The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 launched in February with Android 12 under its arm, a month before Google discontinued the tablet-specific version of its operating system, Android 12L. The upgrade to Android 12L for the Galaxy Tab S8 is now available in certain regions, and the company wanted to highlight its main new features.
Now Samsung’s most complete tablets join the best version suitable for Android tablets, adopting the main What’s New in Android 12L Multitaskingas well as some local improvements thanks to Samsung’s One UI 4.1.1.
Taskbar and multitasking
Of course, one of the main new features that Galaxy Tab S8 users will find when updating to Android 12L is the taskbar
From this taskbar, it is possible to drag an icon to one side of the screen to open it in split screen mode. Another way to start split-screen will be a two-finger swipe from one side of the screen, although this isn’t active out of the box, but is part of Galaxy Labs’ experiments.
Don’t want to see the taskbar all the time? There is no problem, it is possible to hide it to have a more immersive experience in the app you’re currently using, becoming visible again when you need it.
Split-screen improvements
Samsung already has plenty of experience with multitasking and split-screen beyond what Android allows, and with the arrival of Android 12L the company has taken the opportunity to include and integrate the strange new trick. For example, it is possible to launch an application in split-screen mode by dragging your notification to one of the edges
Application groups also arrive, or App Pairs: various Applications that open simultaneously in split-screen mode. You can easily save your app combinations and come back to them later. This is particularly relevant given that on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, you can open up to three apps at once in split-screen mode.
See through menus
Samsung includes a rather curious novelty in the update of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8: make menus and popups transparent, to see what’s behind. This is possible by pressing and holding outside the dialog box. When you lift your finger, the window will no longer be transparent.
In addition to the above changes, this update expands the list of apps that can be used in split-screen mode, which can force all applications to support this mode after enabling an option in Galaxy Labs experiments.
These new features will arrive with Android 12L from today on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, but also on previous generations that will be updated. These are, as Samsung reminds us, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S7, Tab S7 Fe, Tab S6, Tab S6 Lite and Tab Active 3.
More information | Samsung