Difference between revisions of "Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0)"

Revision as of 19:40, 29 May 2012

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is a 7 inch tablet with a dual core processor, Android 4.0 software, and as of early 2012, a price of just $250. That puts it in competition with the Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet and Amazon Kindle Fire.

The GALAXY Tab 2 (7.0) has a 7-inch TFT display on the Tab 2 7.0 offers users 1024 x 600 pixels of resolution. The display has Samsung's Plane-to-Line-Switching (PLS) technology, which allows for better power efficiency, yet from a brighter panel.

The volume and power keys are on the upper right edge of the tablet, and a 3.5mm headphone jack can be found up top. The 3.5mm jack also supports a line-in function.

The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 measures 193mm x 122mm x 10.4mm (7.6in x 4.8in x .41in), thinner than Amazon's Kindle Fire. It weighs 345g (12.2oz). I

It has a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM.

A 3MP fixed focus camera on the back takes care of the photo and video tasks, and a VGA front-facing cam for video chat.

As of 2012 the Galaxy Tab 2 comes with Android OS: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

• Available at Best Buy: Samsung - Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 with 8GB Memory - Titanium Silver
• Available at Amazon: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-Inch, Wi-Fi)

Apps

Apps is android lingo for applications that run on android. Android Apps are typically designed around the phone models with a carrier connection, however, most are relevant to tablets, and with the rise of tablet popularity there are now Android Apps built specific for the tablet.

Security

Android Google Account and Privacy Concerns

As of March 2012 Google's new privacy policy amounts to "no privacy."

Discussions:

• Android phone without a gmail/google account

One compromise (as in rather than avoiding google altogether) without having google track everything you do, is to create a dummy gmail account. Use an alias and all anonymous info with nothing that identifies you personally and only use your google dummy alias account for the purpose of giving your android a google username and password for the Google Play App Store.

Root

You can root the 7 inch Galaxy Tab 2. Rooting the tablet allows you to access files and settings that are otherwise protected.

Install ClockworkMod Recovery and flash a zip file to gain root access.

This link has a step by step: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25228-rooting-gt-p3113-step-by-step/ (see talk section here too)

After you have rooted the tablet, try out Titanium Backupand Root Explorer.

Support

Problems Connecting to WiFi Having Hidden SSID

Possible scenarios include: try and connect to a wifi network which has a hidden SSID when the same network previously had a broadcasted SSID, or a network having always had a hidden SSID after having manually entered connection settings.

• see (1): http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-international/367736-sgs2-cannot-connect-wifi-networks-hidden-ssid.html
• see (2): http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/detail?id=510

Working resolution: Android OS 4.0, if the SSID in wifi list is from previously having SSID visible, simple delete the entry by choosing "forget" and manually enter wifi settings. So when you click on the connection, even though it says it is out of range, it will open a screen with the options "forget" and "cancel." Just be patient, give it a few minutes to connect.

Access Windows File Share Via Wireless

ES File Explorer is available in Google Play.

In the LAN tab, you can connect to your computer's folders and copy files to/from it.

USB Data Transfer / USB Mass Storage (unresolved)

When the tablet (Android Ice Cream Sandwich) is connect to a PC (Windows XP SP3) user is presented with 2 options on the tablet. Look on the tablet menu, at the bottom well below "Settings" (not within a submenu of settings, but below the settings click point on the primary android menu) it will say "Connected as a media devices, Touch for other USB options." Choices are Media device (MTP) or Camera (PTP) mode.

Media device (MTP) fails to install the driver in Windows XP every time. PTP results in a successful connection, however, user can only transfer from the tablet to the PC and the transfer rate is slow.

According to some web sources traditional USB connectivity is gone on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Samsung, a decision made by the folks at Google (dumb move Google developers.)

According to the source How to enable USB mass storage on Android 4.0 ICS Samsung Galaxy S2?.

1. Bring up Settings.
2. Click More… (under Wireless and network).
3. Then select USB utilities ~ Set USB cable connection mode.
4. Select Connect storage to PC then.
5. Connect USB cable from phone to PC.
6. Select Turn on USB storage.

The problem is that the process is valid for the Samsung Galaxy S2, not the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. The S2 being a phone while the Tab 2 being a WiFi only tablet. On the tablet, there is no option related to USB or USB Utilities.

In Settings, scroll all the way down to "Developer Options," select and check "USB debugging." This causes an additional thing to happen in Windows XP. Windows will now prompt for a driver for SAMSUNG Android ADB Interface and install from the web. However, even after that, Windows will produce an error and there is still no USB Mass Storage connectivity.

Samsung Support claims that a driver that they will eventually release will resolve this issue.

Note: Kies has not been installed on the PC, and should not be necessary for basic USB Mass Storage functionality. The Android phone in question has not been root'd.

Keywords: Android Tablet PC Samsung Galaxy Tab Two 2