No longer an 8-inch display with Honeycomb

[J515OP]

1. Use the browser to go to m.youtube.com, select a video and then try to play the video. All you will get is black where the video should be.

2. Start where you left off above and scroll down to the very bottom of the page and tap on the word "Desktop" then select browser. Now you will be able to see the video you could not see before and you will even be able to pause the video by tapping on it but that is all you can do until you tap on the words "show more" below the video. After you tap on the words "show more" then you can tap on the video to restart it.

3. There are other problems that can be tracked down to the Adobe Flashplayer but all I really want Vizio to do is let me put my VTAB1008 back the way it was before their unnecessary Honeycomb update that has been a lot more trouble than it is worth.

1. Why are you trying to use mobile youtube instead of just using the app? There is an app for a reason and it should provide a better experience than trying to go through the browser anyway.

2. Again, why don't you use the youtube app instead of the desktop browser mode?

3. If what you are really saying is that you are having problems with Flash then that is your problem, not the Honeycomb update itself. Why don't you follow the advice in several threads and side load the newest Flash version which should solve your particular issues?

Given sometime Adobe/Vizio may address the Flash issue. If this is a Flash issue then you just need to wait for that to be corrected, it doesn't make Vizio or Honeycomb bad in itself. App compatibility issues are the responsibility of the app developers not Google or Vizio.

 

[J515OP]

My Visio is in the mail on the way to me. I assume it's going to automatically update. One of the reasons I am exchanging my Lenovo K1 for the Visio is the form factor and the bezel buttons. Can I decline the TOS on the upgrade? My understanding is that there are several upgrades. Which one do I want to reject? I want to thank you for identifying the problem. Actually, I have heard that there are several upgrades before Honeycomb – are they all good? Here and now would be a good time to provide information to save other users the hassle.

Congrats on your purchase. If you upgrade to Honeycomb you will lose the ability to have bezel buttons. Your Vtab shouldn't come with Honeycomb but it may come with one of two versions of Gingerbread. The older version of Gingerbread will ask you to update to Software version 1.5. To skip this update you must always press the Home button (and only the Home button) to avoid it. Then use the menu button, select Notifications and then carefully close the update notification. This will be a nagging update and you will see a request to update even if you close the notification it will continue to pop up frequently. The only way to get it to stop is to root the tablet and then install Titanium Backup. At that point you can freeze the update and you won't be bothered any more.

If you get the second version of Gingerbread you won't be able to Root your tablet. This is the only thing the second version of Gingerbread (the update from the first version above) does, prevent the ability to root. At this point there is nothing you can do except ignore the Honeycomb update or choose to update to Honeycomb and lose the bezel buttons.

 

[Roger2008]

1. Why are you trying to use mobile youtube instead of just using the app? There is an app for a reason and it should provide a better experience than trying to go through the browser anyway.

2. Again, why don't you use the youtube app instead of the desktop browser mode?

3. If what you are really saying is that you are having problems with Flash then that is your problem, not the Honeycomb update itself. Why don't you follow the advice in several threads and side load the newest Flash version which should solve your particular issues?

Given sometime Adobe/Vizio may address the Flash issue. If this is a Flash issue then you just need to wait for that to be corrected, it doesn't make Vizio or Honeycomb bad in itself. App compatibility issues are the responsibility of the app developers not Google or Vizio.

Answers:

1. Because I still use a phone with WM6 on it and I like the way it works when I go to m.youtube.com and I've seen the Android Youtube application not show all my subscriptions for some strange reason but it looks like they fixed that issue in the latest version.

2. I hate that youtube application because I can not use it for looking at my history but I can view my history if I use the browser to go to www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1 and if you use the youtube application on a Galaxy Note there is no way to get it to go over 480p meaning you will never get the quality that the Galaxy Note is capable of unless if you start at www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1.

3. What do you mean by "side load" and where do I find a version of the Adobe Flashplayer above version 10.3 that will load onto a Vizio Tablet because "Play Store" does not have one?

Actually the old Adobe Flashplayer does make Honeycomb on the Vizio Tablet suck because Adobe has already announced they might not support the mobile platform anymore meaning there might never be an Adobe Flashplayer update for the VTAB1008.

 

[J515OP]

Answers:

1. Because I still use a phone with WM6 on it and I like the way it works when I go to m.youtube.com and I've seen the Android Youtube application not show all my subscriptions for some strange reason but it looks like they fixed that issue in the latest version.

Ok, I thought we were talking about the Vtab here. If you like using a mobile website for certain things, then that's fine but the majority of the time an app designed for a platform is going to give you a better experience than a mobile version of a website. That is why they make the apps.

On top of that an advantage of tablets over phones is that they make using the full versions of websites better because of their larger screen size. If you are using mobile sites on a tablet you are really missing out on the point and advantage of tablets (again, there are certain exceptions where a mobile site may be better for various reasons but those should be exceptions). Of course you are free to use your device as you see fit but it goes against the grain of the way these devices are designed to be used.

2. I hate that youtube application because I can not use it for looking at my history but I can view my history if I use the browser to go to www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1

I'm sorry you hate the Youtube app. I'm not 100% sure about the Honeycomb version but the ICS version has been optimized for tablets (great improvement over Gingerbread) and I am guessing this is what is running on the Vtab with Honeycomb. It does offer a lot and you should be signed into it just like the regular Youtube page for best results. In fact I actually like the tablet version better than the recently redesigned website. The way the videos are displayed in a wall of tiles and the related videos on the sides are much better than the webpage version.

3. What do you mean by "side load" and where do I find a version of the Adobe Flashplayer above version 10.3 that will load onto a Vizio Tablet because "Play Store" does not have one?

Side load just means download and install the app other than through the market. You can even do this directly from your tablet browser so you don't have to move the file over from your pc. Simply open the browser on your tablet and google search "Flash 11 apk". You will get many results then just choose one that looks like it is from a legitimate site and click the file to download. At this point most browsers will give you the option of installing as soon as the download complete. Select install and now you have Flash 11 (11.11+ preferably).

Actually the old Adobe Flashplayer does make Honeycomb on the Vizio Tablet suck because Adobe has already announced they might not support the mobile platform anymore meaning there might never be an Adobe Flashplayer update for the VTAB1008.

Let's get the blame on the right people here if we are going to go that route. Yes, Adobe makes Flash and Flash sucks, and yes Adobe has announced they will discontinue Flash for mobile devices going forward (no maybe about it). This has nothing to do with Honeycomb and nothing to do with Vizio or the Vtab sucking. You can run the latest version of flash on the tablet just fine. It is just the market that sucks in recognizing that Flash can go on your Vtab.

So Flash sucks and Adobe has announced it will be discontinued. This is no particular device's fault, just the fault of software that wasn't able to keep up with changing times. HTML5 completely replaces Flash in this space. (There are actually good reasons why Apple decided not to use Flash on their devices.)

The Google Playstore sucks be cause it doesn't accurately reflect which apps work on a particular device. This is also the fault of the app developers for not correctly updating the compatibility of their apps to show up correctly in the Play store.

These problems have nothing to do with a specific device and can't be counted against the Vtab or Honeycomb in particular in this case.

and if you use the youtube application on a Galaxy Note there is no way to get it to go over 480p meaning you will never get the quality that the Galaxy Note is capable of unless if you start at www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1.

Again, I thought that we were talking about the Vtab here, not the Galaxy Note. As far as the Note's capabilities I don't know for certain but I would be shocked if you can't get higher than 480p quality from the Youtube app. As long as the video itself has a higher quality option then you should be able to watch it in higher quality than 480p. Now setting the actual quality of the video aside, the Note only has a 5.3 inch screen with a resolution of 1280x800. At that size and resolution the difference between 480p and anything higher is going to be almost imperceptible. Smaller screen sizes mean you can use lower resolution just fine without being able to see a difference.



JP

 

[Roger2008]

Ok, I thought we were talking about the Vtab here.

JP

To tell the truth I found about about that problem with the Vizio Browser and m.youtube.com by accident. Before the update my homepage was set to www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1 so I could just tap on youtube videos from there to watch them. But in trying to get things to work after the update(?) to Honeycomb I have reset it back to factory over and over and over again and so by accident I found out the Vizio VTAB1008 can not play youtube videos starting from m.youtube.com.

Yes, you can install the latest Adobe Flashplayer on all sorts of different Android devices but it if you try to install it on the Vizio VTAB1008 it will give you the message: "This version of the Flash Player is not optimized for the VIZIO Tablet and will not be installed." so VTAB1008 owners are stuck with version 10.3 of the Adobe Flashplayer that was put together long before their latest security patches.

Even after losing 9.5% of the screen to the buttons that used to be below the screen I still use the Desktop version of sites over the mobile version or the app. It seems the apps are only written for the smaller screens and do not forget the Vizio started with a screen of 1024x768 before they took 9.5% away for the buttons. And if you do the math to maintain a 4x3 aspect ratio Vizio had to leave you with only 88% of that 1024x768 screen.

I have recently tried the new youtube application and one of the things I do not like about it is it is harder to go full screen now. Before you could tap anywhere on the video now you have to hit the lower right hand corner to do the same thing.

Forget about that "Side Load" thing because before you can do that someone has to find a version of the Adobe Flashplayer that will let you side load it onto the Vizio Tablet because the latest Adobe Flashplayer will not let you do that.

The bottom line is Vizio should have given their users a way to go back to earlier software if things did not work properly instead of forcing them to try and use a device that is full of quirks and crashes much more than it ever has.

 

[Ken401]

"Forget about that "Side Load" thing because before you can do that someone has to find a version of the Adobe Flashplayer that will let you side load it onto the Vizio Tablet because the latest Adobe Flashplayer will not let you do that."

Roger, this statement is not correct. Google Play is preventing the app from being installed. Side loading circumvents Google Play and allows the installation of Flash 11. Many have done this already, including myself.

 

[Roger2008]

"Forget about that "Side Load" thing because before you can do that someone has to find a version of the Adobe Flashplayer that will let you side load it onto the Vizio Tablet because the latest Adobe Flashplayer will not let you do that."

Roger, this statement is not correct. Google Play is preventing the app from being installed. Side loading circumvents Google Play and allows the installation of Flash 11. Many have done this already, including myself.

Let me give you some background.

I started with a Comtiva tablet and I tried all sorts of tricks to get Adobe Flash Player to install on it. I learned you could use the Astro File Manager to take the install from another device and then you could use the SD card to move that program between devices.

I never ever got the Adobe Flash player to install on that device and if you read up on the Comtiva Tablet/Phone you will find out it is because Adobe claimed the processor was too slow for the size screen it had and would not install.

In other words, the problem is not with Play Store it is with the fact Adobe has resticted their Flashplayer and Vizio will not let us go back to an Operating System where the Flashplayer worked properly with their Vizio 8" Tablet.

And for Vizio to try and claim that Adobe will update their software for them is at this point FALSE.

 

[J515OP]

Roger, I am really sorry you are not happy with the Honeycomb update to your Vtab. The issues you are having with Flash are 100% able to be overcome with little effort.

1. You don't have to find a special version of Flash to load. You just can't do it through Google Play store. You can read many posts here where people have done the very thing you say can't be done because you get an error "This version of the Flash Player is not optimized for the VIZIO Tablet and will not be installed." I can assure you all you need is the latest Flash 11 apk and it will install directly from your device without the message.

2. Yes you lost a small amount of screen space. You are not loosing 88% of your screen unless you are seeing black bars around the entire frame. I am pretty certain that is not the case and instead you are losing some of the image due to cropping or compression. It may not be exactly 4:3 ration in the case of compression but the difference in ratio will be so small you won't notice it unless you are using your screen to create perfect reference circles. At most you are probably just losing the 9.5% due to cropping or again a slight distortion from 4:3. Much of the media these days is not in 4:3 to begin with and when you watch full screen for 16:9 you get bars at the top and bottom anyway so you aren't losing any part of the image in that case. Seriously unless you need a reference device in exact 4:3 this is all sort of pointless. You bought a midrange tablet and most people are happy they can watch some youtube without sitting at a desk. The fact that the video is very slightly distorted or cropped isn't going to be noticed by most people. You still looking at at relatively tiny screen and not a 50"+ tv.

However minor the changes, this is correctable and Vizio should do so. They can accomplish this by making the bar hide in full screen mode or utilizing the bezel buttons and they should do one or the other. At the end of the day though you still have a larger screen than a phone and you aren't missing much from a "full screen" view. Maybe Vizio will address this issue maybe not.

3. Again you have misplaced your issues onto Vizio. Google made the changes to Youtube. If you don't like the way they have decided to enable full screen mode then don't use Youtube or complain to Google. It is common to have to go to the lower right corner to expand a video view. Most people look at it once or twice and then say ok, that is how I expand to full screen and move on with their lives. Vizio has nothing to do with this at all. If you want to have a different way to do this because you don't like touching the lower right corner then you have the option of writing your own app to make it expand however you'd like.

At the end of the day you may not like the changes that have come with the upgrade in OS to the Vtab. That is your prerogative. These things happen with devices and software. There is no reason that Vizio should let you roll back to an earlier version of the OS though just because you don't like the changes. That would just mean they would need to split their efforts on two different versions taking away resources from progress. I would like to see Vizio give the option to root the device so that if you don't like what they are putting out you can do what you want with it. That way you can do what makes you happy but you will also have to take responsibility for your actions since at that point Vizio owes you nothing more as far as the software goes.


JP

 

[Roger2008]

Roger, I am really sorry you are not happy with the Honeycomb update to your Vtab. The issues you are having with Flash are 100% able to be overcome with little effort.

1. You don't have to find a special version of Flash to load. You just can't do it through Google Play store. You can read many posts here where people have done the very thing you say can't be done because you get an error "This version of the Flash Player is not optimized for the VIZIO Tablet and will not be installed." I can assure you all you need is the latest Flash 11 apk and it will install directly from your device without the message.

2. Yes you lost a small amount of screen space. You are not loosing 88% of your screen unless you are seeing black bars around the entire frame. I am pretty certain that is not the case and instead you are losing some of the image due to cropping or compression. It may not be exactly 4:3 ration in the case of compression but the difference in ratio will be so small you won't notice it unless you are using your screen to create perfect reference circles. At most you are probably just losing the 9.5% due to cropping or again a slight distortion from 4:3. Much of the media these days is not in 4:3 to begin with and when you watch full screen for 16:9 you get bars at the top and bottom anyway so you aren't losing any part of the image in that case. Seriously unless you need a reference device in exact 4:3 this is all sort of pointless. You bought a midrange tablet and most people are happy they can watch some youtube without sitting at a desk. The fact that the video is very slightly distorted or cropped isn't going to be noticed by most people. You still looking at at relatively tiny screen and not a 50"+ tv.

However minor the changes, this is correctable and Vizio should do so. They can accomplish this by making the bar hide in full screen mode or utilizing the bezel buttons and they should do one or the other. At the end of the day though you still have a larger screen than a phone and you aren't missing much from a "full screen" view. Maybe Vizio will address this issue maybe not.

3. Again you have misplaced your issues onto Vizio. Google made the changes to Youtube. If you don't like the way they have decided to enable full screen mode then don't use Youtube or complain to Google. It is common to have to go to the lower right corner to expand a video view. Most people look at it once or twice and then say ok, that is how I expand to full screen and move on with their lives. Vizio has nothing to do with this at all. If you want to have a different way to do this because you don't like touching the lower right corner then you have the option of writing your own app to make it expand however you'd like.

At the end of the day you may not like the changes that have come with the upgrade in OS to the Vtab. That is your prerogative. These things happen with devices and software. There is no reason that Vizio should let you roll back to an earlier version of the OS though just because you don't like the changes. That would just mean they would need to split their efforts on two different versions taking away resources from progress. I would like to see Vizio give the option to root the device so that if you don't like what they are putting out you can do what you want with it. That way you can do what makes you happy but you will also have to take responsibility for your actions since at that point Vizio owes you nothing more as far as the software goes.


JP

We have only touched on two of the three major issues I know of with the Honeycomb update to the Vizio VTAB1008.

One of the other issues you will find that people have discovered is they can not access their SD card as easy as they could before.

If you run "Gallery" it will pull up the movies and photos on your SD card just fine, but if you run Astro File Manager you will not be able to access anything on your SD card. Plus, you used to be able to access your SD card with a USB cable but you can not do that anymore either.

There are a number of quirks with the Honeycomb update to the 8" Vizio Tablet besides just the stolen screen space and the screwed up Flash Player.

FYI Play Store lets you download the entire APK already and it isn't until that software sees what device it is going on before it complains.

Bottom line is, if someone with a VTAB1008 has managed to get the curent Version of the Flashplayer to install on the Vizio Tablet let then post a photo of what the downloaded applications are that they have on their VTAB1008 so I can see that it says Adobe Flash Player 11.1 instead of Adobe Flash Player 10.3.

Thanks.

 

[J515OP]

We have only touched on two of the three major issues I know of with the Honeycomb update to the Vizio VTAB1008.

One of the other issues you will find that people have discovered is they can not access their SD card as easy as they could before.

If you run "Gallery" it will pull up the movies and photos on your SD card just fine, but if you run Astro File Manager you will not be able to access anything on your SD card. Plus, you used to be able to access your SD card with a USB cable but you can not do that anymore either.

There are a number of quirks with the Honeycomb update to the 8" Vizio Tablet besides just the stolen screen space and the screwed up Flash Player.

FYI Play Store lets you download the entire APK already and it isn't until that software sees what device it is going on before it complains.

Bottom line is, if someone with a VTAB1008 has managed to get the curent Version of the Flashplayer to install on the Vizio Tablet let then post a photo of what the downloaded applications are that they have on their VTAB1008 so I can see that it says Adobe Flash Player 11.1 instead of Adobe Flash Player 10.3.

Thanks.

Challenge accepted (http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/vizio-tablets/37078-flash-vizio-vtab1008.html). As far as the SD card issue the consensus is that Vizio did a great job of making the SD card accessible and fixed one of the biggest drawback of the old Vizio OS, so I don't know what else to say there.

JP

 

[Ken401]

Let me give you some background.

I started with a Comtiva tablet and I tried all sorts of tricks to get Adobe Flash Player to install on it. I learned you could use the Astro File Manager to take the install from another device and then you could use the SD card to move that program between devices.

I never ever got the Adobe Flash player to install on that device and if you read up on the Comtiva Tablet/Phone you will find out it is because Adobe claimed the processor was too slow for the size screen it had and would not install.

In other words, the problem is not with Play Store it is with the fact Adobe has resticted their Flashplayer and Vizio will not let us go back to an Operating System where the Flashplayer worked properly with their Vizio 8" Tablet.

And for Vizio to try and claim that Adobe will update their software for them is at this point FALSE.

Roger, thank you for the background. Sorry you had Flash problems with your Comtiva also. I have no experience with the Comtiva tablet/phone, but, as I stated, I was able to take the Adobe Flash 11 apk from my Motorola Xoom LTE and transfer a copy to my VTAB, and then install it. If I was at home, I would send you a picture of my VTAB showing Flash 11 installed. I do not doubt your Comtiva experience, but it is a different problem than the current one between Vizio/Adobe/Google Play. I'll be the first to agree we should not have to sideload stuff to get things to work better, but that seems to be the only choice at the moment. In spite of your Comtiva experience, you might be pleasantly surprised this time if you give it a try.

 

[Kail]

If you run "Gallery" it will pull up the movies and photos on your SD card just fine, but if you run Astro File Manager you will not be able to access anything on your SD card. Plus, you used to be able to access your SD card with a USB cable but you can not do that anymore either.

This is not true. You can access the external SD card in Astro! Its not in the usual place (Gingerbread) under the external folder. If you select the External SD card under Device on the left drop down, that's your external SD card listing.

You can also access the External SD card under USB. Actually, its a better access method, as it does not rely on switching on the Vtab side. Some people have Windows driver install issue due to their Windows auto install problem. It actual uses a Windows native driver! All they need to do is to clear their old install list under Windows Device Manger.

 

[Roger2008]

This is not true. You can access the external SD card in Astro! Its not in the usual place (Gingerbread) under the external folder. If you select the External SD card under Device on the left drop down, that's your external SD card listing.

You can also access the External SD card under USB. Actually, its a better access method, as it does not rely on switching on the Vtab side. Some people have Windows driver install issue due to their Windows auto install problem. It actual uses a Windows native driver! All they need to do is to clear their old install list under Windows Device Manger.

It tells me "Directory is empty" or "Directort does not exist" so I took the card out and found out I put 33 movies on it in 3 different directories. I can find those movies via Gallery but I haven't found them via Astro file manager yet.

 

[Kail]

Roger,

Did you changed you default storage location settings? What is your Device dropdown shows on the first two entries in Astro? I have found that if you switch the default storage location, the Astro device drop down in the first two entries turn into Internal SD card and SD card (if I remember correctly). Using the default storage setting, my Astro device drop down first two entries are Internal Memory and External SD card. Click on the External SD card shows my external SD card folders and files on the right window.

You can also use the ES File Explorer to access your external SD card. ES File Explorer when first start will show your internal SD card storage. In my case, it shows /sdcard/ in the top directory entry. To get to the external SD card, you need to click the "up" button. The top directory entry becomes /. Now, select the folder "mnt". It shows two folders with title "sdcard" and "external_sdcard". Select "external_sdcard" will access your external sdcard directory with the top line directory entry showing /mnt/external_sdcard/. You can go back to your internal SD storage by click on the "up" button again and then select the "sdcard" folder. However, this time the top directory line entry becomes /mnt/sdcard/.

 

[agg808]

I haven't used my VTab for much so I haven't come across some of the problems posted. But, I like your explanation of everything even though I'm not sure if I understood everything.