rollerblading underpants: ViewSonic ViewPad 10e hands-on (video)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

ViewSonic ViewPad 10e hands-on (video)

You've already seen the ViewPad 10pi and the prototype E70, but we have one more tablet from ViewSonic for your thirsty peepers. Known as the ViewPad 10e, it'll go on sale at the end of the month for $299 and is squarely aimed at the budget crowd. Build-wise, you'd never know it, as the slab contains a downright sexy 10-inch IPS display with excellent viewing angles and a svelte 9.1mm profile. Unfortunately, this is where the good news ends. Rather than shipping with Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich, the ViewPad 10e runs Gingerbread with some fanciful software enhancements. Further, because it lacks certification from Google, the Android Market is nowhere in sight, leaving users to fend for scraps in the Amazon Appstore. Using the tablet was generally a choppy endeavor -- visible even from the application menu -- and the experience became decidedly worse when we took the slate online. Perhaps most unfortunate, this effort suggests that ViewSonic could make an excellent tablet if it wished to do so. Instead, the ViewPad 10e feels like a half-hearted attempt.

Gallery: ViewSonic ViewPad 10e hands-on