• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

BLACKTOOTHGRIN

Android Enthusiast
Sep 8, 2011
297
22
South of Heavan
I'm considering buying a Samsung Galaxy (7") just for home use,
not to be used on any mobile network.
I noticed that the Galaxy does have a built in GPS and can be used for navigation.
I think that would be a great navigation tool in my vehicle because of the nice 7" screen,
but like I said, I don't want to get another line on my account for any reason.

I think the Commando can be used as a mobile hot spot,
but I don't want to have to give Verizon a piece of that pie too. :rolleyes:
I think I read somewhere that this can be done somehow without including Verizon.
I don't know if it's an app, or if it requires rooting.
If anyone has any first hand knowledge on this I would sure appreciate it.

Thanks,
& Happy Turkey Day Everyone! :)
-BTG
 
The paid wifi hotspot feature from Verizon creates a full fledged wifi infrustructure mode hotspot. The wifi tethering application for the rooted Commando only creates an ad-hoc wifi connection. The problem with android tablets is they do not support ad-hoc wifi networking stock and you will need to root the tablet to be able to make the changes needed to enable ad-hoc networking.

I do not believe that any android tablet will be able to utilize any of the USB wired tethering applications out there because it's basically a phone, or a variation of a phone, and does not have the instruction set in the firmware to utilize USB as a computer would. I am no expert, but I read and look at a lot of the forums and if someone was doing this, I would have saw it somewhere. If there was such a method, it too would probably require rooting of the tablet.

I have a Dell Streak 7 that I tether to my Commando using bluetooth. My Commando is rooted and I run the Android Wireless Tethering application. This can be found by googling "Android Wifi Tethering". It will be the first hit. You are going to want version 2.0.8-pre1. You will need to be rooted to run this, something I know you have said many times you did not want to do.

I do know that a paid application called Tetherberry - now just called Tether, is able to provide an internet connection via bluetooth on a Blackberry. They have a non-root android version of the application but I do not know if it supports bluetooth PAN or DUN on android devices. Tether is a one time $50 charge, unless they are running a sale. I have a license for the Blackberry tether and it worked well. When I switched to android they would not transfer the license and wanted another $50, so we parted ways and I have not given them another thought because it pretty much pissed me off.

Being able to tether your tablet to your phone is going to require one of three things:

$20/month to Verizon for the wireless hotspot application
$50 one time to Tether for the android tether program if it supports bluetooth PAN/DUN
Root of your Commando and installation of the free Wireless tether application.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BLACKTOOTHGRIN
Upvote 0
Thanks guys.

I really appreciate you going into depth with that one RJGLENN.
Nope, I'm wasn't really wanting to root,
BUT THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT VERIZON IS GOING TO GET ONE MORE PENNY
OUT OF ME FOR WHAT LITTLE THEY PROVIDE.
My main concern of rooting is doing something absent minded
and bricking the phone of course.
Just don't have the cash to burn by having to replace this thing at full retail.
But the more I get into this it, it's almost seeming inevitable.

I guess the first thing to figure out is if this can even be done with the Galaxy Tab.
Not too sure how to go about it either.
Which of the two methods that you listed would be the easiest and safest?
 
Upvote 0
Root your phone using paxchristos zergRush method. Download and install the aforementioned wireless tethering app and nothing else. Make no changes to your tablet other than pairing it to your phone. Tether your tablet with Bluetooth. If you don't go looking for trouble you won't find it. Meaning don't install titanium backup or root explorer and you still won't be able to change any system files.
 
Upvote 0
Okay Thanks.
Now that I'm starting to look into this a bit further, of course I have questions:

1. When I went to download the android wifi tether app,
it says in the description that the app allows devises to be connected via
ad-hoc mode.
Didn't you just say that tablets can't connect that way and would probably have to be rooted?
You also said the best way to accomplish tethering was to root the
Commando and leave the tablet alone. :thinking:
Forgive my ignorance on the subject, but that doesn't makes sense to me.
Maybe I've misinterpreted something.
Is that were using Bluetooth comes in?

2. The other thing I was wondering is why do I need 2.0.8pre1 version
instead of the new beta or the 2.0.7?
And why does the 2.0.8 say experimental?
Just curious.

I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row BEFORE buying a tablet, that's all.
I want to make sure that everything will work in the manner that I'd like it to
that way I'm not left disappointed, and sh*t out of luck and $$$. ;)
That said, have you successfully tethered your tablet to your Commando
and been able to use Google Maps for Navigation on the Tablet,
while it was tethered going down the road?
And is there any noticeable LAG between the devises when used for Navigation?
That's the ONLY reason I'm looking to do this, but IT IS A MUST,
for me to justify rooting my Commando. :)

Next.....will be what tablet to buy.
From my reading, the 1st gen Samsung Galaxy 7" didn't get as good of reviews as the revamped Galaxy Tab 7 plus.
There's a $100 difference between the two and I can't quite tell if
it is worth the price difference.
I think the main difference is the processor speed which I know nothing
about, in how tablets manage things?
It also only has a 1024x600 display.
Is that good enough resolution for a Tablet of this size?
Any recommendations between the two?
Or on another 7" Tablet?

I'm even wondering if I should hold out for the new Galaxy 7.7 Tab.
(it will come with a 1280x800 super amoled display)
Who knows when that will be released OR how much the dang thing will cost. :rolleyes:
That's actually one of the main reasons that I'm not after the 8.9 or the 10.1 tabs.
I just can't bring myself to pay $500-$700 for something like this.
Plus...the 7-7.7" models WOULD make a really nice Navigation system in my Rig
as the other are way to big. :cool:
I'm also not even sure if NOW is the time to buy, or if Christmas specials will be better.

Tired of reading my novel? haha. :D
 
Upvote 0
Whoa....hang on a minute.
I just read this review on the Galaxy 7 Plus.

"GPS and Google Maps worked great, got sat lock in only a few minutes sitting on the passenger seat of the car. Local driving, but Google Maps cached enough that nav worked great. In answer to several comments, the GPS works without wifi. Google Maps caches some local coverage, and there are standalone nav apps that have broader coverage. If traffic updates are important, you won't get them with no wifi."

Does that mean that tethering isn't required for GPS and Google Maps/Navigation to work?
 
Upvote 0
Okay Thanks.
Now that I'm starting to look into this a bit further, of course I have questions:

1. When I went to download the android wifi tether app,
it says in the description that the app allows devises to be connected via
ad-hoc mode.
Didn't you just say that tablets can't connect that way and would probably have to be rooted?
You also said the best way to accomplish tethering was to root the
Commando and leave the tablet alone. :thinking:
Forgive my ignorance on the subject, but that doesn't makes sense to me.
Maybe I've misinterpreted something.
Is that were using Bluetooth comes in?

2. The other thing I was wondering is why do I need 2.0.8pre1 version
instead of the new beta or the 2.0.7?
And why does the 2.0.8 say experimental?
Just curious.

I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row BEFORE buying a tablet, that's all.
I want to make sure that everything will work in the manner that I'd like it to
that way I'm not left disappointed, and sh*t out of luck and $$$. ;)
That said, have you successfully tethered your tablet to your Commando
and been able to use Google Maps for Navigation on the Tablet,
while it was tethered going down the road?
And is there any noticeable LAG between the devises when used for Navigation?
That's the ONLY reason I'm looking to do this, but IT IS A MUST,
for me to justify rooting my Commando. :)

Next.....will be what tablet to buy.
From my reading, the 1st gen Samsung Galaxy 7" didn't get as good of reviews as the revamped Galaxy Tab 7 plus.
There's a $100 difference between the two and I can't quite tell if
it is worth the price difference.
I think the main difference is the processor speed which I know nothing
about, in how tablets manage things?
It also only has a 1024x600 display.
Is that good enough resolution for a Tablet of this size?
Any recommendations between the two?
Or on another 7" Tablet?

I'm even wondering if I should hold out for the new Galaxy 7.7 Tab.
(it will come with a 1280x800 display)
Who knows when that will be released OR how much the dang thing will cost. :rolleyes:
That's actually one of the main reasons that I'm not after the 8.9 or the 10.1 tabs.
I just can't bring myself to pay $500-$700 for something like this.
Plus...the 7-7.7" models WOULD make a really nice Navigation system in my Rig
as the other are way to big. :cool:

Tired of reading my novel? haha. :D



I was going to multi-quote reply but I can't seem to get that to work.

1. I was suggesting that you use bluetooth tethering for a PAN connection instead of ad-hoc wifi. That way you would not have to root your tablet which tends to be a little more complicated. Simply pair the two devices, run wireless tether, set it for bluetooth tethering and then connect them. To root my tablet I had to flash a recovery and then install superuser from an update.zip. Lots of room for error there. And after all that, the hack did not work; I could connect to an ad-hoc network and get an IP address, but it would drop after about 30 seconds. I can use bluetooth for hours.

2. The 2.0.8pre1 is the last version to support bluetooth tethering. All later versions only support wifi, as best I can tell. It's experimental because, well, it's experimental. These are not offical supported apps on anyone's phone, any manufacturer or any carrier.

I completely understand you wanting to be sure it works before you void your phone's warrenty or spend any money. It has been my experience that a factory reset of my commando running 2.3.3 removes the superuser app, icon, and busybox. I've never seen any other Android device do this - my LG Ally, my son's OG Droid and my streak 7 tablet all keep Su on a reset. I have no idea if you will have the same experience with your phone and I don't know why that happens. SU is supposed to write to the system area and become part of the ROM. This is not really a bad thing, how many times does the average person perform a reset? It makes it real easy to unroot too.

I have used my tablet tethered to my phone while mobile without lag or issue, & I have used google maps with my tablet while tethered to my phone but I have never tried to use the navigation. The Dell Streak 7 has legendary poor GPS performance, but I will give it a shot this afternoon and let you know.

As far as what tablet to buy, I don't really know. The streak does not have the best screen resolution and the battery is not the best either. I really could not suggest it. I got it because I bought a computer from them and I just added it on as an impulse buy.

The Galexy tab sounds pretty sweet, I wish I had done some research before I bought the Dell. I know that supposedly google maps will cache maps but I don't know how to make it do it and I don't know what happens if you have to change your route.
 
Upvote 0
BTG,

I was not able to get my streak to lock onto a GPS, so I have no idea if google navigation will work. The application is there and it opens but will not get past searching for location. It is a known issue with the streak that the GPS won't lock so I'm not a good test. Maps and Web browsing work just fine and its just a GPS issue on my tablet.
 
Upvote 0
I was going to multi-quote reply but I can't seem to get that to work.

1. I was suggesting that you use bluetooth tethering for a PAN connection instead of ad-hoc wifi. That way you would not have to root your tablet which tends to be a little more complicated. Simply pair the two devices, run wireless tether, set it for bluetooth tethering and then connect them. To root my tablet I had to flash a recovery and then install superuser from an update.zip. Lots of room for error there. And after all that, the hack did not work; I could connect to an ad-hoc network and get an IP address, but it would drop after about 30 seconds. I can use bluetooth for hours.

Okay, that makes sense then. :)

2. The 2.0.8pre1 is the last version to support bluetooth tethering. All later versions only support wifi, as best I can tell. It's experimental because, well, it's experimental. These are not offical supported apps on anyone's phone, any manufacturer or any carrier.

Gotcha. :cool:



I completely understand you wanting to be sure it works before you void your phone's warrenty or spend any money. It has been my experience that a factory reset of my commando running 2.3.3 removes the superuser app, icon, and busybox. I've never seen any other Android device do this - my LG Ally, my son's OG Droid and my streak 7 tablet all keep Su on a reset. I have no idea if you will have the same experience with your phone and I don't know why that happens. SU is supposed to write to the system area and become part of the ROM. This is not really a bad thing, how many times does the average person perform a reset? It makes it real easy to unroot too.

You lost me on that one.
I don't know what Super User or busy box is.
I've actually had to do hard resets a couple of times,
and would like the option left there if at all possible.
Does rooting cause a problem for resetting?
Can the Commando be successfully UNrooted to make it look stock
IF I need to do something with the warranty?
IF ICS ever comes to the Commando,
will I not be able to get it because the phone is rooted?

I have used my tablet tethered to my phone while mobile without lag or issue, & I have used google maps with my tablet while tethered to my phone but I have never tried to use the navigation. The Dell Streak 7 has legendary poor GPS performance, but I will give it a shot this afternoon and let you know.

Good to hear! :D

As far as what tablet to buy, I don't really know. The streak does not have the best screen resolution and the battery is not the best either. I really could not suggest it. I got it because I bought a computer from them and I just added it on as an impulse buy.

The 7 inch Galaxy's battery is garbage too IMO.
Only 7 hours. :(
The larger tablets get 10+.



BTG,

I was not able to get my streak to lock onto a GPS, so I have no idea if google navigation will work. The application is there and it opens but will not get past searching for location. It is a known issue with the streak that the GPS won't lock so I'm not a good test. Maps and Web browsing work just fine and its just a GPS issue on my tablet.

Awe well, thanks for trying it anyways.
Makes me wonder how good the GPS is on the Galaxy,
never really thought about that part.
If that one feature is not up to par, it could really throw a wrench into my plans.

I'm still watching prices on them all.
As of now, no one has ANY of them on sale.
At least none of the better ones.
I think some places are trying to push the generics right now.
So I'll probably be waiting a bit to see if I can snag one up a little
cheaper around Christmas time.
Cyber Monday is just a couple days away,
maybe there might be a discount then as well.
Hell...even saving $50 would make me happy. :rolleyes:
Yeah...I'm kind of a cheap ass when it comes to certain things.
Especially over priced devises like these. :D

Don't think I'll hold out for that 7.7 though.
From what I've found the pre-orders are STARING at $600-$700
At that price you may as well buy the 10.1
To be honest, I'm having a hard time swallowing the $400
tag on the Galaxy 7 plus.

Hey...what the hell are you supposed to do when the F'n battery dies in these things?
Do you have to ship out to the manufacturer to be replaced at a hefty fee,
or are they pretty much done with?
 
Upvote 0
I still don't know how to multi-quote...

When a phone comes from the carrier the ability to write or alter files in the system area is locked. You can install user applications, but you can't make changes to the operating system, or ROM of the phone. The root process uses an exploit to unlock the system area, just like a virus does. When a new phone comes out or a ROM is updated people way smarter than me go to work figuring out an exploit that will override the phone's file security. That's how a root method is developed.

Once the system area is unlocked a program called superuser is installed and a busybox. What superuser does is act like a traffic cop to allow the phone to ignore certain rules set in the phone by the carrier. One of the rules is access to the internet by the wifi & bluetooth radio. Another would be to read, write, and delete system files. The busybox supplies a set of file tools and instructions for the system to be able to do the above. Usually when superuser & busybox is copied onto the phone it becomes a permenant part of the phones ROM. For some reason, with my phone on 2.3.3, if I do a factory wipe, superuser and the busybox is removed as well and I have to re-root the phone. Since rooting the phone voids the warrenty, and it is as much of a hassel to unroot a phone as it is to root it, I don't consider this to be a bad thing, it's just not something I have seen before.

As far as the phone being able to be updated, I cannot be sure. Since past practice tends to predict future proformance, I can offer this:

People who rooted their commando and then used titanium to uninstall the bloatware listed on Rafael's post were not able to take the update from 2.2.1 to 2.3.3. People who rooted their commando and made no changes to the files or only froze offending apps were able to take the update. I would assume (you know what that is an acronym for) that if you root your phone, add the wireless tethering app and make no other changes you should be able to take any future updates. I was one of the people who was not able to take the update. I was able to get my phone replaced under warrenty. Is that dishonest? - probably, but the phone had some other issues as well that had nothing to do with it being rooted.

If you are going to be using the tablet in a vehicle I'm sure there are cigarette lighter power cords available that make battery life a non-issue. I would read up on the GPS performance of the tablets you are looking at. If there is a problem, it will be on the reveiws. I knew about the GPS on the Dell, but it was an impulse buy and I never planned on using GPS based apps on it anyhow.

Prices will drop as we get closer to Christmas. I don't think the shopping season is going as well as hoped for by the stores so I expect prices to drop on a lot of stuff.

As far as not being able to change the battery - My Dell has a 1 year warrenty and if the battery dies before then it will be their problem. With my luck with large peices of glass like this if I haven't broken the screen before the battery wears out it will very unusual for me.

BTW, I was able to get ad-hoc tethering to work, I had some file permission setting issues. The only advantages of using wi-fi over bluetooth is that it will auto-connect and I can use my bluetooth keyboard with the tablet. I do think that from a security standpoint bluetooth is safer because your phone will only support one simultaneous bluetooth connection while wifi can take up to five.
 
Upvote 0
Interesting discussion guys.

I bought one of the 32gb HP Touchpad tablets during the "fire sale" for $150. The hardware is top notch, 32gb internal storage, 1gb memory, 1.2 ghz dual core processor, beautiful 9.7" screen, wifi only. It came with webOS though, which my wife had on her Palm/HP phone and that I grew to hate very quickly. WebOS itself isn't a horrible operating system once you learn all the damn gestures (raise your left hand for chicken, your right hand for beef). I'm just more of a menu kind of guy and like things like Back buttons instead of swiping all over freakin' the place. The stock webOS browser can't put bookmarks in folders, nor can they be rearranged. It won't play wmv's nor will it run the video feed on espn3.com. There is no alternative in the app market. Grrr. The email app is better than the stock Android one, but again no alternative in the app market.

So about three weeks ago I hacked/rooted the tablet with cyanogen's cm7 alpha build that installs a dual boot option to either webOS or Gingerbread 2.3.7. It defaults to Gingerbread. Being an alpha build, it has bugs, but nothing that makes me want to go back to webOS. Now I really like the tablet, and the price was right!

I haven't used the tablet for navigation, so I can't comment there. I use it primarily for web browsing, email, Kindle reading and games. I do have the tablet paired to my Commando, and you're supposed to be able to use it for voice calls, but I haven't tried that or tethering. And whenever I'm going to type a lot (like this post) I pull out the laptop.

I have been more timid in rooting the Commando because unlike the tablet, where I could simply use the phone or my laptop to do what I set out to do, I have no replacement for the phone if I goof it up.

I am seriously looking at rooting the commando though, but only to free up the storage and the memory from the crapware I don't use.

What's holding me back is when I read the instructions I lose the "critical path" with all the discussion of adb's, apk's, sdk's, and wtf's. I'm going to look more closely today to see if I can distill an understanding of root to superuser, make nandroid (backup image?), freeze/backup crapware, remove crapware. Any guidance would be appreciated.

-David
 
Upvote 0
I still don't know how to multi-quote...

When a phone comes from the carrier the ability to write or alter files in the system area is locked. You can install user applications, but you can't make changes to the operating system, or ROM of the phone. The root process uses an exploit to unlock the system area, just like a virus does. When a new phone comes out or a ROM is updated people way smarter than me go to work figuring out an exploit that will override the phone's file security. That's how a root method is developed.

Once the system area is unlocked a program called superuser is installed and a busybox. What superuser does is act like a traffic cop to allow the phone to ignore certain rules set in the phone by the carrier. One of the rules is access to the internet by the wifi & bluetooth radio. Another would be to read, write, and delete system files. The busybox supplies a set of file tools and instructions for the system to be able to do the above. Usually when superuser & busybox is copied onto the phone it becomes a permenant part of the phones ROM. For some reason, with my phone on 2.3.3, if I do a factory wipe, superuser and the busybox is removed as well and I have to re-root the phone. Since rooting the phone voids the warrenty, and it is as much of a hassel to unroot a phone as it is to root it, I don't consider this to be a bad thing, it's just not something I have seen before.

As far as the phone being able to be updated, I cannot be sure. Since past practice tends to predict future proformance, I can offer this:

People who rooted their commando and then used titanium to uninstall the bloatware listed on Rafael's post were not able to take the update from 2.2.1 to 2.3.3. People who rooted their commando and made no changes to the files or only froze offending apps were able to take the update. I would assume (you know what that is an acronym for) that if you root your phone, add the wireless tethering app and make no other changes you should be able to take any future updates. I was one of the people who was not able to take the update. I was able to get my phone replaced under warrenty. Is that dishonest? - probably, but the phone had some other issues as well that had nothing to do with it being rooted.

If you are going to be using the tablet in a vehicle I'm sure there are cigarette lighter power cords available that make battery life a non-issue. I would read up on the GPS performance of the tablets you are looking at. If there is a problem, it will be on the reveiws. I knew about the GPS on the Dell, but it was an impulse buy and I never planned on using GPS based apps on it anyhow.

Prices will drop as we get closer to Christmas. I don't think the shopping season is going as well as hoped for by the stores so I expect prices to drop on a lot of stuff.

As far as not being able to change the battery - My Dell has a 1 year warrenty and if the battery dies before then it will be their problem. With my luck with large peices of glass like this if I haven't broken the screen before the battery wears out it will very unusual for me.

BTW, I was able to get ad-hoc tethering to work, I had some file permission setting issues. The only advantages of using wi-fi over bluetooth is that it will auto-connect and I can use my bluetooth keyboard with the tablet. I do think that from a security standpoint bluetooth is safer because your phone will only support one simultaneous bluetooth connection while wifi can take up to five.

As far as multi-quoting in 1 message:
I'm just copying and pasting original quote and end quote tags where
I want them in the message itself.
Don't feel like doing it right now though, this is a big message. :cool:

Thanks for explaining the superuser thing.
I'm sure it will make more sense to me once I'm into it and can visually see what's going on.
If doing a factory reset is wiping those files, and you're having to re-root,
then that might be the perfect thing for me to get the phone back to stock
if I ever need to do anything with the warranty. :)

Yeah...I already have a couple usb power adapters wired in behind my
dash just for charging gadgets. It's worked out pretty good for me in the past.
I don't get to use them all that often because I don't travel as much as I'd like,
but I'm glad I installed them anyways.

Good to hear you got the ad-hoc working.
It's nice to know your options. :)

The Galaxy's also have a year warranty on the battery.
Maybe I'll contact Samsung and ask them what all you have to go
through after that, just so I know ahead of time.

As of right now, prices remain the same.
Nothing dropped for "Cyber Monday" or anything else.
Maybe Christmas will bring better prices, but I'm really not sure.
I found a prediction somewhere online about the Galaxy 7 plus
holding it's price tag at $400 for quite a while regardless to holidays.
They based it on the fact that nothing new is set to release, but then again,
there is that 7.7 that's supposed to be coming.
Who knows when though....
 
Upvote 0
Interesting discussion guys.

I bought one of the 32gb HP Touchpad tablets during the "fire sale" for $150. The hardware is top notch, 32gb internal storage, 1gb memory, 1.2 ghz dual core processor, beautiful 9.7" screen, wifi only. It came with webOS though, which my wife had on her Palm/HP phone and that I grew to hate very quickly. WebOS itself isn't a horrible operating system once you learn all the damn gestures (raise your left hand for chicken, your right hand for beef). I'm just more of a menu kind of guy and like things like Back buttons instead of swiping all over freakin' the place. The stock webOS browser can't put bookmarks in folders, nor can they be rearranged. It won't play wmv's nor will it run the video feed on espn3.com. There is no alternative in the app market. Grrr. The email app is better than the stock Android one, but again no alternative in the app market.

So about three weeks ago I hacked/rooted the tablet with cyanogen's cm7 alpha build that installs a dual boot option to either webOS or Gingerbread 2.3.7. It defaults to Gingerbread. Being an alpha build, it has bugs, but nothing that makes me want to go back to webOS. Now I really like the tablet, and the price was right!

I haven't used the tablet for navigation, so I can't comment there. I use it primarily for web browsing, email, Kindle reading and games. I do have the tablet paired to my Commando, and you're supposed to be able to use it for voice calls, but I haven't tried that or tethering. And whenever I'm going to type a lot (like this post) I pull out the laptop.

I have been more timid in rooting the Commando because unlike the tablet, where I could simply use the phone or my laptop to do what I set out to do, I have no replacement for the phone if I goof it up.

I am seriously looking at rooting the commando though, but only to free up the storage and the memory from the crapware I don't use.

What's holding me back is when I read the instructions I lose the "critical path" with all the discussion of adb's, apk's, sdk's, and wtf's. I'm going to look more closely today to see if I can distill an understanding of root to superuser, make nandroid (backup image?), freeze/backup crapware, remove crapware. Any guidance would be appreciated.

-David

That's one HELL of a F'N DEAL you got on your tablet David!
I doubt I'll get THAT lucky even with constantly watching things,
but that's pretty awesome man.:cool:

If you decied to root your Commando, let me know how it goes of course.
Sounds like you really don't need to though.
At least not for using it with your tablet that is. ;)
 
Upvote 0
Any of you guys know if Launcher Pro or Go Launcher can be used with tablets?
What about Go Keyboard or BK8?

My tablet is a cyanogenmod alpha build (cm7) of Gingerbread 2.3.7 on an HP Touchpad. The original webOS is still there as a bootable option, but I rarely use it. The mod came with ADW Launcher. I have not tried another launcher. I can try the GO one on it and see what happens if you like. I have the GO launcher on my Commando and like it, but for the tablet I liked the ADW one too, so there was no motivation to change.

I have tried other keyboards. Sadly the webOS one that came with the original tablet is the best of the bunch, but can't be used in android. I have tried the GO keyboard, Perfect keyboard and the Hacker keyboard on the tablet. All of them scale to screen size and do both portrait and landscape orientation. The GO keyboard works well, but right now I'm using the Perfect keyboard. The keys on the Hacker keyboard are more complete but too small.

Mainly I was looking for one that had a row of numbers at the top like the webOS keyboard does. On the bigger screen of a tablet 5 rows of keys is a no-brainer.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I have seen HP Touchpads on amazon for $280-$300.

David
 
Upvote 0
Yeah...if you wouldn't mind testing Go & Launcher Pro,
that would be really cool to know if they worked ahead of time.

I use Go Keyboard on my Commando, so hearing that works on a tab is nice.
Have you tried that Thumb Keyboards for tablets yet?
I can't remember where I saw it, but all the letters are positioned
on the left and right sides of the screen, and the number and special
characters are in the middle.
Seems like it would be very weird at first, but in time who knows.
 
Upvote 0
BTG, Sorry for the delay. Work has been kicking my *&^ this week. I installed both the GO Launcher and Launcher Pro on my tablet. The GO Launcher behaves just like it does on the Commando. I haven't used Launcher Pro before, but it's got a couple of extra steps. It says that if you can't open it after installation, to download "homeswitcher" or some other similar app. So I did homeswitcher and each time I tried to set Launcher Pro as the default, I got an FC. The key is to switch to Launcher Pro first then set it as the default. Okay fine.

I didn't really play with it much, but it supports landscape as well as portrait and seemed to open things the way it's supposed to. I really only played with it for about 10 mins. At first I thought I might use it instead of GO on my Commando, but then I couldn't figure out how to customize the icons on the dock bar, because I really don't like the standard ones. It kept bringing me to Gallery to change icon. So I just uninstalled it and went on.

I haven't tried the thumbs keyboards, though I've seen them. Seems to me they'd be like those funky curved Microsoft "ergonomic" keyboards for desktops. I don't like those so I figured I wouldn't like the thumbs ones either.

Bottom line, it seems they both work. Hope this helps in your hunt.

I did root my Commando last Sunday and froze the vzw junk. On advice from another thread this weekend I'm going to figure out how to do this recovery thing so I can make a nandroid. I guess there's a reason why it's not simply called an image backup. Anyway, once that's done I'll start uninstalling the garbage.

David
 
Upvote 0
BTG, Sorry for the delay. Work has been kicking my *&^ this week. I installed both the GO Launcher and Launcher Pro on my tablet. The GO Launcher behaves just like it does on the Commando. I haven't used Launcher Pro before, but it's got a couple of extra steps. It says that if you can't open it after installation, to download "homeswitcher" or some other similar app. So I did homeswitcher and each time I tried to set Launcher Pro as the default, I got an FC. The key is to switch to Launcher Pro first then set it as the default. Okay fine.

I didn't really play with it much, but it supports landscape as well as portrait and seemed to open things the way it's supposed to. I really only played with it for about 10 mins. At first I thought I might use it instead of GO on my Commando, but then I couldn't figure out how to customize the icons on the dock bar, because I really don't like the standard ones. It kept bringing me to Gallery to change icon. So I just uninstalled it and went on.

I haven't tried the thumbs keyboards, though I've seen them. Seems to me they'd be like those funky curved Microsoft "ergonomic" keyboards for desktops. I don't like those so I figured I wouldn't like the thumbs ones either.

Bottom line, it seems they both work. Hope this helps in your hunt.

I did root my Commando last Sunday and froze the vzw junk. On advice from another thread this weekend I'm going to figure out how to do this recovery thing so I can make a nandroid. I guess there's a reason why it's not simply called an image backup. Anyway, once that's done I'll start uninstalling the garbage.

David

If the recovery thing works for you let us know. I've been trying to figure out how to do it
 
Upvote 0
BTG, Sorry for the delay. Work has been kicking my *&^ this week. I installed both the GO Launcher and Launcher Pro on my tablet. The GO Launcher behaves just like it does on the Commando. I haven't used Launcher Pro before, but it's got a couple of extra steps. It says that if you can't open it after installation, to download "homeswitcher" or some other similar app. So I did homeswitcher and each time I tried to set Launcher Pro as the default, I got an FC. The key is to switch to Launcher Pro first then set it as the default. Okay fine.

I didn't really play with it much, but it supports landscape as well as portrait and seemed to open things the way it's supposed to. I really only played with it for about 10 mins. At first I thought I might use it instead of GO on my Commando, but then I couldn't figure out how to customize the icons on the dock bar, because I really don't like the standard ones. It kept bringing me to Gallery to change icon. So I just uninstalled it and went on.

I haven't tried the thumbs keyboards, though I've seen them. Seems to me they'd be like those funky curved Microsoft "ergonomic" keyboards for desktops. I don't like those so I figured I wouldn't like the thumbs ones either.

Bottom line, it seems they both work. Hope this helps in your hunt.

I did root my Commando last Sunday and froze the vzw junk. On advice from another thread this weekend I'm going to figure out how to do this recovery thing so I can make a nandroid. I guess there's a reason why it's not simply called an image backup. Anyway, once that's done I'll start uninstalling the garbage.

David

Thanks for checking those out on your tablet for me David.
I'm glad they work because I don't really like the stock launcher that
comes with the Galaxy Tab. It isn't bad or anything, I just prefer
Go & Launcher Pro.

The reason that it kept kicking you over to the Gallery is
so you could pick custom icons from image files.
Obviously you didn't have any in there.
If you'd like some custom icon for it, just let me know.
They are pretty simple to make.
I made some for Rafael a while back, you might even be able to use
those if you find the thread, but I'm not sure.
They may not have a high enough res as I made them for a phone screen,
not a large tablet screen.
I could make you some that are larger and will look good on that
big screen if you want though.

It's now seems like I should be able to use that tablet
the way that I was wanting to.
Just got to wait for the price to drop now.
I can't bring myself to pay $400 for a 7" tablet.
The Moto Xoom is right around the same price and it's a 10".
It's not as highly rated though, and the I've read that the screen isn't as good.
However...if the prices don't drop, I would probably be more inclined
to pay $400 for a 10" before I would for a 7". :cool:

It's actually kinda funny that I'm even considering it really.
I have a Logitech Revue that I'm using right now to type this,
connected to a 60" LED LCD.
Biggest display in my house.
Why would I want a little 7"er at all?
Very simple....I won't have to listen to the GF complain about it. ;)
Silence is priceless! :D

Speaking of which:
Any of you guys use the Logitecg Revue?
I'm getting so damn sick of waiting for the Honeycomb update for this thing!
ICS will probably be stock on tablets before the Revue even gets Honeycomb.
:rolleyes:
 
Upvote 0
I read that the new Moto Xoom 2 10" and 8" tablets
might be released on the 8th.
I'm not sure if they will have a wifi only version available or not,
but if so, they might be worth looking into.
They have the same processor as the latest Galaxy's,
but the 8" screen resolution is supposed to be 1200x800
like a 10" tablet would be, as well as brighter, better viewing angles,
Gorilla Glass, and some sort of spill proofing.
Still....thats not going to beat the upcoming Galaxy 7.7 Super AMOLED
screen, but they might have a better price point.
Still probably too much for me to put forth with peace of mind,
but looks nice. :)

If anything else,
maybe if will force the price down on the Galaxy 7.0 Plus
enough to make me happy. ;)
 
Upvote 0
UPDATE:

The two new Moto Tablets were released,
but have apparently been renamed.
They are being called the Motorola XYZBOARD.

I was hoping that they would have a wifi only version of this tablet,
but so far it looks like only the Verizon version is available.
Maybe they'll release one after they see how it goes.
None the less, the cost is alot more than I would spend on a 8" Tablet.
$600:eek: (without contract)
The on contract price of $429 is somewhat better,
but tack on the $720 extra that you'll be forced to spend with
Verizon over the next 2 years.......nope. :cool:
 
Upvote 0
Okay...I think I'm finally ready to buy.
There was a lull there for a while because I had to put my dog down around Christmas time, that was a horrible experience for sure. :(
Then, I bought a new puppy. :eek: What a handful!
I guess I forgot how much of little terrors they can be. :cool:

Anyways....
It doesnt look like Moto is going to release a XYBOARD wifi only version for a while,
and I refuse to give Verizon another penny.
That said, I'm either going to get a Galaxy 7 Plus Tablet,
or a Moto Xoom.
Both are on their way out as far as technology goes,
but seem to be the best bang for MY buck with still being pretty speedy.

I have one last question to anyone who knows:
Are there any apps available that will allow a wifi only tablet
to send and receive sms/mms?

Calls would be nice too, but I'm more concerned with messaging.
I don't know if you'd have to root the Commando and find apps that would do that,
or if there are any available without rooting.
OR if it can even be done at all....

Any help would be great because I'm going to look at the tablets tomorrow.
Thanks. :)
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones