Don’t confuse Viewsonic’s recently revealed G Tablet with the ViewPad we saw at IFA. This is an entirely different unit running Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipset with Android 2.2 Froyo on board. Froyo you say? Yes, even after Google specifically announced that Froyo is not optimized for tablets.

I guess at this point its a take what we can get scenario for many manufacturers dabbling in the tablet realm. What I specifically like about the G Tablet is its front facing camera and USB port, and this would have been great 6 months ago, but as Apple readies its next-generation iPad it’s really going to be a too little too late scenario Viewsonic. Especially at their $529 asking price. Sure, it’s loaded with 1GB RAM, 16GB flash with microSD expansion for 16 more, it plays 1080p HD for 10 hours, but we’ve heard that song and dance before and Viewsonic is now officially deep in the iPad clone catchup game.

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Making your own OS is taxing on developers and time consuming, then where does this new OS pull its apps from? The quick fix, slap Android on it and go. That’s all fine and dandy for smartphones, but Google’s director of mobile products Hugo Barra told TechRadar “The way Android Market works is it’s not going to be available on tablets that don’t allow devices and applications to run correctly.” Since the Galaxy Tab is considered a “large phone” the apps from Android’s market seem to function just fine. Apparently, the G-Tab works so well that Android’s Open Source & Compatibility Program Manager, Dan Morrill, didn’t want to give a loaner unit back; “got a pre-release “loaner” to test for compatibility & refused to give it back :)” Morrill tweeted.

Back to Froyo on a tablet. Barra hints at the fact that tablets can run Froyo, but warns manufacturers not think its going to be an out of the box solution. Android can be heavily customized and skinned, so manufacturers have control in the end, but if your device doesn’t run correctly dont expect anything from Google : “Which devices do, and which don’t will be unit specific, but Froyo is not optimized for use on tablets” said Barra.

This leaves us waiting for the next release of Android Gingerbread or even Honeycomb to get a full Android tablet experience, that is, unless Google unveils a Google Chrome  tablet. Now that will change everything, again.

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