Samsung Galaxy Tab Targets iPad

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/2/2010

Berlin - Samsung Mobile plans U.S. shipments in the coming months of a 3G-equipped Android-powered tablet with 7-inch 1,024 by 600 pixel LCD screen, video chat over 3G and Wi-Fi, cellular voice calls via speakerphone or Bluetooth headset, and the ability to wirelessly download movies, music and e-books.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab features 3G voice/data, Wi-Fi and Android 2.2 OS.

The 13.3-ounce Galaxy Tab, powered by the Cortex A8 1.0GHz processor, will be the first in a series of tablet devices by the company, which touted the superiority of its first model over the Apple iPad here at the IFA electronics show.

 The Tab will launch in Europe in mid-September, followed "in the coming months" in other markets including Korea, the U.S. and Asia, the company said here during the IFA trade show. The device will be sold through wireless carriers, who will set consumer pricing, the company said.

  The Tab features the latest 2.2 version of Android and will come in 16GB and 32GB versions. Both versions also have a 32GB MicroSD memory-card slot for additional storage capacity. Other features include Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0, full Adobe Flash 10.1, gyroscope sensor, accelerometer, light sensor, and HD video capture via a 3-megapixel back-facing camera/camcorder. The front-facing webcam features 1.3-megapixel resolution. Built-in GPS supports such Google Mobile services as Google Maps Navigation for turn-by-turn driving instructions and Google Goggles.

 Supported multiple multimedia formats include DivX, XviD, MPEG-4, H.263 and H.264, among others. Battery life is 10 hours for HD video playback.

 The device will download apps from the Android Marketplace, and although those apps were written mainly for small-screen smartphones, about 85 to 90 percent of the apps are compatible with the screen, including 200 of the most popular apps, the company said during the show.

Besides downloading Android apps and supporting Google Mobile Services, the device also accesses multiple other services. Samsung Readers Hub, for example, consolidates book, magazine and newspaper applications, tapping into the Kobo, PressDisplay and Zinio download sites to access more than 2 million books, more than 2,500 magazines in 20 languages, and more than 1,600 newspapers in 47 languages at launch. The Samsung Media Hub accesses movies and videos, and the Music Hub accesses music. Movies and videos presumably would be downloaded only via Wi-Fi. Details of the Media Hub will be announced Sept. 16.

 The Tab announced for shipment in Europe in mid-September is 3G-banded for will feature 3G HSUPA technology in the 900/1,900/2,100 MHz bands for 7.2Mbps peak downloads and 5.76Mbps peak uploads. It will also feature quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Samsung didn't say whether the version intended for U.S. 3G bands would use HSUPA, CDMA 1X EV-DO Rev. A. or potentially LTE when Verizon Wireless launches its 700MHz LTE network later this year.