ViewSonic G Tablet price and reviews

Great tablet for the price. The ability to expand it's storage is a iPad killer in my opinion. Don't be afraid to change the software, it is well worth your time and effort.

After the update (12/24/2010 update) It went up to awesomeness for me. It has a new app ( found in the home page of gtablet) were it allows you to download a good range of apps. The customizable back ground and 3d backgrounds are sweet. In a bunch if your a person that needs to be online, read a lot , play a lot , videos , music etc well this is for you. Great battery life, it last around 7 to 8 hours. Cheaper than the ipad and you can use micro sd up to 64gb and it has a mini usb and a normal usb. :)

I bought a Quantaray 7" tablet from Wolf Camera and took it back a few days later. Awful resistive touchscreen is not worth it. I then found this GTablet at Staples (for twice the price), and it's worth every penny. One hundred bucks cheaper than the iPad, with better specs and features. Ignore the Apple fanboys and newbies who can't/won't go the extra mile to root their tablet. If you want it to truly shine, you need to do some research (http://forum.xda-developers.com/) and turn this tablet into the powerhouse it should've been. I've put tnt lite ROM on their, along with flash, android marketplace and a wide assortment of apps. If you're into benchmarks, my GTablet scores 2511 in the Quadrant Benchmark. Spend the time to customize your GTablet and you won't be disappointed. If you don't enjoy tinkering with the OS, go buy an iPad.

I bought a number of Android tablets before I purchased the Viewsonic G. I think it is a great tablet that delivers a good value for the money.

Now that Flash player is available as a beta version on the Viewsonic website, it is a way better machine than it used to be. I didn't think I'd like the stock dashboard layout at all, but find myself using the weather and news widgets all the time. With the new update on 12/24/10, there is also the choice of the standard Android interface as well. I have to say, its not an Ipad, but I didn't want an Ipad so I'm totally happy with the G Tablet. It does everything I want it to do, and then some. Now I wish I could find a Screen protector and case that fit it.

I was pretty nervous about unboxing the g based on all the reports I had heard about the protective film and the stock software. But, to my surprise, everything went pretty smooth.

First I charged the g. That took about 4 hours for the first full charge.

Next I fixed the protective film. The g comes with one protective layer that you peal off and through away. The second layer is a free screen protector. I like that. My second layer has a few bubbles but was also slightly off in two corners so I had to peal it up and rearrange it. I used a credit card to put it back down. I did end up with a few bubbles in it but I was able to work them out of the viewable area.

Now it was time to bring up the tablet. It started up fine and it was pretty easy to configure the wifi. After an update I set about using it for an hour. To my surprise, I actually thought the stock software was okay. I don't have a lot of android exposure so it didn't seem foreign to me. But after an hour, I was ready to mod the ROM.

I did some research before beginning and I had notes on exactly what I needed to do along with the files I needed to install. I took it slow to make sure I did it right and I found the process fairly painless. Being able to hook the g up to my laptop like a USB harddrive was nice. Once I completed the mod I was able to bring up the g with the new ROM. I probably spent an hour on the ROM updating process (I also applied the Market fix and loaded the adobe flash player while I was at it).

Finally, I spent an hour playing with the new ROM. It felt much more like the LG Ally which I suspect is more of the standard Android look and feel. It was impressively fast and I watched some videos from CNN that played great.

Overall, I am a pretty easy going person as long as things don't get too complicated. For me I liked the stock g and, so far, I'm loving the TnT Lite 2.20 g. The process was well within my comfort level so I never had any moments of fustration. I have noticed with the LG Ally that there is a bunch of junk software on it that can't seem to be removed. But with the g I feel like I have much more control. I'm sure I'll spend time expanding my knowlege of Android and tweeking the software and I think the g is the perfect tool for this.

As for battery life, my first charge took about 4 hours. On that charge I used the g for a few hours a day for several days. It seemed like the battery meter was very slow to go down and I was beginning to wonder how long it would last. But once the meter got around 50% it seemed to run out quickly. Overall, I easy got 8 hours + before the battery ran out.

I completely drained it. The second charge took about 3 hours. If I get 8 hours of use for a 3 hour charge I'll be estatic.

Best bang for the buck. Tabs are consumption devices but this one defies that label. Once you get into mods and custom ROMs it becomes a learning device. Therefore the ultimate tech toy, doesn't brain drain but encourages learning. Customization of this tablet is endless. It conforms to you, not you to it. Not an ipad killer but an load mass murderer. It kills ipad over and over and over again.

Updated on Apr 15, 2011

I purchased one of these from Staples ($399.00), and out of the box I was really disappointed. While the hardware is cutting edge, the TapNTap UI that Viewsonic puts on the tab bring the thing to a crawl out of the box. Recent updates help, and the latest firmware makes this a usable tablet for those not technology inclined. All the basics are covered, and the default apps are actually pretty solid.

But when you root this thing and load a custom firmware (Bekriebel, Roebeet, Gojimi and Rothnic at XDA-Developers should be commended for their efforts) this tablet is a beast. If you're a little squeamish about rooting and side-loading applications, this makes a decent tablet. But you'll need to root and load to get the most out of it. I did, and it's replaced my laptop for everyday use.

And to Viewsonic, you should hire the guys at XDA to write your UI. Seriously. Pay them whatever they want.

Since I am a business user, I don't have the same hardware requirements as gamers. I immediately downloaded the viewsonic update, and then started adding the apps that I needed. Some of the applications are designed for a cell phone, not a tablet, but I only tried one that caused any issues installing. Much of the software was free or low cost.

Loading and using excel and word documents with Office Suite was fine. Editing both was straight forward. Of course Igoogle provided most of the syncing between my desktop, phone and tablet. It is nice to add an entry or contact on one device, and have it updated to the other two.

Wifi connection was fast, and internet browsing was similar to my desktop. I opened multiple sites, and it didn't seem to tax the "g".

Some mentioned the viewing angle, and again it was fine for me. Of course, I don't want a wide viewing angle, and it is highly unlikely I would show any information to another person.

I haven't explored the limitations of printing material yet, but in most cases when I will be using the tablet, a printer will not be available.

Battery life is nice compared to my laptop. At least 8 hrs. I did play a couple of Youtube videos just to be sure that the Flash install was okay. They performed just like my desktop.

The keyboard is okay, but I would love to find a small portable wireless keyboard that I can take with me on the road (for longer documents).

Summary: This tablet, having longer battery life, a charger that can work overseas, great portability without sacrificing a decent screen size, and a quick start up with flash memory, will replace my laptop on business trips and during work in customers manufacturing plants.And I don't have to deal with Verizon or AT&T

Love it after i rooted it. I have tnt lite 4.20 on it and its great. Since rooted runs faster smoother and has more google features like market. To buy this tab and not root it, it kinda stinks. If you root it and customize it a lot its eally good and worth the money. I can't put down my tablet.