Viewsonic ViewPad 10s review

The ViewPad 10s is virtually identical to the Advent Vega except that it comes with a 16GB memory card rather than 4GB. The rest is the same: a 10.1in screen, a dual-core 1GHz processor and Android 2.2 (Froyo) are the highlights, and the price is slightly higher, partly reflecting the cost of the larger microSD card. It’s not to be confused with the standard ViewPad 10 (part code VPAD10_AHEU_50) which is a dual-boot tablet running both Windows 7 and Android 1.6.

Although it’s running one of the latest versions of Android, the ViewPad, like many other Android tablets before it, doesn’t include all the standard Google applications including the Market. It comes instead with the App Center, which is run by a German company called AndroidPIT and includes forums, a news blog and app reviews. Although it contains a large selection of apps, it’s not a patch on the real Market, and didn’t include a number of our favourite apps.

It is possible to install the Android Market by following some easy steps. This lets you install some other Google apps such as GMail, Google Reader and YouTube. However, while you can install Street View for Google Maps, you can’t install Maps itself. Other apps are missing too, such as the official Facebook app.

If you want to stick with AndroidPIT, you’ll have the choice of 3,149 apps (at the time of writing). The only apps already on the ViewPad are a task manager, a file manager and Fring, an instant messaging aggregator that promises video calling. We’ve seen it on a number of tablets with front-facing cameras, as it’s one of the only apps that supports video calls. We’ve had mixed results with it, however, and it’s no match for Apple’s Facetime on the iPad.

While the software may be flaky, the ViewPad’s hardware feels tough as nails. It feels fairly heavy at 730g, but this adds to the sense of sturdiness, and there’s no flex in the case at all. Although the entire front surface is glass, there’s an inch of bezel surrounding the actual screen, making the interface feel cramped. It’s extremely responsive to touch – possibly too responsive, which can lead to mis-clicks – but it lacks an oleophobic coating so quickly becomes a smudge of greasy fingerprints.

Viewing angles aren’t that good either, especially when you use the ViewPad lying flat on the desk in front of you – the narrow vertical angles play havoc with the image’s contrast, whereas viewing it from above has less impact. The glossy finish also means that bright overhead lights will be reflected. The built-in accelerometer does a good job of flipping the screen to suit your reading angle, and we liked the switch that you can use to lock the screen’s orientation.

There’s also a physical “Back” button along the top edge. Rather than implement Home and Menu as physical buttons, Viewsonic has instead added them as extra icons on the notification bar, which is stretched vertically to make them fit. This has the knock-on effect of making normal app notification icons much larger, ruining their crisp graphics.

Although the dual-core Tegra 2 processor is capable of decoding HD video, you can’t watch it in its full glory on the 1,024×600 screen. We did find the ViewPad extremely quick, with snappy transitions between screens.

Aside from the larger amount of storage, the ViewPad 10s is essentially almost identical to the Advent Vega. We don’t feel the larger memory card is worth the extra £26, when you can pick up a 16GN MicroSD card for £11, and installing the Market is trickier than on the Vega.