Iconia A500 - How to access windows file shares?

[DrAzzy]

Just got my A500 and I want to start playing my media with it!

I've got my media on a NAS box, with the files available for remote mount via SMB. How do I get my tablet to "see" these and use them?

I opened up clear.fi and it detected the devices (the NAS box and a desktop with a network share) but poking either of them said "This device might be disconnected and cannot be browsed successfully". They're all password protected, and have multiple shares available (each with different kinds of things on them) - the tablet gave me no chance to select a share or enter a username/password.

There must be a way to connect to these, right?

Privacy:
Since I gave it my gmail account, i'm worried about privacy - what things that I do will be made visible to others? I know that youtube vids that I view will be made known to people who are on my gmail contact list. Like, I just don't want to be afraid that it will broadcast to everyone if I, say, use it to view an adult video (or any other private matters).

Interface:
Is there a tutorial on the honeycomb interface? Just simple things, like putting apps onto those 5 "desktops" or whatever they're called on android. I don't know how to do that, but i know it's possible, otherwise there'd be no reason to have those other screens.

Also, if i leave an application with the up-arrow button, does that mean that the application has been fully exited? I assumed so, but i see that I can reopen it and instantly go back to where I was, which suggests otherwise. In that case, it would be consuming processor cycles and battery life, right? How do I properly exit things?

Gee, it goes into powersave real fast, and i have to hit the power button to revive it. On the demo unit in the store, I could pick it up and poke at it, and it would come to life. How do I fix this?

 

[rcmolski]

DrAzzy,

Sorry, I won't be able to help out with the streaming media / file sharing, but I can maybe help out with your questions.

Privacy: I've never had anyone from my contact list say that they saw that I watched any videos on youtube. If you are afraid of that, just sign out of the youtube app, but I don't think that is shared with friends. I may be wrong on this, but I've never been questioned about anything I've watched or been notified of any videos my contacts have viewed.

Interface: There are 2 ways to add icons / programs to your home screens. 1 - from the Apps screen just keep your finger on the app you'd like to add. After a couple of second the tablet should vibrate and you will be able to drag the icon. Drag it to whichever home screen you like and release. 2 - touch the + in the upper right corner (next to the Apps button) and simply add any programs / widgets / etc. available from that screen. Again, you can hold and then drag to any screen, or you will notice one screen has a darker border on it. Touching any icon will add it to the highlighted screen. You can change the highlighted screen by touching the screen in the upper portion and then pressing the + button again. Hope this is clear....just give it a try.

Leaving apps: the 'up' button you mention is really the Home button. It will always return you to the center home screen. In Android the OS manages apps and memory, so they may stay available until that memory is needed and then will be closed. It makes it easy when you want to return to an app, so you won't need to wait for it to fully load again. There are plenty of articles on the web that can explain this in all the painful details you'd like, but it works quite well, simply put.

Screen timeout / power save: you can change that any plenty of other settings in the Settings screen. It's the 4th setting down (Display), then you will see the time out section. While you are in the Settings area, poke around a bit and see what else is there; Wifi, Applications (uninstalling, FC, etc.), Input (keyboards), etc.

Hope this helps!

Good luck,

Bob