Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I discovered the Vtab at a brick and mortar shop during my unsuccessful quest to find a local retailer with an HP TouchPad still in stock during the fire sale. I work in IT for a university and can sometimes spend upwards of 60% of my week away from my desk because of project meetings, committee meetings, and other meetings-for-the-sake-of-having-meetings. I don't like carrying around a laptop because they're big and heavy, but trying to follow up on email from the library on my Android phone, because it doesn't make sense to go all the way back to my office for the 30 minutes I have free between two meetings, is a less than pleasant experience. Still, I was having a hard time justifying the drop of $500+ for a decent tablet and I was less than impressed with the specs on the multitude of low-end Android tablets out there. After doing some research on the VTab, I decided to buy it a few days later. Sure, the VTab isn't dual core and doesn't have a lot of features, but at under $300, it seemed like a good deal. I brought it home that night and quickly started downloading all of my favorite apps...well, the ones available for it, anyway. There are a lot of apps I use all the time that don't show up in the Android Market for the VTab. Not being able to download TouchDown, which I use to access our Exchange email and calendaring system at work, nearly had me repackaging the device and returning it that very day. Fortunately TouchDown's publisher had a direct download link on its website and I was able to install using that without a problems (and the app works great). The TouchDown experience gave me an idea: I knew that the Astro file manager (which I had installed on my phone) allowed me to back up my apps to my SD card. So I backed up everything I couldn't install on the tablet and transferred the resultant apk files to the tablet via my laptop. Using Astro on the tablet, I was able to open and manually install the apps and all of the ones I tried worked, except for Facebook. I wasn't crazy about the custom Vizio launcher screen, so I quickly installed Launcher Pro as it was the only launcher I could find that was available in the Market. I wasn't crazy about it either, so I was extremely happy to see that Go Launcher Ex worked just fine after side loading it via the process noted above. Having certain widgets available to me, front-and-center, all the time was important, so I'm glad I wasn't stuck with the default interface. After a couple weeks of use, I've been pretty happy with the VTab. The screen size is just right for reading (I've used an iPad before and I don't think I'd be comfortable using it as, for instance, an e-reader) and the weight (probably about 2 pounds with the case on) isn't too bad. Battery life seems decent (it gets me through the day, but the battery is kind of low by the time I get home), but we'll give it the true test when I head off to a conference next month. At this point I haven't done too much with video, but I have watched a number of YouTube videos and they always play smooth and sound good. The orientation sensing speakers are a nice touch. Having a browser available in meetings to show off work on projects is helpful; I'm thinking about getting an HDMI to VGA adapter so that I can connect the tablet to our conference room projectors to make that even easier. I haven't tried to set up any video chat software, so I can't comment on that apparently lacking feature. I set up the remote control app to control all of my home electronics and just about everything works--even my old bookshelf stereo that I got back in middle school, some 20+ years ago. The only thing that didn't was my off-brand VCR, but I haven't used it in probably 10 years, so I'm not too upset. Using the tablet as a remote is kind of bulky, so I doubt I'll do it often, but I could see it being handy in a pinch. It seems, from every review I've read, everyone seems to love this tablet or hates it. For those that dislike it, many seem to have a misunderstanding of Android in the first place. Android is not iOS and Android tablets will never work the same as an iPad. Both systems have pros and cons, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Android/iOS debate is as hot as the Windows/Mac debate in a few years. The lack of support by apps is more on the part of the app developers and how they set up their application manifest in the Android Market, and not so much on the device. Though I have no experience with other Android tablets, I suspect that they, too, may suffer from this same issue. The VTab1008 is, IMHO, a great option for anyone looking to but a first tablet without spending a lot of money. Despite its hardware shortcomings it runs very well (and, if you think about it, it has a ton more power than an average desktop PC did 10-12 years ago!), and its multimedia features are impressive. If you are just looking for something to use for web surfing, checking email, playing a few games, and occasionally watching a movie, this tablet is a great option.