No Screen Mirroring function on Galaxy Tab A8? (2019)

[midsomerjambo]

I have no Screen View function on my recently purchased Galaxy Tab A8 (2019), either in Quick Settings or the main Settings page. Does anyone know of a 3rd-party app I can load that will provide WiFi screen mirroring capability? I've tried a few but none worked. If it's just that the Galaxy Tab A8 (2019) simply doesn't support screen mirroring, does anyone know why? I'd have thought screen mirroring was simply a software feature that requires WiFi capability (which obviously the tablet has) but I suppose it could be a hardware component that Samsung have left out to cut costs. Anyway, it'd be good to know one way or the other.

Cheers, MSJ

 

[SpookDroid]

Unfortunately screen mirroring isn't entirely just something that you can include with an app (not 'native' mirroring, at least). Does your tablet come with a Smart View option in the settings? That's the one that has the mirroring options with compatible TVs/Displays. You can also try the Google Home app and try 'casting' your screen from there, but you need a Chromecast on your TV for this to work.

 

[midsomerjambo]

That's just the thing - although it's a relatively new Samsung tablet (SM-T290), it doesn't appear to come pre-installed with a Smart View app and it's missing from the Quick Connect panel. My wife has a Samsung S2 tablet (SM-T713) which is a bit older but was not a lot more expensive and does indeed have Smart View in Quick Connect. This casts perfectly well to my Sony BDV-5200 sound system which has a LG TV attached (the TV is not smart but the sound system provides the smart functionality in our setup). For that reason I'm kind of reluctant to invest in a Chromecast which for all I know, might not even work. I tried installing the Smart View app from the Play Store but this seems only to be interested in Samsung smart TVs, which I confirmed with my wife's tablet, so I guess the Smart View function in Quick Connect and the stand-alone Smart View app are not quite the same thing. Do you know of any tweak I might be able to do to the OS to get the Smart View icon to appear in the Quick Connect panel?

 

[L0n3N1nja]

It's possible it's not in the quick toggles by default, you may need to edit the button layout to find it.

If your tablet is really missing the functionality that would be strange, every Samsung device I've touched since 2012 has the ability although they've changed the name a few times.

 

[SpookDroid]

Also, there is no Smart View app for mirroring (the app, indeed, is for Samsung ecosystem devices and not sure it will be supported for long as it has now been bundled into the also built in SmartThings. It's built into the Settings, but like the above post mentions, it might not be enabled on the Quick Toggles by default.

 

[mustang7757]

It's possible it's not in the quick toggles by default, you may need to edit the button layout to find it.

If your tablet is really missing the functionality that would be strange, every Samsung device I've touched since 2012 has the ability although they've changed the name a few times.

I agree

 

[midsomerjambo]

The tablet has all of the available buttons included in Quick Connect. If I go to Button Layout in Quick Connect, there are NO additional buttons available to slot into Quick Connect. I appreciate that it's not the most expensive tablet in the range (£149 in the UK, approx. $190) and in every other respect, I'm really happy with it. But it seems an odd bit of functionality to leave out on the grounds of reducing production cost, if indeed that's why they've done it. The other oddity is that although the tablet has been around since early last year, there's very little, if any, mention of this functionality shortfall on the internet. So maybe it's just not that important to most people that have bought one :-X

 

[SpookDroid]

Mirroring comes with the inherent lag of the network and the processor strain on a budget tablet might make the experience excruciatingly bad, so it MIGHT have been a conscious feature removal on Samsung's part...

Give it a try with a Chromecast maybe? Maybe a BBuy will let you test on a demo unit.

 

[midsomerjambo]

Thanks for your help everyone

 

[Jay Tablet]

Thanks for your help everyone

I have this same tablet and a 2020 Samsung 75" and I have the same problem. My older Samsung tablet from 2015 works but the speed lags cause of the inferior wireless card in it. Apple devices work with mirroring but not the same brand Samsung! This is very disappointing and honestly pathetic. I have tried downloading countless apps but none work!