s11 galaxy tab

monsieurms

Well-known member
Sep 30, 2011
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So, I have had a couple weeks now to play with this and have a couple of impressions.

Big pro: since it comes with a native Android 16/U.I. 8, I lovvvve the multi-window feature on a tablet. Even though they had upgraded my old 7+ to a certain point, it didn't perform like this. Everything seems to start in a moderate size window. It makes it easy to see what you're doing, change places, etc. When I first set the tablet up, that was a major pain in the butt. I wasn't used to it. I didn't really appreciate what was happening. It seemed annoying. But now that I'm used to it and know how to handle it, it's awesome. It makes everything work so well, for programs that support it.

Of course, everything is fast, snappy. got the 512gb model

Biggest CON: hmmmm. I'm not sure if this is specific to my tablet or the s11 in general, but I have to say I'm having lots of issues with the fingerprint reader. It rarely works to unlock the tablet. It worked well enough for me to register fingerprints! It works when entering id for various programs, mostly. But unlocking seems to be an issue. I did add a tempered glass screen protector. And I did increase touch sensitivity in settings. And this is where we are. Don't know what to do.

Half kidding, but I wonder if the weather has anything to do with it. It's dry. I'm having more issues than normal on most devices. But the others work. This one, on unlock, mostly doesn't.

Here's Samsung's fingerprint advice:
  • Re-register fingerprints with the screen protector on. Register the same finger multiple times at slightly different angles.
  • Use Samsung-certified screen protectors (third-party ones often reduce accuracy).
  • Clean the sensor area — smudges or dust can cause misreads.

----I've done #1 multiple times, doesn't help. I guess I can throw away my screen protector (Sparin https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FM8277SM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1) and buy from Samsung. (Yikes) I'll try cleaning, but...it seems pretty clean.


Other than that, love this.
 
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Because they refuse to put an ultrasonic one in one of their most expensive Android devices. My two Ultra phones unlock 95% of the time. Tablet (S8 Ultra 🤷‍♂️) I frequently get locked out of apps because of issues you described.

Also why I'm not upgrading. Samsung has gone full Apple and isn't innovating. Just regurgitating last year products with tweaks.

Nevertheless, hope you enjoy it otherwise. The scree size even with my king kong hands is barely passable holding but for movies and occasional game it's phenomenal. Thinnes scares me a bit so I have rigid case.
 
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I will say I was continuing to search around, and my half jesting comment about the weather this time of year making everything very dry, including my skin, was not really wrong.

I was actually seeing something, I think was on the Samsung site, suggesting that you might want to make your thumb a little wet-- not very wet, but a little wet. I've tried that a couple times and it seemed better. Will continue to experiment.
 
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I will say I was continuing to search around, and my half jesting comment about the weather this time of year making everything very dry, including my skin, was not really wrong.

I was actually seeing something, I think was on the Samsung site, suggesting that you might want to make your thumb a little wet-- not very wet, but a little wet. I've tried that a couple times and it seemed better. Will continue to experiment.
That does help for sure. When I was fingerprinted for my job they couldn't read my one hands fingers (dry).

For the tablet though specifically, once the oleophobic coating is gone you need to constantly wipe down the fingerprint area for it to read. They should have the ultrasonic on it by now or for something this large go back to the simple power button fingerprint reader. Unlocking on such a large tablet is very unnatural there it's placed.

That's a bandaid to me for a problem. Once you're locked out of say an apps Biometrics, SOMETIMES you can go to settings to program fingerprints and it resets itself just by going there.
 
Honestly, fingerprints don't work well. Nothing helps much.

Thought I'd try Face recognition. That doesn't work well either, tho better than fingerprints.

Thought I'd try to pair it with a trusted device--my s23--to extend unlock. It wouldn't accept that either, although it did pair. But then went to add it as a trusted device--it's paired!--and it wouldn't let me. It said to keep s23 close enough for bluetooth and at the moment couldn't connect. It was like 6 inches away!

Geez. It's pretty much passwords or zip. The time I waste trying to get other things to work--may as well use the password.
 
So, I ripped the screensaver off. I still had some difficulties registering a new set of fingerprints, which I thought was a good idea .

The first few times I tried the fingerprint reader without the screen protector and with new fingerprints, however, it still didn't work very well. Then I discovered that you can't just lay the thumb flat as I tend to do with my phone and my old 7 plus ultra. You have to kind of bend it and push it forward to get the tip. That is kind of weird. But it seems to work. That's three for three. I will keep trying it and see what happens. I guess I can return the sparin, or the tablet. We'll see which comes first
 
And finally.....

So, I contacted Sparin. They said they did not mass produce until they could get to 0.3mm thinness and they thought they had good fingerprint sensitivity. I advised they didn't. :unsure:Ripping off the screen protector helped a lot! With it on, nothing helped much.


They were very nice, and refunded. But I suspect a lot of manufacturers are gonna have to go back to the drawing board with this product.
 

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