Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

[Stan Rubin]

Hello folks,
I've had many years of basic experience with my laptop, using Win7 64 bit, but still consider myself about one step above a newbi. I use my PC for email and surfing and try to keep up with Win stuff through forums, newsletters, etc.
So, OK, my wife gave me a tablet a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 ED, model #SM-P600. It runs (I guess)on Android 4.4.2 Kernal version 3.4.39-1462259, dpi@SWDD5703 #1, build #KOT49H.P600UEUCNK2, SE for Android status Enforcing SEPF_SM600_4.4.2_0032 ( I include all this stuff from Device Information off the general settings page) I also do this to reinforce the fact that I am totally lost with this devise.
The list of questions I have is endless, because as said before, I'm lost. I took this tablet with me to Europe this summer to use instead of the laptop, trying to "learn by using", as I had with my PC. I've only sunk further into ignorance and frustration. I was able to check email at cafes and other WiFi spots and to do some basic surfing for travel destinations etc. I've downloaded the following apps to (I hope) protect myself and to defeat ads. I really have no idea if they are working, when scanning I'm informed that all is fine. I also uninstalled apps that I thought that I would never use. Installed...Kaspersky Internet Security, Adblock Plus Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, CC Cleaner, Ad Guard, and Ad Control (Ghostery). I don't think they are working as I have ads that black the screen and go away only when I click close, but still return again and again (again configuring these apps may be the trouble) . The ads seem to be mostly, Google ads for their store and games etc. When I go to ABP Kaspresky to try to configure it, I'm told to configure my proxy manually and following the directions, nothing happens. (Wifi connections, long hold on network, check modify network configuration, click or enter and noting happens, over and over, very frustrating.) If something is downloaded, I finally found them in a pull down menu, click on it, again, nothing happens or I'm told "Can't open" and download disappears, never to be found again. In fact the only things that are opened are the apps when they are installed. I won't go into the difficulty of typing, just crazy, but I'm sure over time, I will become better, but there is still a world of difference between normal PC typing, correcting etc and doing it on this device. I tried downloading an instruction manual from Samsung and it wouldn't open. I go on the web and ask questions or search and I don't even know some of the terms of what I have, (Jellybean, Kit Kat, other stuff) I not even sure which browser, I use. Although occasionally, it looks like chrome and sometimes others that may have come with Samsung stuff. I'm pulling my hair out, I hate to give up on the devise as, of course, it's easier to carry, when my laptop would be inconvenient. Help, where can I go, if I can't even download manuals. In frustration, I'm blasting this out like spam, to see if anyone can help. Gizmo, just listed a bunch of tech/help forums, so here I am, "casting bread on the water". I would really appreciate any help, guidance, places to go, anything so I don't feel so totally helpless and out of it. Thank you for even reading this plea.....
Stan R.

 

[bazz2004]

I did manage to finish the first paragraph.
"The list of questions I have is endless." Pick the main one.

 

[Stan Rubin]

Thanks Bazz, That the trouble, maybe to boil it down a manual/tutorial to get started. Like I'm a "dummie" and have to walk through it with help. Sorry, I imagine you want a problem to solve and it's probably the nut behind the wheel...............Thanks again..

 

[bazz2004]

I have managed to read the rest of your post. As you have used a laptop for years without becoming totally confused you're much better than you think. There are regular posts on here from people who only need to look at a device for it to go wrong.

Like you I have stuck with Windows computers but have recently treated myself to an iPad. My progress has not been rapid although I admit the device is easy to use. My big discovery is that Apple want customers to buy lots of stuff in the Apple Store which doesn't appeal and also use iTunes which I've avoided on PC. I know what I need to do next is enter the world of online storage and start using something like DropBox - but I keep putting it off.

Taking the Note on holiday was not a great idea. I'm using the IPad most days to check emails and surf the web. Maybe that's as much as you should do for a while but read up about what you can do with your tablet. Customer reviews on Amazon may be helpful. Thanks to your post I intend to have a go with DropBox sooner rather than later. Tablets are a whole new world for lots of us but we'll get there in the end.

 

[Rabbit01]

... The ads seem to be mostly, Google ads for their store and games etc. When I go to ABP Kaspresky to try to configure it, I'm told to configure my proxy manually and following the directions, nothing happens. (Wifi connections, long hold on network, check modify network configuration, click or enter and noting happens, over and over, very frustrating.) If something is downloaded, I finally found them in a pull down menu, click on it, again, nothing happens or I'm told "Can't open" and download disappears, never to be found again. In fact the only things that are opened are the apps when they are installed...
Stan R.

When you say download, you mean download apps from the Google Play or download programs like you would for Windows? The latter wouldn't work, you can't run exe for Windows on the Android system.

As for ad blocking, see if using Firefox + adblock plus works. Works like it would on Windows.

As far as using your device, I did a search on YouTubes and got these. I haven't checked them out myself but hopefully some will be helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=galaxy+note+10.1+tips+and+tricks

 

[Stan Rubin]

Bazz we sound like kindred spirits. I will probably never use this device for other then checking email and basic surfing. My fingers just can't get used to typing on this tablet and a short email takes a lot of minutes and a lot of stuff I'm used too, doesn't seem to exist on this tablet or I haven't found it yet. I also do not use apple stuff or store or google store unless I must. But I will keep at it, a lot of folks are "feeling my pain" and trying to help. One of them will no doubt tell me a way to get a help file that I can keep on the tablet, who knows, again thanks for your help.....Stan

Rabbit01,
Thank you too, the only stuff I downloaded were the security and adblock apps. Other than those, which worked (I think) were the "help files" from Samsung which downloaded but I could not open. The links you sent were great but were explaining things that I'll never use and I noticed that the (return to desktop and back buttons etc, were on the screen) mine are real buttons on the bottom of the device, separate from the screen, which leads me to think that they are a later model of the Galaxy Note 10.1 that I have. God knows what other differences exist. With help I've worked out that my device is the KitKat. I will be trying out FF for android as I'm familiar with FF and I was told that the FF plug ins would probably work. Thanks again for your interest and help and the links. I'll spend more time with them and I'm sure there are nuggets I'll find there, that will help, even me........Stan

 

[Rabbit01]

Updated the search parameters for youtube. You can add additional search terms to narrow down the topic.

Typing on tablet or touch-screen device will take some getting used to. I turn key-tap feedback to max. For long emails, I've used the voice to text function, not 100% accurate but does save a bit of hassle. And I wasn't in a public place w/ noisy background.

What help files did you download? If PDF, the Polaris Office app should open it.

 

[Stan Rubin]

Rabbit01, I'll have to check if I have the Polaris Office app, I guess if it was there it would have opened. Typing on this thing will always be a problem, big fingers and too much that appears different. I'll keep at it, thanks again....

 

[bazz2004]

As I said I would do I've tackled the first matter of setting up a Dropbox account on my tablet (iPad) and Windows 7 PC. This seems to be a good move because you can put videos on a tablet and view them anywhere. I uploaded PDF and JPEG files and it worked well. Hail the marvels of cloud storage. However, I'm stumped with my very first upload of a 500Mb mp4 file. The upload progress is about zero even overnight. Estimated times given fluctuate between an hour and 14 hours. If your Galaxy Note 10.1 has a facility to plug in external storage directly I'd say it's a big plus.

It looks like I may be needing help myself too with this new technology.

 

[Stan Rubin]

bazz2004
Sounds like you're much more ambitious then I am. I don't do much with videos or music, just boring stuff when I travel and at home I use my trusty PC laptop. The wife does pictures and audio stuff. I'll check into how to deal with PDFs when I get my manual, as I get them sometimes. When you need help, I hope you're lucky enough to get the quality responses I got to my "plea", take care and good luck....Stan

 

[Rabbit01]

Is this the manual? Says Polaris Office 5 is on it. Otherwise, there are plenty of options. Amazon Kindle and Adobe Reader are just 2 of the many. I bought ezPDF Reader when Google Play had it on sale. It does annotation.

 

[Stan Rubin]

Hi Rabbit01, Many thanks, it sure looks like it, although I don't see a "this manual is for" the pictures sure look like it. I've got it now and it will reside on my PC. I may try to email it to myself and save it on the table, so it on there in case I have a question and the PC is in another location. It seems that Polaris Office is on the tablet, I wonder why it didn't open the PDF when I downloaded a manual before(?) I have a small app called Sumatra the opens PDFs on the PC, I'll see if it's available for Android. I thank you, you saved the looking on the web for a suitable manual, take care......S

 

[Rabbit01]

Got the manual from this page.

That's weird. Not sure why the app didn't open. I have in the past accidentally touched the wrong part of the screen when it prompted for file name and saved files w/o file extension. So, the files were save but unrecognizable by any apps. Maybe something similar happened to you?

 

[Stan Rubin]

Rabbit, I don't know and will keep at it, thanks.....S

 

[bazz2004]

I'm in need of a break from battling with the iPad but see that you are making progress with your Galaxy tablet. The onscreen keyboard is pretty good on the iPad. A big change from Windows is the lack of control we have setting up effective transfers between the two systems. It's got to be the same with all these tablets and I understand now what Microsoft are attempting with the Surface. Unfortunately they are moving at Cloud speed. (That's a joke)

 

[Wizwill]

Stan:

I am dictating this on my Core (2) powered Win7 64 bit desktop with Nuance speech recognition software. I've been using both Windows and Mac computers and speech recognition software for long time. I'm also usually an earlier-adopter (cutting edge not bleeding edge!) where technology is concerned. I recently became an enthusiastic Android user. In addition to 4 Win desktops, I have a Win7 64 laptop, an Ubuntu laptop, 4 android tablets, 1 Android smart phone, 1 iPhone (for my wife) and an NAS on the network. I should probably also mention I'm something of an information junkie. I like to know as much as I can about the technology and tools I work with.

As we all know, information technology forges ahead at a rapid pace. Sites such as TechSpot provide valuable information about technical issues. There are probably many many others which are equally valuable; I have a dozen or so that I consult on a daily basis.

If you truly wish to understand how your technology architecture works, I don't believe you could do so without information-gathering on the Internet regularly. I would also offer the caveat that you must make a differentiation between sites which actually offer information that can be useful and those which are shills for the products and services they're touting.

When I first entered the computer industry (a long time ago), the necessity to 'vet' the vast amount of new information I was being exposed to required creation of a credible framework for cataloging any new information with information I had already verified. There was a lot of BS in the early days!

I would also offer the suggestion that using Chrome with its voice-search option, you might decide to make it your regular browser rather than Firefox. The fact that Chrome and Android are both Google products means that their interaction is rather seamless. I would also suggest that your tablet be updated to Android 5.0 (Lollipop). I'm not sure if there is an OTA (over the air) update. If not, you'll have to find a techie friend who is able to do this for you. The actual Lollipop/5.0 operating system is available for most devices at this point on various Android sites.

If you I do decide to upgrade your physical tablet, I'll make the suggestion that Nexus-brand devices are not loaded with as much crap/bloat ware and are updated over the air rather quickly when changes are made to the Android operating system

Stick with it; if it were easy, everybody be doing it!
(edited to include extra content and correct typo)

 

[bazz2004]

Wizzwill, I am impressed with your resumée and feel certain that your appointment as an unpaid Techspot advisor for mobile devices will be succesful. What no iPad?

 

[Stan Rubin]

Wizzwil, I agree with bazz2004, you seems to have the experience and the will to keep up with new tech. I don't think I will ever attain anything near the level that you are at. That said I will keep at it and will seek out the sites that are not shills for any given product. Again the ball is in my court and I have to do it to keep up, or try to be on the same planet, at least.Thanks for your suggestions as per Browsers, OS, and hardware. Many many thanks..S