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I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new FUZE. Before I do, I was hoping some current owners could answer a few questions for me. I'm not a newbie to smart phones or WinMo, so I do understand some of the limitations of the device. My last phone wasn't a smart phone and I sorely miss not having it.
I was at the local AT&T shop to play with the FUZE in person, and honestly I wasn't at all impressed with the speed or the interface.
The sensitivity of touch was pretty bad, and I really had to push on the screen for it to register my finger. I've read on these boards that the sensitivity can be changed, so my question is, Can it be changed enough to be usable? It was pretty bad in the showroom.
The lag of the device was totally unacceptable to me. I would often not know if a key-press or screen gesture actually worked, and found myself hitting the key multiple times, only to realize it had registered the first time, but was taking forever to respond. I've read here that flashing the ROM and other tweaks improve the lag time, but does it improve it enough? Is there any lag time after using a cooked ROM? I understand that things may lag on occasion, but if there is a lag for most functions, I don't think I could put up with it too long.
Web browsing was a test of patience to say the least. It took a very long time for any page to load, and when it did load, it seemed to render in chunks very slowly. I was often confused if the page was even fully loaded after a minute or two. Is this experience to be expected, or can it be it be fixed?
I may just be confused about the contacts section. Do you have to scroll through each individual contact to get to the one you want? I have a couple hundred contacts in my phone now, and if I need to get to someone who starts with "N", that would take quite a while. I'm sure there is a better way, and I would just need to find out how to do it, but I wanted to ask first, as this could be a huge deal breaker for me.
It took me a while to find the call history on the phone. It seems like it's buried pretty deep. Is there anyway to modify the Touchflo3d icons to point to items I frequently use? I mean really I don't need the AT&T icon there at all, since I'll never use any of those features. I'd much rather have my call history available from the menu. Is this even possible?
I've read a lot of comments about the D-pad. I'm a gamer when on the road, so I need to make sure this phone will be able to handle my gaming needs. I didn't have the opportunity to try any games on it. Is the D-pad really an issue, and if it is, has there been a workaround?
I love the idea of having a touch screen. I need a phone that offers easy to use messaging and email features. I want simple access to my contacts, and easy to use phone functions. I also want a good web browsing experience, access to my MP3 files, and video files, as well as a decent gaming platform. Oh and I do like to tweak my toys. Is this the phone for me, or should I be looking at something different?
I appreciate anyone taking the time to answer any of these questions.
i have a fuze and love it alot. the sensitivity on the touch screen was bad until you change the registry key that controls it and of course a good screen calibration. its set for such a heavy touch. i changed it to ultrasensitive and its like using an iphone now. there are alot of registry keys to increase the performance. its real easy with diamond tf3d config app. best choice is to flash to a new rom though. the oem rom is junked up with so much crap. diamond tf3d conifig will help you change touch flo 3d to your liking. as far as a gaming device the dpad is a difficult thing to use tbh. and with the graphics drivers still not working right its not a good gaming device. in every other context, it is a good phone. it just takes some work to get it there.
Thanks for the input TJOC.
How is the FUZE as a phone? I mean, how easy is it to access your contacts, voice mail, or just make a call?
Best phone I have had. Most of what you point out in your message can be adjusted automatically or via a tweak or registry change. You would like this flexibility on something you own.
its not bad. the call history, calendar, voicemail (only if you have some messages) and contacts are right on the home tab. you can actually change the softkeys on the home tab to do other actions for you too. theres also one tab to the right called people which is a neat flippy interface if you assign pictures. when i go to my people tab it actually crashes touch flo 3d. i have to figure out what i did to make it do that.
i do have to say that for an htc phone it is the best for being a phone. ive used quite a few htc phones and they always have issues like bad signal, and most notably the volume and call quality have been pretty awful. but on the fuze its loud and clear.
that said its still not a phone for everyone. if you use speakerphone alot, then this may not be the phone for you. and alot of people cant handle windows mobile (i always say wm is not for beginners hehe). i would say try out the phone. att will let you take it back if you dont like it. and i wont call you crazy if you say you dont.
The Jack of Clubs said:
that said its still not a phone for everyone. if you use speakerphone alot, then this may not be the phone for you. and alot of people cant handle windows mobile (i always say wm is not for beginners hehe). i would say try out the phone. att will let you take it back if you dont like it. and i wont call you crazy if you say you dont.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speaker phone not too much an issue for me. I'm familiar with WinMo, so that won't be a problem either, heck I still use my Dell Axim
I think I'm going to take your advice, and just grab one. If I'm not happy I'll exchange it for a Bold or something.
I didnt like the Fuze stock as well but after tweaking it i love it, i would hard reset and then reset it right before it install all the att stuff back, when you get the phone and reinstall touchflo from the software column for raphael. that alone would make your device alot faster and then you can tweak it some mroe to make it even faster...since its your first Winmo phone read up on flashing and other themes or today screen...you can use other UI instead of TF3D just find one that you like. Cheers report back when you get the Fuze.
mfarlo,
I just got my Fuze a few days ago, and am loving it. I had a Cingular 8525 that I modified with new ROMs from this site. I'm looking forward to upgrading my Fuze after I see how it does out of the box.
I got a great deal going through myself when purchasing it. If you're interested in checking out what I can do for you, please let me know.
Joe
i too was unhappy with the fuze when i tested it out in the store, but after reflashing RRE 4.4.5 custom rom this phone is amazing, the signal strength is awesome, call quality is crystal clear for me, and the phone is lightning quick. if you buy a fuze play with it for a few days while you are reading up on flashing a new rom as it is a must with this phone, its like night and day. the phone has been out for a while now and the roms on this site keep getting better and better, you will not be dissapointed if you buy it.
From my experience with 4 Fuze's...Touchscreen sensitivity to a finger is adequate, although the stylus takes considerable pressure, especially at the edges of the screen. 2 of the Fuze's were slightly more sensitive, and two were slightly less, but none have the sensitivity of the older devices with recessed screens.
Sensitivity aside, you have to rely on the responsiveness of everything else, and that sucks for the most part. Performance "tweaks" and screen sensitivity "tweaks", either done manually with a registry editor, or with a program like AdvancedConfig do absolutely nothing. I've spent many hours comparing back and forth and didn't notice a single discernable difference. The device is sluggish no matter what you do to it (aside from flashing ROM's which i'm not doing). Try operating the phone with a song playing in the TouchFlo music player and it will be an exercise of patience. Disabling TouchFlo does speed things up, but that's a poor fix if part of the reason you purchased a Fuze was for TouchFlo (which I did). I'm perplexed by the folks who claim such a speedy device.
The Dpad is absolute garbage. Up/down work fine, left/right works about 80% of the time if you press in a very specific spot to the outside of the touch sensitive ring by a few millimeters. Funny, it takes extreme accuracy to scroll right or left, but 50% of the time when I try to hang up a call by pressing in the extreme lower right corner, it jumps out to the main menu and starts scrolling right with the call still in progress. I've had quite a few "I want to throw the phone as hard as possible" moments with that issue. The quality of the Dpad has varied from device to device, but none of them were anywhere near good. I can't imagine using it for gaming.
Opera loads webpages pretty quick for me. Unfortunately anything that requires touchscreen input like zooming or selecting links doesn't work so well. Generally I double tap 2-3 times before it zooms in or out. I'm not sure if it's a system issue, or a touchscreen problem. Zooming with the touch ring works well, but unfortunately, for me, the page won't reformat and the text won't wrap using the ring. Trying to zoom with the ring to make a link bigger so that it's clickable, results in the page moving and intermittent reloading of the page, then the link moves out of view. The problem is more common on certain pages and less on others.
Reception has been good, but the earpiece speaker issue looks like one that isn't going to get fixed. Even after loading a few alternate audiopara files, the speaker isn't loud enough, and when you do get lucky and call someone who's voice comes in at a higher volume, the speaker distorts. Pressing the sharp edge of the top rim of the phone against your ear, which I find myself doing often, results in soreness after. Fun!
Long term durability seems questionable, and the battery covers on all 4 phones that i've had suffered creakyness along the edges where the cover doesn't sit against the frame of the phone tightly. One even slid side to side everytime the device was handled.
I'm keeping the one I have now, it seems to be the best out of the 4, but still suffers from all of the issues listed above. Of course the keyboard was installed totally crooked, but it's par for the course with HTC. I'll never understand people who say HTC = great build/materials quality. I find it hard to believe i'm the only one who's struck out so many times. Not only with the Fuze, but with a Tilt and an 8525 before it. It's unfortunate that HTC seems to have cornered the market on this particular form factor for Windows Mobile. I would go with Xperia, but now that the metal cases are cracking left and right, I suppose I should pass. Way to go HTC.
One upside, the VGA screen is really nice, big improvement over QVGA.
Good luck.
check out my post at:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/htc-touch-pro-t-fuze/234449-random-thoughts-about-fuze.html
and
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/htc-touch-pro-t-fuze/234303-necessary-software-fuze.html
the fuze/touch pro is a love or hate phone. as far as a windows mobile phone i would say this is the best there is. htc will not be out done when it comes to windows mobile phones. and no windows mobile devices have capacitive screens so its not the most brilliant for touch screen but its not bad tbh. good luck with your purchase and hopefully it will be as pleasant of an experience for you as it is for me.
somethings to remember, find a newer build of opera. i had downloaded build 15202 from this site. pages will load faster and theres some tweaks you can do to get 0 mobile websites. theres also a registry entry that will give you a zoom slider which is a nice touch for web pages than relying on the scroll wheel. and if you dont have good volume in a phone call, make a call to the phone and up the volume with the rocker during the call. it sounds weird but you can only adjust the call volume while making a call.
Get The Fuze!!!
After being almost scared away from the Fuze when I handled it in an AT&T store, I quickly went home and checked on XDA to see what could be done about the TERRIBLE performance. I found TONS of options for tweaks, fixes, and ROMs. After a LOT of reading and deliberating, I decided that the RRE HTC Fuze ROMs were for me. I'm currently running RRE v4.4.5SE which is AMAZING!!! My Fuze feels like it runs 1000% faster! It's great!
Get the Fuze; if you don't already know how, read about flashing; flash the RRE Fuze ROM (linked in my signature below), and ENJOY! You WON'T regret it!!!
Best of luck,
NR
I have the Fuze and one of the bad things about it is the battery life, If you are really going to be on the phone alot I'd suggest buying an extra battery lik i did.
Thanks for all the comments, I am now a proud owner of an AT&T FUZE.
First thing I did was remove all the bloatware as described in tyguy's excellent post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=459335
It looks like I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time tweaking this beast until I get it just the way I want it, but that's the draw for me. I could have grabbed an iPhone and had everything I needed, but where's the fun in that? When I'm done with my tweaks, I'll have a phone custom tailored to suite my needs.
thats what i was thinking. the iphone doesnt need customization partially because you cant customize it to make it your own. the fuze may need alot of work when you take it out of the box but once you got it how you like it, its more made for you then an iphone. thats a downside for some people but ive been having loads of fun tinkering. my brother and my dad bough iphones and i poke at them doing things they cant, divx, tethering, garmin, taking pictures with flash, sending mms. i know theyre jealous because they bought the wrong phone.
Moved to the FUZE from the Tilt and after missing my D-Pad for awhile until I figured out the Fuze's pad, I now miss nothing.
I've had a lot of excellent PDA/Phones over the years, and have been a WinMo guy since PocketPC2000, and the Fuze is just yet another small step closer to the perfect combination device. I just STILL want a bigger screen.
As far as battery life goes, I use it just as hard as my Tilt, and get a bit more life out of the battery. I'm not sure what the huge complaint is, a dead battery at the end of the night is a good day. A phone that goes DAYS on a charge I haven't had since my Motorola V60
i miss the "dpad" from my ppc6700 (htc apache). it had a joystickish thing which worked well. but if im going to say i miss any one thing from that phone it would have to be the keyboard. you will never find a better keyboard on any other phone ever. and thats a challenge.
Hello all,
Apologies if this has already been answered already, but I am VERY tempted by the G-Tablet. LOVE the idea of sticking the customs ROMS on there.
I understand that the ROMS are by no means perfect, and I am fine with that. They are ever evolving and I am fine with changing ROMS now and again and trying out new things.
The only thing that has prevented me from making the purchase is the negative reviews of the screen that I have heard - particularly in portrait mode.
Is it really THAT bad? What is it like in portrait? And landscape?
Does anyone have any video or pictures or links to show what the screen looks like, particularly in portrait mode and in landscape too?
Should the screen be the thing that prevents me from buying it? Is it that much of a deal breaker?
Any video, comments or pictures would be greatly appreciated.
I really want to jump on the G-Tablet band wagon, but if the screen is that bad then I guess I will hold off.
Thanks in advance.
I use mine for, among other things, reading digital magazines and comics. In portrait mode the screen is pretty bad and has a 3D sort of effect at certain angles. In landscape mode it looks best when you're viewing it straight on and as your angle gets higher it looks lighter in color, the lower your angle the darker it gets. But I read everything in landscape mode anyway so this doesn't bother me.
For me even with the screen issue, using VEGAn rom beta 5.1, I love this tablet. It's something that I have been enjoying for over a month now rather than other folks "waiting" for something better and not having a tablet at all.
I also have an iPad (company issued) which I hardly ever even turn on (only when I want to keep my little kids busy with the Netflix app).
Once you experience the freedom and the fantastic custom roms our xda folks cook up I'm sure you'll fall in love with this tablet too. With all of the folks that complain about the screen in these forums, almost all of them have still kept their gTabs. That should tell you something.
Search youtube and there's a video showing the gtablets viewing angles. To me its not a deal breaker. I mostly use the tab in ladscape mode even while I'm ereading. Portrait mode is ok but its not a dealbreaker either. I think the tab is fairly price with what you get.
I loathe the screen.
If you happen to have a netbook, there's an easy way to replicate the GTab experience for reading comics or magazines. Just run an app on your netbook to open up the graphic, then flip it 90 degrees (so that it's in portrait) and look at the viewing angles. Notice, in particular, the significant changes if you tilt it slightly to the right or left. That's exactly what happens on the Gtab. On my Mini10v, you have to flip it 90 degrees counter-clockwise, so that the keyboard is on the right side.
I actually think a netbook is slightly better because the refresh is 60 Hz, whereas the refresh on the Gtab is (we think) 50 Hz.
gogorman said:
Hello all,
Apologies if this has already been answered already, but I am VERY tempted by the G-Tablet. LOVE the idea of sticking the customs ROMS on there.
I understand that the ROMS are by no means perfect, and I am fine with that. They are ever evolving and I am fine with changing ROMS now and again and trying out new things.
The only thing that has prevented me from making the purchase is the negative reviews of the screen that I have heard - particularly in portrait mode.
Is it really THAT bad? What is it like in portrait? And landscape?
Does anyone have any video or pictures or links to show what the screen looks like, particularly in portrait mode and in landscape too?
Should the screen be the thing that prevents me from buying it? Is it that much of a deal breaker?
Any video, comments or pictures would be greatly appreciated.
I really want to jump on the G-Tablet band wagon, but if the screen is that bad then I guess I will hold off.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most people are simply comparing the G Tablet screen to the typical smartphone screen or iPad.
Personally, I dont THINK the screen is meant to be used in portrait mode for anything more than looking at apps and reading. For THOSE uses, it is fine (imho). You can read ebooks, comics, even websites with it as well as use most apps. It tickles your eyes (some people say it hurts theirs) if you try to use it with low on screen light things like gaming and watching movies...but I find it more similar to my eyes trying to adjust to 3D, it doesn't hurt but you can tell it's not going to work for very long because it feels awkward. I don't wear glasses.
The angles also aren't great compared to a cell/smartphone. I don't have a problem with this because I look at it head on, and when I put it on it's stand, I angle it at around 90-100 degrees, the same as my notebook and it looks fine.
Just keep in mind that the screen is comparable to a netbook/notebook, in which case you wouldn't be flipping that on the side to look at anything, nor would you be looking at it comfortably at extreme angles.
Forget sitting in your chair and glancing at it on a desk, that won't work. Nor picking it up and holding it at anything close to 180 degrees in your hand (like you MAY hold your cell). Think of it as a touchscreen netbook without a keyboard and you'll find it to be perfectly acceptable (I think).
Should the screen prevent you from buying it? That's hard to say. I don't think it's a deal breaker by any means (otherwise I would have returned mine), but that is in my opinion, and this sort of thing is really up to the user/buyer to decide. I wouldn't spend $100 more for a "better" screen, so automatically this may be a defining factor between the types of buyers we are.
The angles are NOT good, however when I'm actually actively using I never notice how bad they are as I'm looking directly at the screen and not from an angle. I've even used as an ereader in portrait mode and have not had problems. i.e. I really only notice it when I have it ont he table or desktop and check to see how flash progress, etc. is going and even then I can usually make out the important bits as it seems to be only colors for me that appear washed out while black and white show up as usual -> mostly text which is what I want to see anyways...
I've had mine since the monday before Thanksgiving. I'm keeping it because a) there's nothing else as good/fast/powerful out ATM, b) Notion Ink seemed kind of hazy and I'd like to see how long that they survive, etc.
Try an Office Depot or something and see if they have an actual demo unit. Staples HAD demo units, but Sears just had a mockup...
(I've also had/have an Augen Gentouch78, Pandigital Novel(white), Nook Color, and gTablet. The NC screen is much better, but again I don't notice the viewing angle unless I'm specifically looking for that as I'm always looking directly at the screen when actively using... caveat: I don't watch videos generally, so maybe this is where it becomes important to some people... better screens are always nice though, and I lust after the PixelQi'ed Notion Ink Adam for outdoor/sunny use... but not @ $500 and their uncertain future...)
[EDIT]
Forgot to mention, but when I used it as an ereader I was holding it in portrait orientation which is how I prefer to orient devices when using them as a reader, assuming that they even support landscape mode to begin with. I'm using my NC purely as a reader ATM since it's batt runtime isn't all that long v. the gTab, and my crappy 128MB uSD wasn't able to boot the unit, and I just don't feel like manually rooting it which is no big deal ATM as I'm mainly using it as a reader. When it gets warmer I'll change my mind I'm sure and it'll be serving more portable tablet duties as well as reading... just have to order some 8GB class 6 uSDHC cards now... already ordered case for NC which I have yet to do for gTab, but I want to buy a bluetooth GPS/logger before anything else ATM, which is looking to cost more than I expected for such a simplistic device(no display, just couple LEDs, GPS chipset(MTK v2 3329), and some memory & storage)...
[/EDIT]
I've had mine for about a month now and I am currently 200 pages into "Teach Yourself Electronics and Electricity"
I read it in both portrait and landscape mode and the angles aren't too bad.
I wouldn't jump out and use it in landscape mode permanently or anything, but I can live with them.
Compared to an iPad, Galaxy Tab and the B&N Nook Color, the screen is very sensitive to the vertical viewing angle (in landscape mode), with solarization effects kicking in once you are off-axis.
This is a netbook screen as mentioned above.
If you are using the tablet in landscape mode and holding it in your hand, then you can adjust easily and automatically to make sure the viewing angle is optimal.
The screen is bright and the colors are vibrant. I enjoy using my tab this way as a couch-based internet/video terminal. The experience can be as good as the iPad (with the benefit of added flash).
However, when held vertically, depending on which way is up, the viewing angle sensitivity can be so great that each eye sees different levels of solarization - giving a subjective effect similar to that from red/green 3D specs...
Also, the solarization effect is not symmetrical when you look at the screen from above/below the viewing axis, with the screen giving acceptable-ish results if looked-at from above, but miserable results from below. Thus the device seems to be optimized for use on a stand/dock sat on a table and viewed from above. (This seems consistent with the original TnT console UI mode).
This all sounds terrible, and the screen definitely IS now the weakest part of the package - but despite that, the overall experience of the Gtablet is VERY enjoyable - just check out the forums.
Accordingly, the screen cannot be THAT bad...
You really need to see one in action and decide for yourself. It is VERY subjective....
Well I bit the bullet and made the purchase.
Managed to find one at a Sears Outlet 2 hours away for $296 total.
Thanks to all for the replies.
The next question is: Which ROM do I put on there? I know that each of them have their own pro's and con's but is there one I should put on there to start with to see how it goes (when initially replacing the Tap'n'Tap UI)? Is one more stable or feature packed than another?
Again, any input would be GREAT!
Thanks!
I use (as do many) TNT lite. It's based on the stock Veiwsonic but It is worlds better than stock. TNT lite development is very active.
I haven't but you can try them all.
gogorman said:
Well I bit the bullet and made the purchase.
Managed to find one at a Sears Outlet 2 hours away for $296 total.
Thanks to all for the replies.
The next question is: Which ROM do I put on there? I know that each of them have their own pro's and con's but is there one I should put on there to start with to see how it goes (when initially replacing the Tap'n'Tap UI)? Is one more stable or feature packed than another?
Again, any input would be GREAT!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two "good" (i.e. well supported, active user community) ROMs right now - TNT Lite and Vegan ROM. Both have significant user communities here at XDA numbering in the many thousands. Personally, I think Vegan ROM is the fastest, smoothest experience currently on the G Tablet. It has a few bugs (mostly the media issues on the external SD card - if you don't have one or don't use it much for that this is not an issue). TNT Lite is just a stripped down, sped up, much improved version of the stock ROM that came with the device. But still not quite as lightweight or zippy as Vegan in my opinion. CyanogenMod 6.x seems to be less supported right now, because most of the work is going into making CyanogenMod 7 work properly.
In a few weeks time, Vegan should be ported over to running on top of CyanogenMod 7. And in a few weeks time, hopefully, CyanogenMod 7 itself will be stable and awesome. There's a lot of great development activity going on right now, so stay tuned.
Loved android hated the screen!!
Having owned both a gtab and an iPad I have to say that in the end the screen quality killed owning the gtab for me. The viewing angles make it impossible to lay the gtab on a table like I can do with my iPad. I hate the locked down nature of the iPad and wanted to love the gtab but in the end I couldn't justify owning a device that frustrated me that much. I look forward to the next batch of honeycomb tablets and anticipate purchasing one. (lol that the iPad autocorrect capitalizes the word iPad properly)
gogorman said:
Well I bit the bullet and made the purchase.
Managed to find one at a Sears Outlet 2 hours away for $296 total.
Thanks to all for the replies.
The next question is: Which ROM do I put on there? I know that each of them have their own pro's and con's but is there one I should put on there to start with to see how it goes (when initially replacing the Tap'n'Tap UI)? Is one more stable or feature packed than another?
Again, any input would be GREAT!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll refer you to this thread where it's being discussed.
I never went to Vegan out of fear of the install somehow borking the tablet. I really can't bother with all that NVflash nor partitioning nonsense. CWM is as deep as I every want to go and so far between stock, tnt lite and cyanogen that's all I've ever had to do...load cwm, wipe data and cache, wipe dalvik and slap on a new/different ROM.
Speed means nothing to me if there are any frustrating or super noticeable, "get in your way" bugs, and from what I saw of TnT lite 4.1 it had nothing super noticeable and didn't lack any features I want/needed...in fact, nothing 'broke' in TnT lite 4.1 which is why that's what I recommend over all others.
Just remember to always, no matter what....wipe your cache and data. Many users will tell you it's not necessary but believe me when I say, it's better to do that than end up with some magic number or uid error because I've read about very bad experiences from people who just try to upgrade to a different OS. Some of these incessant errors seem to require APX mode or full re-flashes back to original - doesn't sound good, does it?
I may be spared out of being thorough or just dumb luck (knock on wood!!!!), but the fact is I've been spared.
I would recommend in addition to getting input from people in this and the other "what ROM is best" thread, to go read through the various ROM threads themselves. Check youtube to see how the various ROMs look and check screenshots, stuff like that to see what you may light.
Lastly, if you plan to try "on" different ones, I recommend Appbrain to help you get apps back on your tablet in an efficient manner, as long as you have access to the 'proper' market.
Appbrain allows you to sync your apps to a server, from there you can manipulate them - hard to explain but try it and see. And if a ROM causes Appbrain to ID the tab as something different every time, you can simply copy your app list to everything it uses. Appbrain simply checks your tab for what you have/don't have and looks up the apps 1 by 1 in the market, allowing you to install the newest versions possible till you're back in business.
A secondary backup method is to instruct Astro to backup your apps, then you save the folder with those apps to your SD card or your PC so you can sideload them manually when you're done swapping the OS.
Good Luck!
Hey man! This thread inspired me to make a video about! I had a lot of questions that no one seemed to answer in the videos they posted, so I figured I'd add to the community! Hope it helps some people out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO1XyVK6cms
I hope no one minds a relative tablet newbie posting some initial impressions:
I got this tablet yesterday morning from Office Depot.
Charged (didn't wait until fully charged to start her up).
1. I am not sure why everyone is so disappointed with the screen. I think it is fine. I can see it and you could have two people side by side watch a movie and it would be OK. Maybe I just don't have anything compare to. (I did play with BILs ipad last summer and I don't recall it being much better).
2. My gtab worked fine out of the box. If you were unitiated, you would probably think it is OK. However, I very quickly flashed the Vegan ROM. The access to the full google market is a big deal.
3. I do wish I had full time connectivity (3g). At school and home I have very good wifi access, but sometimes when I am out it would be handy to have access.
4. I will be reviving my old bluetooth module and trying it out this afternoon.
5. Initial battery charge lasted 22 hours of being on. During that time I flashed roms, played some music, played a game, installed numerous apps... I did sleep for some of that time, though. However, I left the screen on the whole time because I wanted to drain the battery fully. Also, just charged it fully in 3 hours.
6. One question: With Vegan, I lost the functionality of the light sensor. Is there a way to restore that?
Over all, I think I am going to be happy.
(p.s., rainx worked great).
Montyhp
I agree with you completely.... the g tablet does what I want it to do. Did flash it... screen is ok for me...no complaints......
I think Roebeets 60hz upgrade on TnT lite ROM helps screen viewing as well.
For me the biggest drawback to the screen's viewing angles is showing it to all the Apple fan boys I work with, they instantly start telling me how it would be a deal breaker for them and never really give it a chance. Different strokes for different folks, personally I prefer a device that is open with a large and active development community such as XDA.
I was looking at this and a NookColor, screen size isnt that big of a deal. Just other specs that im trying to compare. Have you tried the nook color yet
Heh, My Biggest Complain, and this is silly, is the silly amount of fingerprints this thing collects. This is my first tablet...and I know my Droid does it share of CSI printing, but wow.. I still have to do the RainX fix, which I hope will assist in that.
I also want a rubberized Sleeve or skin or something to make it less Slippery.. The back is crazy. I really see why Notion Inks ADAM is getting praise for that little Bump on the one side..Gives you something to hold onto... ;-)
I was excited to get a G-Tablet in the recent Woot sale. Unfortunately, as I have noted in other threads, when I got it, it wouldn't run through the original NTP-WiFi configuration procedure out of the box.
I wiped it and installed VEGAn 5.1.1 and got on with the process of evaluating it.
Am I the only one with touch screen sensor issues? It requires massive fingertip hurting pressure to hit the 'L' key and many of the touch areas along the edge that is adjacent to the Home/Menu/Back buttons. Sometimes I need to press so hard to register a key press, I think that it will crack the LCD. It really impacts my happy factor with this device.
The Market fix isn't as complete as my Archos 70. I saw the thread on changing device type=olympus. I can't vi the /system/build.prop without getting / set to read/write. Too much of a hoop to jump through right now. If I could vi the file, no problem. Still, it is an annoyance.
Weight. I knew it was heavier, but wasn't prepared to the reality of dealing with the mass of this unit.
Screen view. Even with an iPad screen protector on, the color and view angles are annoying. It was unusable to me for reading and regular use before the screen protector went on. Now it is better, but still subpar compared to the A70.
I want to love the gTablet for its technical superiority and future upgrade path to 2.3 and potentially beyond. My Archos device will never be better than FroYo.
However, even though I know it is 'better' I just can't stand actually using it. I feel that the gTab needs to go to flEaBay, since Woot doesn't do refunds.
Anyone else feeling this way?
Touchscreen callibration app should fix your touch issues... I had the same problem and that solved it.
Yeah, I have the app and tried it. Not much real difference in my experience. :\
I just ran it again, and it is weird. Some areas of the screen work just fine (launcher pro dock when in desktop/finder mode for example). then, when on virtual keyboard, those same pixel areas don't sense well. Might be a keyboard issue, though it seems to be the same with BetterKeyboard and Android keyboard.
I don't know, I want to like this thing, but feel disappointed. Same way with the Samsung Captivate, which i returned after fighting with it for a month.
tenet420 said:
Touchscreen callibration app should fix your touch issues... I had the same problem and that solved it.
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Click to collapse
+1. Screen cal should help. Anyway, don't have that problem with TNTL 4.2.5.
BoulderGeek said:
I was excited to get a G-Tablet in the recent Woot sale. Unfortunately, as I have noted in other threads, when I got it, it wouldn't run through the original NTP-WiFi configuration procedure out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone has been saying the stock rom isn't very well made since day one.
I wiped it and installed VEGAn 5.1.1 and got on with the process of evaluating it.
Am I the only one with touch screen sensor issues? It requires massive fingertip hurting pressure to hit the 'L' key and many of the touch areas along the edge that is adjacent to the Home/Menu/Back buttons. Sometimes I need to press so hard to register a key press, I think that it will crack the LCD. It really impacts my happy factor with this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, touch screen calibration app should do the trick. Also, you can create a blank file name calibration.ini in the root of your sdcard2 and then reboot. Don't touch the screen while it reboots. This file will tell the device to recalibrate the touch.
The Market fix isn't as complete as my Archos 70. I saw the thread on changing device type=olympus. I can't vi the /system/build.prop without getting / set to read/write. Too much of a hoop to jump through right now. If I could vi the file, no problem. Still, it is an annoyance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, it's not much of a hoop. Took me all of 30 seconds to do this.
Weight. I knew it was heavier, but wasn't prepared to the reality of dealing with the mass of this unit.
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Click to collapse
I'm an engineer researcher at a material science lab. We build and crush to test our own toys. Sometimes, we have to carry (by hand) objects that are hundreds of pounds heavy. I guess the weight of the gtab isn't really bothering me that much. But again, it's only .3 lb heavier than the ipad, so if you have a problem with the gtab then I'm sure you'll have the same problem with the ipad.
Screen view. Even with an iPad screen protector on, the color and view angles are annoying. It was unusable to me for reading and regular use before the screen protector went on. Now it is better, but still subpar compared to the A70.
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Click to collapse
Again, not an issue for me. I'm a heavy reader, meaning I go through several books a week. Been using the gtab to read ebooks on my train ride commute.
I want to love the gTablet for its technical superiority and future upgrade path to 2.3 and potentially beyond. My Archos device will never be better than FroYo.
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Click to collapse
I don't just want to love the gtab. I love my gtab.
But then again, you really have to consider my past I guess. I was born in a house with a dirt floor, grew up with a black and white small tv (14 inch or so, can't remember). And even then, the tv worked only sometimes.
It just seems to me that so many people (Americans) complain about things that, to me, are moot points. For $285, the gtab is a steal based on what it could do.
And to me, the gtab is more than just a toy. Before, I was carrying my laptop around, which weighs a ton (exaggeration here). Nowadays, I sometimes leave it in the office or at home and just carry the gtab around. I'm expecting my experience to be even better once the case with the usb keyboard arrives.
Yes, I'm one of those that has no problem jury rigging something to make my experience better.
However, even though I know it is 'better' I just can't stand actually using it. I feel that the gTab needs to go to flEaBay, since Woot doesn't do refunds.
Anyone else feeling this way?
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Some people want their devices to work straight out of the box. And some people want their devices to just work powerfully and don't care about the luxuries.
I've recently converted 100% to electronic books. I've sold over half of my library collection on amazon. I often run into people who are absolutely against ebook reading. The #1 reason that most people seem to have against ebooks is that they want the smell and feel of paper while they read. That's their opinion, and it's ok. They are free to like or dislike whatever they want.
But to me, I read a book for its contents, not what it's written on. I don't care how a book feels or what it smells like. I love zombie novels, and I don't care if it's on paper or plastic.
I guess I have the same attitude with my gtab. This really is a powerful piece of device. It runs fast, the screen is uber sensitive (on my device at least). The battery life is up there with the ipad. Completely hackable (a must in my book). And it's incredibly lite weight. Again, I speak as someone who work hands on with his projects. Funny story, someone the other day made a face and asked me what happened to my hands. I looked down and for the first time I actually noticed all the scars and Calluses on my hands. Amazing how boy friend hasn't complained yet.
Anyway, the #1 reason why I like this device is because it's freakin' cheap. Even if I break it in a year, or if I decide to buy something else in a year, I wouldn't feel the pain in my stomach the way I'd feel if I had bought a xoom or ipad.
Anyway, to each his own I guess. And that's ok.
You should either get a xoom or ipad. I've borrowed them from friends and played with those. They are very nice and fits your needs quite well.
Edit.
And my elderly dad just told me he wanted one to surf the net while on the couch and have a 10 inch screen gps. Just bought one for him. Hopefully will arrive soon. Also already ordered a gps receiver and a car mount. My elderly dad's far sight vision is great. Better than mine. He could see things at a distance that I can't see even with my glasses on. But his near sight vision is beginning to slip. So, the gps I bought him a couple years back aren't that helpful nowadays. Hopefully, this 10 inch one will be better. I'm also hoping I could talk to him via video conferencing when he goes back to (insert a random country here). So, I better start showing him how to use a touch screen. It was hard enough to get him to understand and use the mouse...
I wouldn't mind a little tactile feedback or lighting for the 4 side touch buttons. They are hard to find in the dark. Some small protusions on the buttons themselves, or on the side of the case would also have been nice, like the bumps on a keyboard on the f and j keys.
Haha, the 4 buttons in the dark issue was bothering me, too. I guess I stopped noticing it once I have it memorized. Just last night, I was reading before I went to sleep and noticed that I could press with 99% precision the buttons. So, yeah, it's not a problem for me anymore.
1. I have had "edge" problems that went away when I put a different wall paper up. Try a non-live wallpaper.
2. The Olympus fix works. It just breaks the web site seeing your tablet. Get Root Explorer and it takes about 2 seconds to mount /system rw.
3) I guess the screen is a personal preference thing. I like mine better since I put a urethane screen protector on. Really keeps the fingerprints off of it for the most part and the angles don't bother me.
4) The unlit buttons are a pain in the dark. I put some clear paper reinforcement stickers over mine so they have a little feel in the dark. They are almost invisible from any distance away but you can feel them. These are the little sticky holes you put on loose leaf paper when the holes have torn out. Oh, the other think you can do is get button savior in the market. This gives you nice onscreen buttons (although you know VEGAn has home, menu and back buttons on the status bar). Now the other problem is I tend to hit the buttons when I am trying to grip the tablet. There is a non-free app called remapper (I think) that can turn them off (or repurpose them) but I have not tried it.
I don't disagree about the gtablet being a good value.
it's just slightly worse at everything than my existing Archos 70 tablet. So, for more money and double the specs, I didn't really get any appreciable improvement. Perhaps that's what I should have stated.
If I had no Android tablet, I'd be completely happy with my my VEGAn Tab.
However, i can't justify two tablets, and surprisingly, i don't think the gtablet is going to be the keeper. I'm just surprised that is the case.
I just did a factory reset, and will take pictures tonight for flea bay.
On the screen sensitivity issue, the one-touch app didn't work for me, and I was considering returning my tab. But then I did the calibration.ini trick, and the difference is amazing.
dfin13 said:
On the screen sensitivity issue, the one-touch app didn't work for me, and I was considering returning my tab. But then I did the calibration.ini trick, and the difference is amazing.
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Good to know. Thanks.
It may not keep you from selling it, but it sure will help the person who buys it from you
dfin13 said:
It may not keep you from selling it, but it sure will help the person who buys it from you
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I think that guy is sitting in the cube adjacent to mine. He's been playing with it all day. Reinstalling the apps that i lost by resetting to factory.
you guys do realized that vegan roms have the same buttons on the notification bar.. for just this reason.. to take the place of the side buttons at night.
I was personally about to sell my gTablet about 48 hours ago. I was having tons of lock-ups, market issues and was pretty frustrated.
I decided to start all over and reflashed to stock - did a lot of research here and just about have it working perfect with vegan 5.1.1 now. No lockups with flash, olympus thing fixed my market issues - it is simply an awesome tablet. I have had an ipad for a year and really like this in comparison.
If you don't want to put in the effort to modify the build.prop to fix the market it might not be for you though. It was not hard in retrospect but without any context it takes a while to really get familiar with some of the the things you are doing. I ended up using ADB to edit it - using root explorer sounds much easier.
I personally enjoyed getting it all setup right at the end of the day and learned a lot. For the price this thing is a heck of a tablet.
Also wanted to thank everyone for the hard work figuring out these fixes and ROMs - very impressive community!
My take on this is that these fixes should take like 2 minutes to do. Very easy. The problem is that new users are intimidated by complicated instructions. Take the olympus fix for example. Took me less than 30 seconds to do. But because of the way people talk on here a new user would have to read thru 3 pages because nobody was willing to give a straight answer.
Granted, I'm verbose but I figure if you read the first part of the olympus thread and you knew what edit build.prop and change one line on it meant you wouldn't need or read the long detailed instructions.
There has to be a balance between talking to people who are Android fluent and helping ramp up new users, in my opinion.
goodintentions said:
But again, it's only .3 lb heavier than the ipad, so if you have a problem with the gtab then I'm sure you'll have the same problem with the ipad.
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You mean .05 .lbs heavier than the iPad, right? Or were you referring to the iPad2, which is .22 .lbs lighter than the GTab?
I think it's important for people to realize that the GTab COULD weigh less and be thinner, as could the Xoom, but then where would the SD card slot and USB ports go? I think the edges would have slight bulges in them to accomodate the ports. I'm actually fine with the weight of the G-tab...If I noticed a difference of 100 grams, then I'd have to seriously consider working out harder.
As for the other annoyances from the OP...I guess some seem legitimate, but I haven't noticed touchscreen sensitivity issues, etc. Mine is fast and stable and works great. Aside from the screen viewing angles, I love the GTab.
One last thing to note...I just spent a week using my GTab on vacation, and also used my daughter's iPad quite a bit, too. I know this is totally subjective, but the iPad seems more like a toy than anything else. I liked the screen, but otherwise was not impressed overall. I burned several movies from DVD to my GTab and it worked flawlessly. After surfing, playing games and watching 2 movies, I had 50% battery life left. Not bad!
wd5gnr said:
Granted, I'm verbose but I figure if you read the first part of the olympus thread and you knew what edit build.prop and change one line on it meant you wouldn't need or read the long detailed instructions.
Sorry if that confused you.
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Click to collapse
My first impression of the olympus thread was "what the hell?" sure I knew what you were talking about but for someone who's new to android and rooting something as simple as editing the build.prop could be the biggest stumbling block.
I know I have the reputation for hating newbies after my wooters thread. And thats fine. But people need to pay attention to their instructions to see if they make any sense to a newbie. Belive it or not i'm actually very friendly toward newbies. And believe me, the initial instructions in that thread make no sense to a newbie.
I am in the process of compiling everything into easy step by step instructions for the technical illiterates. Viewsonic gtab for dummies. I'll launch my website hopefully sometime next week.
lostpilot28 said:
You mean .05 .lbs heavier than the iPad, right? Or were you referring to the iPad2, which is .22 .lbs lighter than the GTab?
I think it's important for people to realize that the GTab COULD weigh less and be thinner, as could the Xoom, but then where would the SD card slot and USB ports go? I think the edges would have slight bulges in them to accomodate the ports. I'm actually fine with the weight of the G-tab...If I noticed a difference of 100 grams, then I'd have to seriously consider working out harder.
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It's my experience that people will complain about anything/everything if something does not cost much.
I really wanted this to be a winner. The light bleed is horrible. I have a big gap on the left of the screen that is now starting to separate. It is starting to creak really bad when I hold it. Its now doing the thing where it won't wake up and I have to hard shut it down (my xoom did this all the time, which was one of the main reasons i returned it.) The dock is nowhere to be found. The lag, especially when typing, is getting old.
I am going to give honeycomb time to mature, and then try another tablet. The samsung looks like a better build quality, so hopefully it will get a more finished version of honeycomb. I think asus could have had a real winner here with the price and the dock, but the build quality is atrocious and honeycomb is just too buggy. I could deal with the honeycomb bugs if the hardware wasn't so junky.
I really love android and my HTC inspire, so it amazes me how buggy this is in comparison.
Good luck everyone.
Sorry it didn't work out for you. I too have the light bleed glitch, it's not major but it's enough to annoy me. I'm going to contact Comet and see if they can exchange the unit.
EvoXOhio said:
I really wanted this to be a winner. The light bleed is horrible. I have a big gap on the left of the screen that is now starting to separate. It is starting to creak really bad when I hold it. Its now doing the thing where it won't wake up and I have to hard shut it down (my xoom did this all the time, which was one of the main reasons i returned it.) The dock is nowhere to be found. The lag, especially when typing, is getting old.
I am going to give honeycomb time to mature, and then try another tablet. The samsung looks like a better build quality, so hopefully it will get a more finished version of honeycomb. I think asus could have had a real winner here with the price and the dock, but the build quality is atrocious and honeycomb is just too buggy. I could deal with the honeycomb bugs if the hardware wasn't so junky.
I really love android and my HTC inspire, so it amazes me how buggy this is in comparison.
Good luck everyone.
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I went through 4 Transformer's and came to the same conclusion. Going to wait till the tab 10.1 is released and take a look at that as well as re-evaluate the build quality of the transformer and see if there is better qc. I really did like it alot.
Need to sell my dock now :-(
Sent from my CM7 Supersonic
Sorry to the OP for the issues you have had. I got my Transformer on US launch day (returned my Xoom to get the Transformer also), and have not had any light bleed or build quality issues.
Actually I prefer the build to the Xoom especially the textured back. The Xoom's black glossy finish had me going nuts just keeping prints off of it.
I have had minor issues with the Sleep of Death issue but they have been rather negligible. I will be receiving my dock tomorrow so hopefully that will be smooth with the latest US patch I have installed.
Asus had the best overall design with the Transformer in my opinion. The dock is just to good of a concept. I'm willing to hang in with them until they patch these issues away. Build quality issues seems to be another issue and with the difficulty they have had delivering the units to the masses I know an RMA has to be a nightmare right now.
I'll stick with them on the Transformer but if they don't fix this stuff I won't buy another Asus tablet until they show and prove. I've been using and loving their motherboards for years, hope they get the tablet game strong.
The thing is though you give up quite a bit with the Galaxy Tab. I too thought about purchasing one (currently have a G-Tablet) but it uses the same Tegra 2 processor, has no USB port, has no HDMI port, and has no microSD card slot. All in all it just doesn't seem like much of an upgrade. Also Android 3.0 will always be Android 3.0 no matter what hardware is running it. I'm sure updates will further refine the OS but the Galaxy Tab will run Honeycomb no better than the Transformer.
I have an Asus transformer and have only a few small concerns with it. The light bleed is due to the IPS panel I believe, the ipad 2 has the same issue.. I dont even notice it really, The plastic back only flexes if I am squeezing harder than I ought to, and remember that its plastic, if you continually flex the back panel its going to get softer and softer. I haven't had it lock up on me, although a few apps have fc'd on me, but I think its more of a compatibility issue. My camera dust cover has dust under it ironically although it hasnt been noticeable in any pictures and the only reason I took a picture with my tablet is to see if the dust was apparent. Its a little too unwieldy for regular picture taking anyways.
I think its a great piece of equipment and at 100 dollars less than anything else out there I am very pleased with it.
If a product doesn't work for you, absolutely, return it. I don't really get why so many people think it's necessary to go to a forum and post that they're returning something, but to each their own, I suppose. I'm returning my Xoom, but since I got the Transformer and decided to keep it instead, I haven't been back to the Motorola forum since. I certainly won't be going back just for the express purpose of announcing my decision.
I mean, it's not like I'd be saying anything about the Xoom that's not already been said there many times. It would almost seem like I was just complaining for no reason other than to spoil the experience for someone else.
Anyways, yeah, whatever. I do have to say as well that I don't really get this fascination with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It seems like its only advantage is that it's thinner and lighter. It doesn't appear to have a better screen (maybe not even as good as the TF's), it has fewer expansion options, it has Samsung's software which depending on your perspective can be a positive or a negative, and it costs more. Confusing...
wynand32 said:
If a product doesn't work for you, absolutely, return it. I don't really get why so many people think it's necessary to go to a forum and post that they're returning something, but to each their own, I suppose. I'm returning my Xoom, but since I got the Transformer and decided to keep it instead, I haven't been back to the Motorola forum since. I certainly won't be going back just for the express purpose of announcing my decision.
I mean, it's not like I'd be saying anything about the Xoom that's not already been said there many times. It would almost seem like I was just complaining for no reason other than to spoil the experience for someone else.
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Click to collapse
The reason I posted this, and I suspect why others so it as well, is for perspective buyers who read these forums looking for opinions. If I can help educate someone before buying this then I will.
Anyways, yeah, whatever. I do have to say as well that I don't really get this fascination with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It seems like its only advantage is that it's thinner and lighter. It doesn't appear to have a better screen (maybe not even as good as the TF's), it has fewer expansion options, it has Samsung's software which depending on your perspective can be a positive or a negative, and it costs more. Confusing...
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Click to collapse
The fewer expansion options may be with just the limited edition one they gave out at Google I/O. The ones given out there differ from what was last shown to the public. That being said, I have the original iPad and I have never filled the onboard storage, do I have never had a need for expandable storage or USB ports. So for me, and I suspect a lot of others, it would be a non-issue anyway. Hell I wish I could pay less money for a tablet if I could get the cameras, microSD, and USB ports removed.
Samsung's software is just a bunch of widgets on top of Honeycomb, just like Asus's. It's not a skin like you see on Android phones.
Build quality and weight ARE the big reasons that people such as myself are very interested in the Samsung. i could probably ride out Asus's software issues if I thought the hardware was solid enough to last, but from the unit I got I believe it would be in the trash within a year. Ultimately I am looking for very high build quality with software that is good enough that can/will be upgraded over time.
Reading this place i'm quite happy that i'm made to wait till next month before i can pick TF+scandi dock here.
Hopefully it has gotten better on the hw and soft front. If i'm not pleased there's always Samsung that i can throw money at.
I don't really see blacklight bleeding as a noteworthy subject (Unless of course it's a problem on a bigger scale, which unlike the iPad 2 this doesn't seem to be).
You'll always have devices that slip through QA tests with blacklight bleeding or dead/stuck pixels, the only thing to do is to return it if you get a device like that.
As for the competition, the Xoom is very expensive, and without a dock, the back looks kinda weird honest, where the Asus one look a lot more consist. There's no keyboard-docking at launch, on the upside it does support hacking out of the box.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab I/O-version is gorgeous to say the least, also very hackable, unfortunately that may not be the case for the final version, though i figure it will still be a nice design. Pricing will like the Xoom probably be through the roof, and again, as far as i know, no launch-keyboard docking.
So i'm going for the Transformer, even if i have to send it back because of blacklight bleeding, because i think this is the only tablet sofar that've really made sense from a usability standpoint.
wynand32 said:
If a product doesn't work for you, absolutely, return it. I don't really get why so many people think it's necessary to go to a forum and post that they're returning something,
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Click to collapse
+1 ...I'm just tired of reading those posts telling the whole world about returning a whatever it is.... seriously..why even bother....
I'm just happy to say my TF has been working very well... there is lightbleed..but it's negligible in daily use and my IPad 2 is no better than that..and the keyboard docking is the deciding factor here for me..
I totally understand how frustrating it can be when you really want to like a piece of tech but it just doesn't pan out. Asus has a terrific concept on their hands and it seems the execution is a bit off. I have never been impressed with their netbooks and laptops in regards to apparent build quality (key word "apparent" since I have no personal experience with them). I have used and swear by Asus motherboards for over 10 years and keep expecting better hardware builds from them.
Nobody has mentioned it, but I have my eye on the new Toshiba coming out in June. USB ports, HDMI and SD. Looks to be solidly built. I also played with an Acer Iconia yesterday it felt pretty nice but wasn't crazy with the type of plastic they used on the ends. They also don't have a great track record with their h/w.
The tech is still awfully young with no one having any track record except Apple (and you've all heard the issues they have been having). I am impatient about this stuff as you all and being early adopters always comes at a cost. I am forcing myself to wait till I can check out these tablets in person before I plunk down my benjamins. I will check out the Transformer for myself when it finally makes it to the brick and mortars but I am rather skeptical of them. Toshiba seems to fit my wants pretty well. I also like it has a user replaceable battery.
most of these issues seem to be due to production variances since not everyone has the same problem. Which means you can easily find a better by exchanging your device.
EvoXOhio said:
The reason I posted this, and I suspect why others so it as well, is for perspective buyers who read these forums looking for opinions. If I can help educate someone before buying this then I will.
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Click to collapse
I appreciate you taking time to post your reasons for "throwing in the towel". However there is always a problem with these kind of posts. It suffers from "this is my experience, you can expect the same". You may not have meant it, but it can be preceived that way.
My experience has been just the opposite from yours... so who's experience with the TF is indicative of the product? Yours or mine?
I have yet to see any product that is massed produced from paperbooks, electronics, cars, to hamburgers ..... you name it, that doesnt have a few lemons get out there... its the nature of manufacturing. Its unavoidable.
EvoXOhio said:
The fewer expansion options may be with just the limited edition one they gave out at Google I/O. The ones given out there differ from what was last shown to the public. That being said, I have the original iPad and I have never filled the onboard storage, do I have never had a need for expandable storage or USB ports. So for me, and I suspect a lot of others, it would be a non-issue anyway. Hell I wish I could pay less money for a tablet if I could get the cameras, microSD, and USB ports removed.
Samsung's software is just a bunch of widgets on top of Honeycomb, just like Asus's. It's not a skin like you see on Android phones.
Build quality and weight ARE the big reasons that people such as myself are very interested in the Samsung. i could probably ride out Asus's software issues if I thought the hardware was solid enough to last, but from the unit I got I believe it would be in the trash within a year. Ultimately I am looking for very high build quality with software that is good enough that can/will be upgraded over time.
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Click to collapse
The one given away at the Google I/O is the same one that will be sold at retail sans the white back. There will be no USB on the device itself but instead there will be an adapter sold that will allow for USB connectivity. There will be no microSD because the microSD card slot will be the same slot that houses the SIM card. There will be microSD support on the wifi/3G model but not on the wifi only model. Seeing as how you've had an iPad and don't care for onboard ports and expandable memory (some of the biggest advantages of owning an Android tablet) then why not just buy an iPad 2? It appears to me that the Samsung tablet offers a gimped Android experience without handing over more money for the additional functionality.
EDIT: Also 32 gigs now days is fairly small when a movie itself takes up over a gig of space and music collections can span hundreds of gigs of space. Take into account memory reserved for the OS and apps and you're looking at only about 29 gigs of usable space on a 32 gig tablet for media.
rockcrawler said:
I went through 4 Transformer's and came to the same conclusion. Going to wait till the tab 10.1 is released and take a look at that as well as re-evaluate the build quality of the transformer and see if there is better qc. I really did like it alot.
Need to sell my dock now :-(
Sent from my CM7 Supersonic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ill buy the dock lol
kilofox said:
I appreciate you taking time to post your reasons for "throwing in the towel". However there is always a problem with these kind of posts. It suffers from "this is my experience, you can expect the same". You may not have meant it, but it can be preceived that way.
My experience has been just the opposite from yours... so who's experience with the TF is indicative of the product? Yours or mine?
I have yet to see any product that is massed produced from paperbooks, electronics, cars, to hamburgers ..... you name it, that doesnt have a few lemons get out there... its the nature of manufacturing. Its unavoidable.
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But by me not posting this, then potential buyers will not be aware of the potential issues. The problem exists both ways - if only unhappy users post, then everyone reading will think there is a problem. If only happy users post, then everyone reading will think the product is perfect. That's why I have chosen to post MY review of the product. It's up to the satisfied customers to do the same to balance out the equation.
Enectic said:
Seeing as how you've had an iPad and don't care for onboard ports and expandable memory (some of the biggest advantages of owning an Android tablet) then why not just buy an iPad 2? It appears to me that the Samsung tablet offers a gimped Android experience without handing over more money for the additional functionality.
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The reason I am not buying an iPad 2 is the same reason I switched to Android after having iPhones for 3+ years - I want to be in control of the device I own. I want to customize it. I do not want the manufacturer deciding if the content is appropriate or not. I do not want my device held hostage by a CEO with an ego the size of the universe. I want to switcher launchers. I want to switch default browsers. I want real background tasks and real multitasking. That's why I have chosen Android. I am so sick my Apple stuff it's ridiculous.
EvoXOhio said:
But by me not posting this, then potential buyers will not be aware of the potential issues. The problem exists both ways - if only unhappy users post, then everyone reading will think there is a problem. If only happy users post, then everyone reading will think the product is perfect. That's why I have chosen to post MY review of the product. It's up to the satisfied customers to do the same to balance out the equation.
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I think there are plenty of posts here that discuss the problems that users encounter and the shortcomings that some users see. You see the same exact posts in every forum for every device so if a user only goes by that he/she will NEVER find a device. There will be just as many people hating and returning the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as there have been returns for the XOOM, the Acer and the Transformer. You made your decision and that's good. I just sold my XOOM, not because I was unhappy with it, but I wanted different features that the TF offers. Maybe I am too realistic to expect the perfect tablet. For me personally the TF has everything I need. Hopefully the 10.1 will be the right tablet for you!
Sent from my TF101
Can some of you post some pictures of your light bleed problems?
I have light bleed but to notice it, you'd have to crank the brightness up to max and be in a dark room. (Not a common situation I find myself in) Even when shutting off the lights, dimming down the brightness helps and the picture is still pretty clear. Also, light bleed is quite common in LCD screens.
I'm just having trouble understanding how light bleed can be so debilitating that some people would actually go through the trouble and exchange their unit multiple times.
I also have the creaky problem when I put moderate pressure on the back of my device but putting on the sleeve helped. (though it is not compatible with the dock)
Finally, I sympathize with your wake problems because my Xoom had this problem as well. I haven't experienced it with my TF but I can see how it can be an annoyance. Most of the other problems you can fix or put a band-aid on; but this one, you really can't. Not sure why we all aren't getting this problem since we are basically running the same software -- perhaps it's a problematic app or maybe an app triggered some sort of internal problem. (that's why I didn't dl the task killer this time)
Anyway, I'd try again but a refund isn't too bad either. We are still at an early stage with tablets so waiting a couple of months (but most likely sometime in 2012) might pay off.