Hi community. I bought my Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 some weeks ago, and (being a flash-o-holic, as many of you) have been eager to flash some new ROMS for stretching the capabilities of my new beloved device. Since of course it takes time for developers to create a ROM, I started testing some customizations and found them to work successfully, so I wanted to share in case you are in a similar situation.
First of all, none of the software in this thread has been developed by me, so credit goes to their legitimate authors
Also very important, this is all result of testing on my own device. i cannot guarantee this will work on your device, and I take NO responsibility on the results of replicating this procedures nor installing these applications on your devices. Since it's mostly about apks, it pretty safe anyway.
In order to be able to execute any of the instructions in this thread, your device must be rooted. Instructions to root your device can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2386098
I have tested this on my SM-T310, but I see no reason why it should not work on the T311 or T315
Please, make sure to perform a nandroid backup before you perform any of these actions. I found I applied some modifications I wanted to rollback, and it was not possible,. That led me to the need to flash stock firmware and start over from scratch (for not following my own advice) :silly: In case this happens to you, you can always find the stock firmware at http://samsung-updates.com/
Great news is that Xposed Framework can be installed and works perfectly on the Galaxy Tab 3 8. And also, since the newest version includes the ability to download modules directly from the Xposed APK, you'll have the possibility to experiment a lot. Please be careful, always perform a Nandroid backup before intensive testing. The latest version of the Xposed Framework APK can be found at it's authors site:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401 (Thanks to Rovo89)
Once installed, follow the authors instructions. You will be able to find and install new modules in the DOWNLOAD section of the application. Please remember that once you install a new module, you will need to go to the MODULES section of the application in order to enable it, and then reboot your device.
So far I have tried the following modules:
- App settings v1.5 (it will allow you to modify DPI for each application independently). It's very safe to use. Works great
- Boot Manager V1.1.3 (it will allow you to select apks you don't want your tablet to load during boot). Mostly safe, if any apks related stops working you need to just remove it from the Boot Manager list, and it should go back to normal.
- Wanam Xposed v2.0.5 (It includes many of the customizations from the Wanam ROMs for other devices such as the S4). In this case, you should be slightly careful. This APK was designed for a different device, and includes options that are not valid (such as disabling increasing ringtone), others that might generate issues (such as Enable Keyboard symbols, which is anyway useless, but can conflict with TAB 8 Samsung Keyboard APK), but mostly, it works great, and adds functions such as 4 way reboot, select multi windows applications, modify the number of tiles in quick settings, battery icon, and other very useful ones
- Nottach Xposed: which has many options in common with Wanam Xposed. This one did not show on the download section of the xposed framework apk, but you can find and download it from its author's thread. Same considerations applies as with Wanam Xposed. I am not sure if they can conflict with each other, so be careful.
As you can see there are many improvements we can already use in our dear Tab 8, you just need to try and verify (After performing a nandroid backup).
I also found a ZIP including the Sony Xperia Launcher and Walkman APK, created by Team Nocturnal for the Galaxy S3, that so far seems to work properly.
http://pc.cd/5z
I hope you will find this thread useful, and I encourage you to test different modules and alternatives and include your own experiences in this thread, so that we can all improve our Tab 3 8 experience.
Happy Testing!!!
First of all, none of the software in this thread has been developed by me, so credit goes to their legitimate authors
Also very important, this is all result of testing on my own device. i cannot guarantee this will work on your device, and I take NO responsibility on the results of replicating this procedures nor installing these applications on your devices. Since it's mostly about apks, it pretty safe anyway.
In order to be able to execute any of the instructions in this thread, your device must be rooted. Instructions to root your device can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2386098
I have tested this on my SM-T310, but I see no reason why it should not work on the T311 or T315
Please, make sure to perform a nandroid backup before you perform any of these actions. I found I applied some modifications I wanted to rollback, and it was not possible,. That led me to the need to flash stock firmware and start over from scratch (for not following my own advice) :silly: In case this happens to you, you can always find the stock firmware at http://samsung-updates.com/
Great news is that Xposed Framework can be installed and works perfectly on the Galaxy Tab 3 8. And also, since the newest version includes the ability to download modules directly from the Xposed APK, you'll have the possibility to experiment a lot. Please be careful, always perform a Nandroid backup before intensive testing. The latest version of the Xposed Framework APK can be found at it's authors site:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401 (Thanks to Rovo89)
Once installed, follow the authors instructions. You will be able to find and install new modules in the DOWNLOAD section of the application. Please remember that once you install a new module, you will need to go to the MODULES section of the application in order to enable it, and then reboot your device.
So far I have tried the following modules:
- App settings v1.5 (it will allow you to modify DPI for each application independently). It's very safe to use. Works great
- Boot Manager V1.1.3 (it will allow you to select apks you don't want your tablet to load during boot). Mostly safe, if any apks related stops working you need to just remove it from the Boot Manager list, and it should go back to normal.
- Wanam Xposed v2.0.5 (It includes many of the customizations from the Wanam ROMs for other devices such as the S4). In this case, you should be slightly careful. This APK was designed for a different device, and includes options that are not valid (such as disabling increasing ringtone), others that might generate issues (such as Enable Keyboard symbols, which is anyway useless, but can conflict with TAB 8 Samsung Keyboard APK), but mostly, it works great, and adds functions such as 4 way reboot, select multi windows applications, modify the number of tiles in quick settings, battery icon, and other very useful ones
- Nottach Xposed: which has many options in common with Wanam Xposed. This one did not show on the download section of the xposed framework apk, but you can find and download it from its author's thread. Same considerations applies as with Wanam Xposed. I am not sure if they can conflict with each other, so be careful.
As you can see there are many improvements we can already use in our dear Tab 8, you just need to try and verify (After performing a nandroid backup).
I also found a ZIP including the Sony Xperia Launcher and Walkman APK, created by Team Nocturnal for the Galaxy S3, that so far seems to work properly.
http://pc.cd/5z
I hope you will find this thread useful, and I encourage you to test different modules and alternatives and include your own experiences in this thread, so that we can all improve our Tab 3 8 experience.
Happy Testing!!!
