Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual

About the Screen

The screen is the Galaxy Tab’s center stage—it’s where it displays web pages, apps, games, and more, and because it’s a touch screen, it’s also where you’ll tell the Tab what you want to do next. The screen is a roomy 10.1 inches measured diagonally. (For you techies, that’s 1280 x 800 pixels with a pixel density of 149 pixels per inch). When you turn it sideways, it switches to a widescreen TV and movie format. As this book went to press, an 8.9-inch version of the Galaxy Tab was being prepared for release. Other than the screen size being smaller than the 10.1-inch one, it works basically the same. So this book shows you how to use that version of the Galaxy Tab as well.

But there’s a lot going on behind that pretty display.

Tip

Since you’re going to be touching the display with your fingers, it’s going to get dirty and streaky. Simply wipe it clean with a soft, lint-free cloth or tissue. The screen is scratch-resistant, but if you’re worried about scratches, get a case or screen protector. See Appendix A for ideas.

Built-in Sensors

Underneath its flat black screen, the Galaxy Tab has four sensors that perform a lot of its magic:

• Ambient light sensor. This senses the light level and adjusts your screen’s brightness to save battery power. So in bright light, it makes the screen brighter so that it can be more easily seen, and in dim light, it makes the screen dimmer, because bright light is not needed.

• 3-axis accelerometer. As its name implies, this measures acceleration ...