Answers and Impressions from a VTab owner...

[inboston]

The tablet battery is spec-ed at 10 hours of "normal" use. What about in sleep mode? I'm finding that the battery drains pretty quickly in sleep mode, for example with a fully charged battery by the time I get home from work after 9 hours the battery is at 50%. In sleep mode the battery does not last 24 hours. What has anyone elses' experience been?

 

[Taveatoa]

Got one toofrom costco. The lack of Hulu type Apps is disappointing. The generally enjoy the tabs hardware otherwise. The it is definitely more physicallyrobust the the other tabs out there using plastic parts. We are the lack of a second camera is also bummer.
We need rooting and Apps or I'm returning it.
Let's go...

Sent from my VTAB1008 using Android Tablet Forum

 

[fishwish]

The tablet battery is spec-ed at 10 hours of "normal" use. What about in sleep mode? I'm finding that the battery drains pretty quickly in sleep mode, for example with a fully charged battery by the time I get home from work after 9 hours the battery is at 50%. In sleep mode the battery does not last 24 hours. What has anyone elses' experience been?

I have noticed this as well. I was wondering if it is a result of some app I have installed that continues running. I see that the FLASH app appears to be consuming the most battery power based on the battery menu under Settings, but I don't think it can be uninstalled. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Waveraider]

Does Sams has a 90 day return policy for tha Vtab? If so, i may give it a shot.

 

[SEMIJim]

I have noticed this as well. I was wondering if it is a result of some app I have installed that continues running. ... Anyone have any suggestions?

Look under Menu -> Settings -> About -> Battery Use or Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Battery Use to see what's consuming the battery. For me it was com.google.android.apps.maps:... So I turned off the GPS, as I suspect that's what's doing it.

Jim

 

[marvin02]

Another Vizio Tablet owner here. My wife and I got one at Sam's Club to use mainly as an ereader. She loves playing games on her android phone, so she'll use it for that also. Still checking it out.

 

[marvin02]

I'm curious: how do games scale for this tablet?. . .

I have some pretty simple games on the VTAB and it seems to depend on the game, but most are fine.

In Farkle Dice (paid version) the arrows above the scoring dice don;t line up with the dice. The dice don't fit in the background graphic for them, but it works fine.

JewelLust works great and looks great.

Magic Gem doesn't scale up and sometimes a previous screen can be seen flashing on the side of the display area.

Patience revisited works fine and looks good.

Angry Birds and it's in work great.

The educational games by Five Pumpkins scale up fine but the sound seems clipped in them (in at least some of them you can record your own sound).

Kids Learn to Read works fine.

Kids ABC Phonics works fine.

Kids Shape Puzzle works fine.

So - with the stuff I usually have on mu Android devices most work fine.

Edit: The Amazon Appstore works on VTAB, I just installed it and am installing apps now.

 

[scubahottie1972]

Yes you can return computers up to 90 days at Sam's

Does Sams has a 90 day return policy for tha Vtab? If so, i may give it a shot.

 

[scubahottie1972]

Have you been able to get Netflix to stream movies? I have had no such luck..........

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.

 

[adamszoo]

I contacted support about another issue and in fixing that, netflix now works. Here's what fixed it for me. Power off the VTAB, leave it off for 1 minute. Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Turn it back on. And, Netflix works for me now. Just watched something on it.

 

[gjhuff]

You might want to confirm that at your local Sam's. Mine says only 30 days.