At the CTIA wireless conference yesterday, not only did Samsung announced the new 8.9-inch tablet but also a revised edition of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which was originally announced at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona last month.
Why? Samsung earlier made it obvious that the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 was not competitive enough for iPad 2. The Tab was expensive and thick. Plus the lack of WiFi models just made it worse.
As posted earlier the Motorola Xoom Sales Figures are not so great. $800 Price tablets just don't cut it. After the announcement of these two new tablets, Samsung looks like the only real competitor to the iPad 2 in terms of Pricing as well as Market Reach. The only downfall for Samsung is that the iPad 2 is available now, where as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is expected to come out on June 8 (United States) and the 8.9 version in Summer.
Those who were eagerly waiting for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, will have to wait a bit longer, till June. Both these 10.1 and the 8.9 one are about 8.6 mm thick, which makes it 0.2 mm thinner than the iPad 2. The 10.1 weighs about 595 g and the 8.9 about 470 g, beating Apple again. This revamped design however comes with a price. Samsung has reduced the camera to about 3MP from the original 8MP in the rear. The front camera remains at 2MP resolution. The 10.1 tab can now capture at 720p only instead of the 1080p capture in the original design. Both these tabs also have TouchWiz UX. So no stock Android Honeycomb like in the original design. However this customization by Samsung over the stock Android OS is turnoff for many people. They argue it results in UI slowness and delayed OS updates. Personally, I don't find any difference, except for the added benefits from the customized UI.
Both these tablets also support micros SD upto 32GB. The iPad 2 still has not external memory support. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 also comes with Bluetooth 3.0. Samsung also said that the original tablet will be available with the name of Galaxy Tab 10.1V and would be exclusive to Vodafone.
Here are the Specifications of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9:
Google Mobile Services :
Google™ Talk Video Chat, Google™ Maps, Books, etc
Samsung TouchWiz UX
Samsung Mini Apps Tray
Social Hub, Music Hub, Readers Hub
＊Availability differs by region
Adobe Flash Player 10.2
Connectivity
Bluetooth® technology v 3.0
USB 2.0
WiFi 802.11 (a/b/g/n)
Sensor
Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Ambient Light sensor
Memory
16G / 32G / 64G, microSD (up to 32GB)
Size
230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6 mm, 470g
Battery
6000mAh
＊ All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.
Pricing and Availability:
Galaxy Tab 10.1
16GB – $499
32GB – $599
64GB - $???
Launch Date – June 8
Galaxy Tab 8.9 Inch
16 GB – $469
32 GB – $569
64 GB - $???
Launch Date – Early summer
The pricing mentioned about are for WiFi versions. 3G/4G model pricing were not mentioned by Samsung. However Samsung did hint that they would be working on Tablets supported on the LTE network.
