Answers and Impressions from a VTab owner...

tabletfanatic

Member
Aug 2, 2010
10
0
It looks like I'm the only one here who picked one up so far. By the way, my local Costcos don't have them on the floor because Vizio hasn't shipped them the point-of-sale displays yet. I got it for $329 at Costco by going to their merchandise pick-up and getting the SKU number from them. Took the number to the cash register, got rung up, then back to the MPU for my tablet...

Anyway, I'll address the questions first:

1. There isn't any vibration feedback on the remote that I know of. It might be in the settings. I just haven't tried it yet.

2. Battery is not user-replaceable, but it seems to hold a charge for a good amount of time (between 7-9 hours with a lot of standby--I've been using primarily as a remote).

If there are any other questions, let me know. I'd be glad to help...

As for the tablet, most of you probably know the specs already, but I'll give a quick rundown. It's running a 1gHz Marvell Cortex-A8 CPU, 512MB ram, and about 4GB internal storage (2.4gb free). The VTab's running a customized version of gingerbread (2.3.2) where the home screen is basically your App library, with a top bar where you can place "favorites, games, etc". You can go into the widget mode that features the more typical 4-5 panels for placing your favorite widgets.

I know a lot of people would rather have the stock Android build, but this tablet has a specific purpose and it serves it well. The official Android market and google mobile apps are pre-installed, so that's a big plus.

Performance

The UI isn't super snappy, and that may have something to do with Vizio's overlay, but it isn't very noticeably sluggish either. For a 1ghz CPU it actually handles a lot of games pretty effortlessly. I played through Angry Birds Rio and Raging Thunder 2 with no issues. Everything seems to work as it should, but I'm not going to try shoehorning Hero of Sparta onto this.

Remote app

The app is super simple to use. Very easy to set up your entire home theater system, and it lets you create different profiles for different rooms in the house. I set up my Samsung TV and Motorola DVR really quick. I tried setting up the PS3 with no luck (with bluetooth enabled) and it couldn't find a profile for my audio receiver, but a newer model profile worked to an extent (I mostly just need it to power on/off and raise/lower the volume). The remote doesn't have a "learning" function, which would've been nice.

Hardware

Vizio put a few really thoughtful touches on this tablet no other mfg has managed so far... I like that the speakers adjust with the orientation of the tablet, but I appreciate the rotating sensor buttons even more. It makes it nearly impossible to hit the back, home, or menu keys accidentally. The VGA camera is there, but that's about it. The build quality is solid, feels even better than the transformer (I own one of these too) to me. The rubberized finish on the back gives it a nice hand feel. The chrome V logo on the back is classy. The design and build feel more high quality than their TVs. It is a bit heavy, especially for a remote. It's almost the weight of the original iPad even though it's smaller. The pixel density is great, same 1024x768 resolution as the iPad, but in a smaller display.

Overall

It's a solid tablet that performs just as well or maybe better than the original Galaxy Tab. It can do most of what you need a tablet for well. If you need something that plays graphic intensive games, opt for a tegra based tablet. The high points of this tablet are the universal remote app and alternating stereo speakers/sensor buttons. It would be nicer if the tablet was a little smaller and lighter. For a remote is does feel a little cumbersome. It would also be better if it worked with my PS3 and had a learning function. Aside from that, it's an excellent universal remote and tablet. If it had a tegra 2, it would probably be at the top of the heap.
 

RobAGD

Member
Apr 7, 2011
15
0
Thanks for the first report. Walmart also has them listed but as not in stock for the $329 price

I look forward for a more indepth review as you learn the product.

-Robert
 

Tom_in_AZ

Member
Aug 2, 2011
3
0
I am curious, at Costco you always seem to get more for the price. Did it include any extras? Case, HDMI cable, stuff like that?

The reason I ask is because our family purchased an Acer tablet from Costco and it came with a case and HDMI cable, together worth $80. The same tablet at Best Buy didn't have these items.
 

docfreed

Member
Dec 4, 2010
44
5
Capacitive or resistive screen - the box skirts the subject by merely stating "LCD Screen"
 

tabletfanatic

Member
Aug 2, 2010
10
0
No extras at the $329 price at Costco. It just comes with a cleaning cloth, usb cable and adapter for plugging it into the wall.

It's a capacitive screen, and it's pretty nice.

I've been playing a lot of field runners lately. No lag, good stuff. The tablet gets a little hot after playing for a while, which is probably true of most tablets. The battery lasts between 2-3 days on average, normal use (browsing, gaming, some streaming). Pretty much the same as my wife's ipad. It crashed once on something fairly innocuous. I don't remember exactly what it was... but after two weeks, it only crashed once. Which is better than I can say for my Transformer.

All-in-all it's pretty nice and I'm having a good time with it. The novelty of the remote has worn off a little--it's just too big and clunky to use sometimes. Oh yeah, and I double checked, there's no haptic feedback. I still think for the price, it's the best universal remote you can buy in terms of ease of use and compatibility. A lot of universal remotes with touch screens can't do anything but work as a remote and they cost 2-10x more than this. Another Android remote I'm keeping my eye on is the TouchSquid. It seems to have pretty similar specs to the Vizio, but it's in a 7" form factor that might be a bit more suitable for a remote.
 

rakstr

Member
Aug 5, 2011
10
0
Sams has them in stock @ $289 so I picked one up, mostly interested in it as a HT remote. However, it's already falling short of expectations. Even though it has my Denon 891 in its DB, it fails to have anything but power on/off and volume. No input selection, ... Very poor in this day and age. Going to play a little more, perhaps call Vizio about updates (90 days to return) but thusfar not very impressed. If anyone has any guidance to help me "get happy", I'm all ears :)
 

tabletfanatic

Member
Aug 2, 2010
10
0
Yeah, I think the Vtab's biggest weakness is its a/v receiver support. They don't even have my model, but I found one that works to an extent. It had more than just the volume and power, but not much. The input and some other buttons didn't work exactly how it should have.
 

gark

Member
Aug 8, 2011
4
0
Picked up a Vtab at Costco yesterday for 284.99 plus an accessory pack for 49.99. Hardware seems pretty nice, but the software needs some tweeking. I found some Android Market apps that could not be installed like Facebook, History Cleaner, Unblock Me, etc... I could not find a decent Video Chat App to take advantage of the front facing camera. Has anyone tried Video Chatting like on Qik or Tango? Also, does anyone know if and when they would send updates to the OS?
 

olhoni

Member
Jan 21, 2011
1
0
I picked one up for my mom from Sam's yesterday (Sunday, 8/7/11 for $289), after playing with the demo for about 10-15 minutes. It was very easy to setup on our wifi, love the touchscreen, apps installed from Market have worked flawlessly (KeepTrack, WordSearch, Angry Birds, Aldiko, Overdrive, Audible, Astro File Manager) The screen resolution is sharp and clear, watched a couple youtube videos, haven't watched anything from Netflix yet. An update was pushed as soon as I connected to the wifi but I wasn't surprised and it took less than 5 minutes to download, install and restart.

So far so good. I ordered an easel case and screen protector for it.

(The demo person seemed to be a fruit fan, as he kept trying to get me to try that product. Wifi is enabled in the store so I launched Youtube and started playing a movie trailer, asked him to do the same thing... )
 

dsf3g

Member
Jun 30, 2011
2
0
I've been playing a lot of field runners lately.

I'm curious: how do games scale for this tablet? Up to now almost all Adnroid phones and tablets have been widescreen. The Vizio is the first I've seen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. I've seen a video where Angry Birds fills the whole screen (except for the cut scenes), but gameplay in Angry Birds isn't really affected by the heighht of the "sky." Does a game like Field Runners fill the entire screen or are there black bars above and below?
 

fishwish

Member
Aug 11, 2011
2
0
I got mine yesterday from Amazon ($298, but no tax). I like it thus far except for a couple of issues. Has anyone been able to play Netflix programming on it? I downloaded the app and it runs fine, but when you try to watch something you get at "1006" error in connecting to the Netflix server.

I am also dissapointed in the remote app. I was able to set up the various devices, but I would have liked to have been able to set up action buttons like I do on my Harmony remote for things like "Watch TV" or "Watch a DVD." That way one button configures, the TV, Audio System, cable box, etc., for a particular function. I really expected this level of functionality from a universal remote. Oh well, the good thing is there will probably be additional remote apps available on the Android market if this device is successful.
 

inboston

Member
Aug 12, 2011
2
0
I received my tablet from Amazon yesterday and overall not bad for a budget tablet. I am disappointed that the tablet does not (at least not yet) support skype, netflix, hulu plus, or hbo go. I got this response for tech support:

": Oh I'm sorry. We are actually still working on those, just getting some final details worked out but we are hoping to have them available in the next month or two."
 

foganime

Member
Aug 9, 2011
12
0
FYI: I also just tried GrooVe IP and it works great!
Free phone calls in the USA using your Google Voice account on the Vizio tablet.
 

donnieg

Member
Aug 17, 2011
1
0
I bought mine about a week ago. The screen was a bit laggy but i installed launcherpro and it fixed that problem. It plays videos and music great, the biggest drawback that i have found is it's lack of apps. They say it has access to hundreds of thousands of apps on the market, yeah, it has access but hardly any will work. I've been working with it this past week and i actually like it so if there is someone out there that has some influence try to get them to get the apps out.
 
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