Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Samsung updates Galaxy Tab 10.1 with TouchWiz UI

Jeffrey Van Camp
By
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10-1 screen and side
Image used with permission by copyright holder

When Samsung showed off the Galaxy Tab back in March, the tablet was running a new version of Samsung’s TouchWiz User Experience interface, which had a number of custom widgets and an iPhone-like tray of icons along the bottom. By the time the tablet shipped, these changes were absent, likely because Samsung wanted to roll out Android 3.1 and 3.2 in a timely fashion. Well, now that Google has relented a bit on its Android tablet releases, it looks like TouchWiz is making a return. Yesterday, Samsung announced that beginning Friday, Aug. 5, all Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners will get an update that will include a number of changes to the look of their tablet. 

Here’s what the TouchWiz update will add:

  • Live Panel: A custom magazine-like widget that lets you view weather, social network posts, email, news, photos, etc on the homescreen. This widget can be customized to display whatever you want, but it does take up nearly all of your homescreen (luckily, you have more than one).
  • Mini Mode Tray: Like the iPhone or iPad, this tray puts common applications on the bottom of the screen, regardless of what homescreen you’re on. 
  • Clipboard: Samsung has enhanced the copy and paste functionality of Android. This will be nice, as we still haven’t figured out how to accurately and reliably copy and paste text, let alone web pages, links, and photos. 
  • Indicator Quick Panel: This is a fast and easy way to quickly turn on/off Wi-Fi, notifications, sound, brightness, and settings. Honestly, it sounds almost exactly like the default quick panel menu, which already has these features, but we assume something has changed. 
  • Photo Editor: A much-needed app that lets users rotate, crop, and adjust colors. Hopefull it will allow resizing based on pixels and other somewhat advanced options.
  • More apps: Samsung’s Media Hub store will be included, as will the Social Hub, Zynga Words with Friends, Swype, Samsung Kies 2.0, Amazon Kindle, and Amazon’s Cloud Player. We’re a bit bothered that Samsung is adding apps to its user’s machines without asking, as these apps will probably not be removable, but at least the Amazon apps are useful. 
  • Mobile printing: This enables wireless printing, if you’re printer is new enough to take advantage. 
  • Business support: 
    • Full support for Exchange ActiveSync version 14
    • On device encryption
    • Cisco VPN (Virtual Private Network)
    • Sybase MDM (Mobile Device Management)
    • Cisco WebEx mobile conference solution for meetings on the go
Recommended Videos

Even with these changes, this update pales in comparison to the Sony S1 and S2 tablets, which we learned may contain many more changes to the Android UI. Sony may heavily modify everything from icon colors to the keyboard itself. 

Related

Is this inevitable? Does Android Honeycomb need to be as fragmented an experience as Android phones have become? It’s a bit disheartening to think that Google’s actual Honeycomb interface may soon be buried beneath layers of virtual makeup and prosthetics added by each of its manufacturers. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jeffrey Van Camp
Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
Learn 14 languages: Get $449 off a lifetime subscription to Babbel
A person using the Babbel app on their smartphone.

Learning a new language no longer requires you to make time for formal classes because there are now several language learning apps that you can tap. One of them is Babbel, and you can currently get a lifetime subscription to the online learning platform for only $150 from StackSocial. That's $449 off its original price of $599, but we don't know how much time is remaining before the offer expires. If you want to take advantage of the 74% discount, it's highly recommended that you complete the transaction immediately.

Why you should buy the Babbel lifetime subscription
A lifetime subscription to Babbel not only unlocks the possibility of learning one or two new languages, as the platform encompasses a total of 14 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesia, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian. You'll be learning your new language of choice with lessons that only take 10 minutes to 15 minutes each to complete, so unlike classes with a rigid schedule, you can learn at your own pace and at any time you're free through Babbel. The lessons cover real-life topics, and they use speech recognition technology to help you master pronunciation. You'll then test yourself through personalized review sessions that will help make sure that you retain all the information that's being taught to you.

Read more
This one Apple Fitness feature completely changed how I exercise
Someone holding an iPhone with the Apple Fitness app open, showing the Custom Plans feature.

I have a confession to make: I'm not good at sticking to a workout routine. I love running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training, etc. In the moment of those exercises and in the post-workout euphoria, I feel amazing. But when it comes to waking up early in the morning to do these things before work? Well, that's where I really struggle.

This has been a problem for a while now. I go to bed with the goal of waking up early and going to the gym, but as I groggily open my eyes to snooze the alarm on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I end up falling back asleep. And I've been repeating this over and over and over again.

Read more
You can pick up the Google Pixel 7 Pro for only $500 today
The Pixel 7 Pro with its display turned on, showing the home screen.

 

If you've been holding out on buying a new phone for a while because prices are still expensive, then you may want to consider going for one of the older flagship phones. For example, while the Pixel 8 Pro is out, the Pixel 7 Pro is still a powerful and viable alternative, and even better, it has quite a few great deals on it. In fact, you can buy a brand new and sealed Pixel 7 Pro from Woot for just $500, rather than the usual $1,100, and that's for the 512GB version of the phone, so you get a lot of storage with it as well.

Read more