I am very familiar with Linux, since about 1999/2000. More or less with Android, well actually more on the less side.

I will be getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 in a month or two, not really sure about the time frame yet.

Anyways. It does not come from and will not be connected with any phone company or services like that. So I won't be bound to their terms or anything like that. I am thinking of just using it with wi-fi and thats all. Friends/family all have wi-fi and my are does have free wi-fi hot spots.

So my questions.

* I am not familiar with rooting Androids at all. What is the best source for me to check out?
* Are there any good Linux based alternatives to Android, if I decide I want to do something else and not use Android? Would I even be able to replace Android with something else?
* I believe Netflix works with Android, is there an app for it?
* Is there a way to encrypt this device with either Truecrypt or luks encryption, (since Android is based on Linux)? I believe Samsung has a way to do this but I am not sure what they use and I am familiar with Truecrypt and Luks encryption and would rather do it with one of those two.

The reason I am not asking at the Android forums is because I am not sure if I want something else on this and I am looking for laternatives as well as the questions about Android.

Realistically, no, there is no viable alternative to Android for any of these devices. Generally (this does depend on the device) there are different builds of Android available from the community, which may meet your needs better. Community built versions of Android are all open source (rather than using closed source manufacturer proprietary Android addons, which that Tab 3 will come with out of the box), and put various functions and features at their focus.

Android does feature whole-device encryption, but it is not Truecrypt or Luks, but its own volume encryption scheme. It's open source, but I'm not aware off hand of what kind of peer review has been done on it. As for using the included Android encryption, it is simply a checkbox in the settings, there's really nothing to know about how to enable or configure it.

Finally, yes, there is a Netflix application for Android.

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Thank you for the information. My biggest thing with encryption is if it is stable and secure including no backdoors. I will look into the different Android builds. This should be a fun addition to my Desktop, though it will never replace it.

I forgot to do this earlier. Since my basic questions where answered I am going to mark this thread as solved. I will use the Android forums for anymore questions. Probably search through them slowly and see what other info I can use.

I just bought one.
NO telephone requirements, nor contracts or commitments.

Watch out on "free WiFi" spots. They are not secure you know.

http://androidquestions.org/

Agreed. Security will be something I have to be very careful of. I will only be using them if I really need to and with limits. How do you like the Tab so far?

It's ok, I guess. Kinda neat, but seems like a watch on steroids,

My biggest complaint is that I have to use the 'task manager' to close things.
I suppose it's a global design deficiency.

It should be fun to see what it is like when I get it and what I will do to change it if I don't like how things are set up.

Another 'feature' missing is a decent alt-tab function.

app is called switchr, I believe.
It satisfies this deficiency.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for keeping my updated.

Glad I could help.