sorry no honeycomb...ever

[fridge011]

There is a huge discussion rant thread started by roebeet over on xdA forum about the lack of support for gtablet lately. It has been released that nvidia will no longer support the harmony build of their tegra chip which is what the Gtab is based off of. Thry will only be supporting their ventana build of their current chips from here on out, which is what honeycomb is built for. Here are a couple links and the xda roebeet one I'd 30 pages long so long story short gtab will not get anymore hardware upgrades so there will not be any true honeycomb roms for gtab and no hardware acceleration for gingerbread tabs. I am by no means an expert on this stuff so i may have some of the hardware explanations wrong but the message is the same. Seems we have been tossed aside

Nvidia to stop supporting the Harmony platform past Froyo | Android Central

I'm starting to get aggravated at Viewsonic - xda-developers

 

[cheerful]

Doesn't Xoom use the same chip?

 

[fridge011]

It does but its already built on the android 3.0 os so it will get updates but everything on android 2.2 like gtab and notion ink Adam wont get anymore upgrades from nvidia and its up to the manufacturer (viewsonic) to write,build,create new upgrades. The same viewsonic who brought us the awesome tnt stock rom and who hasn't updated it since December. We can hope Adam gets some kind of gingerbread updates or something we can port to gtab. But apps will also be made for the new upgraded os and they wont all work for us (if any). Seems like the woot sale was vs purging there stock in anticipation of his happening.

 

[diksbendragen]

This also has a huge result from the sales being reported at only a 1/5 of what they expected. Frankly I am not surprised. Things like honeycomb need to be forced out in mass just like any apple product. They already know the users are going to tweak it and they are fine with it. The problem was though that all the new devices were already shipped in order to be out in the market first which is what killed the Atrix 4G in sales. You don't give the consumers a turd sandwich without anyone smelling it.

 

[Triune]

Not all that surprising. The impetus for the android tablets was to be the ipad killer, but with the number of manufacturers out there, and the insane price points, they now need to reassess and pull back as clearly no real ipad killer has emerged - the new models with Honeycomb are just way out there as to price point. Thinking enough dev out there to keep the viewsonic going as it is a neat piece of hardware. Early adopters we are and we pay that price I think.

 

[saw4gtab]

The following was posted at the bottom of the thread on Andriod Central - I guess this mean that Honeycomb is still a possibility?

"UPDATE 12 APRIL 2011:
Sorry folks looks like I caused a bit of confusion. Since this is a developer forum my comments were targeted at Tegra Honeycomb developers and for this we’d like to focus on Ventana. For shipping or production products, customers should contact the device makers directly for OS support plans. They are responsible for the OS shipping on their device.
In relation to our linux kernel git repository, NVIDIA will continue to provide full open-source support for all of our kernel components and will push more of that upstream over time.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation"

So no need to throw those older tablets out with the bath water just yet! And for those of you running to the fruit orchard for update solace, for shame! You do know what forbidden fruit caused the theological downfall of mankind, don't you?

 

[pbrauer]

I have to also thank Saw4Tab in bringing this additional piece to the thread. This is simply one of those information SuperHighway overloads run amok. There are going to continue to be rumors, there are going to continue to be catagorical statements made that in the end turn out to be lacking in the authority they seem to assume. I beleive the bottom lines are this, 1) If you are buying technology for what its FUTURE capability is going to be, you will ALWAYS be disappointed. Do I think I have the best tablet on the market in my G-Tab? Honestly no, depending on what benchmark or comparison factor used. Do I think I have the best tablet FOR ME in the G Tab? Yes I do, and that I can live with.

Whether or not Honeycomb comes to the GTab (and I hope it does, it looks cool), I just cannot get bent out of shape stressing about it because as soon as it does or doesn't, there is going to be the next great thing right behind it.

 

[fridge011]

I hear ya. I'm not that worried about honeycomb. It's not working worth a crap right now anyway. I'm worries about wether we will still be getting support for this thing cause as was pointed out in the other forum that the more updates we get the better starting point well have to make our Roms and future Roms better. Also it has been noted that Viewsonic is subbing out support for the gtab to a 3rd party company and there customer service number has changed from a 1800 number to a pay number. In the end all the worry might be for naught but I am worried about it and thought others might want to know what's going on. I'm gonna keep my gtab regardless of what happens cause it works good for my needs and there isn't anything out there Right now id trade it for. Maybe by the end of the year or next summer I'll be wanting to sell it and get me a Tab running off of a much smoother honeycomb than what is out there now and have a better screen. But I think were still months away from actually being able to upgrade from gtab. IMO

 

[Morgue]

"UPDATE 12 APRIL 2011:
Sorry folks looks like I caused a bit of confusion. Since this is a developer forum my comments were targeted at Tegra Honeycomb developers and for this we’d like to focus on Ventana. For shipping or production products, customers should contact the device makers directly for OS support plans. They are responsible for the OS shipping on their device.
In relation to our linux kernel git repository, NVIDIA will continue to provide full open-source support for all of our kernel components and will push more of that upstream over time.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation"

I agree that throwing the Gtab out because of the recent statements is a bit absurd, but we don't know what exactly this means. The manufacturers could say they want to update but aren't getting any support from Nvidia. I think honeycomb on the tab is never going to happen (nor was), but some gingerbread support for hardware acceleration would be nice.

At this point even Viewsonic saying that at all would be helpful, and we do have (thanks to the community) a very good tablet that works well, and is competitive as of today. I think that we mostly focus on getting a toy we can improve rather than just a tablet, and the ability to improve it might significantly diminish. It doesn't affect the use of them as they are today.

I guess it is still too new of a populated market to determine product life cycles, but even in terms of phones this seems a bit short doesn't it?

 

[GadjetGirl59]

I have not changed my gtab from the stock OS. If they will give us the flash update, then I will be a happy camper. I bought this tablet back in Feb, thinking that the flash update would be on it. The VS website kept saying it was coming and I even sent emails to everyone on their website complaining about this. I was told it was coming and STILL no flash update. This to me is false advertising and although I like my device, I do not like the makers.

But thanks for the update!

 

[fridge011]

Looks like all the Fuss directed at Viewsonic has produced some results. They have said a new update will be out at midnight. It's sounding like it'll be some tweaks to 3588. They said a major Android update is in the works also but has no eta. Well just have to wait and see but it would be pretty sweet if it's true.

 

[Morgue]

"UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today."


Sounds better, but we'll see what VS does.

 

[Fuganater]

Meh not the end of the world. I'm pretty happy with Gingerbread ROMs.

 

[gadgetrants]

I think honeycomb on the tab is never going to happen (nor was), but some gingerbread support for hardware acceleration would be nice.

I want to chime in with some very primitive (think "caveman") logic here. It would probably be more convincing if I could demonstrate in person, with the full-on animal-fur suit and grunts and wild arm gestures.

OK, here it is: I own (or really, my wife owns) the Nook Color. It runs Eclair (rooted). It has half the hardware (or less) than the gTab, if we set aside screen specs. In comparison, touching the gTab is almost like a religious experience for me...I run Quadrant over and over and over, dozens of times a day, just to see it score 2100 or higher. Oh, I'm running TnT Lite 4.4.0, by the way. I cannot believe how absolutely smooth and responsive it is. It makes my Droid sob and cry all night long.

And so I pick up the Nook, put in a microSD card with Honeycomb AOSP, and HOLY CRAP IT WORKS. The Nook Color RUNS HONEYCOMB. I cannot believe it...gmail, browser, market...it works (this is the part where I REALLY grunt and make the loudest caveman sounds I can!).

And I'm thinking--puny little primitive caveman brain that I have--if the Nook Color can do that, SURELY the gTab has enough hardware resources to run Honeycomb.

Certainly, there are too many circumstances that differ between the two devices to list, to make any direct comparisons meaningful. And vendor support is a key issue (though note that B&N had NOTHING to do with HC working on the Nook). But again...somewhere, deep down in my million-years-old DNA, I can feel Honeycomb happening on the 10" gTab. Of course, if it does happen, it will be the dev community that achieves it (and it looks like a pretty big mountain to climb). But I think I'd put $5 on it.

-Matt

 

[Morgue]

But again...somewhere, deep down in my million-years-old DNA, I can feel Honeycomb happening on the 10" gTab. Of course, if it does happen, it will be the dev community that achieves it (and it looks like a pretty big mountain to climb). But I think I'd put $5 on it.

-Matt

I meant just from an "official" standpoint. I'll never put something past the Dev community. They have amazed me before and at some point perhaps I will be lucky enough to benefit again. I am awaiting my gtab in the hopes that the community and number of units sold will keep some exciting things happening on it.