yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G Tablet General] habanosrus:
I am looking to make a purchase of 10 tablets for work, plus a few others for family members, and was just about to purchase these on TigerDirect when I read this thread. With the waining support of the device by both Viewsonic and Nvidia I will start looking for alternatives.
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
Agreed, and it's why Nvidia should nip this in the bud now. If they take this stance on Harmony, does that mean Ventana will be dropped in 6 months?

Agreed as well - not taking it the wrong way. For some of the people who've stated they will just return it, that might be a bit rash. Again, if the ROMs and mods work for you now, then the impact is minimal to you.

My issue is that I can't make TNT Lite updates if the vendor stops making firmware updates. And, given that there's been a three month hiatus on firmware updates from Viewsonic so far, I don't see the need to make any more updates (other than incremental ones). AOSP / Gingerbread work will continue, but not TNT Lite (or, by extension, TwoTapsX).
[G Tablet General] bjd238:
No Longer A Viewsonic Customer

Though I love my tablet I will no longer purchse Viewsonic products. I went to their corporate website and sent an email informing them as such, due to their lack of support for their recently released G tablet. Afet six months they are already farming out the tech support to a third party pay telephone number!

If we inundate them with emails maybe they will get the idea!:mad:
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
I'm actually a little annoyed that their toll free number changed to a toll call, and I'm glad you picked that up. I have a national phone plan so it's not a major issue for me, but for those who do not this is a serious blow to support. I can't remember the last time a major company I dealt with who did not have a toll free customer service line.

It's all these things combined that concern me. CS changes over the weekend and the toll-free number is dropped, the new CS department is understaffed and untrained, the OTA updater (which is the ONLY official way to get updates) has been down for seven days now, their web site was months out of date until last night, no official firmware update for almost three months, etc.

If someone asked me this week if they should buy a GTablet, I would tell them "no, wait for the Transformer". This actually happened at my job, yesterday. This is assuming that person isn't looking to mod - for hacking, the GTAB will always be a good system to play around with.
[G Tablet General] Rumbleweed:
The announced decisions by Google, Viewsonic and nvidia in the past few weeks are going to be a major blow to any hope of an Andriod tablet being successful in the near future. The willingness to to do an immediate and unconditional about face as soon as issues arise not only hurts the current users, but adds a big red flag for those considering future products from these manufacturers. I love my tablet but part of that feeling was thinking that with the help of the wonderful devs here it would continue to improve with minimal support from "G" "V" and "n". The total abandonment of their products and customers is a telling sign. If I were a marketing person at the fruit company in Cupertino, I would be sending a large basket of THANK YOU flowers to the executives at "G" "V" and "n" as these announcements are great advertising for my product. . Unless you are looking for an open tab to develop on right now a locked down ipad2 with excellent support and future road map is better than a gtab with very questionable future.
[G Tablet General] macbroom:
Lets see if OTA goes up again today

I just got my gTab from TD an hour ago.....charging now. Looks good so far, shrink wrapped, no prints, etc.

I posted this on the Viewsonic Facebook page last night. Let's hope they are getting the message......Keep up the fight!

FACEBOOK POST:

I"m getting my gTab tomorrow from Tiger Direct. I guess you people think it's OK that I will be using a crap Rom from November....fix the GD OTA update or it's going back. You need to stop relying on XDA to do your customer support FOR you!
[G Tablet General] goodintentions:
I have a feeling Nvidia and Moto are in bed together on this one.

Edit.

Like I said before, ever since the beginning I've always gotten a feeling that VS isn't too proud of its child the gtab. And I made this comparason before. The gtab to VS is like child A to a parent. The parent wanted his child A to become a doctor. But after his child became an engineer, he's not too proud of his son and so doesn't mention him at gatherings. That's exactly what VS's attitude toward the gtab is like. VS's silence and lack of a direct link on their main webpage gives off that impression to me. For whatever reason, the gtab's success story in the modding community is making VS shy away from mentioning the gtab. It's like they aren't too proud of the gtab for being successful among modders.

Anyway, I will keep mine regardless of support from VS or not. I'm just puzzled by VS's attitude toward the gtab. They seem to spend all their energy on their other tablets, which from what I have read aren't doing nearly as well as the gtab. It's like a parent being more proud of his child that's failing in medical school than the child that became an engineer.

Sometimes what corporate decisions puzzles the hell out of me. VS has a strong and committed gtab community, and they've decided to abandon it. On the other hand, they are putting all their money on their other product which is failing as we speak.
[G Tablet General] cwee477:
man i really like this device just got it like a week ago... and im really wondering should i return it just because of no future upgrades
[G Tablet General] x33omega:
What goes around comes around !

This is a quote that Viewsonic, Google and nVidia should remember.

As for me, jumping on the (g-)tablet boat...This is what I get for not following my own principles: never buy anything in the first wave !

It seems as all the efforts are being made to have the i-sad look better and better to more people...

Sorry, but myself I'll never fall into the trap of buying the fruit(ty) products..EVER !

My hat off to all the devs that help us turn our gtabs into USABLE devices, while the big corporate names involved dumped us.
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
Thanks! You are exactly the consumer type that needs to pressure them! I told the VS person I spoke with that new TD users are getting the old firmware from November that is just god-awful. And no way to update it officially since their OTA is still down (seven days now, closing in on eight days).

I personally think that everyone with a GTAB should call, tweet and FB them with complaints. Let them know that this type of support is NOT acceptable.
[G Tablet General] Rumbleweed:
When the going gets tough. Remember all of us have a box (product package) that states the GTablet supports FLASH. Just in-case you need a valid reason to return it.:D
[G Tablet General] rbansal2:
hahaha...true that but I like my gtab and I wont be returning mine...it would b nice to have updates from VS but the devs have done a gr8 job of getting everything working smoothly on the g-tab. This fits everything I need to use a tablet for and costs a lot less then any other decent tablet.
[G Tablet General] y2k-inc:
Like i said before, maybe is not VS fault at all, which other VS tablet has the nVidia Tegra chip in it apart from this G-Tablet? 0 yes: 0 ... so why they are dumping it (or try to abandoned it)?

1st, they made a terrible decision going with TnT development, they should 1st come here and ask ( i don't name names, but they know who they are and i THNAKS them for what they did), all the genius here how they can made this g-tab shine :)

2nd, they just have to tell the true, that nVidia is no longer supporting the G-tab platform and we are not going to release more update because of that.

3rd, they might just joint other vendors (harmony platform) and push nVidia and Google to have a longer support for the platform.

I know all Android 2.x are not mean for the tablet world, but why nVidia created a platform for it? and then drop it saying Google is not allow to support NON-Tablet version platform on it Honeycomb, what a BS ... so it's not might be a VS fault, but they have to tell us the true, all the story behind closed door between VS + nVidia + Google.
[G Tablet General] y2k-inc:
Well Android tablet exist since versions 1.x and Google are not allowing it back then, so you are not buying the 1st wave tablet, but again, nVidia has created a platform for it and now dumping it because Google said so? it's all BS ...
[G Tablet General] rbansal2:
I know a lot of us are upset about the poor support from vs and are trying to get our voice heard by vs through forums and blogs. I figured filing a complain to BBB isnt a bad idea either.

I complained saying they sold the product claiming it supports flash only for me to find out that it doesn't and there support asked me to download custom roms to the device to function properly, keeping in mind that it will void my warranty if I do so.

I posted the link below where you can submit your complaint :)

https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx
[G Tablet General] x33omega:
Uh Oh

Hmm, do I smell class action suit ??

Brings back ugly memories: HP notebooks, overheating issues, warranty disputes etc :D
[G Tablet General] rob_z11:
We have to have young attorney somewhere in here. I am pissed off that something I buy at cost of $400 won't get driver update which makes this box useless in my opinion. Yes, we can do email and browsing only in the days of high definition content.
[G Tablet General] cyberpyr8:
Even if Viewsonic/Nvidia do not update anything soon I still see the ability to update these roms and gain functionality. Coming from the Samsung family of phones I have to laugh when everyone is concerned about not getting updates for a few weeks. Samsung (and others) are horrible about putting out updates. You are luck to get ones for months at a time. Sure there are leaks that get out and are integrated into roms but no official releases hardly at all. Even when some of the developers left to pursue other devices many other teams of developers have stepped up and I think at this point we have so many more choices for the Vibrant and other 959/i9000 devices than we ever had before.

That being said, the development community has found other devices to pull roms from that are then integrated into new roms. I could see getting the framework out of other roms and adding different launchers and packages all bundled together with themes to make new builds. Adding in different kernels will give us options too. I think that these devices are great and even if Viewsonic is slow to release more software updates that a lot of life could be found in the development side of things. I know that the devs for the Vibrant started pulling some Gingerbread components and adding them into 2.2.1 builds to give a hybrid that looks and feels like GB but is really just FroYo. Add themes and launchers and you have a whole new look and feel.

Just my opinion on it. I know that this community is much more like old friends than some others on XDA, and that I am one of the new guys so I don't mean to come off as being offensive or not appreciative. I just think that slow updates or responses are not the end of the world for owners and we should look to the bright side. My only complaint so far would be the lack of working apps. I download apps and they *might* load, but not login and connect or FC. Some apps don't even show up in the market at all. I would rather see that type of stuff fixed and bundled into a rom that I could flash and run with. I am glad that Roebeet and others are here developing and I just hope that them as well as others keep plotting along with making improvements.
[G Tablet General] sundar2012:
I just tipped the consumerist. Hopefully they will bring more attention to this and force a resolution.
[G Tablet General] LTL11:
I have had my tab since release and do not regret the purchase at all. It has allowed me to get a very good piece of hardware at a very good price point. The performance is on par if not better than tablets being released today.

I know VS was going to have crap support from day 1 based on the release product but also new that the unlocked nature of the tab and the devs here would get us a working product and they have overshot that goal by leaps and bounds.

The fact that Nvidia may be pulling the plug on this is not surprising seeing as google has not supported this product and VS yanking support also is on par with the fact they do not have google backing them either.

I will say this, I am keeping this tab until the devs here move on and buy another tab.

So Roe, gojimi, clem, pershoot etc, Please keep us posted on what tab you move onto and thanks for the work.
[G Tablet General] bcampbe7:
This may have been said already, but is worth saying again.

If you appreciate the Devs here, send them some thanks via PayPal. I don't think any of them do this for their primary income, but there time is worth something, IMHO.
[G Tablet General] bjd238:
Complaint Filed with BBB

Read the idea of filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and did just that. The actual claim on the box started the idea but also the lack of support after five months and the farming out of the customer service put the icing on the cake. They used ot be an excellent company with good products and support. That was the reason that I took the plunge with the G tablet. It is a good product that became obsolete in less than six months. Very disappointed with the way things have turned out. Partially NVidia but if the companies had cajones they would stand up to Nvidia as well to give their customers true support after purchase. :(
[G Tablet General] zax123:
My FB message to Viewsonic

Here's what I wrote to them -- just joining in the fight...
[G Tablet General] x33omega:
Buyers be aware !

Furthermore, this chain of complaints should be voiced louder to raise awareness about the other Viewsonic tablets, so the potential buyers should be aware of the business practices at Viewsonic.

Best Buy and other retailers are currently selling the ViewPad series tablets...
[G Tablet General] carljanderson:
ViewSonic Corp

@ViewSonic, #gTablet Update: we are very sorry for the inconvenience to all gTablet users, and we are working on a remedy. ViewSonic is standing by the gTablet and is not abandoning our customers. Yes, we are selling new tablet products, but the GTablet is still an awesome piece of hardware that users can continue to enjoy for a long time to come. We appreciate all the new customers who bought GTablets recently (i.e. from the Woot sale) and we are working to get the OTA server back up and running so that they too can enjoy the latest software update. We have recently updated the GTablet Favorites page and will be posting updated information on the GTablet News and Support pages as new info becomes available. http://bit.ly/dLbd7z ViewSonic supports the developer community but we do not expect users to go to XDA for support. Customer Support should not be directing calls to the forum for help! XDA is strictly a resource for advanced users to customize their products. #gtablet

(just from @viewsonic's twitter)
[G Tablet General] ylsf:
I tweeted after Roe first did and have tweeted Nvidea and Viewsonic since. I don't even really use twitter except for stuff like this.

Having an update is one thing, but, the fact that the update server has been down for AGES is crazy.
[G Tablet General] pdxalz:
If you're upset, post a review on Amazon

Or post to sears, woot, etc.

People that are making buying decisions now should be informed that their tablets doomed to running a phone OS.
[G Tablet General] WantADroid:
My 2 cents...

I have enjoyed my tab quite a bit. The only thing I really was looking forward to was the updated Nvidia drivers for video playback. I have to re-encode quite a few of my video files to play smoothly on my Tab. I understand that all the functions I would enjoy might not be possible on this device, and I was aware of this when I made the purchase. I never thought this would end up happening though!

Sad.

:(
[G Tablet General] dcmtnbkr:
yea, i'm not buying it for this reason
[G Tablet General] fp99:
Oh damn....I just picked up a Gtab from Office Depot at lunch today. Does this mean I should be returning it by the weeks end?
[G Tablet General] jamerican413:
I had already sent mine back before reading this thread, but this saddens me to hear that this tab is obsolete beyond support. My ONLY reason for returning mine was that I couldn't get past the limited viewing angle. Otherwise, I loved tweaking it and turning it into something really useful for my mobile needs. I hope they rethink their decision.
[G Tablet General] voyageurs60:
Below is a post of my complaint sent to Viewsonic....

- - - - - start - - - - -

Dear Sirs - I am concerned that Viewsonic would release a product with incomplete android market access for apps and a User Experience which is lacking. My faith was that a company of Viewsonic reputation would correct the shortcomings of their device.

It has come to my attention through XDADevelopers that Viewsonic will not be updating the gTab to gingerbread or honeycomb.

Further that NVIDIA will not support offer support and developement for the harmony platform thus no Android2.3/ 3.0 ever,

I purchased this device because it had similar specs to the Motorola XOOM and anticipated that Viewsonic would continue development of this device.

If the path of development by Viewsonic and NVIDIA continues on this anticipated track - I WILL NEVER purchase one of their products again.

When someone purchases leading edge technology only 4 months old and there is a lack of commitment by the companies behind the devices, my dollars can be spent elsewhere...

Please reconsider your lack of development support for this device.

Dan

- - - - - end - - - - -
[G Tablet General] cd112:
Well stated email to them.. Indeed you will get some kind of a response back from them. let us know what the response is.

thanks
[G Tablet General] JimmyAviles:
My friend you should let VS/Nvidia know about this in twiter and or facebook. I already posted my concern/grievance with them.
[G Tablet General] skoodog:
Guys, I hate to say it but I believe it may be too late for Viewsonic on this one. Even to backpedal and say official releases of GB/HC are going to be available, you can already spend another 10-25% and get a better tablet in a month. This tablet industry is moving faster than anything on the market and there are companies better suited to build better devices getting in. I mean the transformer's going to hit the market any day now and is only $100 more. Pretty sad when you are known for good displays and that's the primary failure of the device.

All of us wooters/Tiger Direct peeps pretty much just got totally hosed. I won't be buying another VS product again.
[G Tablet General] jccrumpler:
I also sent them an email stating that even though we read what your saying, it's going to take more that that to make us believe you
[G Tablet General] bcampbe7:
For the record, I am a gTab Woot purchaser and do not in any way feel hosed. :D
[G Tablet General] pr0cs:
It's a risk you take when buying any electronics really, high end bleeding edge tech even moreso.

At least you guys have your tablets, I still don't have my from the first Woot sale because I'm in Canada and haven't had my 'mules' from the US bring it back to me yet.

I'm most disappointed with the NVidia news to be honest. I never expected Viewsonic to support the device past the most recent (pulled) release simply because their focus seems to be their dreadful Windows crossover tablet.

I'm disappointed with Nvidia because in the past they were a great company and one of the first ones to come out with 'unified driver' thinking meaning that as a consumer you had some hope your card would be supported for a while.

This change in thinking (Harmony board support) suggests to me that Nvidia is not the same company they used to be. It will be VERY difficult for me to support them in the future as the thing I loved the most from them in the past is not the direction they're going anymore.
[G Tablet General] xaueious:
We mostly know that Viewsonic is a rebranding outfit rather than one of the big boys. Companies like this don't contribute to a significant amount of revenue.

Nvidia will cater to its larger partners - ASUS, Motorola, LG, Acer. And with next gen Tegra coming in August, this isn't really unexpected.

As for consumer who already have made their purchases, as for as they are concerned, your money is already accounted for. Anything they do to support your device is extra if they can help it.

Android firmware upgrade support has traditionally been down-right terrible. Anyone who has owned any sort of Android device can attest to this.

This does not even make the gTablet a bad device to have.

Froyo is compatible with a significant portion of applications right now. For typical consumers, it gets you one of the best Android tablets you can get for the money.

For developers, the gTablet is still a good alternative to test the basic functionality of the Tegra 2 platform.
[G Tablet General] cyberpyr8:
I am with you. This thing is great for the money. I can't afford to spend an extra 10-25% to get something else.

I don't think that it is as bad as it sounds. Trust me, with enough pressure they will keep updating for a while. It would be really bad PR for both Google and Viewsonic to let this thing die on the vine.

Even though it doesn't support an officially blessed Android OS (meaning no gapps) I think that Google has started putting the screws down on some of these vendors behind the scenes to be sure that they are not leaving people SOL.

People were selling their Samsung phones and MT3G phones too because they weren't getting updates and saying that the new products were going to replace theirs in terms of updates, blah, blah blah. But eventually they all got updates. Welcome to Android folks! It isn't a perfect fruity utopia by any means but it sure is a lot more fun. :D
[G Tablet General] Rumbleweed:
Roe

I am very saddened to hear this and even more surprised to hear that someone would accuse you of posting for a profit. I am a member who has donated to you and if your link was still active, I would do it again. In my opinion you have always had the interest of the users first. Your recent do's and don'ts for the influx of new owners has been a boon to the forum and kept many new owners from returning bricked tabs. It is more likely that the mods are feeling some pressure from "V" "G" and "n" . Although I will think twice about buying another VS or nvidia based product, I like my Gtab because you and a few others on this forum have made it useful. I hope you will reconsider. :o
[G Tablet General] Roxxas049:
Damn Roebeet don't give in to the douchebags that are probably in bed with nvidia/VS/google or they don't have the product we have. All I've seen here is more and more support of what you're trying to do for the gtab and the people who own one.

And to the people who are cowardly enough to only PM him... why don't you show your faces on this thread, ------- ---- --------.

P.S @thebadfrog have you EVER EVER had anything constructive to say in any thread you've ever posted in? just wondering you know, maybe you should GTFO of this forum.
[G Tablet General] life02:
Hey his name is the"bad"frog not the"good"frog ;)
[G Tablet General] Tostino:
Look look look!
[G Tablet General] ZenInsight:
Totally agree. At least release a Ginger ROM with Hardware acceleration as Nvidia has stated in their forum that they will support Viewsonic G Tablet as long as Viewsonic does.

http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony?page=3):#comment-7326
[G Tablet General] rsfaze:
Viewsonic made a post http://www.tweetdeck.com/twitter/ViewSonic/~jCtP3
[G Tablet General] theimpaler747:
Thread cleaned of the drama nonsense. Keep this on topic, or it WILL be closed, with infractions and bans being given to offending parties.