Galaxy Tab S7 series gets Android 11 w/ better phone integration, ‘Second Screen’ on Windows [U]

Ben Schoon | Jan 25 2021 - 6:53 am PT

Samsung’s One UI 3.0 rollout has expanded to quite a few different smartphones at this point, and now it’s heading to tablets. The Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ are now getting Android 11.

In its home country of South Korea, Samsung has started rolling out the Android 11 update to its latest tablets. The update brings Samsung’s tablets up to One UI 3.1, the same version found on the Galaxy S21 series. Coming in at around 2.4GB, the update brings the typical Android 11 perks such as improved notifications, Bubbles, and more, but also Samsung’s One UI updates including the revised UI.

TizenHelp noted that the update is rolling out to Tab S7, S7+ 5G, and S7+ LTE with the build numbers T875NKOU1BUA8, T976NKOU1BUA8, and T975NKOU1BUA8, respectively.

Update 1/25: Samsung has officially announced the release of One UI 3.1 on the Galaxy Tab S7 series, officially detailing some of the new features. As mentioned below, this includes “Second Screen” support for Windows PCs, but also includes other features the allow the Tab S7 to work better with other Samsung devices.

With Android 11 and One UI 3.1, the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ can now share a clipboard with your Galaxy smartphone as well as being able to share tabs in Samsung Internet seamlessly. The official keyboard dock for the Tab S7 can also now switch from the tablet to a Galaxy smartphone with a quick keyboard shortcut to control that device without re-pairing. This update also allows Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro to automatically switch between Galaxy phones and the Tab S7 tablets.

Samsung’s announcement today also presumably means that the rollout is extending past South Korea starting today.

Perhaps the most notable addition to this update is support for using the Tab S7 as a second screen for a Windows computer. Over a wired or WiFi Direct connection, the tablet can connect to Windows and act as a secondary display for laptops or desktop PCs. As one user notes, the resolution and refresh rate are limited to 1080p and 60Hz, respectively, though. Technically, this feature is supposed to be exclusive to Samsung’s own Windows laptops, but it should also work with any compatible hardware running the Windows 10 2004 update or later. The folks over at Android Police spotted one user who managed to get the feature up and running with an Odyssey gaming laptop.

With the Android 11 update now available in South Korea, it’s likely that the Galaxy Tab S7 series in other regions will follow soon.