Wednesday, November 09, 2011

T-Mobile Galaxy Tab with Android 2.3, Gingerbread

I finally got tired of waiting for either T-Mobile or Samsung to push out Android 2.3, Gingerbread, to my Galaxy Tab. I found a website with destructions on how to do it myself. It was much easier than I imagined.

Two features I wanted with Android 2.3, Google Talk with video and Hangouts, were my main motivation for upgrading the Galaxy Tab on my own. I had mixed results.

Google Talk with video currently requires 2.3.4. The Galaxy Tab update is 2.3.3. Missed it by THAT much. According to Google, they are working to make it available to more devices.

On the bright side, at least I can join Hangouts. I tested it with another account earlier. It's not bad at all. The main limitation is the quality of the front facing camera.

Skype also allows for video chat, as does Qik.

What is a little freaky is that the upgrade has the calling feature enabled. I could use the Tab to make calls using an appropriately set up sim card.

Another thing that was fixed was adding the voice actions button to swype. The previous version required switching input methods to be able to do that. This should be fun.

I'm hoping the browser cache is self-clearing. Having to manually clear the cache is a bonehead design.

Overall, the upgrade makes small changes that improve my enjoyment of the Galaxy Tab. Sure, there are a bunch more improvements; but these are all that matter to me.