Sprint’s model of the original, 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab released last year is lastly being upgraded to Android 2.3 Gingerbread starting today. That’s what we should were expecting obviously, ever since we first discovered this last week.
Even though it is undoubtedly disappointing for Galaxy Tab proprietors to not get their devices updated to Android Honeycomb, the tablet-optimized version of Google’s mobile os, an update is an update believe it or not. It might not be tablet-optimized, but Gingerbread is anything but outdated, so at least there’s what’s promising for Galaxy Tab owners.
As for Honeycomb, don’t count on that ever happening, at least officially. And even if it does eventually happen, it won’t for some time. After all, there are still no Honeycomb-running 7″ tablets on the market even today, which may have something to do with optimizing Honeycomb for lower resolutions (the 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch tablets usually have 1280×800 resolution, and it seems that Honeycomb was just optimized for that; smaller tablets usually go with 1024×600 or 1024×768).
So for now, take what you can. Sprint’s update will reach your Galaxy Tab over the air, so no fiddling with computers to get the tablet updated. Aside from all the neat stuff Gingerbread comes with, the update will also bring Bluetooth HID support to your tablet, conceivably allowing mice and keyboards to be connected via Bluetooth to it.
The upgrade is going out in stages, and it will be about 4 days until it reaches all the Galaxy Tabs currently on Sprint. So be patient, even if you don’t get the update today, it’s on its way. The estimated time to download and install the update is about 5 minutes. After the new version is up and running, your tablet should be running EF17.
Here’s Sprint Samsung Galaxy Tab Android 2.3 Gingerbread update link
