New Vizio Update to 1.1.5?

[Kato223]

Given that they removed the rooting capabilities of the unit, it shows on Vizio's website that the applications can be moved to the SD Card:

[h=1]Installing applictions[/h]Published 08/24/2011 09:44 AM | Updated 08/24/2011 09:44 AM

How can I download applications directly to my SD card that is installed on my tablet?
Currently you cannot download directly to your SD card. The applications will download to the internal storage of the VIZIO tablet.
How can I move my downloaded applications to my SD card?
Follow these steps to move applications from your tablets internal storage to the SD card.
1. Settings
2. Applications
3. Manage Applications
4. Choose the Application you want to move.
5. Move to SD Card


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So, upon following these steps that Vizio "claims" to work it moves your application to the /SDCARD folder and not the /mnt/sdcard/external/ folder that it should. All that Vizio would have to do to fix it is to change the mount for the external card to match that of the internal. But they would have to make sure that no body has tried to move their apps to the /SDCARD folder already, as changing the mount would block it. When I looked at the folder structure in ADB it showed that the /SDCARD folder is a soft linked folder and not a hard link so it really should not be that hard to fix, but without root access you cannot modify the link to fix it.

 

[SEMIJim]

But they would have to make sure that no body has tried to move their apps to the /SDCARD folder already, ...

Not rocket surgery. Seriously. I could do it in a New York Heartbeat in either a shell script or Perl.

Make sure nothing that's in, or using anything in, /sdcard is running (kill it/them or pop up an error dialog if so); (re)mount the removable SD card somewhere outside /sdcard; copy (recursively) everything over to the removable SD card; remove the current symlink; (re)mount the real SD card, or link to same, in its place. Done.

Jim

 

[Kato223]

Thanks Jim, but without rooting, I was not able to change at any point where the mounting was or remove the symlink. It simply would not let me do that. Since that was the main reason that I purchased the Vizio for was the price and they claim the ability to "Upgrade". I ended up calling their tech support, which they were absolutely zero help, and they stated that if the programs were not on the internal memory, then they would not run. Vizio does not see this as an issue at all on their end. I ended up returning the tablet.

 

[gjhuff]

Vizio apparently was forced to do this upgrade for digital rights protection reasons. They have admitted that rooting is very useful, but advised that doing so voids warranties. Given that the way to root before the upgrade was very easy, and the fixes for adhoc and SD card issues are easy as well, it is clear that had Vizio wished to do so, they could have built these capacities into the VTAB. I guess they just don't want any market share.

 

[Kato223]

Vizio apparently was forced to do this upgrade for digital rights protection reasons. They have admitted that rooting is very useful, but advised that doing so voids warranties. Given that the way to root before the upgrade was very easy, and the fixes for adhoc and SD card issues are easy as well, it is clear that had Vizio wished to do so, they could have built these capacities into the VTAB. I guess they just don't want any market share.

I will really have to agree with you on this one. It could have been a simple fix for them, but they refuse to even see the SDCARD problem as an issue. Still, even the Barnes & Noble taking away the Root capabilities on the Nook with their 1.4.1 update, it still uses the SDCARD as it was intended, and you can move apps that you download from their store to it just fine. It even keeps the data on the SDCard and runs it from there.