No longer an 8-inch display with Honeycomb

[TTwrs]

I am extremely disappointed to discover that the VTAB no longer shows a 'full' display after 'upgrading' to Honeycomb. The 'control bar' on the bottom steals valuable vertical screenspace. The main reason I bought a VTAB was because of the 4:3 aspect ratio that I could view my photographs and vids (all 4:3) on, FULL SCREEN. It worked wonderfully. Now, upon upgrading, I find my photos no longer fill the display because of that useless bar! Had I known that I'd be loosing the very functionality that I bought the VTAB for, I never would have made the change.

Other than this (IMO, major) 'gotcha', the change is probably worth it, but with the small screen to begin with, why on earth do the powers-that-be mess with one of the things that made the VTAB stand out above the other tablets? The bezel-controlbar was a real advantage.

I suppose it could be fixed via an auto-hide option for the bar, as can be done with Windows taskbar. Or, are there other 4:3 options?

Does anyone know if there's a workaround for this?

Please, Vizio, we need a fix for this...

</rant>

 

[vinogans]

there is a trick I made it my self but ... it`s only for watching a movie or reading a book ... other wise u will find it`s a useless trick

just Go to manage applications > all > force stop " System UI "

then force stop "settings"

then play the video you want from any app like MX video player

P.S to restore the bar you must reboot the tablet ...

when you do that I found an app that can help us in controlling the tablet with out the bar .. going back needed root but home is working so its still useful

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ib3BvdGVjaC52aXJ0dWFsYnV0dG9uYmFydHJpYWwiXQ..

If you find my post useful please hit thank .. thats only what i ask

 

[vinogans]

not even a single reply ... Any one tried my way I used it on the tablet and with the app in the market I can control by going to home ... Any one else ? !

 

[J515OP]

I'll reply. I don't have the HC update so I can't speak to the mod to go full screen. Some devices it is an option to hide the notification bar without having to stop the system UI though that might not be the case here.

@ the OP I'm sorry you are disappointed with the on screen controls. I agree that the VTab should use its bezel buttons since they are there. However, the status bar also serves other important purposes and needs to be there (a minimize or full screen option would be nice). Generally stock Android allows this bar to come and go as necessary. Having soft buttons is the way of the future and I don't disagree with it since it allow more flexibility and thinner frames etc. I'm not sure why going from a "4:3" ratio to a "3.96:3" ratio is so bad. The area you are loosing is so small I'm not sure what difference it makes except that it isn't filling the screen 100%. It is a tablet and not a digital picture frame and you may want to go home or back or access the menu or know when you receive a new email which easily makes the notification bar necessary even if in certain circumstances it should be hideable.

 

[TTwrs]

Thanks for the tip, Vinogans. I'm not interested in anything that requires reboots or rooting, though your tip might be a partial solution. J515OP, actually the aspect ratio is maintained so, though smaller, it remains at 4:3. Instead, there are black bars on the sides. So, I have an 8' display with over 1/2" being wasted to accomodate the bar which, incidently, remains annoyingly visible while I'm viewing my photos with JustPictures. I guess that's the price of progress... ;-\

 

[J515OP]

That is too bad, there really should be a full screen mode. At least most of the screen is still being used

 

[vinogans]

That is too bad, there really should be a full screen mode. At least most of the screen is still being used

the system on vtab doesnt allow full screen mode on honeycomb the best you can get is the bar with 3 small dots ... If we ever got root again we can hide adjust the bar and hide it when possible ... forcing the "system Ui" to stop is the only way to hide it but when we do that we cant go back or to home ... so the app I post allow us to go to Home ... there is alot of similar app like that totally free

 

[Roger2008]

I am extremely disappointed to discover that the VTAB no longer shows a 'full' display after 'upgrading' to Honeycomb. The 'control bar' on the bottom steals valuable vertical screenspace. The main reason I bought a VTAB was because of the 4:3 aspect ratio that I could view my photographs and vids (all 4:3) on, FULL SCREEN. It worked wonderfully. Now, upon upgrading, I find my photos no longer fill the display because of that useless bar! Had I known that I'd be loosing the very functionality that I bought the VTAB for, I never would have made the change.

. . .

Please, Vizio, we need a fix for this...

</rant>

First and foremost. A hearty THANKS for your post because I'm glad to see others are upset about what Vizio has thrown at us with there unwanted update to Honeycomb that has an Adobe Flashplayer that was written for Gingerbread and no ability to go fullscreen anymore.

I've spent hours on the phone with different people at Vizio just trying to tell them what else I have found wrong with the update besides not being able to go full screen in any of my programs.

Tech Support brushed me off by telling me they only have one tablet with an Internet connection so they can not try anything.

Customer Service tried telling me it was my device and I finally said humor me and let me prove your device has the same problems but I doubt if she will do anything for me.

Sales was the best one at listening to what I had to say but I think she will be up against a brick wall too.

-----

Yes, I'm upset at losing the ability to go full screen too and if they had removed my full screen option earlier, like within 30 days of my buying the Vizio VTAB1008 I would have returned it.

But there are other things wrong with the update that upset me more than losing 73 horizontal pixels or 9.5% of the screen. And to maintain a 4x3 aspect ratio Vizio also had to remove 9.5% of the vertical screen leaving you with only 88% of the total number of pixels that you started with.

1. Use the browser to go to m.youtube.com, select a video and then try to play the video. All you will get is black where the video should be.

2. Start where you left off above and scroll down to the very bottom of the page and tap on the word "Desktop" then select browser. Now you will be able to see the video you could not see before and you will even be able to pause the video by tapping on it but that is all you can do until you tap on the words "show more" below the video. After you tap on the words "show more" then you can tap on the video to restart it.

3. There are other problems that can be tracked down to the Adobe Flashplayer but all I really want Vizio to do is let me put my VTAB1008 back the way it was before their unnecessary Honeycomb update that has been a lot more trouble than it is worth.

 

[Roger2008]

there is a trick I made it my self but ... it`s only for watching a movie or reading a book ... other wise u will find it`s a useless trick

just Go to manage applications > all > force stop " System UI "

then force stop "settings"

then play the video you want from any app like MX video player

P.S to restore the bar you must reboot the tablet ...

when you do that I found an app that can help us in controlling the tablet with out the bar .. going back needed root but home is working so its still useful

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ib3BvdGVjaC52aXJ0dWFsYnV0dG9uYmFydHJpYWwiXQ..

If you find my post useful please hit thank .. thats only what i ask

Thank you for the information and on a Samsung Tablet if you pair with a bluetooth mouse pressing the scroll wheel activates the "Menu" and pressing the right mouse button does the same thing as pressing the "Back" button but on the Vizio Tablet those buttons will either do nothing or the same thing as the left mouse button which is the same thing as your finger can do.

If the Vizio Tablet worked with a Bluetooth Mouse the same way a Samsung Tablet does then it would be possible to use it as the ""Menu"" and the "Back" key but Vizio decided not to let you use a bluetooth mouse as a replacement for "Menu" and "Back."

 

[Ken401]

FWIW, Xoom's work the same way as Vizios with a BT mouse, at least on HC. Samsung is on to something there. Is it running ICS or HC?

 

[robert3433]

Roger,

I just got off an IM with Vizio. I've been having the same issue with the browers you listed at #1. Tech support says a hard reset will fix that issue, also said there is no way to go back to 2.3. I wish I could return this tablet for a refund. The apps I really want only work with 2.3 and since Vizio doesn't provide an app compatability tool to use prior to upgrade I'm out of luck.

 

[Da5id]

My Visio is in the mail on the way to me. I assume it's going to automatically update. One of the reasons I am exchanging my Lenovo K1 for the Visio is the form factor and the bezel buttons. Can I decline the TOS on the upgrade? My understanding is that there are several upgrades. Which one do I want to reject? I want to thank you for identifying the problem. Actually, I have heard that there are several upgrades before Honeycomb &#8211; are they all good? Here and now would be a good time to provide information to save other users the hassle.

 

[Roger2008]

FWIW, Xoom's work the same way as Vizios with a BT mouse, at least on HC. Samsung is on to something there. Is it running ICS or HC?

If you are asking me about what Samsung Tablet I was using with a BT mouse where the left mouse button did the same thing as your finger, the right mouse button was the same as the "Back" and then pressing on the scroll wheel was the same thing as the "Menu" it was a 7" Galaxy Tab for T-Mobile that has FROYO.UVJJB on it.

What I like most about that Tablet is I can go into the browser that I have start at www.youtube.com/?nomobile=1, select a video, press the power button then I can still listen to the video. Every other Android device I've seen will shut the sound off when you try the exact same thing.

 

[Roger2008]

My Visio is in the mail on the way to me. I assume it's going to automatically update. One of the reasons I am exchanging my Lenovo K1 for the Visio is the form factor and the bezel buttons. Can I decline the TOS on the upgrade? My understanding is that there are several upgrades. Which one do I want to reject? I want to thank you for identifying the problem. Actually, I have heard that there are several upgrades before Honeycomb &#8211; are they all good? Here and now would be a good time to provide information to save other users the hassle.

If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't take any of the upgrades at all. As a matter of fact, I would disable the upgrade service before starting the WiFi and then I'd get it to forget about the WiFi connection before I shut the unit off.

From what I remember of the upgrades about all they did was add Hulu Plus and then add a Nook reader that I could not keep uninstalled.

But to simplify your answer, you can ignore the upgrade to Honeycomb but you have to ignore it every single time you turn your Vizio on.

 

[Roger2008]

Roger,

I just got off an IM with Vizio. I've been having the same issue with the browers you listed at #1. Tech support says a hard reset will fix that issue, also said there is no way to go back to 2.3. I wish I could return this tablet for a refund. The apps I really want only work with 2.3 and since Vizio doesn't provide an app compatability tool to use prior to upgrade I'm out of luck.

Yes, I was told to do a hard reset too and I was also told it could take a few tries. The other thing is what buttons do you really need for a "Hard reset?"

I tried the volume up, volume down and the power button all at the same time and I also tried just the volume down and the power button and nothing changes.

Plus if that does fix the issue why didn't it fix it on 2 of the VTAB1008's at Vizio? Meaning two people at Vizio admitted their VTAB1008 had the same problem and one of them even told me they used the hard reset.

To me they were just giving me a wild goose chase and might know that does not fix the problem. Plus if it did fix the problem maybe it just used the youtube application instead.