Broke my Vega...

[Guest removed-14]

I do, but read reports on the gtab thread that it worked fine (but was stretched or something) and was hoping something might be possible when the sourcecode of honeycomb etc is available.

It is also mainly just for messing around and seeing if it's at all possible. The current screen is ok for me, this was a decent screen with the proper specs for a nice price which is why I went for it.

I might hold off then and see what yours looks like. If the viewing angle is improved then it might be worth the 'upgrade'!

[Guest dagrim1]

I might hold off then and see what yours looks like. If the viewing angle is improved then it might be worth the 'upgrade'!

Yeah, read good things about the viewing angles (was really better compared to the original screen). But first I have to actually get it, second I have to actually get it in the vega :D

I'll let it know when I have more news.

[Guest newbe5]

Yeah, read good things about the viewing angles (was really better compared to the original screen). But first I have to actually get it, second I have to actually get it in the vega :D

I'll let it know when I have more news.

If by some miracle this actually works, you should post in the competition forums under "Unusual" as I'm damn sure this qualifies :( If (and I really have to say, I don't think this will work, sorry :() this DOES work, and you get an awesome screen/viewing angles then you might have discovered a cheapish way to remove most people's major gripe with the device.

Zeb

[Guest moghm]

Well Said. To summarise, the vega was excellent @ £250. Now that the Ipad is 329, or cheaper, its a very good buy. Again, I am not an apple fan, but you disregard the hardware/software excellence of the Ipad at your peril. Look at the issues the vega is having, screen, compatibility questions over honeycomb, out of stock, in stock, etc. Went to PCworld preston, and eventually they have a vega on display. Guess what, it doesnt work ? Nice ad for PCworld of their own product, keep it up DSG. Still over a week and not fixed.

Comparing the vega with the ipad, is like night an day. I am saying this as an opposer of apple and an owner of HTC desire, but I am realistic. Vega does not come close to the ipad screen, touch, HCI (human computer interface.) So, you would comromise and buy the vega because it was half price, but now, well i could just have as much fun, by jailbreaking an ipad and enjoy quality tablet computing with the ipad. I love android, but these tablets need to come up to spec and compete at price level also. Am referring to the xoom.

am thinking, shall i..... lol

As a developer, I have both the iPad and the Vega. I always laugh when I hear the iTunes statement.

The only times iTunes is completely required is when first activating the device, and you can get them to do that in store for you. After that it never needs connecting to a PC again if you so wish. You can configure the iPad for disk mode in iTunes, then use any app that supports it to manage your music. If you want to go legit, you can use one of the many streaming apps for iPad, like Spotify or even buy your music direct from the on device iTunes app direct from the iTunes store. Same goes for TV series, Movies, Books, Games and Apps.

As an impartial user who has both devices (and the same for phones too) the iPad has much better usability than the Vega and would be my recommendation every time if it is within reach price wise. The touch responsiveness is fantastic and isn't matched by any other device i've tried. Emails and web pages always scale perfectly to fit the screen size no matter the orientation and zooming is silky smooth. Double tapping a paragraph or element always perfectly zooms to that object and the quality of the games on iPad are fantastic.

In comparison I find the vega screen washed out, frequently doesn't register touches or double presses, constantly scales pages incorrectly or doesn't go to where I want when I double click and I have the latest custom ROM installed. So hoping Honeycomb makes it a better experience when it finally arrives. Also I find the battery life poor and yes I have applied the battery fix.

I also find it funny how people complain about the walled garden as a reason for going elsewhere. Yet they then install a custom ROM on their Android device. You can jail break all iOS devices and if you do, then you can put Flash on and install software from any source. How is that any different than a custom ROM?

Also the walled garden is a benefit to 90% of users. I know I'm not going to download something off the app store that is going to steal my data or impact the performance or battery life of my device. I can't get viruses because Apple are checking all that for me. I don't have to read some complex manifest and list of API calls each time I go to download an app. What the heck does that mean to you average man in the street?

Finally as a dev in my experience there is very little money to be made in the Android market place. Users either rip off the app or download the trial, play it then never buy it. Ads work for some of the big names, but are not enough to generate revenue for most. For this reason the quality of apps will not be the same until Google find a way to address this.

Rant over :D

[Guest Lennyuk]

Just found this and thought this a good place to share.

http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/17/45000-tests-...han-the-iphone/

[Guest removed-14]

Time for an update and my first impressions. The iPad arrived yesterday, fully charged and ready to go. Just had to activate it using iTunes which was painless.

The screen is nice but not amazing. When you see what the iPhone 4 has this isn't quite there. It is still much better than the Vega. The viewing angles are much better and you can actually use it in portrait! I never used my Vega in portrait but the iPad has had more portrait use than landscape so far.

The touch screen response is near perfect. The response and accuracy of point of touch is excellent. Multi gestures just work. Typing is joy, I can type nearly as quick and nearly as accurately as a proper keyboard. No double presses or it thinking I've pressed and held down. I hated that on the Vega, open the app drawer, tap an app and it think you were holding it down to add to the home screen!

I don't get the fuss over people saying how much better the App Store is over the Android Market. As an interface I'm not that impressed. It takes some digging to find apps and it is quite slow at expanding the lists. On Android I like to see the app downloading in the notification bar and it letting me know it is ready.

Other bits from Android that are missing from iOS are things like the ability to customise and even download new keyboards. I miss having numbers on the top row. And when my Android keyboard is going to type a lower case character, I want the keys on the keyboard to be in lower case. They are permanently in upper case. I'll miss widgets but they are only any real use on my phone, I had them on my Vega but never really used them.

Web browsing is very good. Can't see any real difference in rendering speed but I have found every website I've tried to work exactly as it does on my PC, even the ones on the Vega that didn't work 100%... and yes I can post on that forum I mentioned a few posts back :D. The iPlayer app works a treat, looks great on the screen. Even iPlayer through the web browser works great. Downloaded a few games and all of which were top quality. Nice mix of 3D racing games, strategy, board games, tower defence etc... All polished and just worked. I'm sorry Android but this is where you fail. With only a few different hardware configurations to cater for, iOS wins here. My wife regularly complains that I have stuff on my HTC Desire that she can't get on her HTC Tattoo due differences in screen size, Android version, CPU/RAM etc... I know full well why and I know that this is how it will be. It's like trying to play the latest Call of Duty on a Core2Duo laptop with built in graphics vs the latest Core i7 desktop beast. Still I know when I download something from the store to my iPad that it will work as expected.

So to sum up... it ain't perfect, far from it. Some things that jailbreaking will fix, so things that cannot be fixed. If I end up fixing my Vega which one will I be picking up to use each time in the future... I'm sorry Vega lovers, it will be the iPad.

[Guest Touch Graphite]

Your review was as expected Tony. There are some Android gadgets that Apple cant copy or are staying away due to directions in their design portfolio.

Agreed with the widgets as theyre a lifesaver on the desire, but Im staying away from them on the vega due to the massive screen size and poxy touchscreen errors.

The way I see it, and most would agree,

HTC have put Android on the map when it comes to an OS and still wondering whether I will upgrade handsets in 6 months due to the desire being awesome and the new handsets not even drawing me away,

The vega has done the quite opposite for the reputation for android.

And I cant see the vega getting honeycomb soon, because if it did, these £450+ tablets would be about as popular as the Galaxy 7'' Tab.

People would just buy the vega and flash honeycomb from it.

If its going to get honeycomb, then its going to be from these sort of sources (modaco) and never from official lines.

[Guest removed-14]

You are probably right about Honeycomb and the Vega. I will say this, I will be trying the new tablets like the Xoom and Dell's offering, just to see how they compare to the iPad. The iPad is limited but that isn't a bad thing for the majority of owners. It isn't quite a Fisher Price tablet but it keeps you inside a restrictive box to make sure you can't break it!

[Guest Touch Graphite]

I've had my vega since Christmas, any suggestions what terms can I return it on!? hahahaha.

[Guest removed-14]

I've had my vega since Christmas, any suggestions what terms can I return it on!? hahahaha.

Lol, direct them to this thread, they'll understand.

[Guest Lennyuk]

3 Clones of the vega have had HC officially announced for April (as in next month) so even the Vega never "officially" gets it there will be real roms we can install.

And also we will have HC custom roms too.

Sod stock roms, I am on my 3rd android phone now and not ran stock roms on any of them and the same is for my vega.

Price has nothing to do with what roms the vega will get, google are not going to stop Advent putting HC on if they want to. Advent said prior to release of the vega that they had built it with a view to at least one major os upgrade and the only upgrade that makes sense is HC.

Yes HTC have done a lot for android, but they are not "android" lots of other companies have got fantastic android products.

[Guest dagrim1]

Thanks for the first impressions and indeed as expected...

The iPad does what it does and does it well. It's weakness (lack of customizability, tweaking, models to choose from) is also it's strength. Everything can be made perfect for that one device so if you are happy with what you get it's a perfect device (especially now the price for it has dropped).

But that simply isn't always enough for everyone. The VEGA is also far from perfect, it has it's quirks and issues (but hey, it was about half the price of the ipad) and apart from the (touch)screen I actually have no issues with it.

Usage is fast and fine, browsing is fast and fine, etc. Typing, meh... But I didn't mean to use it as a typing device. For typing URL's and the occasional forum post or email I have no complaints at all though. Also fully expect HC to arrive on it as well, hopefully that'll make things even better even though the screen is simply a hardware issue.

Different wishes, different demands, different ideal solutions :D Enjoy your ipad and in the meanwhile I'll keep on enjoying the vega :(

[Guest ezynow]

Good things coming from xoom honeycomb users. Overall impressions very good. As we have tegra2 should translate nicely to vega users.

Hopefully :D

[Guest removed-14]

Interesting rebuttal from Apple today on the "study" into browser speeds on iOS and Android:

"According to an Apple spokesman, Blaze’s test procedure “is flawed because they didn’t actually test the Safari web browser on the iPhone.” They go on to explain that Blaze “only tested their own proprietary app which uses an embedded web viewer that doesn’t take advantage of Safari’s web performance optimizations.”

Apple insists that Blaze’s test didn’t make use of Apple’s Nitro JavaScript engine, which it claims offers twice the load-up speeds of the previous iOS version.

Regardless of who’s right, the actual difference between the two in testing was only around a second, so there’s no reason for you iPhone 4 owners to ditch your handsets. Not that you would."

[Guest zzleezz]

Your review was as expected Tony. There are some Android gadgets that Apple cant copy or are staying away due to directions in their design portfolio.

Agreed with the widgets as theyre a lifesaver on the desire, but Im staying away from them on the vega due to the massive screen size and poxy touchscreen errors.

The way I see it, and most would agree,

HTC have put Android on the map when it comes to an OS and still wondering whether I will upgrade handsets in 6 months due to the desire being awesome and the new handsets not even drawing me away,

The vega has done the quite opposite for the reputation for android.

And I cant see the vega getting honeycomb soon, because if it did, these £450+ tablets would be about as popular as the Galaxy 7'' Tab.

People would just buy the vega and flash honeycomb from it.

If its going to get honeycomb, then its going to be from these sort of sources (modaco) and never from official lines.

I'm sorry TG, but using phrases like "The way I see it, and most would agree," is just sticking your head above the parapet and asking for a rebuttal.

LennyUK summed up the Honeycomb situation very well so I wont labour that point.

What is this nonsense about the vega doing the opposite for android? What on earth do you base that on? The Vega can only be described as a success story, just because you want to get rid of yours and join the other iSheep please dont presume that you speak for the rest of us. I also have a HTC Desire, coupled with my superb Vega its a setup that does everything I could possible want and does it all really well! Both yours and Tonys main gripe with the Vega seems to be the touch screen, well since the calibration app was so kindly shared on these forums I have had a perfect screen.

My personal experience of Vega vs iPad (and in this I speak for myself, I would not presume to speak for anyone else here.....) is that the iPad is just what you expect from apple, polished well made but still an apple. I found that there was very little difference in many of the things that they both do in day to day use.

Browsing - I think Vega shades it, just seems to work better.

Email - Love having my life available in the google cloud. Found the iPad email app very difficult, took me ages to work out how to save a pic that had been emailed.

News reader - Vega miles ahead with amazing ability to customize feeds on all kinds of widgets.

Video - Again Vega, 4:3 aspect ratio is great on tellys from 20 years ago. Being able to just stream most of my video collection over my network without having to encode it or convert it is just a dream come true.

Music - Ill give this to iPad as consolation but thats only because I dont use it as a music player, prefer my iPod classic :D

Book reader - has to go to iPad due to the much better quality screen and ability to use in portrait.

Games - someone else will have to help there, not tried too many iPad games, love Splode on my Vega and thats a perfect copy of the iPad one so maybe I should get that onto my nieces iPad to compare. I imagine that the iPad will get this right now but with many new amazing titles coming out for tegra2 this will I think change.

Tinkering - Not a usual category, but that is something I love to do on my Desire and Vega, I cant imagine apart from jailbreaking the iPad that I would spend much time customizing it.

All the above only shows that each gadget will appeal to different people in very different ways, another reason not to presume you speak for "most of us".

Edited March 18, 2011 by zzleezz

[Guest Lennyuk]

Just one minor point to the above (very good post btw)

Why does everyone keep saying you can't use the vega in portrait? I do it all the time with my kindle app and have no issues at all?

As far as games go, traditionally android was not good for games, but its a new OS and is growing at an incredible rate, games are coming thick and fast and getting better and better all the time.

It won't be long until android is getting all the good games and iOS will be an afterthought. (look at Sony backing android)

[Guest removed-14]

I guess what can be learnt from this thread is that it is very much a case of each to their own. I was happy with my Vega until I broke it. I didn't want the same model and as most hardware manufacturers have delayed their next tablets for HC then there is a lull in the market. The iPad has now dropped to better price point for me and as such it is now (for me again!) the best product in my budget.

If you want customisation get an Android based device. From using my iPad it has stopped my buying an iPhone. My phone needs to do more. But my tablet device is for browsing the web, watching films, reading books (@zzleezz which the 4:3 is much better at in portrait than a 16:9) and playing games. For me the iPad does all these that bit better than my Vega did, and mainly for two reasons. The screen is better and quite frankly while using the device you spend all your time using that particular bit; and the touch response is miles better, and when interacting with the device that is the bit you use the most!

[Guest removed-14]

Why does everyone keep saying you can't use the vega in portrait? I do it all the time with my kindle app and have no issues at all?

As far as games go, traditionally android was not good for games, but its a new OS and is growing at an incredible rate, games are coming thick and fast and getting better and better all the time.

It won't be long until android is getting all the good games and iOS will be an afterthought. (look at Sony backing android)

I think I must have a different Vega to you then as there is no way you can use the screen in portrait for anything more than a few minutes. The brightness varies from top to bottom and if you move the angle slightly the result is appalling. I've always said this from day one of owning my Vega. EDIT: Just to prove it:

Yes the portrait angles aren't great. Looks like the real cost of a decent screen is the cost!

As for games you maybe correct. EA have done some nice ports to Android, Worms is fab, Tetris is nice and NFS is good. FIFA 10 is however very poor along with a few others. And yes Sony hitting the scene will be good, for the few devices that will be PlayStation certified. Can't see many competitors gaining that in a hurry :D So you are stuck with a Sony Android device, which frankly from what I've heard and read on the internet isn't a pleasant experience.

Don't get me wrong, Android is great, I love it more than iOS... so long as it is on the right device. On my HTC Desire it is excellent. On the Vega, not so... but it is close (much closer than out of the box thanks to the great community).

Edited March 18, 2011 by removed-14

[Guest scooby_d0o]

Browsing - I think Vega shades it, just seems to work better.

Email - Love having my life available in the google cloud. Found the iPad email app very difficult, took me ages to work out how to save a pic that had been emailed.

News reader - Vega miles ahead with amazing ability to customize feeds on all kinds of widgets.

Video - Again Vega, 4:3 aspect ratio is great on tellys from 20 years ago. Being able to just stream most of my video collection over my network without having to encode it or convert it is just a dream come true.

Music - Ill give this to iPad as consolation but thats only because I dont use it as a music player, prefer my iPod classic :(

Book reader - has to go to iPad due to the much better quality screen and ability to use in portrait.

Games - someone else will have to help there, not tried too many iPad games, love Splode on my Vega and thats a perfect copy of the iPad one so maybe I should get that onto my nieces iPad to compare. I imagine that the iPad will get this right now but with many new amazing titles coming out for tegra2 this will I think change.

Tinkering - Not a usual category, but that is something I love to do on my Desire and Vega, I cant imagine apart from jailbreaking the iPad that I would spend much time customizing it.

All the above only shows that each gadget will appeal to different people in very different ways, another reason not to presume you speak for "most of us".

not going to get into the whole vega v ipad thing, i do strongly agree with your last sentence though..."All the above only shows that each gadget will appeal to different people in very different ways"

heres my view point along same lines as you: (i like both iOS and android for diff reasons, and because of that i have an iphone 4(own) and a htc desire(work) and an ipad and vega (both my own)

Browsing: difficult to call, i prefer the browsing experience on the ipad but the vega is lightening fast (id have to say that im using standard browser the vega came with)

Email: cant really comment, ipad setup, didnt bother with vega (as of yet no reason too, but im sure this will change) id agree pic/file saving frm ipad/iOS is a pain, ive jailbroke my ipad and originally the only way i could save a file was to use a cydia plugin

News reader: tbh very similar because i have the same news apps on both (i dont use the homescreen widgets, but i do like that ability - so being impartial, the vega)

Video: Vega is a nice 16:9 compared to ipads 4:3 which can leave large black bars on movies, but the screen quality and viewing angles of the ipad are better (i actually compared the A-team on both devices at the same time to see)

Music: ipad - its what apple have become good at - sound quality is better from ipad (i compared identical mp3s with a pair of skullcandys - thats said the vega is still very good and id happily listen to tunes on it)

Book reader: ipad again, same reasons as you, but also i actually like the iBooks app, very polished book reader, i have kindle on both devices and they are identical, but i prefer iBooks

Games: ipad currently, but this will change, i recently got deadspace, harry potter lego and something else for the ipad and i was amazed by how good they were, that said android is releasing some excellent games to the market, hoepfully some more tablet friendly games - there is no reason why there cannot be parity between the 2, its just a matter of time i think

Tinckering - Vega easy to tinker straight away, very established community, apple are constantly trying to scupper the hackers on iOS which is a bit of a pain - ie apps stop working if you update them and u have an older iiOS (to force an iOS update) thats said, once jailbroken the ipad comes alive, im forever installing new pluginns and improvements. Green pois0n has recently come out for iOS 4.2.1 and this has made jailbreaking easy again and untethered, before that red sn0w was a pain, didnt always work, and was tethered which is also a pain. for me and many more red sn0w, green pois0n, lime rain, etc etc the list goes on, is easy to use, but id have to say the whole rom flash on the vega is a easier still, i rooted my desire too and this was also a painless process.

overall, each have a place and its down to personal preference, in honesty i bought my vega as a cheap alternative to my ipad that i wouldnt mind too much if it got broken on trips for example, but ive been happily suprised by how good it is, esspecially after installing r8. both of them have a place in my world im happy to say :D

[Guest removed-14]

overall, each have a place and its down to personal preference, in honesty i bought my vega as a cheap alternative to my ipad that i wouldnt mind too much if it got broken on trips for example, but ive been happily suprised by how good it is, esspecially after installing r8. both of them have a place in my world im happy to say :D

A nice balanced view and approach. Sums it up nicely.

[Guest bazanime]

Ii think this thread should be closed now, all that needs to be said has been said. no need letting it degrade into a flame war.....unless thats what the author intended.

As for my opinion, I'm getting a Vega to do light stuff i don't need to worry my computer for. IMO it does everything the competitor can do sans the more attractive package and mega marketing.

[Guest removed-14]

Ii think this thread should be closed now, all that needs to be said has been said. no need letting it degrade into a flame war.....unless thats what the author intended.

As for my opinion, I'm getting a Vega to do light stuff i don't need to worry my computer for. IMO it does everything the competitor can do sans the more attractive package and mega marketing.

No not at all. I don't think it has so far turned into a flame war, some constructive stuff, some fanboyisms but all in all in good spirits.

[Guest scooby_d0o]

No not at all. I don't think it has so far turned into a flame war, some constructive stuff, some fanboyisms but all in all in good spirits.

i concur!

i think this thread is useful, it gives a honest opinion of 2 very popular devices and operating systems, all good hearted

[Guest Lennyuk]

Yeah we are all adults (or should at least act like it if not...) we don't need to turn it nasty

[Guest rferrett]

I am a bit of an Android "fanboi" and I love my Vega and my desire.

But despite that for me it stetches credulity to pretend that the Vega has a build quality that is anything close to comparible with the iFad. The viewing angles and the touch screen are problematic. That is just a fact, iFads are better in this respect. Now personally I wouldn't by an iPad if they retailed at £150 because they run IOS, but I am under no illusions that they are well made bits of kit.

Ralph