Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Honeycomb Alpha (v. 11)

     This is, without a doubt, the best ROM available. I don't need to tell you about Honeycomb. If you must see the details about Honeycomb, here is a guide. How well does it run on the Adam? Pretty darn good. What makes it so good? Find out after the break.

     This is a very stable build for being an alpha version. You still get the small amount of force closes that you would expect from anything running android, but nothing major has happened yet. This is to be expected since this is actually a fully baked build on Honeycomb ripped from the Asus Eeepad Transformer. The devs have done a nice job of pulling out all signs of Asus. What you are left with is completely stock Honeycomb, and all of its goodness.

     On any and all 2.2 based ROMs, the touch screen felt a little unresponsive, which generally ruined the user experience for me. It wasn't terrible, but it was certainly worse than the XOOM or iPad. It may be the beautification of the UI, the tablet specific sizes, or a complete placebo, but the user experience shot through the roof with this ROM. Everything is perfectly snappy. It isn't quite as snappy as the XOOM, with a little snag here and there. You won't be disappointed.

     Eden notifications leave a lot to be desired with that tiny exclamation point up in the corner. The status bar hiding trick that Notion Ink employed worked to make status bar visible in all apps, but it is still out of the way. Notifications are on the right of the always present status/navbar. A click on the clock brings up quick settings and your notifications. On a side note, the dark glow that accompanies the clock pop-up is offset two inches to the left. Aside from the small glitch, it is really handy.

     Two shining features of Honeycomb over the Eden UI are the keyboard and the browser. The browser feels like you are using a small version of Chrome. Zooming and scrolling are both smooth. Bookmarks sync without worry. The only complaint I have (a common complaint across the web) is the rendering of webpages to the mobile versions. I'm not using a smartphone, and I don't wanted to be treated as such. Luckily you can just go into the debug setting to change the user agent string to desktop, or iPad, or whatever the heck you want.

     The Notion Ink keyboard is great isn't? I'm never going back to it after using the 3.0 offering. It's just better.

    This is now the ROM, and it will stay that way until Notion Ink gets their hands on some source code. With Honeycomb, the Adam can actually complete with other tablets. I finally like Adam over the iPad. Honeycomb bridges the gap between glossy, functional, and open. The best of all three, and it's now available for your enjoyment on the Notion Ink Adam.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Cyanogen Mod 7 (Beta1)

     Cyanogen Mod is probably the most popular Android ROM of all time, and it is now making its way to the Adam. Also included is the Honeycomb mimicking Tablet Tweaks plugin (also beta). I say making its way because it is still in beta. I had a minimal amount of problems with stability, but I recommend waiting as this won't be your daily donut. Find out how the popular ROM runs on a not-so-standard tablet.

     If you hate everything about Eden, even the apps, then this is definitely the ROM for you. All traces of Notion Ink have been wiped clean. This could be a good thing for some users, but not this guy. Couldn't they at least give us the NI keyboard? The purpose of CM7 is to give a vanilla Gingerbread experience, but oddly the stock Android launcher is MIA, instead giving you ADW and VTL to pick from.

     As with a few other ROMs, you are given toggles for things like switching the SD cards or turning off cell standby. To do so, you are given the horrible  not very intuitive Adam toggles app. All the app is is a screen with four buttons for the four toggles. No visual indication that the toggle worked, no prompting to restart, just four buttons.

     Tablet Tweaks was suppose to give a Honeycomb-like feel to the overall experience. It doesn't. All you really get is a fat status bar with three navigation buttons that hardly ever goes away. Oh, and you can move it to the bottom of the screen if so desired. It's a nice idea, but it doesn't really add anything to the user experience.

     There you have it. A brief review of a very popular ROM that almost doesn't need a review. For a complete list of features that CM will give you, go to their website. Right now, it isn't ready for the Adam. One major problem I had was the lack of a lockscreen which would probably be fixed by a simple data wipe. This ROM gets a 3/10 in its current form. The reason? A complete lack of anything Notion Ink.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: The Beast (Update: Rant)

     Isn't it amazing how many ROM's are available for product that is seemingly unpopular? Could it be because the stock software is just that bad, or is it due to the lack of the Android Market? Maybe Adam owners are just born modders. Whatever the reason is, developers have created some brilliant ROM's to hold us over until Honeycomb gets released from Google's mighty grip. Is The Beast another shining star in the galaxy of ROM's, or is it another flop? So many questions. Find the answers after the break.

     The Beast is a vanilla Android ROM for the Adam based off of Utopia, but built for speed. While it is a Froyo build, many elements such as the keyboard and animations from Gingerbread can be found within. Many apps from Notion Ink are pre-installed as well, including the keyboard, Mail'd (removed in latest version of Beast), Sniffer, etc. Being vanilla Android, Eden is nowhere to be found, but who used it anyway? It comes pre-loaded with ADW and Launcher Pro, but the stock Android launcher is oddly missing.

     The Beast is one of the most stable ROM's I have tried on the Adam. On the forums they claim a Quadrant score of ~2900. I got a maximum score in the ballpark of 2400. That isn't to say it isn't fast. The speed improvement isn't extremely noticeable when compared to the stock. Josh4Trunks posted a handy guide for the various toggles available so you can do things like change the mapping of the physical button or swap the SD cards.

      Music was a bit of a pain. All of my music is on my SD card, otherwise known as SDcard2. In the stock ROM, the media finder app is written to detect media on the SDcard (internal memory) and the SDcard2 (actual SD card). One of the toggles provided is to swap the number on the SD cards so that your removable card becomes the default. It gets confusing in Sniffer when the tablet memory is actually your SD card.

     All and all it is a fantastic ROM. Until something amazing happens in Eden, this will be my ROM. If you are looking for a vanilla build of Android for your Adam look no further.

(Update) In the most recent update (2.1.4) the developer has decided to remove Mail'd in favor of the stock email app. Why? Mail'd, Sniffer, and Canvas are the best Notion Ink apps to have, and you removed one? Mail'd's replacement app isn't even tablet ready. It is a blown up phone app that has no business being on a tablet or replacing Mail'd. Thank you for your time.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: VEGAn-Tab (Update)

     We have seen ROM's for the Gtab that are based on Eden, and now it's time to turn the tables. Yes, the VEGAn-Tab is a Gtablet based ROM for the Adam. It is a particularly wierd idea since the UI from Viewsonic isn't exactly something people look for in a tablet. If you are looking for something different, this is most likely the ROM for you. Full thoughts after the break.

     The UI enhancements of this ROM don't go very far beyond what vanilla android will bring you. A few elements,such as the status bar, are enlarged for better accuracy. In the status bar, you will find the three navigation buttons as if Viewsonic is trying to ape Honeycomb. The biggest UI enhancements to be found are the fantastic animations all around. They may be useless, but they make it look a lot better. For apps, it comes bundles with the NI apps you would expect except one. The NI keyboard is MIA here. In it's place, you have the Gingerbread keyboard and the Tap n' Tap Western keyboard to choose from. I almost prefer the Tap n' Tap keyboard over the NI keyboard for its split and thumb oriented layout.

     I will warn you that this is a beta build. I had quite a few instances of force close happening to me. A re-install of the particular usually resolves the issue at hand, but that gets old fast. A large problem I found, and the reason I'm not keeping this ROM, is a problem with the way it handles the SD card. Sniffer acts like the card isn't even there have of the time. The standard music app and tunewiki refuse to find any music most liely because they aren't seeing the card. I need my music. With this ROM the sleep/wake bug reappears.

    If you don't want Eden, but you want something a little better looking than vanilla froyo/gingerbread, this is the ROM for you. If you are looking for a speed demon, look elsewhere. The speed is equivalent to that of Edenx with a Quadrant score of ~1900. I will recommend that you wait until it comes out of beta. I'll give it a 3/5 rating, but your tastes will vary.

(Update) It has been called to my attention that this ROM is based off of the Advent Vega, not the Viewsonic G-Tablet. Please ignore all references to the G-Tablet above.

Help an Adam Demographic

     A recent study says that only 20% of Adam owners have hacked their Adam's. Notion Ink Hack's Andy thinks otherwise, and has compiled a survey to prove it. This survey won't be at all fair since the majority of Notion Ink Hack readers have hacked their Adam's. Regardless of the fairness, here is the survey: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDZpbGxNR01wZV9yTEtfbzUwSkJ4eUE6MQ

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Edenx

     It's truly amazing how many ROMs are available for the Adam considering how few of them there are in the wild. While only Notion Ink knows the actual number of Adam's there are, we can assume the numbers are only in the tens of thousands. All of your the Adam ROMs can be found at NotionInkHacks.com. The ROM I will be reviewing today is called Edenx, and was compiled by Roebeet.

      Edenx is a very stocked based ROM unlike the Utopia and Beast ROMs that are vanilla Android based. Its simplicity is its beauty. What it adds is root access, the market, various Google apps, a home switcher, and a few other tweaks. The home switcher is nice since Eden isn't customizable at all as a home screen. Edenx is what stock Eden should have been other than the root access. Small apps like Google Voice Search and Live Wallpapers complete the Android experience. The Android Market is also a plus.

     Is there anything I don't like about Edenx? I wish there were an option in the settings to get rid of the panel switcher in favor of the stock android app switcher. Other than that, Roebeet did a fantastic job.