14 DAY TRIAL // ViewSonic has recently announced the release of an Android 2.2 Froyo update of its ViewPad 10 tablet. The device was initially delivered with Android 1.6 Donut on board, but due to the recent update, the retailer will ship the ViewPad 10 with Froyo.
However, for those who already own the tablet and are still operating the old Android 1.6 platform, ViewSonic made it possible to manually download and install the Froyo firmware update.
For what is worth, the tablet's software is not even upgradable via OTA (over-the-air), so the only option is to do it manually.
The update process that will make your ViewPad 10 run Android 2.2 Froyo is a bit unusual, as the manufacturer requires users to download the 289 MB .iso file and create a bootable USB drive using a free application called UNETBOOTIN.
After downloading both the application and the .iso file on your PC, insert the USB stick and run the UNETBOOTIN application.
Select Diskimage, then ISO and click the browse button and select the .iso file containing the Froyo update.
As soon as the USB drive is properly detected, the drive letter will be automatically entered, but you can also manually select the correct drive letter assigned to the USB drive.
Wait until the process is completed and insert the USB stick, along with a USB keyboard to the tablet. It is recommended to keep the charger connected to avoid accidental power losses.
Power on the ViewPad 10 tablet and click F11 as soon as the splash screen appears on the display.
Make sure you select the USB drive on the next screen and hit the Enter key. Select the last option, 'Install to Hard Drive', from the next Android install screen and then choose SDA1 Linux.
Select format EXT3, then choose Yes on the next screen and reboot when the process is finished.