Samsung Officially Announces Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1

Step aside Motorola Xoom and Apple iPad 2, there’s a new player in town and it looks like the competition just got seriously fierce. Samsung’s all new Galaxy Tabs just made it out and are looking just as sleek and sexy as the rest. Two models viz. the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1(P7100) have been officially launched.

Honeycomb heaven

Samsung is advertising that these are the world’s slimmest tablets to date and they're not wrong – the new Galaxy Tabs are a whole 0.2mm thinner than the iPad 2 which is 8.8mm in depth. Both of Samsung’s ultra slim devices come packing some power to give the iPad 2 and the Xoom a serious run for their money.

The larger version i.e. the Tab 10.1 weighs in at just 595g (iPad 2 = 601g) and the smaller Tab 8.9 comes in at 470g. The devices will be loaded and shipped with Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb and feature -

• 1GHz dual core processors,
• 3G compatibility (HSPA+, 21Mbps support) and Wi-Fi (no mention of DLNA support)
• Samsung’s updated Touchwiz UX interface (4.0) for optimized customization
• A mini apps tray to speed up multitasking
• Readers Hub, Music Hub for eBooks and music on the go
• 3MP rear AF camera with LED flash and 720p video recording capability, 2MP forward facing camera for video calling
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR for the Tab 10.1 and v3.0 for the 8.Tab 9
• GPS with A-GPS
• Adobe Flash support
• 1080p HD@30fps video playback, DivX and Xvid support
• dual surround-sound speakers
• QuickOffice HD Editor
• MicroSD card support

The Tab 10.1 will of course have the same size screen as its namesake and sport WXGA TFT LCD display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. The Tabs are going with Samsung’s PLS display technology which is what Apple was contemplating on using for the iPad 2. You snooze you loose, I guess. The display technology will enhance overall clarity while supporting higher resolutions.

Some sources have mentioned that the larger of the two i.e. the Tab 10.1 should make it out in early June for a price of $499 (Rs. 22,379) for a 16GB model and $599 (Rs. 26,864) for 32GB. The smaller Tab 8.9 version would be out in summer and will be priced at $469 (Rs. 21,064) for the 16GB version and $569 (Rs. 25,519) for the 32GB model. These prices are supposed to be for the Wi-Fi only editions and the price tags of the Wi-Fi plus 3G models might be announced a little later on. There will also be a 64GB model available but pricing on that has not yet been announced.

This is going to be one seriously confusing year when it comes down to choosing a tablet that will last you for the next 365 plus days or less