Samsung prepping Galaxy Note 8.0 to challenge iPad mini

The tablet war is going on in full force. According to SamMobile, Samsung is all set to reveal a new device in the company's Note line-up. The new device, dubbed Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, will be available in two versions—the GT-N5100 3G/Wi-Fi version and the GT-N5110 Wi-Fi only version.

It will have an 8-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800, a 5 megapixel rear camera along with 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, 2GB of RAM, 16/32GB of internal storage and a microSD slot. It will be powered by a 4600 mAh battery. On the connectivity side of things, the Note 8.0 will have Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and A-GPS. It will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The dimensions of the tablet will be 211.3 x 136.3 x 7.95 mm and will weigh around 330 g. Judging by the specifications and the screen size, it looks like Samsung is going to compete with Apple's iPad mini.

Like this, but slightly bigger

The company will be introducing the tablet at MWC 2013.

Just yesterday, rumours of a Galaxy Note III were popping up. The rumour comes from a report in the Korea Times that mentioned the Galaxy Note III, along with a couple of specifications of the device. According to the report, Galaxy Note III will be pushing even further in terms of screen size, with a whopping 6.3-inch display. This is a considerable bump compared to the 5.5-inch screen on Galaxy Note II. Another key feature of Note III will be that it will run on the Exynos 5 Octa chip that Samsung had showcased at CES 2013.

Samsung had unveiled the Exynos 5 Octa during CES. It is based on the ARM big.LITTLE/Cortex A-15 architecture and is designed to be a low powered, high performance mobile processor.

According to Samsung, the performance of the chip is twice than that of anything available in the market today when it comes to 3D gaming. While the company hasn't unveiled full details about the chip yet, this chip may be able to run dual quad-core setups on a 28nm process. The Exynos 5 Octa will likely also power the rumoured Galaxy S IV.

Earlier this month, a picture of the Galaxy S IV had popped up. While the legitimacy of the picture is up for debate, it is very likely that this is the next device in the Galaxy S series.

The new phone is set to feature a much thinner bezel along with a bigger screen. Also notable is the lack of buttons on the front face. This points to Samsung finally making the shift towards on-screen buttons. Overall, the design is very reminiscent of the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Premier, with a greater focus on curves at the corners. Without an official statement by Samsung, though, this could be just a fake picture.