Samsung names date for UK 10in Android tablet release
Worth hanging on a little longer?
Brits will get their hands on Samsung's 10in tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, in early August, the South Korean giant said today.
Get one and you'll have a 10.1in, 1280 x 800 glossy touchscreen tablet that's just 8.6mm thick in your hands. It'll run Android 3.1 Honeycomb.
Other specs include 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11m Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and optional 3G connectivity. There's a 3Mp camera on the back, and a 2Mp one on the front.
There's a 1GHz two-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor on board, but don't forget that past Nvidia roadmaps have called for the release of faster dual-core Tegras and quad-core versions in the summer timeframe. So you may want to wait a little.
Likewise if you want something more compact. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 won't be out here until "later this year", Samsung said. Meantime, a second-gen 7in Galaxy Tab is expected in September. ®
COMMENTS
so sick of stupid tablets taking all the news... wish we could get back to more laptop reporting
sure a tablet... great as a glorified remote control on my couch table?
I guess I'm not addicted enough to drag one around to read the news in the subway.
Since its been pointed out in numberous places that they're not really good for most productivity chores, they're a consumption device.
Sure you can add a Bluetooth keyboard, with its own little annoying batteries..
I'd actually nail a tablet to the wall in my cafe as an audio player feeding my active speakers
but otherwise, I can't understand why people like these, onscreen keyboards still suck and probably will always suck. You can't touch type, meaning you'll be slower than a snail doing anything...
But I want it NOW
Seriously considering importing this from the US.
Glossy Screen
Yes, totally agree about the screens. Sure glossy gives better colours and contrast but I wish just one manufacturer would launch a true matte screen device that I could use outside.
Just a choice to have it matte without needing to resort to alternatives such as a screen cover, which just aren't the same.
Worth the wait???
As the Tegra 3 chips are due out soon it'd probably be worth holding fire till a tablet packing one of those is released, it'll be a far better chip for powering a tablet than the current Tegra2.
I think Samsung have taken too long to get this to market, the markets already full of similar spec'd competitors which have had their product on the shelf for some time.
Hardware buttons
Both Galaxy S and original Galaxy Tab are nice enough devices to use except for the lack of physical buttons for back, home and menu. The ergonomics of the under-glass buttons are awful.
Also, for reasons best known to Samsung, the bundled media streaming app works great on the S but is absolutely godawfully dismal on the Tab, a later device. Third party apps have come along though - uPnPlay and Moboplayer work well at pulling video from my ReadyNAS.
Also, glossy screens must die. Both Galaxy Tab and Xoom are almost unusable anywhere near a window, or (god forbid) outside.
