With this week’s launch of the iPad 2, Samsung have admirably decided that they aren’t giving up on the Tablet market and have released tantalising details of their latest Galaxy Tab.
By Leo Stiles
Now this is more like it.
Samsung have released the official specs and pricing for their latest models in the Galaxy Tab rage and it looks like they have decided to declare war on Apple with two Android-based tablets that will beat the iPad in both features and price.
The massive 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 2 16GB model will retail in the US for $499 and its slimmer cousin, the Galaxy 8.9, will undercut the iPad to the tune of $469.
The original internet tablet from Samsung launched late into 2010 and was effectively priced out of the market by its price, which not only varied wildly but was also in many cases, in excess of €600.
The 7-inch tablet also compared unfavourably with many consumers who saw the cheaper, larger and more visually appealing iPad as better value for money.
Samsung were always going to have another go at breaking into the ‘post-PC’ market and they have proven themselves to be one of the major players in the smartphone sector with their market share rising to 30% in the last 12 months.
Shiny? Check. Purple? Check. Good work, Samsung
Despite their track record in harnessing the power of the Android platform, Samsung were thrown for a loop when Steve Jobs announced the iPad 2 its static price points and not only was the iPad 2 a significantly more powerful machine, it had been slimmed down and carried the same price points as the original iPad.
This caused some pretty public consternation at the Korean manufacturer’s headquarters with Lee Don-joo, Samsung’s Executive Vice-President for mobile devices, expressing dismay and saying that the company would have to improve on the parts of the new tablets that were inadequate.
Well, it looks like that this was no idle chatter from the man in charge because from what we can see, the new Galaxy tablets are finally looking like they will give the IPad some serious headaches.
For starters, these will be seriously powerful machines, with both models packing a 1 GHz dual-core processor and while there haven’t been any comparison tests done yet, the Tabs should be more than the equal of the iPad and will outclass the Apple tablet in some key areas.
Both tablets are larger that their predecessor and both are thinner and lighter (the 10.1-inch model is just 8.6mm thin) than the already anorexic iPad 2, while boasting superior displays that deliver true 1080p video playback.
Battery life has also been boosted to the magic 10-hour lifespan and addresses the poor performance of the first Galaxy Tab, which sometimes only lasted five hours. The front and rear cameras both outclass the iPad 2 with an 8-megapixel camera at the rear and a solid 2-megapixel shooter on the front of the slate.
Both tablets will also ship with the very latest version of Android called Honeycomb (or 3.0) which has been specifically designed for tablets and eliminates the most serious flaw of the original, which ran on a modified version of Gingerbread which wasn’t suited to running a large screen tablet.
So when can you get your hands on them?
Samsungs original plans specified a European launch for this month but with March winding down into its final days; an April launch seems far more likely and would avoid the iPad 2 media assault when it goes on sale here on Friday.
European pricing information is scarce but if recent trend continue, you can expect Samsung to replace that Dollar symbol with the Euro. The wild card is what deals might be offered by the mobile networks in exchange for data contracts but as of now, none of the main players have announced their intentions.
While it’s way too early to call this round for Samsung, we are very excited about the prospect of real iPad alternative and until Blackberry and HP show up with their shiny new devices, it looks like Samsung could be on to serious winner here .
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc
