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Samsung unveils two new tablets, sort of

by Janani Krishnaswamy on 22 March 2011, 18:29

Tags: Samsung (005935.KS)

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Thinner and lighter than the iPad 2

Samsung today announced two new additions to its existing tablet line-up just in time for the international launch of Apple's iPad 2: a redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a brand new Galaxy Tab 8.9.

Clearly reflecting its rethink about the thinness of the iPad 2, Samsung boasts that the new devices would be the world's thinnest mobile tablets, measuring just 8.6 mm slightly thinner than the iPad 2. The new tablets will also be lighter than the iPad. The redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 weighs 589 g, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 comes in at 470 g. The iPad 2 weighs over 600 g.

While Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are the two Android tablets that come within iPad 10-inch territory, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 comes somewhere in between them and the original Galaxy Tab.

Featuring Android's Honeycomb operating system, both devices include a 1GHz dual core application processor - presumably NVIDIA's Tegra 2 in both cases. Both the Tabs sport a 3 megapixel rear and 2 megapixel front camera which allow 1080p HD video and Flash playback.

In addition, the Galaxy Tabs come pre-loaded with Samsung's Readers Hub and Music Hub, providing instant access to more than 2.2 million books, 2,000 newspapers in 49 languages, 2,300 magazines in 22 languages, and 13 million songs. Users will also have access to a special tablet version of Samsung's Social Hub, which aggregates email, instant messaging, mobile contacts, calendar and social network connections.

Simon Stanford, Managing Director, Mobile, Samsung UK and Ireland said: "Following the success of our first 7 inch tablet device and the growing popularity of Android, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 are the latest examples of Samsung's ongoing innovation in this market. We are demonstrating our dedication to designing premium tablets that will deliver exciting new user experiences and lead the tablet market in the months and years to come."

As we reported earlier, Samsung is opting for a ‘vanilla' build for its Honeycomb tabs and is leaving it to exclusive partner Vodafone to customize its tablet. Price and availability details are not out yet.

 

10.1

 

 

8.9

 

 



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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Very curious as to the pricing of these two..If they can undercut the iPad 2 by a reasonable margin, then they would be serious competition…

Sadly I doubt they will (Samsung will undoubtedly use the screen size as justification) but here's hoping.

At £350 (max) i'd be tempted to pick one up later this year…
Agree'd, I'll be looking at a tablet this year to replace last years fadbuy which was my N220 :lol:
Spud1
Very curious as to the pricing of these two..If they can undercut the iPad 2 by a reasonable margin, then they would be serious competition…

Sadly I doubt they will (Samsung will undoubtedly use the screen size as justification) but here's hoping. At £350 (max) i'd be tempted to pick one up later this year…
Not buying an iPad2? Burn the heretic! (looked at your sig and figured you for one of the Apple acolytes) ;)

350 notes for the 10" version sounds a good deal to me too. Even better if it meant that the smaller one was closer to the - for me at least - £200 magic figure. :thumbsup:
Samsung is opting for a ‘vanilla' build for its Honeycomb tabs and is leaving it to exclusive partner Vodafone to customize its tablet. Price and availability details are not out yet.
Vanilla build - good. Exclusive - bad. Exclusive to Vodafone - very bad. :(
I'm guessing that these are the SIM-equipped tablets, rather than the WiFi-only ones that I'd like.
Hehe I'm no devout follower - I just really like iOS as a mobile phone OS (not so keen on it as a tablet), the mac air is unbeaten in the portable power stakes and my mac pro at the time was the cheapest workstation available (faster than anything alienware could do at the time, and 1/2 the price).

Android has potential with the right skin, and much more so as a Tablet OS than as a mobile phone OS (where I dislike it immensely without HTC Sense to make it usable). So that way I am curious about these..will be interesting to see if Honeycomb can resolve my issues with the older versions of android, if a 10" android tablet is really any good, and if they can finally make the price appealing. Samsung don't have the style rights to charge a premium on their products.
I like the 8.9" one, great size for a tablet. I also like the fact the resolution is higher than Ipad's.