Any better CPU than the Tegra 2? ($400-500 tablet)

BrennanB

Member
Jan 24, 2011
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0
What I am doing violates my own pet peeve of a new user asking for help without spending the time reading existing posts....but there is a reason.

I just found out about 5 hours ago that I have to have brain surgery to remove a aneurysm. While surgery isnt scheduled yet it will be asap the latest being 2 weeks from now.

In preparation for my long recovery I would like to purchase a droid tablet so I would like to ask for some help in choosing one. I will be laid up in bed for at least 3 weeks and the tablet will be used within range of wifi so 3G isnt a must.

I am typically the type who researches for months before a purchase like this but I don't have that luxury this time ;)

I know that the Tegra 2 chip was thought to provide some serious horsepower so that is one feature that interests me. Beyond that I am not sure what to look for.

In my initial search I came across the Malata ZpadT2? Anything better to look at?

I am guessing $400 is a good price point, $500.00 being the max. Of course lower is better.

Anyway, much thanks for any guidance. I am going to be doing some reading today and tomorrow to try and become more familar with what I should be looking for.
 
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BrennanB

Member
Jan 24, 2011
9
0
Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help :)

What is the current status on ordering a Notion Ink? Looks like an interesting product and I certainly like supporting the underdog. Can I actually order one?
 

xaueious

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
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436
The gTablet is not a good tablet at stock configuration. You need to do some things to it. the LCD viewing angles is also one of its downsides.
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
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Correct. Out of the box the G Tablet is a total disaster, and IMHO even the factory OTAs don't help it a lot. However, when you flash the ROM to one of the popular stable builds such as VEGAn, TnT-Lite or TnT Harmony it is a fabulous device. Benchmark scores are through the roof, and the user community is amazing. It is basically the same device as the Malata and the Notion Ink, so ROMs from those devices work as well.
 

tcrews

Member
Oct 19, 2010
41
6
The only retail outlet I know of that "pulled" the Viewsonic Gtablet is Staples. Office Depot, Sears, Amazon, Buy.com, etc..all still carry it.

I've bought two (one for me, one for the wife) and two of my friends have bought it based on my positive experiences with the Viewsonic Gtablet.

Out of the box.....it sucks and sucks bad. The UI (TapNTap) is horrible, I have nothing positive to say about it. It makes the tablet feel slow and look more like a digital picture frame that also does news and weather.

Currently there are quite a few choices of ROMs to install to replace the stock crap and doing so is unbelievably easy. Copying some files from your PC to the tablet via USB or putting them on a micro sd card and inserting it in the tablet....it's really that simple.

TnT-lite (4.2 is current), based on the stock ROM, all the crap is pulled out and Google apps/Market added. There have been some NVidia performance updates that have been included as well. Very nice ROM, still has some aspects of the stock TapNTap UI (the notification bar and Settings section being the most notable)

Zpad (3.0 is current) based off the ZPad Rom, very AOSP like (vanilla Android). I liked this one a lot....though I only used it for about a day. Google App/Market, performance updates included.

VEGAn (5.1 beta is current) is based "kinda" off the VEGA rom and has an AOSP feel to it as well. This one has "on-screen" controls (Home, Menu, Back) which is nice since the capacitive ones on the side are not illuminated and impossible to see in low light. Performance updates included as well as Google Apps/Market. This is currently what I am running.

Harmony (a new one also based off the stock Rom), apps were pulled and optpng'd and zipaligned as well as performance updates and google apps/market. I have no experience with this one.

CM7 (realistically in alpha stage) - CyanogenMod ROM based on Gingerbread source code. CyanogenMod itself is working on CM7 for the Gtablet but has not released any ROM's yet...these are compiled by others who have pulled the cyanogenmod team's source tree. Very nice...still has a few quirks but this is looking extremely promising. Some Market issues but Google Apps/Market can be added.

GAdam (Alpha 3 is current I believe) is a port of the Notion Ink's Adam tablet with Eden UI. Still some quirks and I'm not seeing any thing of a draw (to me) in such a simplified, dumbed down interface that Eden's UI provides. Roebeet has added google apps/Market to it.

And...if for some reason you like the stock TnT interface, there is a performance pack for it that adds the Nvidia updates and Google Apps/Market.

Kernel source was released in late December and already others have compiled versions adding new features (CIFs support, NTFS, EXT4, PPOE, VPN, etc...).

In my opinion, there isn't a tablet out there that can touch the Viewsonic Gtablet currently for price, performance and options. The screen isn't great (viewing angles suck) but for $359-$399 a Tegra2, 512M, 16gig, 1.3MP front camera, USB, Mini-USB, headset, SDCard slot and dock port that you can run so many optioned ROM's with......it's a great tablet.
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
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Tom - Harmony ROCKS, visual benchmarks it performs much faster than any of the others, I have moved from VEGAn to that.

Brennan - to second Tom's complete coverage, the features here are amazing for the price, and the only real knock against the device for me is the viewing angles, which I can certainly deal with.
 

BrennanB

Member
Jan 24, 2011
9
0
Thanks so much for the clarification! Seriously appreciated everyone, esepcially tcrews for the great overview. This seriously helps paint a picture of this tablet and sounds like the perfect option for me.

While I am a tweaker at heart until I get my brain back in order I need to be able to get the tablet to a good state fairly quickly. And that looks to be pretty straight forward. I am comfortable with flashing ROM's,etc. I had one of the first XDA Wallaby's and used to use the XDA Dev ROM kitchens quite a bit.

One more question. Any must have accessories or cases you guys would recommend right off the bat? What about a RAM upgrade out of the gate? Is the RAM upgradable?
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
I really can't think of any MUST have accessories. There are some cases that can be customized to work, or there are some that you may be able to find specific for our form factor, that might be nice. Also, an extra charger is a thought, but in all honesty the battery life on this thing is SO phenomenal I don't see it as a need either. The only item I can think of would be a 16 or 32 Gb Micro SD, other than that you should be good.
 

BrennanB

Member
Jan 24, 2011
9
0
Good to know...off to buy one and will report results which look to be great. Always a good sign when you are buying something the mods of the forum use.
 

tabletguy

Member
Dec 7, 2010
15
0
if you really want the adam, you can check on ebay. I saw a couple flying on there.

and the tegra 2 is pretty much the best out there for GPU/CPU tablets. Nvidia will be upgrading the tegra line later in the year with a tegra 3.
 

BrennanB

Member
Jan 24, 2011
9
0
I may have the ability to buy a Adam in time for surgery.

So the question is, is the Adam's display alot better than the G tablet? It seems that the Adam does have quite a few features the G tablet doesnt (digital compass, GPS, accelerometer, etc.) but is there a sense as to whether the Adam is alot better of a tablet than a rooted G tblet?
 
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