Very Basic Tablet Questions -- Easy for You to Answer Quickly. Please do!

[P_Town]

Okay, brand new to tablet world and haven't owned a Droid phone or iPhone or the like.

I just bought a Viewsonic G-Tab as a surprise for my wife and if the stock software/OS is still as garbage as I've read, I'll be flashing with a new ROM soon. I should get the tablet in a few days.

My easy questions now:

1) From what I'm reading, the OS (and everything else on the tablet) is stored in the onboard 16GB of flash memory--is that right? So if I re-flash with a new ROM is that necessarily like formatting the hard-drive on my PC and starting with a fresh copy of the OS? Then, can apps simply be added/removed as needed (thru side loading or however), but if I were to re-flash with a new ROM, it'd be like re-formatting the storage device again?

2) Regarding the microSD, is that used just as additional storage (like hard-drive, not RAM like a Windows ReadyBoost type thing)? If just as storage, is the maximum recognizable size the 16GB, and should I look for a certain class of microSD as far as speed is concerned? If I want to have a bunch of videos for my wife (going on a long flight overseas), if I purchased a few 16GB microSDs and loaded them each up with video could she just exchange them as she wanted to watch whatever...

That's it for now...sorry I'm so ignorant, but I've gotta start somewhere and I just want to make sure I'm on the right page and buy the right stuff!

Thanks for any/all assistance, and feel free to make fun of my lack of knowledge and/or dumb questions !

P

 

[pbrauer]

No worries on the questions, that is why we are here!

1. Yes and no. Everything is on the 16Gb flash memory, but reflashing is NOT like formatting the harddrive. Android OS uses partitions, and each of these partitions holds different things. This is why you will see things like the Dalvik Cache and Wipe User Partitions mentioned. To truly erase a tablet and start fresh requires repartitioning, on the G-Tablet you do this with NVFLASH. So, flashing a new ROM without wiping things can lead to odd results, Flashing alone is not complete. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes not.

2. Yes, this is extra storage. In the later versions of the Android OS you have the capability now to move your apps to the external SD, but this too can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the app and how it operates. As far as movies storage goes, depending on the encoding used a 2 hour movie is between 4 and 7 Gb, so to be safe figure 3 movies per 16 Gb card.

 

[beastman]

I've recently converted some movies to avi format and averaged 1gb per movie.

Sent from my PC36100 using Android Tablet Forum

 

[P_Town]

I've recently converted some movies to avi format and averaged 1gb per movie.

Cool...as long as she can use it to play .AVI she'll be set. She wants to start watching "Dexter" and I have full seasons in .AVI that are coming in at around 4GB for the season. I'll pick up a couple of 16GB Class 10s and load 'em up.

BTW, should I have a smaller sized storage card for transferring either ROMS or various apps or is it just as easy to do it through the USB cable while hooked up to my laptop?

-P

 

[pbrauer]

Depends on your ROM. The Honeycomb ROMs don't play well with USB right now, but the earlier ones are fine.

 

[P_Town]

Okay, I have no problem buying an additional microSD. But for that purpose, I probably don't need a 16GB, right? I mean, I'll store files on my notebook and shuttle them on a micro. As I haven't really looked at sizes of the programs that will run on the tablet, I just don't know...will an 8GB suffice, a 4GB even?

Love the forum...can't wait to get the device and start toying with it!

P

 

[pbrauer]

I have a 16 Gb, and it runs about 55-60% full. I bought others, but have wound up not using them. I don't watch a lot of movies though.

 

[P_Town]

I have a 16 Gb, and it runs about 55-60% full. I bought others, but have wound up not using them. I don't watch a lot of movies though.

Thanks again--I just ordered a 16 and an 8, both Patriot Class 10s. There are Rebates at NewEgg if anyone is interested, but today is the last day.

I think after rebate the 8GB will be about $9 and the 16GB will be about $22. Free Shipping as well.

P

 

[gadgetrants]

Thanks again--I just ordered a 16 and an 8, both Patriot Class 10s. There are Rebates at NewEgg if anyone is interested, but today is the last day.

I think after rebate the 8GB will be about $9 and the 16GB will be about $22. Free Shipping as well.

P

Hey P_Town welcome to the forum, and to gTab ownership! Sorry I missed the Newegg deals on the microSDs.

You HAVE to check back in once you've broken in your new tab! I'll be curious to see if you stick with the stock ROM, or end up with something a little more "exotic."

-Matt

 

[rgc6789]

I have a 16 Gb, and it runs about 55-60% full. I bought others, but have wound up not using them. I don't watch a lot of movies though.

Really, no comments about Class 10 vs Class 2? BTW, I just bought an HP Class 4 16gb that was transferring at 14MB/s. I have another Sandisk 16gb Class 4 that gets about 4.5.

 

[gadgetrants]

Really, no comments about Class 10 vs Class 2? BTW, I just bought an HP Class 4 16gb that was transferring at 14MB/s. I have another Sandisk 16gb Class 4 that gets about 4.5.

If you look back a ways, you'll see I got myself in hot water over the Class 10 vs. Class 2 question. I may be a bit too opinionated on that issue...it's probably better if I don't chime in!

-Matt

 

[P_Town]

For what it's worth, since the Class 10s I got were only about $1/GB and $1.50/GB for the 8 and 16 respectively, I just didn't see the benefit of getting anything less.

The tab is due to be delivered on Monday! Can't wait...

P

 

[P_Town]

Hi Everyone,

The GTab arrived yesterday but I couldn't get clockwork to install... I extracted the .rar to the root of my SD and put it in the tab, pushed the + volume and power and the FIRST time it showed a box on the screen and I got some type of menu where I had to use the volume buttons to move up and down and the power button to enter. I can't remember the choices, but I think I chose the one with SDcard and it did something then rebooted.

When I went to "enter" clockwork after shutting down and then rebooting while holding the + it just shows the "booting recovery" message up in the upper left, but it just locks right there and does nothing.

I never got to see whatever that initial menu was again. So, I tried a couple more times and nothing happened. I reformatted the SD card and put the CW files on it again and tried again and still it just went to the "booting recovery" message and then does nothing.

After doing that for a while I looked up how to just put the tablet back to "stock" using NV Flash, so I copied those files to my notebook. I got the USB driver installed, but when I ran the batch file for NV Flash it said file not found (for the .cfg file I think) and just forced me to exit.

The gTab still boots, but it is just with the stock OS and I can't seem to figure out how to get moving here... any ideas or can you point me to some instructions based on what I've said?

Thanks.

By the way, if it'd be easier I can do a gmail chat with someone to help me through this the first time...

P

 

[P_Town]

UPDATE: Was able to reflash to factory default/original after using a YouTube vid...apparently I was missing a file. Time to try ClockWork again...

 

[GRadu]

This is a step by step guide for installing a custom ROM on your G-Tab. I used this guide with no problems...except make sure you download a full version of the ROM not an update ROM. Thanks to scsione889 for the great guide!

[STICKY][GUIDE] Install ClockworkMod, a ROM, Flash Player, and the Market Fix - xda-developers
Also people have reported files being deleted {by the OS..} from MicroSD cards, so be careful... See my write on that subject...
Tech problems and solutions: Viewsonic G-Tab USB port and SD cards.