Viewsonic tab $299?

[jodyberry]

I saw this in an office store ad and it seemed like a great price but I'm guessing the big difference is that it has android 2.2 instead of 3.0
Is this the big difference between the pricing? Is 3.0 really that much better?
Thanks all.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

[bsweetness]

I have the G Tablet. Picked it up for $279.99 when Woot had it awhile back. Out of the box, it's a very clunky experience. But once you root it and install a custom rom, it's amazing. Easily one of the most hacker-friendly tablets out there with top of the line hardware (it's packing a Tegra 2 dual-core processor). The viewing angles of the screen and weight put some people off, but neither are honestly as bad as many make them out to be.

I'm running 2.3 on mine, and it seriously flies. Great battery life too. Having the fullsize usb port on it for hooking up flash drives or external drives was a major selling point for me, and it's come in handy quite a bit. Once Google releases the sourcecode for 3.0, you can rest assured that the developer community will have it on the G Tablet.

I love mine, but you have to be willing to put the time into it. If you want something that works well out of the box without having to do anything major to it, the G Tablet is not for you. But if you enjoy tinkering around with stuff and want some top quality hardware for a low price, this is the tablet for you.

[jodyberry]

Thanks for the detailed response!!

I read another review somewhere else that mentioned rooting it (maybe it was YOUR review!!)

Anyway, I was also curious why they say 3.0 is optimized for tablets. What does 3.0 have that 2.3 doesn't?

Thanks again!!

[bsweetness]

3.0 was designed from the ground up specifically to be used on tablets. That's why they say it's optimized for tablets. All of the other versions of Android were designed to be used on a phone, not a tablet. That's not to say that the experience can't be good on a tablet (I think 2.3 on the G Tablet is great), but it wasn't made with tablets in mind.

The entire layout and look of 3.0 is different. Everything is designed around the fact that you've got a bigger screen. Take a look at some videos of Honeycomb on YouTube and compare that to Froyo or Gingerbread (2.3 doesn't really look all that different from 2.2 aside from some color changes. Most of the differences are under the hood.). It's easier to see the changes directly rather than to have someone describe them. 3.0 looks quite different and handles quite differently in many respects.

If 3.0 never made it's way to the G Tablet, I honestly can say I wouldn't be all that disappointed. 2.2 and 2.3 run great on it, and I'm able to do everything I want to do with it. But 3.0 will eventually make it's way to the G Tablet, either officially (which is doubtful) or unofficially through the development community. The folks over at XDA continue to work wonders with this thing.

[Detonation]

For an extra $100 I'd just get the Asus Transformer. Worth it for the much better screen, honeycomb, and the expandability of the laptop dock (among other things). I have a G Tablet and plan on selling it when I get the Transformer. Finding one right now in stock is another story though.

[bsweetness]

For an extra $100 I'd just get the Asus Transformer. Worth it for the much better screen, honeycomb, and the expandability of the laptop dock (among other things). I have a G Tablet and plan on selling it when I get the Transformer. Finding one right now in stock is another story though.

Very true. I've contemplated doing the same myself after some reviews come out (and after retailers start getting them in stock again). Battery life is a huge factor for me, and I can get over 11 hours of use from the G Tablet for what I use it for. Standby time has been tremendous as well. If the Transformer can come close to that, I may give it a spin.