[DISCUSSION] Why did the Touchpad fail? - TouchPad General

well, my order of 4 from cpw came today, and I was going to get rid of spares and keep one if I thought they were no good (compared to all the tablets I have (Ipads,galaxy tabs, transformer, wierd brands etc) for dev purposes btw). But, omg, webOs so far is quite nice, the device aint too bad either. So going to give 3 to friends and family and keep 1 to play with. Downloading SDK as I type and had a quick read.
So, after not minding the hardware at all, and thinking that as a 1st pass young tablet webos is probably better than androids attempt, add to the fact that the SDK from reading (not use) looks to be even better than android......
Some1 remind me again, why did this thing fail? Just price? if thats the case, £299 would have made this and ensuing development a killer? Or am I missing some big point here?
Cheers

Cost, immature software, lack of features, small developer ecosphere, late to market, tons of competition...
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

phobos512 said:
Cost, immature software, lack of features, small developer ecosphere, late to market, tons of competition...
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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baring the last two, that true of any os that has just come to market
Shame me thinks

It fails because it is one of the most expensive, heaviest, thickest, and has the least features (no back camera, not way to connect USB/SD memory card...) and least tablet apps. Coming late in the game HP should have done a better job...no excuse. HP designed the tablet poorly...consumers are not stupid like them...very disappointed in in HP. Whoever design/engineer/market the Touchpad should be fired....such a waste of resources. Guess it's worth $99, at least they priced it correctly now.

phobos512 said:
Cost, immature software, lack of features, small developer ecosphere, late to market, tons of competition...
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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It the nail right on the head, but I think it's mainly because of the price. Apple has some one figured out a way of brain washing people to buy everything they put out at any price. Other companies haven't figured it out so until they do they need to figure out how to get the cost down on tablets. Could imagine the frenzy over the Galaxy 10.1 if it would have been priced 199 or 299?
The HP tab fire sale proves there is a market for the Tab but just not at the price they are bouncing around.

deanwray said:
baring the last two, that true of any os that has just come to market
Shame me thinks
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Granted, but webOS didn't come to market with the Touchpad - it's been out for several years. It was a very buggy platform from all the reading I've done, and there was still a fair number of issues even after the last patch was released (just go look at PreCentral).
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wondercoolguy said:
It the nail right on the head, but I think it's mainly because of the price. Apple has some one figured out a way of brain washing people to buy everything they put out at any price. Other companies haven't figured it out so until they do they need to figure out how to get the cost down on tablets. Could imagine the frenzy over the Galaxy 10.1 if it would have been priced 199 or 299?
The HP tab fire sale proves there is a market for the Tab but just not at the price they are bouncing around.
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Price was probably the biggest factor. It was more expensive than most any other tablet for less capability and less compatibility. For example, licking it down to print only to HP printers or tether to HP/Palm phones? Ridiculous.
It's sort of amazing the position Apple is in now given how bad off they were in the late 80s and 90s. Really sucked being a Mac user back then (haven't been a Mac user since then though).
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phobos512 said:
Price was probably the biggest factor. It was more expensive than most any other tablet for less capability and less compatibility. For example, licking it down to print only to HP printers or tether to HP/Palm phones? Ridiculous.
It's sort of amazing the position Apple is in now given how bad off they were in the late 80s and 90s. Really sucked being a Mac user back then (haven't been a Mac user since then though).
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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well, I agree (Being a 3D artist myself) that the design is a little off, but I do like the form factor of these (and obviously my iPad) and that factor suits my development plans for tablets more than my transformer or indeed any of my 10inch tablets.
I would be in heaven even with the weight and cribb design if this was an android unit with the same UI features etc at a £250 price point.
I personally think this device and OS had great potential for a tablet, but like you say, if the palm devices showed lots of buggs, maybe hp could have never sorted it with the team they had. Still say shame though

Pretty much failed because the general populations definition of a tablet is the iPad. Like others said, price and too many competitors. After a couple of days with my Touchpad, and some tweaking, I like it. I am impressed with webOS.
But I feel bad for the poor souls who bought this thing from the get-go for 500 bucks because performance wise it has it's hiccups for no reason. Notice some lag sometimes for no reason and delays when trying to do simple things. I feel like the auto rotate is too sensitive as well.

dtblair24 said:
Pretty much failed because the general populations definition of a tablet is the iPad. Like others said, price and too many competitors. After a couple of days with my Touchpad, and some tweaking, I like it. I am impressed with webOS.
But I feel bad for the poor souls who bought this thing from the get-go for 500 bucks because performance wise it has it's hiccups for no reason. Notice some lag sometimes for no reason and delays when trying to do simple things. I feel like the auto rotate is too sensitive as well.
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Have you installed preware and in turn the log diable stuff, speed stuff and the OMG it's now way too loud sound mod!
what.....I'm deff!

deanwray said:
well, my order of 4 from cpw came today, and I was going to get rid of spares and keep one if I thought they were no good (compared to all the tablets I have (Ipads,galaxy tabs, transformer, wierd brands etc) for dev purposes btw). But, omg, webOs so far is quite nice, the device aint too bad either. So going to give 3 to friends and family and keep 1 to play with. Downloading SDK as I type and had a quick read.
So, after not minding the hardware at all, and thinking that as a 1st pass young tablet webos is probably better than androids attempt, add to the fact that the SDK from reading (not use) looks to be even better than android......
Some1 remind me again, why did this thing fail? Just price? if thats the case, £299 would have made this and ensuing development a killer? Or am I missing some big point here?
Cheers
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Click to collapse
so to say it just sucks is not what the op is looking for.
The unit itself is amazing. I have been a die hard android fan with my hd2 but the ui of this tablet is extremely functional. Having multiple frames for apps makes this an amazing item for me. The keyboard is very easy to use and the quality of the item is A+. Like many others I would like the android market but webOS. Two big things for me is the memory expansion and no hdmi out but I will live. If I were to release this product I would say 299 and 399 would be fair.
I think the price is the only reason it failed. From using the xoom and iPad I find this, minus the features listed above, to be the better unit. $99 is an amazing deal for this great piece of machinary.

Here's one reason:
"Rubinstein wasn't exactly thrilled about the timing of the TouchPad's release, saying CEO Leo Apotheker had failed to make good on a public promise to ship the tablet only when it was "perfect."
Source

I think a bigger issue deals with consumer education about a new OS. The transition from an android phone to an android tablet or an iphone to an iPad is seamless WebOS phones had a miniscule market share. WebOS came to market late in the game. It took an incredible price on the TP to get consumers to take the leap to a new platform. Now that they are here they may like what they see.

It failed for one simple reason. The OS and apps weren't ready and weren't polished. I think the hardware is amazing, save for the volume rocker and the super thin "home" button and maybe the screen which apparently generates its own fingerprints and smudges out of thin air. The OS on the other hand has so much potential but they completely screwed it. If I had purchased this at anything over 150, which is what I paid for the 32gb, I would return it or sell it.
Take this one example. The browser doesn't load pages in the background. If you load a new card like you would a tab and return to the original browser card, the new one just sits there and does . . . nothing. Doesn't load or render the webpage. It just sits there like a bookmark to the site you wanted to load. I mean seriously? This is like iPad1 crap, which was solved in like a couple weeks with third party browsers. With 4 times the ram, for some reason WebOS doesn't find it necessary even without a single other app loaded on a fresh boot to actually load the card in the background. The way I browse the web is to load a trillion tabs and then go through them and read. That would be absolutely excruciating on the Touchpad.

muyoso said:
It failed for one simple reason. The OS and apps weren't ready and weren't polished.
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About the same as the 1st Galaxy Tab P1000 android version
The OS on the other hand has so much potential but they completely screwed it. If I had purchased this at anything over 150, which is what I paid for the 32gb, I would return it or sell it.
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over 150 ? Bit harsh I think. From a development perspective, software is never finished, you just get to a point where you either HAVE to release or it's ACCEPTABLE to release.
Take this one example. The browser doesn't load pages in the background. If you load a new card like you would a tab and return to the original browser card, the new one just sits there and does . . . nothing. Doesn't load or render the webpage. It just sits there like a bookmark to the site you wanted to load. I mean seriously? This is like iPad1 crap, which was solved in like a couple weeks with third party browsers. With 4 times the ram, for some reason WebOS doesn't find it necessary even without a single other app loaded on a fresh boot to actually load the card in the background.
The way I browse the web is to load a trillion tabs and then go through them and read. That would be absolutely excruciating on the Touchpad.
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I dont actually think thats a representation of the average user. I maybe open 7 tabs on a pc, I sure they would have put in background loading eventually.

dtblair24 said:
Pretty much failed because the general populations definition of a tablet is the iPad. Like others said, price and too many competitors. After a couple of days with my Touchpad, and some tweaking, I like it. I am impressed with webOS.
But I feel bad for the poor souls who bought this thing from the get-go for 500 bucks because performance wise it has it's hiccups for no reason. Notice some lag sometimes for no reason and delays when trying to do simple things. I feel like the auto rotate is too sensitive as well.
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Click to collapse
this is exactly why it failed. Why do you have to tweak it for it to work smoothly. It should be like that out the box

imsuperjp said:
this is exactly why it failed. Why do you have to tweak it for it to work smoothly. It should be like that out the box
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name a tablet product other than ipad (ios) that at release was like what you wanted, smooth out of the box, cause I cant think of one?

Honestly I don't think it failed because of the OS the majority of people out there are absolutely clueless as to what the difference android/ios and web OS brings when I recommend android phones to people nearly all of them haven't got a clue what I'm on about there more interested in if it can download apps. I personally think its more to do with marketing and more important price(why pay 399 for a unknown hp tablet when you can pay 399 for a apple ipad) people have to understand that the majority of consumers are near clueless about tech,ive gad so many people pick up android tabs asking if this is the ipad lol

I think you have to go way back to the palm pre for the answer. Great OS. Not a bad spec phone for the time. But Sprint was the exclusive carrier and didn't do jack to promote it. So everyone was seeing iPhone this and Droid that. No one was hearing about webOS until it was in the news that they were broke and hp was buying them. That's my opinion anyway. I have a palm pre(in a desk) have an evo (daily driver) and I hands down would take webOS on the evo hardware any day.

Everyone thinks this tablet has failed, if that's the case then why did a million people buy it? I know it's cheap compared to the iPad but with over a millions users this tablet should take off and be a big competitor with Apple. Maybe that was the intention all along, think how much HP saved on marketing, plus all the revenue they could get from some many users.
Give it a few months, Webos will be rocking the tablet world!

Related

[Q] Thinking About Purchasing

Hello All,
Not sure if this is the correct spot for this post, if it isn't I apologize.
I been debating if I should purchase this tablet (viewsonic g tab).
The primary reason for the purchase is so I'll have the ability to read and easily navigate pdf's on the go. The pdf's can be heavy in graphics at times and go up to 75MB in size (they are parts/technical manuals in 8.5x11" format).
For that application I thought this might be the best fit.
I'm wondering if it might be a bit of overkill though. I do need a 10" screen. The other features might be excessive and I may be better off settling on cheaper alternative.
Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks.
Safest bet is to buy an ipad 2. I highly recommend against the gtab for any purpose at all. Just buy an ipad 2 and there is no possibility for disappointment.
jbaur13 said:
I'm wondering if it might be a bit of overkill though. I do need a 10" screen. The other features might be excessive and I may be better off settling on cheaper alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The GTablet is not ideal for "unwrap it and use it" use. For that, any of the new $400ish Honeycomb tablets with better screens, or indeed the much more expensive iPad2 would be perfect.
The gtab is like a '67 chevy you buy to restore You'll know a lot about customizing android, flashing roms, rooting, and possibly even using the android SDK after you're done getting it to a state that you can buy off the shelf for a few more $. And of course, you can't ever fix the screen.
If you had said you intended to surf the web from your couch and you wanted to spend the minimum amount of money, and you were kinda interested in tinkering with low level stuff or at least had read some threads over and thought you could do it, then yeah... go gtab!
jbaur13 said:
The primary reason for the purchase is so I'll have the ability to read and easily navigate pdf's on the go. The pdf's can be heavy in graphics at times and go up to 75MB in size (they are parts/technical manuals in 8.5x11" format).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the new HC tabs are selling for $400 ish, slightly used gtabs is being sold for $200 shipped (some even come with accessories at this price).
If you can deal with the viewing angles of a TN screen (take a mainstream laptop/netbook and move around it and see how the color shift) or if you would use the tablet straight on most of the time then at $200 I can't help but recommend it, its a different story though if you are paying $300 + shipping + taxes (current retail)
Again pdf isn't an issue out of the box (esp. with the availability of gmarket and amazon market on it out of the box), and getting any hacked rom on it is a 10~20 minutes painless process (esp if you aren't into salvaging whatever settings/application that was already loaded on it).
Best of luck,
I feel comfortable with the hacking that must be done to the tab. I'm a service tech by trade... the instructions on this site are more thorough than the service manuals I work with everyday. I also have the forums to fall back on for support.
I'm not finding a whole lot of 10" tabs out there that are cheaper and have near the features of this one.
An Ipad is way more than I'd be willing to spend... besides that it'd probably make my boss jealous and I'd never get another raise.
Thanks for the responses... Anyone selling a g pad?
jbaur13 said:
Anyone selling a g pad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1056866
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1055201
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1050026
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1051097
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054599
Best of luck,
First: For reading PDFS this thing will be fine, the screen isn't the best (viewing angles) but it's cheap and bigger than most.
A lot of people asked me why I didn't buy an I-pad
Here's a few reasons
I dislike syncing files through I-Tunes. Drag and drop is the present I live in.
I like being able to save files from the web to my devices internal memory. Downloading a song, an emailed document or an apk for future use or even just creating a library of useful files on the go is something I can't live without.
Expandable, swappable memory.
Configurable, swappable boots.
Android community devs are doing awesome things!
USB input devices, keyboards and mice.
Flash. Seriously what was apple thinking?
Playing non itunes friendly media files.
The screen is terrible though. But on the other hand I do not want to throw a 600$ IPS screen around like I handle this tablet.
I personally wait until some of the honeycomb tabs come out. There are a lot about to come out. My biggest disappointment with the gtablet is the viewing angles (a 'bit' better with a fingerprint hiding screen protector) and the non-lit buttons (hard to use in darkness)... I would stick with android if your a hacker in general... and ipad2 if not. Netflix and huluplus make the ipad a better tablet for couch use. The apps are better there, as long as they fit in Steve's idea of the perfect app.
I decided to go ahead with the purchase, thanks for all the feedback.
jbaur13 said:
I decided to go ahead with the purchase, thanks for all the feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just do us a favor and don't come back a couple weeks from now crying bloody murder about how aweful the screen is. Told you to get an ipad.

[Q] Would you buy again?

I don't currently own a G Tablet. I'm in the market for a tablet though. Would you guys buy this device again?? How is development community? I was thinking about buying a Barnes and Noble nook, but for 50 dollars more you can get this device with much better hardware. What do you guys think as owners of this device?
Tynen said:
I don't currently own a G Tablet. I'm in the market for a tablet though. Would you guys buy this device again?? How is development community? I was thinking about buying a Barnes and Noble nook, but for 50 dollars more you can get this device with much better hardware. What do you guys think as owners of this device?
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Using search, I found the exact same topic I replied to the last time.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068794
Oddly enough, the title was "would you buy again/still"
Tynen said:
Would you guys buy this device again??
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Click to collapse
For sub $300 BNIB and sub $250 (used with accessories) hell yes
And BTW I do have a nook color as well as a gtab.
Just check all the threads here about the honey comb port, over clocking kernels, custom ROMs, ..
In a skinny minute.
No. The screen is just abysmal. I knew going in the poor viewing angles and reflectivity. But I cannot stress enough how poor on both counts. The screen is so poor that color shifts occur at the edges when viewing straight on. The angles so poor that rotations, very normal and expected with a pad, are visually tedious on the yes. Each orientation offers its own set of problems.
I love the hardware. I love the tweakability. I'm a hardcore Android phone user of almost two years now. I am committed to Android over iOS. But I just cannot tolerate the screen.
In a heartbeat! I have a number of Android devices and the Grab is my favorite! I bought for the price and stayed because I love it.
gwalborn
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b5.1.1 using Tapatalk
Yes, and I actually did buy again (2nd one, for my son).
Mine is still stock, and I use it daily, for web and news. My son has CM7 on his.
Jim
Yup. Love it.
Well it's been a week with the one I bought for my kid....
And I am trying to talk myself off the ledge of buying 1-2 more, it is that good...
I never booted the stock rom, went right to Vegantab7, smooth as silk....XDA should be PAID BIG TIME by viewsonic...Really viewsonic might consider letting XDA run their tablet division, and they would SMOKE all competition.
I am a hardcore laptop user, but this thing really could replace quite a lot, except for windows specific apps...
Plus I can tether wirelessly through my rooted OG droid, really elegant all around..
Money WELL spent.
Good luck.
Scott
Without a doubt! Running Honeycomb thanks to the development community!
I wouldn't pay the original $399 but for under $300 its the best bang for the buck. I'm hoping to get a second one soon. I like the nook but the 7 inch screen is just too small. I really don't get all the complaints about the screen.
I have two G-Tablets. After purchasing the first one, I really thought the whole screen issue was overblown, so when I saw an ad for a used tab with a case and micro sd for $200, I jumped on it. As it turns out, the viewing angels are noticeably worse. I have to believe there are quality control issues from the Chinese manufacturer, and explains the amount of people who complain of this. The original one did not have a great screen, but it was acceptable. The latter, however, is worse yet. My opinion only.
My biggest complain against purchasing again would have been the lack of vendor support. However this has been resolved based on the support of the developers here and elsewhere. I would not however, pay more than $250 for the device, as it is clearly reaching its end of hardware life; although the developers are extending its software life.
The device is also a good gateway into the world of android and should help people decide what type of device to purchase in the future. One with 'proven' vendor support vs one that is more risky. Which in reality translates into more expensive verus less.
I also think the only way to explain the wide range in screen experiences, has to be build based. I don't have problem with the screen; to me it looks and behaves as a typical netbook screen would.
So my answer would be, I would buy again if I could find one around $250 and could be assured of the screen quality.
Nope, I returned mine after 7 days. The screen is truly awful (or was on mine) and while the developer support is great and certainly makes the device worlds better than it is stock, my opinion is that it's still too flawed. I kept running into things that simply wouldn't work (multiple apps and widgets) and these issues were causing me to fuss with more than just use the device. But what it did show me was that I think I would enjoy regularly using a tablet so for now I'll wait for Asus to ramp up production of the Transformer and for $100 more than G-Tab I'll have something with a native OS that runs and a screen that is likely to be 10x better. Or for less $ I may pick up a Nook color and mess around with that.
That's my 2c anyway.
Absolutely. I don't know where else you'll match the value (price/performance combo).
The screen could bother some...depends on your expectations. For me, it's a non issue. The audio issue (occasional steady buzz that takes a reboot to fix) is worse for me.
If you expect a $600+ device, this isn't it. But it's close, and can be had for less than half that.
I did buy mine. I agree that it's an amazing tablet and the community is awesome! But the screen is horrendous.
Now that I've got Netflix installed, I am very happy. In the process, I've come to the conclusion that the CM7 nightlies are the way to go if only for the increased battery life. Also, TNT and Vegan both had the deep sleep problems that I have yet to encounter with CM7
So, yes. It took a while, but I've finally gotten this to run the way I want it to. I'd certainly buy again at the WOOT! pricepoint.
Probably not. Its a great tablet for the price, but the vendor support just isn't there. The best support/info is from this site.
Just too many bugs with it.
But I must admit that I mostly use it for surfing the net while I am at work, and that does it just fine.
Absolutely!
I made an educated decision to buy it in the first place. I came here and other forums to research and understood that I was getting a tablet that had a lackluster screen, really good internals, and a crappy default OS. However I also knew that the quality of the ROMs and community support here on XDA and was comfortable with that. I did not walk into this blind and I think that makes my answer easier.
The screen is not as bad as I thought it would be. So that has not been an issue for me. I do think it is inconsistent or some people are making it sound worse than it is. Maybe a personal issue or preference.
However for less than $300 I have a device and with Vegan Ginger on it, I have had both IPAD and Xoom users be shocked how good it is for half the price.
My intention was also to purchase one of these for a lower price and wait for this rush of new tablets to come out. You generally see much better products after the initial rush. This way in a year I will hand this to my kids and get a high end tablet that will most likely blow anything that is out there now, out of the water.

[Poll] I'm returning. Are you?

I'm going to return my tablet to Amazon and wait for something better. I have been using the 10.1 non stop for the past two weeks and it is awesome. The few problems it has are with HC and not the hardware. However, I feel the processing power needs to be a bit higher for 1280x720 resolution and we need more video codecs. Nvidia say they won't make the same mistake with the upcoming quadcore, and since it's only 2 months away, the wait feels justified to me.
Don't get me wrong, this tablet owns all other HC tablets at the moment. I just would be very pissed off if the new tablets like the Amazon Hollywood appeared this Christmas and completely destroyed the performance of my 10.1 along with playing nearly any video I copy onto it.
I urge anyone still within their return period to consider sending it back. It would be one thing if the new tablets were 5 or 6 months out, but 2 months is too close.
ericc191 said:
I'm going to return my tablet to Amazon and wait for something better. I have been using the 10.1 non stop for the past two weeks and it is awesome. The few problems it has are with HC and not the hardware. However, I feel the processing power needs to be a bit higher for 1280x720 resolution and we need more video codecs. Nvidia say they won't make the same mistake with the upcoming quadcore, and since it's only 2 months away, the wait feels justified to me.
Don't get me wrong, this tablet owns all other HC tablets at the moment. I just would be very pissed off if the new tablets like the Amazon Hollywood appeared this Christmas and completely destroyed the performance of my 10.1 along with playing nearly any video I copy onto it.
I urge anyone still within their return period to send it back. It would be one thing if the new tablets were 5 or 6 months out, but 2 months is too close.
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You do understand that if you actually lived by that way of thinking, you would literally (seriously, joking aside) never own a tablet...? Because lets say you were thinking about the original G-Tab when it first came out...but then heard that Honeycomb was on its way, so you waited...then Honeycomb shows up with its array of tablets (the Tegra 2 generation)...and as tempting and highly-praised as they may be, you then hear about the next round of Honeycomb tablets (with quadcores )...but wait! not all that long after that should be the Ice Cream Sandwich debut with yet ANOTHER suite of tablets (with maybe hexa- or octo-core chips! ), so I'm guessing you should wait for THOSE to come out, right?!?
No offense man, but I really wish people would come up with more logical, legitimate, and justifiable excuses for not buying new pieces of electronics, because face it - it is a 100% certainty that within 6 months of your purchase of said piece of electronics, it WILL be outdated to some extent. Like it or not, it is a virtual guarantee that within that amount of time the successor generation of products (in this case tablets) will hit the market with better specs and features than that of the product you bought. And that is a stone-cold fact something that all of us as fans of electronics and gizmos simply have to come to grips with.
joeski27 said:
You do understand that if you actually lived by that way of thinking, you would literally (seriously, joking aside) never own a tablet...? Because lets say you were thinking about the original G-Tab when it first came out...but then heard that Honeycomb was on its way, so you waited...then Honeycomb shows up with its array of tablets (Tegra 2)...and as tempting as they may be, you then hear about the next round of Honeycomb tablets (with quadcores )...but wait! not all that long after that should be the Ice Cream Sandwich debut with yet ANOTHER suite of tablets (with maybe hexa- or octo-core chips! ), so I'm guessing you should wait for THOSE to come out, right?!?
No offense man, but I really wish people would come up with more logical, legitimate, and justifiable excuses for not buying new pieces of electronics, because face it - it is a 100% certainty that within 6 months of your purchase of said piece of electronics, it WILL be outdated to some extent. And that is a stone-cold fact something that all of us as fans of electronics and gizmos simply have to come to grips with.
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Click to collapse
If you read my OP, you would see my reasoning which should be more than justified with the next slew of more powerful tablets. 6 months is fine to me. Not 2 months, though.
I'll give you an example. I recently built myself a computer and started out with an X58 and a Core i7-950. About a month and a half later, the new P67 boards came out and that awesome i7-2600K with them. I asked on many forums what I should do and most said I should be happy with what I had. I ignored that advice and couldn't be happier. But, when I was building the 2600K rig, everyone kept telling me I was wasting my time because Z68 boards. I don't care about the upcoming Z68 boards because I'm very pleased with my PC. It's far superior to the i7-950 build and it will last for quite some time.
Tegra2 just isn't powerful enough. I can't even use a live wallpaper without stuff becoming sluggish and you can't argue that one. Try moving an icon around with a live wallpaper running.
Their pricey toys...not investments.
Well, in my case they sure are an investment literally, doing post-graduation the laod of coursebooks is unbearable, these a step ahead from usual e-ink crap have helped me a lot, adding the annotation feature. It ain't mere multimedia box where you throw all 1080p movies (God knows from where!) and expect playback or else failure. Consider the excellent resolution, the browser experience with flash and excellent apps around (actually mean the THD games!) plus QUick office HD (as free!!! take this iPAD) and pdf readers like Repligo and eZpdf.
One man's bad experience doesn't justify the claimed redundancy of such a wonderful piece of technology! Quad-cores ahead, sure let'em on, more fun is ahead, massive multitasking and profound browser experience with emerging social networks like google+ and prevalent Fbook!
In short, Screw you man! I am keeping mine!
mughalgxt said:
Well, in my case they sure are an investment literally, doing post-graduation the laod of coursebooks is unbearable, these a step ahead from usual e-ink crap have helped me a lot, adding the annotation feature. It ain't mere multimedia box where you throw all 1080p movies (God knows from where!) and expect playback or else failure. Consider the excellent resolution, the browser experience with flash and excellent apps around (actually mean the THD games!) plus QUick office HD (as free!!! take this iPAD) and pdf readers like Repligo and eZpdf.
One man's bad experience doesn't justify the claimed redundancy of such a wonderful piece of technology! Quad-cores ahead, sure let'em on, more fun is ahead, massive multitasking and profound browser experience with emerging social networks like google+ and prevalent Fbook!
In short, Screw you man! I am keeping mine!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely love the very last sentence of this.
Now see I'm not saying the tablet is a bad experience. But I think it's a good idea to hold out a few months. It's the same thing with phones. I really like the Sensation and the Evo 3D, but the Nexus is coming this Christmas too. I've been patiently waiting for it.
task650 said:
I definitely love the very last sentence of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Effing priceless
ericc191 said:
Now see I'm not saying the tablet is a bad experience. But I think it's a good idea to hold out a few months. It's the same thing with phones. I really like the Sensation and the Evo 3D, but the Nexus is coming this Christmas too. I've been patiently waiting for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you honestly going to say that right about when the time comes for you to buy the phone you're holding out for and you hear rumors swirling about the next phone after that (and this will happen, by the way, it has happen with every single major period of Android-related releases so far), that you won't be tempted to do the same thing over again (that is, hold off until that comes out?). You seem to be missing the point - if you subscribe to this it will unarguably be an endless circle. And it is by no means your fault necessarily, its the Apples, Samsungs, HTCs, LGs, Sonys, Motorolas, Toshibas, etc of the world who are coming out with newer generations of productions, not yearly, or even every 6 months, but most often even less than that. Of course the good side of that is the technology is progressing super fast these days, so I guess that's the tradeoff that we all have to live with - major progression and innovation of tech but with each piece getting trumped by the next every few months
I can honestly say I will get the Nexus 3 or whatever it will be called, regardless of upcoming rumors around that time. As long as it's not done like the Nexus S was. A clone of a phone already out.
ericc191 said:
I can honestly say I will get the Nexus 3 or whatever it will be called, regardless of upcoming rumors around that time. As long as it's not done like the Nexus S was. A clone of a phone already out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I can definitely agree on you with the Nexus S - I am an N1 owner, from the day of launch, and I have yet to see another new phone on the market since then that can hold a candle to that phone, period. Now that being said, we'll all have to wait and see what the N3 will be all about. If you recall, the Nexus S was rumored to have quite a lot going for it...until it saw the light of day, at which point we were all like, "what?". So clearly the N3 has some really big shoes to fill, and hopefully those developing it realize this completely.
ericc191 said:
Now see I'm not saying the tablet is a bad experience. But I think it's a good idea to hold out a few months. It's the same thing with phones. I really like the Sensation and the Evo 3D, but the Nexus is coming this Christmas too. I've been patiently waiting for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been waiting for a Verizon phone with a dual core and LTE forever now and guess what, it'll probably be outdated when it arrives, maybe I should hold off for a quad-core, kal-el, or maybe a 6-core or just maybe wait 25 years in hopes that phones are so advanced every new one will be just like the others (wont happen). Buy now and use it for a few year and sell it on ebay and pay a couple more dollars to get the next gen.
There will always be something newer and faster. And just like our tab, they too will not be perfect.
I definitely understand the point you guys are making. But I'm not concerned about having the newest and best. It's about getting something that works well and also satisfies. If I'm dropping 500 dollars, I want to be completely happy with my purchase and I'm not with the 10.1.
EDIT: I'm going to sign up for that AMEX membership so I can have that option in the future as well.
I never understood the point of threads like these. OP has an opinion; others have their own. What's the point of a poll? And more to the point, regarding the following quote:
ericc191 said:
I urge anyone still within their return period to send it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
F-you, OP. You don't have the right to "urge" me to do anything. Your opinion is your own -- but when you try to impose it on me, we've got a problem.
Berner said:
You don't have the right to "urge" me to do anything. Your opinion is your own -- but when you try to impose it on me, we've got a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly this!
Berner said:
I never understood the point of threads like these. OP has an opinion; others have their own. What's the point of a poll? And more to the point, regarding the following quote:
F-you, OP. You don't have the right to "urge" me to do anything. Your opinion is your own -- but when you try to impose it on me, we've got a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see how that came off wrong. What I meant is that I urge people to consider it.
The point of a thread and poll like this was to see if anyone else was thinking of doing the same thing as me. That's why we have the poll option.
Don't get so worked up over something on the internet. It causes stress.
ericc191 said:
I'll give you an example. I recently built myself a computer and started out with an X58 and a Core i7-950. About a month and a half later, the new P67 boards came out and that awesome i7-2600K with them. I asked on many forums what I should do and most said I should be happy with what I had. I ignored that advice and couldn't be happier. But, when I was building the 2600K rig, everyone kept telling me I was wasting my time because Z68 boards. I don't care about the upcoming Z68 boards because I'm very pleased with my PC. It's far superior to the i7-950 build and it will last for quite some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your thought process, but herein lies the problem:
You returned your old PC and upgraded it and I am sure you are extremely pleased with what you have. Now, if you would have kept your i7-950 build you would have also been extremely pleased with it.
With the way hardware technology is advancing, software developers cannot keep up. How many applications do you have that take advantage of the extra speed of that newer generation processor? Heck, how many applications are there that actually take use of anything higher than a dual core processor? Not many - and in your case, there's probably only a handful of applications that will use the newest generation processors to their potential. In all likelihood you don't use these, and even if you do, you only use them extremely rarely.
The same thing is happening in the Tablet field, although to a stronger extent. I actually don't know of any applications that take use of the dual-core processors in newer generation phones and tablets. In fact, Froyo and Gingerbread don't even take use of dual-core processors at the kernel level. Applications being built for mobile devices just aren't likely to be designed with multi-threading in mind.
Keep this in mind when you are deciding to take your tablet back - but I wish you good luck nonetheless.
You bring up some good points. I play a lot of PC games and noticed a good amount of difference, but outside of games not much.
And there's is a good chance I could get *screwed* with a quad core tablet that overheats and has horrible battery life. We'll see.
ericc191 said:
I can see how that came off wrong. What I meant is that I urge people to consider it.
The point of a thread and poll like this was to see if anyone else was thinking of doing the same thing as me. That's why we have the poll option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you think you need to urge people to consider returning their Tabs? We're not children who need to be reminded of our options as consumers. Your ex post facto reinterpretation is nearly as patronizing as your original post.
While I give you credit for acting civil in your posts -- an unusual accomplishment in this genre of threads -- it still appears to me that you're just looking to provoke polarizing responses. Whether the Tab is or isn't a good purchase for someone is matter of personal opinion. No poll or discussion is going to change that.

[DISCUSSION] If you got a cheap touch, are you happy or regret your purchase?

Just curious how people feel who have played with them a few days.
If android never comes, are you happy with the device as is? Is the current crop of apps and the OS not sufficient and you bought it only with the hopes of android?
Do you like the existing OS and if android is never ported would you still be happy with your purchase?
I think for 99/149 I don't see many complainers but just curious what people think who've had the device a few days.
I have had it a few hours and I am very happy, the few thins i really want my tablet to do it is do wonderfully, even more happy than my Nook Color on CM7. honeycomb on the NC might be nicer, but until a HC port comes to touchpad i doubt i'll put android on it.
If no android then its ****. I don't like the webos. ANDROID is farrrrrrrrr better.
I agree that android is so much better.. one thing that would make this thing collect dust on my desk is the lack of apps.. I must admit that i did get it mainly for the potential of an android port. I am of no help porting android but if that doesn't happen relatively soon then I think it will be on eBay..
I have a question for those that may be more familiar with webos... when i am listening to music and plug my headphones in, it still plays the music on the speakers and my headphones, which as you know defeats one of the main purposes of headphones.. LOL is it a bug or intended?
I really like it, I think webos makes more sense on a tablet than android currently does, but that's imho. Its a shame they dumbled in the beginning of the os game, it could've been something special. Inductive charging is really cool, I misses that after I got rid of my pre and its cool to have it back. I'm surprised more devices don't have it. The tp isn't great for app happy people, but out of the hundreds of appa I've tried on ansroid I only use 3 or 4 of them regularly ans the tp's internet ia more than capable of replacing some of them.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
For what I paid and what limitations they inherently have, I couldn't justify paying more than $150 with any OS on it. I'd like to see some more games on the WebOS side but at $150 I'm happy with it and it wouldn't be worth any substantial money to have more.
Even if Android doesn't come, I am happy with my purchase. I really like the way a lot of things work in webOS. But I will replace the OS with android if it gets a polished build.
Even if you only use the touchpad as a digital picture frame, you can't get one with this size and quality of screen for $99.
For what I paid and what limitations they inherently have, I couldn't justify paying more than $150 with any OS on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wouldn't pay more than 150 even if it had android on it? Say it was an official android device and it was 200 bucks. You wouldn't think that was a deal?
Like it so far the audio is great.
Mine is sitting quietly in my office, waiting for someone to work some magic with Android. I've played around with webOS for a few hours but that got boring fast. This is my first tablet purchase and even at the firesale price I'm not impressed. I see little use for tablets beyond being a source of occasional entertainment for people with money to burn.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
i manage to get two 32gb,
i give one to my wife with the intent to keep it stock webos and the other for me to play and maybe flash android one day.
i love android ,but 115 british pounds for a capacitor screen with a browser that support flash,a decent email client,photos and video playing,music sound good(due to the thickness of the tablet i think the speakers take advantage of that),just a bit heavy.
what there is to don't like.??
definitely not a 400pounds worth,but definitely 115.
don't forget the nice 50gb free cloud space that comes with it.
thumb up for me.
So far, I love my decision to purchase it. I picked two up, one for me and one for the girlfriend. WebOS is very smooth and looks amazing but needs some more apps which could come with the huge influx of Touchpads. I will be looking forward to an android port just to mess around with it and decided which to keep.
I've currently applied a few speed patches and have it overclocked to 1.5GHz and it flies.
I feel like the screen clarity sucks. I have never used a tablet before, except a brief use of a ipad during a checkout, but the touchpad screen looks blurry to me. It remind me of the old school color screen nextel phones i95.
I've had it for almost a day now. Very happy after I finally got the patch installed, it's pretty ridiculous to have to click the thing 20 times to get the patch to finish.
When I bought it I had fully intended to flash android when it's ported, but now I think I'm going to stick with webos for quite a while. There's nothing that I really miss from the Nook Color so far, and webos has a far better browser and keyboard than android.
I bought one and ordered another (that I hope will someday arrive). After playing with this one for a few days... I wish I had bought a few more.
Yeah, app catalog is lacking, but as a previous poster said, $100-150 for a 9.7" capacitive, snappy internet slate is awesome. I'd love to permanently mount one in the kitchen for recipes and whatnot, and replace the "family calendar".
Can anyone comment on the readability of PDFs on the Touchpad? That is the primary reason I would be buying this to supplement my nook color.
The NC is perfect for everything except finance/accounting/technical PDFs , for which I'm hoping the 10" screen of Touchpad would be better?
lazarus2297 said:
I agree that android is so much better.. one thing that would make this thing collect dust on my desk is the lack of apps.. I must admit that i did get it mainly for the potential of an android port. I am of no help porting android but if that doesn't happen relatively soon then I think it will be on eBay..
I have a question for those that may be more familiar with webos... when i am listening to music and plug my headphones in, it still plays the music on the speakers and my headphones, which as you know defeats one of the main purposes of headphones.. LOL is it a bug or intended?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing happened to me when I plugged in my beats by Dre solo hds.. did the software update and problem was eliminated..
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Proud owner its still in the unopened box, haven't had time to open it and get into it enjoyably.Plan to keep it stock Web OS, I owned a palm pre and enjoyed it. I still believe Web OS is underrated and some users don't see the brilliance of it. I would have paid more if I had to. But the idea of flashing anything on it talks to the flashing geek in me haha. I would be more interested in flashing window 7 on it (not sure if it's a option) just saying.
Enjoy...
Sent from my Nexus X 4G using xda premium
imjimmy said:
Can anyone comment on the readability of PDFs on the Touchpad? That is the primary reason I would be buying this to supplement my nook color.
The NC is perfect for everything except finance/accounting/technical PDFs , for which I'm hoping the 10" screen of Touchpad would be better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the built in app is decent at PDFs
I'm actually surprised by how much I like mine. I have a honeycomb tablet, also, and the hp is actually very enjoyable to use. It definitely lacks in expandability, since the app catalogue is def smaller, but I actually like it a lot.
That being said, definitely not worth the original price. 150$ (32gb) maybe.... we'll see in a few weeks.
after a string of cancelled orders, I decided to just suck it up and buy one from CL. I paid about 40$ over tax+shipping but it's worth not having to deal with shopping around while at work. I'm much more productive and I actually have my toy in my hands.
That being said I'm keeping my eyes open for a 16gb for my daughter to play with, hopefully HP SMB will have some more tomorrow.

[Q] iPad vs GTablet

I have a 32 gig iPad 1 and am looking to trade it for an Android tablet. Someone just offered up their GTablet. It looks great hardware wise but the screen worries me. Without the ability to inspect the unit yet I wanted to go right to the source.
What do you guys really think about the screen and viewing angle on the GTab?
tnt533 said:
I have a 32 gig iPad 1 and am looking to trade it for an Android tablet. Someone just offered up their GTablet. It looks great hardware wise but the screen worries me. Without the ability to inspect the unit yet I wanted to go right to the source.
What do you guys really think about the screen and viewing angle on the GTab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, The GTab has the worst viewing angle of all tablets. It is horrible compared to my Xoom and worse compared to my TF. The GTab screen works OK, you just have to be in front of it.
JoTeC said:
Honestly, The GTab has the worst viewing angle of all tablets. It is horrible compared to my Xoom and worse compared to my TF. The GTab screen works OK, you just have to be in front of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What angle in degrees does it start to fall off?
You can see it fall away at 10 degrees both vertically and horizontally. And good luck viewing it outside... LOL
It is what it is, a great device to hack on and play with. This was my first Android device and I learned about an OS that I previously had no clue about. That's probably why I still have it.
Guess that pretty much makes my mind up. I'll hold out for something better.
Thanks for the input.
There are definitely better devices out there if you want something that works right out of the box, and there are quite a few devices coming out soon with pricing comparable to the gTablet. The gTablet viewing angle isn't the best, especially since the screen was made for netbooks. That being said, it works fine for me. I knew the shortcomings before getting it, and was expecting worse. It won't be up to par with an iPad at all.
Where the gTablet excels is the ability to tweak it. From the many different ROMs out there (FroYo, Gingerbread, and Honeycomb versions), plus a very active development community working on bringing ICS to the gTablet, it can be a tinkerer's delight.
Sent from my gTablet using Tapatalk.
I can't even seem to give my gtablet away! I mean jesus christ, I had that on sale for a while... little bites here and there, but no one ends up buying it.. I ended up giving it to my 4 year old daughter to learn stuff... since then, it has been sitting on the nightstand... I mean seriously, I cant give this thing away!!!
I own a gtab. There is no comparison between an ipad (assuming gen 1 because 2 makes no sense) and a gtablet. Ipad is simply a more refined higher quality product with better integrated software esp if you own any other mac products. Still don't think the msrp on an ipad (either gen is worth it for what any tablet offers). The screen issue goes beyond the viewing angle. The screen is sharper on the ipad for reading - especially magazines.
What gtab does very well is have a huge user development base that is on the verge of unleashing ICS for us to play with. After that everything begins and ends with the difference in screen quality and apps.
That said I enjoy my gtab and am in no hurry to upgrade (unless I found someone who wanted to trade an ipad for it) as I can deal with it's limitations vs. the cost I paid to get something with these hardware specs.
ssmr2t: curious what you tried to sell your gtab for. I would think somewhere between 125.00 and 150.00 and it would be gone in a heartbeat unless it's all beat up. But I don't think it's worth more than 150.00 nowadays by any stretch.
tnt533 said:
I have a 32 gig iPad 1 and am looking to trade it for an Android tablet. Someone just offered up their GTablet. It looks great hardware wise but the screen worries me. Without the ability to inspect the unit yet I wanted to go right to the source.
What do you guys really think about the screen and viewing angle on the GTab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't turned on my gtab in about three months. Yeah. They suck pretty hard. It has one good viewing angle - dead on, slightly tilted, as if it were attached as a screen for a cheap netbook, which is exactly what it is - the screen from a cheap netbook.
If you want to trade for mine, let me know
ssmr2t said:
I can't even seem to give my gtablet away! I mean jesus christ, I had that on sale for a while... little bites here and there, but no one ends up buying it.. I ended up giving it to my 4 year old daughter to learn stuff... since then, it has been sitting on the nightstand... I mean seriously, I cant give this thing away!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take it if you want to pay for shipping
srsly though, the viewing angles of the screen suck. if you aren't looking at it at the exact perfect angle part of the screen is just dark. though whatevs, it works for me.
As for an exchange I'd hold off for something better. might be able to get a Xoom.
People on here are crazy to think a first-gen ipad is better than the Gtab. Complain about the screen all you want, iOS is ****e.
I will also pay shipping for that Gtab you can't seem to 'give away'.
tenet420 said:
People on here are crazy to think a first-gen ipad is better than the Gtab. Complain about the screen all you want, iOS is ****e.
I will also pay shipping for that Gtab you can't seem to 'give away'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So there you have it, the gtab is worth about $10 - the cost to ship it somewhere
Seriously, it's a fine hacking android tegra2 device with no vendor support and flagging xda support. Oh, and that first gen iPad? yeah, it's running iOS5. From Apple. Without any hacking needed at all. And THAT is better than a tablet that was disowned by the reseller (viwesonic) and the ODM (forgot what the Chinese company's name was - malta? whatever) the day it shipped.
schettj said:
So there you have it, the gtab is worth about $10 - the cost to ship it somewhere
Seriously, it's a fine hacking android tegra2 device with no vendor support and flagging xda support. Oh, and that first gen iPad? yeah, it's running iOS5. From Apple. Without any hacking needed at all. And THAT is better than a tablet that was disowned by the reseller (viwesonic) and the ODM (forgot what the Chinese company's name was - malta? whatever) the day it shipped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iOS5 doesn't make it better.
You'd have to pay me to allow itrash in my house.
So there you have it, the ipad1 is worth -$10
Seriously though, I have 7 and 9 years old boys and they ALWAYS choose their Gtabs over grandma and grandpa's ipads, thank goodness!
tenet420 said:
iOS5 doesn't make it better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, just supported. Which is worth whatever you deem it to be.
For what it's worth some of us actually like the Gtab...
I use it for work and it's great. It's just as fast as any other tablet I've used. I hold it or have it on my desk, I haven't a clue about whether it works from an angle or not and I really don't know why anyone would care. I guess from this forum some people prefer to look at it that way.
I have Honeycomb on it, VTL launcher, Dropbox and a million programs which if they are any good do what I want. A screen protector which keeps the fingerprints way down and a nice case.
The only issue I have is the weight, too heavy to use as a Kindle.
If it breaks I'll get something different, maybe an Ipad, maybe not.
I threw V6 supercharger on my tab running FB 10.3 and it's made a big difference. Yeah the screen sucks, but it doesn't matter to my 2yo, who is the main user.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
It is almost criminal to say a first gen ipad is even close to being as ****ty as a gtablet.
I own a gtablet and it really is only useful as a play around with android device.
The iPad one is still the second best tablet on the market.
And this is coming from a person who owns a gtablet, droid incredible, and a galaxy nexus.
Put aside your fanboyism before you convince someone to jump into a terrible trade.
drizzt5 said:
It is almost criminal to say a first gen ipad is even close to being as ****ty as a gtablet.
I own a gtablet and it really is only useful as a play around with android device.
The iPad one is still the second best tablet on the market.
And this is coming from a person who owns a gtablet, droid incredible, and a galaxy nexus.
Put aside your fanboyism before you convince someone to jump into a terrible trade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Calling fanboyism on others while stating 2 sentences prior, "The iPad one is still the second best tablet on the market."
Priceless.
There's probably a dozen Android tablets out there that are better than the iPad v1, especially when you consider in price. There are many tablets better than the iPad 1 in specs, price and OS. All they lack is a half masticated fruit logo.
This thread is now way off topic and therefore redundant, consider it closed

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