmod recovery next and try to do a clear cache, user data wipe and a SD partition fix, in that order (do the next if the previous one doesn't fix it). I'd do nvflash last.
I personally love nvflash, but like I mentioned you need to be somewhat technical to use it.
See the FAQ area under my sig for some pointers and links, to start you off with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NVflash is the bomb... Finding the full sdk anymore... that sucks
juda222000,
Hang in there. I have been working on my second G-Tab and when I started it up, it worked worse than the first one did!!!
But it seems to me like if you just keep using common sense and rebooting to give it time to sort things out, and then using the info in these forums to get it together -- all will turn out well and you will have a really great tablet.
Just be patient and don't get ahead of yourself and cause yourself grief like I have done a couple of times!! Best wishes....
Rev
I personally suspect that the fatal flaw is no high price contract with a network provider.
As was stated.....if there really was a fatal hardware flaw we would almost definately know about it on this forum. The stock UI was poor but still not fatal. I would tend to agree that we need far more info before jumping to a conclusion about the life expectancy of this most excellent device (after a few mods).
"For this guide, it is not necessary to root the Viewsonic G Tablet in order to flash CyanogenMod. You can simply install ClockworkMod Recovery & continue on.
WARNING: INSTALLING CLOCKWORKMOD RECOVERY ON THE VIEWSONIC G TABLET WILL VOID THE WARRANTY."
(I would imagine though that all of this stuff can be erased? If it voids the warranty, then why in the world would anyone ever put it on there if it can't be undone...?)
I have to say up front, that I haven't had any of the major issues that everyone is going on and on about. I had the one time occurrence of the barrage of "Force Quits" that happened the moment I got it out of the box... But in less than 30 min, the 3389 Update was available and I haven't had one issue since.
The only 2 things that I was worried about was the ability to watch Youtube, which I found that as long as you view the original "Desktop" version of youtube then you have no problems... The Desktop version was a simple click of a link at the bottom of the Youtube Mobile Page... Fixed... Done...
(My only REAL Question)
The other problem that I had, and am still having, is simply trying to get my Gmail account to unload in the "E-Mail" application that came with the G Tab. It says to check my incoming mail settings, which I did, and still can't quite figure that out... Any ideas?
Other than that though, this thing has given me nothing short of a good experience. I'm not too savvy with the MOD aspect of everything, but I would think that if I put that on my system, that I would have the mods themselves to blame for anything that went wrong..... And I certainly wouldn't want to jeopardize my Warranty just to have gmail pop up 3 weeks faster than Viewsonic can pay it's employees to pump out updates.... I'm giving them time, as I would hope any customer base would give me if I were the manufacturer.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the cool little gadget... That's how I see it. It has a crap ton of potential, and I'm willing to watch this infant grow without boosting it full of steroids and blackmarket performance drugs... Last thing I want is a third arm that doesn't work growing out of it's face............
I want to apologize for posting this twice. I'm really new to this forum, and couldn't find where to erase this post... I filed it under a different title in this same forum, so sorry again if I offend any of you with my multipost...
~Poly
I actually use the Gmail app, not the Email app (modded Tnt Lite with gapps).
The mod warnings are for a reason - we have to assume that not everyone understands the implications of modding their device and they should know that it is a risk. And if you call Viewsonic after doing a mod like this and need help from them, they aren't going to support it (and I guess I can't blame them for that).
Can this be uninstalled?
Can clockworksmod be uninstalled? If so how?
GaryHypnosis said:
Can clockworksmod be uninstalled? If so how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flash stock, and specifically recent stock, it should wipe clockworkmod recovery as well.
Thanks you for your help!
Does this mean if there is a hardware failure on the tab, and you have installed any of the updates found HERE, you have voided warranty and Viewsonic will not repair?
I'm still trying to understand the flashing et al.
So ANY of the mods from this site would then be a warranty void?
Is there a reversal to the mods that would allow warranty?
Thanks
I don't think they would honor the warranty, that's correct. It's a risk... all the mods are a risk.
Granted, they may not be able to see the mod unless they go into APX mode and pull your system.img, but anything obvious could be something they might latch onto (like if you modded the bootloader screen or have VEGAn's "GTabDevs" bootup screen).
Imo, the best reversal before RMA'ing for a hardware problems is nvflash - it will get you back to a clean vanilla stock setup, with all the boot images fixed as well as the system image. It's called "covering your tracks".
Modding
I look at it like this.... I paid roughly $400.00 for my tab(with tax). I understand that technology is moving SOOOO fast that my tab will be completely out of date in a matter of months. I bought my tab to have fun with, and part of the fun I want to have is to push it to see how far it will go. I guess in the end if I destroy my tab I will only be out the 400 bucks, but the other side of it is I can learn a helluva lot about rooting and flashing ROMS on an android device that I will(hopefully be able to) replace within a year.
Without Vegan and TNTLite, the GTablet would be worth roughly $0 to me... Well that might be overstating it, but maybe $100-200. With Vegan, my tablet is worth more to me than I paid, and currently lacking other options for a decent Android tablet that fits my needs, that makes it a pretty easy calculation.
I'd love a tablet with stock frogingercomb on it, but it's not an option. Basically I think it comes down to this: If your tablet gives you everything you want with Viewsonic's default software on it, by all means, don't go changin' anything. If you need more, try out some ROMs at the (slight but potential) risk of having a $400 paperweight. If you need more but can't take the risk, return the tablet for a refund and wait a couple months for the next wave.
Afterall, the XDA in XDA-Developers.com stands for "eXtreme Daredevil Alligators" I think, or something similarly awesome. It's not for the lighthearted!
Hey guys, I have acquired a contract up here for several motorola xoom tablets but need to completely lock them down before delivering them to the end user.
By lock down I mean, remove almost all applications, settings etc so they can not be altered.
Can someone point me in the right direction. navigating these forums is just insane now! The community seems awesome though.
I'm not opposed to loading a custom ROM on the device, in fact would prefer that. The devices I have ordered are Xoom 3G 10.1" GSM Unlocked.
ulchm said:
Hey guys, I have acquired a contract up here for several motorola xoom tablets but need to completely lock them down before delivering them to the end user.
By lock down I mean, remove almost all applications, settings etc so they can not be altered.
Can someone point me in the right direction. navigating these forums is just insane now! The community seems awesome though.
I'm not opposed to loading a custom ROM on the device, in fact would prefer that. The devices I have ordered are Xoom 3G 10.1" GSM Unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, you made a commitment before researching how to fulfill the client requirements?
Seems a bit backwards to me.
The level of lockdown you're looking for simply isn't possible without extensive framework modification. Honeycomb's source isn't out yet, so it's not possible to modify the framework much.
The best you'll be able to do is remove apps, but that can make updating the device problematic.
Ya locking down the tab was an after thought and still is. It's not required for the immediate product launch but is something to be looking into afterwards. If the solution is just to remove apps that's extremely easy to do and I"m sure will be 'fine' for now. is everyone in the corporate world just giving these tabs to people completely wide open and letting them do whatever they want on the companies data plan?
How would I go about making a custom ROM of this after I have removed the apps I don't want and have the tab setup the way I would like.
Maybe looking for something along the lines of this?
http://www.air-watch.com/platforms/android/index.html
The device administrator stuff in Android is pretty crappy.
air-watch looks interesting if it works with honeycomb
As an aside, It's my experience that corporate clients hate the idea of rooting. It means voided warranties, and no support/accountability from a vendor.
Ya for sure I dont' want to root the device so much as lock it down however it seems that the 2 are kind of attached right now. Air-watch might be the answer I'll do some testing. Thanks.
Apologies if this is already common knowledge?
It looks as though the B70 Transformers are coming with locked boot loaders, is that the case?
The never-ending battle.
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 - 10:21 am - Android, General, Transformer
Been a while since last post, but it appears ASUS’s counter move have finally come.
All signs point to that with the B70 revision of the Transformer, they have changed the Secure Boot Key.
At the same time they appear to have disabled downgrades in the more recent revisions of the firmware (the one B70 comes with!)
This means: At this point it’s not possible to root B70 revision ASUS Transformers. We will of course see what we can do to find a way around it, but keep in mind neither of us have access to a B70 revision model nor do we intend to spend the money needed to get one.
It was a good run, and congrats to all those with pre-B70 revision devices and bummer for everyone who bought newer revision devices hoping to root
Thanks,
RaYmAn & Bumble-Bee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://androidroot.mobi/2011/08/02/the-never-ending-battle/
I'm not remarkably familiar with the different segments, but I'm rooted now (on a device from last month, so B6), but I still have my standard bootloader and recovery. Does this make a difference to rooting, or just to custom ROM's?
This means: At this point it’s not possible to root B70 revision ASUS Transformers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it applies to both? (But I'm no expert on these things).
I wonder if any new Asus software updates will also change the secure boot key and prevent other B revisions from being rooted once updated?
Makes me glad mine's B3. Just hope I dont have to return it at any point. Thanks for posting this info though. Interesting stuff.
I'm guessing suddenly lightbleed that nobody notices and creaking that you have to listen out for will all of a sudden be unimportant...
I'm not remarkably familiar with the different segments, but I'm rooted now (on a device from last month, so B6), but I still have my standard bootloader and recovery. Does this make a difference to rooting, or just to custom ROM's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The secure boot key controls access to the tablet in NVFlash mode.
Without it basicallly you can't use NVFlash to update the Firmware on the tablet but it's possible that there might be other rooting methods that don't rely on NVFlash.
Instead these rely on exploiting bugs in the Android OS which can then be used to write data to areas of the tablet that shouldn't and so do things like install custom recovery modes that can then be used to load custom/insecure ROMs etc
(it's how the tablet was rooted before we gained access to the SBK)
I'm sure some bright spark will get it sorted anyways. These things don't remain unchallenged for long.
Now did we get the SBK last time? Someone had to have leaked it; I find it hard to believe it was brute-forced.
Ugh.... Why oh why are they doing this?? Don't they realize that one of their "pros" over Apple devices is becuase they lock them down so much - Why would they go and do that to their products now??? I thought I was finally moving towards freedom by getting away from Apple!!! <sigh>
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
jtrosky said:
Ugh.... Why oh why are they doing this?? Don't they realize that one of their "pros" over Apple devices is becuase they lock them down so much - Why would they go and do that to their products now??? I thought I was finally moving towards freedom by getting away from Apple!!! <sigh>
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the thing is wheather we like it or not ..they are their units and they will do what they want. Doesn't mean someone won't crack it like they always do. Just finding some that have been exchanged that have been rooted is enough to tick them off. Just reading here and finding out what s done with them is enough to tick them off. Look at what Motorola is doing. They made a statement that if you want to run a custom rom go somewhere else.
No they are OUR units and WE will do what WE want with them and if they do not like it then they can stick it where the sun does not shine.
There is no need for Asus to do this to the newcomers. It is just plain wrong.
Asus seems to go in the wrong way.
CrazyPeter said:
I'm guessing suddenly lightbleed that nobody notices and creaking that you have to listen out for will all of a sudden be unimportant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROTFLMAO! Thanks Crazy......very astute!
Do they really think that locking the bootloader will ATTRACT more customers?? If anything, it can only hurt sales...
I can't imagine that a whole lot of transformers get returned rooted - most people who are willing to root them know better than that (I would think)... I just don't get the reasoning behind it. How does it benefit them?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
I wonder what Asus will do with the Transformer 2.
Less of an upgrade itch at the moment.
I was thinking of buying Transformer near future (1-2 weeks), but now Im starting to wonder, is there anyway to see which revision tablet is before purchasing? Maybe serial number will tell it somehow?
I dont wanna buy locked tablet...
I'm guessing its just to hinder people from returning or RMA'ing units for light bleeds or creeking
Sent from Hogwarts
bytetemplar said:
I was thinking of buying Transformer near future (1-2 weeks), but now Im starting to wonder, is there anyway to see which revision tablet is before purchasing? Maybe serial number will tell it somehow?
I dont wanna buy locked tablet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The serial number is located on the back of the pkg. You will be able to see it before you purchase it.
Is there anyway to safely tell if this is the case? I recently got a B70 and was able to root mine. I just wnat to make sure that I am not affected by this, and if I am want does that mean?
bytetemplar said:
I was thinking of buying Transformer near future (1-2 weeks), but now Im starting to wonder, is there anyway to see which revision tablet is before purchasing? Maybe serial number will tell it somehow?
I dont wanna buy locked tablet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The serial will start with B70, so you will be able to tell. It's not like the B70 won't be cracked, anyways. There may be benefits to the later revision, as well.
As for Asus' thoughts on locking it down, they have a responsibility to shareholders to protect the IP(intellectual property) on the device. Buying a Transformer does not give you license to their IP. If shareholders feel they are not acting in accordance, they can basically sue Asus for shares/profit.
Personally, I wish the entire bootchain was open-source, but we knew it wasn't right from the beginning, so Asus is within it's rights.
Now, the good news. If we can buy enough stock in Asus, we can vote to open the IP base. If we reallllly buy alot, we might even win.
Once again, let me state, their decision sucks, but it's probably more for the shareholders than the company itself.
I'm getting a bursary payment from my university on Thursday and I was planning on using the money to buy the parts for a new computer then, but I've now decided to wait till next month and put some of the money from said payment towards buying an Infinity instead as a early birthday present for myself as well as using it as a device for reading relevant materials for my Computer Studies degree (That, plus it looks like it'll make a great device for viewing HD anime fansubs as well! ^_^)
In the meantime, do any of the members here in this forum who own the device have any advice for a new owner, such as what's the best custom ROM, the best accessories, how to make it the best it can be, etc?
First of all: 'This is an awesome tablet.
But you will soon discover that the stock ROM has sad and perplexing limitations.
If you plan to unlock and flash a custom Rom anyway, my vote goes for CROMI!
It's based on the stock ROM, but much, much better!
On stock this tab crawls, on CROMI it flies, it's stable and incredibly well supported.
Just follow the CROMI threads in the Development, General and Help sections for a while and you'll see what I mean....
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
berndblb said:
First of all: 'This is an awesome tablet.
But you will soon discover that the stock ROM has sad and perplexing limitations.
If you plan to unlock and flash a custom Rom anyway, my vote goes for CROMI!
It's based on the stock ROM, but much, much better!
On stock this tab crawls, on CROMI it flies, it's stable and incredibly well supported.
Just follow the CROMI threads in the Development, General and Help sections for a while and you'll see what I mean....
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be sure to check CROMI out if it's that good. How does it compare to other ROMS such as Cyanogenmod?
I second the suggestion of CROMI. I just unlocked my tablet over the weekend and there is a MASSIVE difference in how fast apps load and especially PDFs (from a Class 10 MicroSD, of course) and browser performance. I still have to explore Data2SD, but I've heard good things about that too.
borgmanjayce said:
I'll be sure to check CROMI out if it's that good. How does it compare to other ROMS such as Cyanogenmod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would check out the relevant threads on this forum. In the end it is a matter of taste and preference.
I have not tried Cyanogenmod and I don't see any reason to do so. My tab runs perfectly on CROMI.
I cannot imagine it running better on another ROM.
CROMl is based on the Asus stock ROM, CWM is build from the ground up. From what I hear and read, this fact seems to make CWM prone to more bugs and hardware Conflicts. But that's just my opinion...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
borgmanjayce said:
I'll be sure to check CROMI out if it's that good. How does it compare to other ROMS such as Cyanogenmod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm you really need to root it, otherwise buy another tablet!
Once you are rooted, it's a great device.
I used Cromi for a week and it's good and fast, no doubt about it.
For me personally performance is not only about speed, but also about customize options and for that reason I flashed Baked BlackBean 8 and I will not flash anything else for a while. It's without a doubt the best ROM if you like AOKP roms. If your not familiar with I suggest to start with Cromi! Like said above, support is amazing, to be fair it's the only thread 'alive' in de TF700 forum compared to One X forum.
Btw: I didn't try CM10, but support there is also great from Dasunsrule
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
My suggestion would be to use it and use it well for the first month or two to make sure the hardware is functioning properly before going the custom ROM route. The reason for this is you will have to unlock it to flash a custom recovery and ROM, and this will void your warranty.
If something goes wrong after you have unlocked you are SOL for warranty coverage.
borgmanjayce said:
I'm getting a bursary payment from my university on Thursday and I was planning on using the money to buy the parts for a new computer then, but I've now decided to wait till next month and put some of the money from said payment towards buying an Infinity instead as a early birthday present for myself as well as using it as a device for reading relevant materials for my Computer Studies degree (That, plus it looks like it'll make a great device for viewing HD anime fansubs as well! ^_^)
In the meantime, do any of the members here in this forum who own the device have any advice for a new owner, such as what's the best custom ROM, the best accessories, how to make it the best it can be, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
borgmanjayce said:
I'll be sure to check CROMI out if it's that good. How does it compare to other ROMS such as Cyanogenmod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Try and get NvFlash working. A safety is ALWAYS a good thing (you especially value that when you have a military background. ).
2. Unlock, and flash a custom ROM -- stock ROM sucks Major Balls' ass..
My preference is CROMI -- it's stock-based so you have the quick access features, full IPS+ support, full dock support, etc. that some other custom ROMs may struggle with (and even if stable now, they may get to struggle with them as new Android versions arrive on the stage). It does come down to preference, as the rest said, too. You cannot go really, absolutely wrong.
3. I had a rather thick leather case -- it might have been rendering too much pressure on the connections between the tablet and the dock (I still have to find out what caused the breakdown of the docking clamps... <ggrrrr>). I'd suggest either going 'naked' for a while (be careful not to let it tip backwards!) or get a really thin "foil case" (some are referenced in the Accessories forum).
4. Give data2sd some consideration -- that means getting yourself a nice, big, blazingly fast microSD card -- again: off to the Accessories forum you go.
5. With a little time, you'll be tinkering along with us, and get to arrive to the main point: enjoyment.
I just want to thank everybody who's posted here and offered some really great advice so far.
I'll definitely be installing CROMI and taking my time with the device when I finally get hold of it on Thursday.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Galaxy Tab 10.1 but I decided to get an upgrade as it was running out of space plus I was getting frustrated with the lack of a MicroSD card slot so I could transfer apps to a card as well as put media files on it.
borgmanjayce said:
I just want to thank everybody who's posted here and offered some really great advice so far.
I'll definitely be installing CROMI and taking my time with the device when I finally get hold of it on Thursday.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Galaxy Tab 10.1 but I decided to get an upgrade as it was running out of space plus I was getting frustrated with the lack of a MicroSD card slot so I could transfer apps to a card as well as put media files on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marty had some great advice actually. When you get your tablet, first thing: check your firmware version. If you're lucky it comes with ICS, firmware version ending in .26.
If that is the case: Do not update right away! Search XDA for how to make a NVflash backup.
If you have that, your tab is unbrickable = peace of mind.
I didn't know that and upgraded to JB right away (groan).
But I believe .26 is the last firmware version where you can use the NVflash tool. ICS .30 is already too late...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
berndblb said:
Marty had some great advice actually. When you get your tablet, first thing: check your firmware version. If you're lucky it comes with ICS, firmware version ending in .26.
If that is the case: Do not update right away! Search XDA for how to make a NVflash backup.
If you have that, your tab is unbrickable = peace of mind.
I didn't know that and upgraded to JB right away (groan).
But I believe .26 is the last firmware version where you can use the NVflash tool. ICS .30 is already too late...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually blushing.
The NvFlash procedure was a definite PITA -- it took me an entire evening and a few hours from the night to quit in frustration, only to try a different USB port the next morning and getting it to work right away. As you said, you'll really have to do your best and be extremely unlucky in order to brick it once you have your backups safely tucked away.
I really do find it extremely annoying that ASUS had decided to block NvFlash on the newer firmwares/bootloaders -- I fail to see any advantage in doing so. Now, they'll have more people sending in bricks that could've been easily recovered in the safety and comfort of the owner's own home, and their rather dense (in the sense of stupid) repair center/customer service is overwhelmed already. (People have been mentioning receiving their 700s from the repair center after having run through the RMA procedure twice -- :S -- without the issue actually having been solved [private communication].
Useless gits.
UPDATE: I managed to place a order with Amazon UK yesterday for a 64GB MicroSD card (Class 10 of course) as well as a Caseen Perfecto case for the Infinity itself as well as a computer case for the HTPC that I'll be building next month.
As for the Infinity itself, I was planning on buying it through Currys today via their Pickup and Collect option, but for some reason the option wasn't available at all and not only that, they didn't even offer a next-day delivery option to where I live in the UK, so I decided to order a used version from Amazon UK instead for £504.99 (which I'll be thoroughly testing and checking out before rooting it later on). In fact, I think Currys ended up doing me a favor as I've now saved £95.00 on the retail price for the 64GB version instead of the £50.01 that I would have saved if I had managed to buy it brand new from Currys today!
It's a bit of a shame that I'll have to wait till tomorrow to have it delivered (for free, thanks to Amazon Prime), but I know it'll be worth the wait at the end of the day.
borgmanjayce said:
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear you decided to take the plunge and join our merry bunch. I do hope that delivery is swift and all arrives well, and that you get a perfect Infinity!
By the way, in addition to my earlier reply: I have been testing data2sd lately, and it does make a significant difference, especially with (un)installation of appd and web browsing. Something to keep in mind; you may regard this as an additional recommendation, hahaha!
MartyHulskemper said:
Good to hear you decided to take the plunge and join our merry bunch. I do hope that delivery is swift and all arrives well, and that you get a perfect Infinity!
By the way, in addition to my earlier reply: I have been testing data2sd lately, and it does make a significant difference, especially with (un)installation of appd and web browsing. Something to keep in mind; you may regard this as an additional recommendation, hahaha!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do decide to root it in the end, ensure that you install "Browser2Ram", this significantly increased the performance of the stock browser.
Before rooting the native browser would crash with just about every webpage that was a bit overpopulated with script.
Bought myself an infinity tf700t - also my first post
Hi to all
thought it was time I scrapped my chinese Tablet and bought something more powerful, bit of an impulse buy but it did not cost me too much as purchased from E***, 1 dead pixel but actually has 3, I am not too bothered at the moment, it did occur to me that I could probably get this repaired under warranty, cant be more than a year old, would Asus honor this, would I have to provide receipts, anyone know where I stand in regards to this, I really do like the tablet, it is responsive and screen looks good,internet is really quick, be good to know what other things this bad boy can do, what I would like to ask is what apps would you all recommend and if anyone has found a decent case and cover for both components. I have been reading all the posts on custom roms, that might be a little bit beyond me as I have no experience of this. also read that it is only possible if tablet is running ICS, my is on JB 4.1.1
there was another question I wanted to ask, does this device allow for tethering to my iphone so I can use the 3g capabilities, and how is this done if possible, please make it simple as I am a bit of a Noob. as you have gathered I do need some help unleashing the power of my new toys, interested to hear anything or any suggestions, best apps, I would be extremely grateful and many thanks in advance. have a good day guys.
Kind Regards
Paul:
I finally got hold of the device a few hours ago and it definitely is a really nice device... Unfortunately, it seems that the one I got from Amazon UK has the Jellybean firmware so it looks like I'll have to downgrade then upgrade before rooting and adding a custom rom to it.
Can anybody point me in the right direction on how to downgrade then upgrade? The build number according to the device is "JR003C WW_epad 10.4.4.18-20121012".
tethering
cholo777 said:
there was another question I wanted to ask, does this device allow for tethering to my iphone so I can use the 3g capabilities, and how is this done if possible, please make it simple as I am a bit of a Noob. as you have gathered I do need some help unleashing the power of my new toys, interested to hear anything or any suggestions, best apps, I would be extremely grateful and many thanks in advance. have a good day guys.
Kind Regards
Paul:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tether mine regularly to my Motorola RAZR (Android based). I don't know how the iPhone identifies the wireless network it makes available when tethering. Once you find that out, you just connect the tablet to it, entering a password if you set it up that way. From then on, that connection should be remembered for easy connection.
- Ed
borgmanjayce said:
Unfortunately, it seems that the one I got from Amazon UK has the Jellybean firmware so it looks like I'll have to downgrade then upgrade before rooting and adding a custom rom to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to unlock anyway, you don't need to downgrade.
_that said:
If you want to unlock anyway, you don't need to downgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you needed to downgrade to unlock before rooting?
borgmanjayce said:
I thought you needed to downgrade to unlock before rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to unlock, you don't need to downgrade, and you don't need to root - just unlock and install a custom pre-rooted ROM.
If you want to root without unlocking, you need to downgrade to 9.4.4.30, root, and use OTA Rootkeeper and incremental dlkpgfile updates to get back to JB.