Step aside Apple; we have a new tablet that's caught our attention! Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1. The company hasn't announced a release date for the 8.9 version of the tablet but you can see the 10.1-inch Wi-Fi only on store shelves on June 8, 2011 in the US. Samsung also plans to launch the device in India very soon after its global launch. It could launch in India as soon as 30 days after its global launch.
The 16GB version of the 10.1-inch device is priced at $499 (Rs. 22,379) and the32GB at $599 (Rs. 26,864). The 8.9-inch due out in later this year will cost you $469 (Rs. 21,064) for the 16GB version and $569 (Rs. 25,519) for the 23GB one. The prices for the 3G versions of both the devices are still to be revealed. The prices are an approximate conversion of US prices and not the final prices at which the tablets will be launches in India.
In terms of specifications however, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 seems to be a threat for the iPad 2. The device has an 8.9-inch WXGA TFT LCD display with a resolution of 1200 x 800. The device is just 8.6mm thin. That's 0.036mm thinner than the iPad 2, which to the naked eye really makes no difference. None-the-less itcrowns the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 as the thinnest tablet in the market. TheGalaxt Tab 8.9 is also lighter than the iPad 2 by 131gms. (This is beginning to sound like a models anorexia war than tech but any way...). The 8.9-inch beauty boasts of a 1GHz dual core processor running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, has Samsung's TouchWiz 4.0 layer and Flash 10.2 support.
The device will come with 16GB and 32GB storage variants at launch but you can expect a 64GB variant in the future. The device also comes with stereo speakers, full HD video playback, a 2MP Front facing camera; 5MP rear camera with flash and can record video at 720p HD. The device also claims to have a battery life of 10 hours from its 6800-mAh battery.
The 10.1-inch big brother possesses the same specification and is a bit heavier at 595gms. The screen resolution too remains the same at 1200 x 800.
We were there at the Samsung event at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. Stay tuned for the first pictures from there soon.