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Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

Summary: Samsung has announced the launch of its Galaxy Tab (GT-P1000) tablet computer, the nearest rival to Apple's iPad. Here are the specs.

Andrew Nusca

By for The ToyBox |

In an effort to draft behind Apple in the small but growing slate tablet market, Samsung on Thursday announced the launch of its Galaxy Tab (GT-P1000) tablet computer.

The device, which will have a 7-inch TFT LCD touchscreen display, will run on Google's Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system. It is "the first of the company's tablet devices, representing a new category of mobile products for Samsung" -- in other words, it's a warning shot that indicates many more tablet models to come.

[ZDNet Photo Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Tab]

Like Apple's iPad, the Galaxy Tab offers multimedia viewing, web browsing and e-mail, as well as voice and video call and SMS/MMS.

In many ways, the Galaxy Tab is a strategical move by electronics giant Samsung: let Apple do the difficult work in creating the market and gauging customer interest, then attack with a device that offers most of the same functionality.

The question, then, is a matter of price. Can Samsung beat Apple where that company won't compete?

[Related: CNET's live coverage of the announcement]

A few more data points about the device:

  • OS: Google Android 2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz UI
  • CPU: Cortex A8 1.0GHz
  • Graphics: PowerVR SGX540 GPU
  • Memory: 512MB RAM
  • Storage: 16GB or 32GB (plus 32GB expandable memory)
  • Sensors: gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, accelerometer, light sensor
  • Weight: 380 grams (0.84 lbs.)
  • Support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1.
  • "Readers Hub" is Samsung's e-reader digital library application.
  • "Media Hub" and "Music Hub" is Samsung's answer to iTunes (movies, videos and music)
  • Support for HD content (DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, etc.)
  • 3G HSUPA connectivity, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0
  • Front-facing camera allows for 3G (as opposed to iPad's Wi-Fi-only FaceTime) videoconferencing
  • Rear-facing camera captures still images and video.
  • Why would you use voice telephony on such a device? Samsung suggests as a speakerphone on the desk, or a mobile phone via a Bluetooth headset.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launched in the U.K. on Vodaphone and others in "the coming months" -- probably Europe this fall and elsewhere later in the year. No word on price.

Here's a promo spot for the device:

Topics: iPad, Hardware, Laptops, Mobility, Samsung, Tablets

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48 comments
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  • Apple created the tablet market?

    [i]let Apple do the difficult work in creating the market and gauging customer interest[/i]

    Um, no. That work was done by Microsoft.
    NonZealot
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @NonZealot It was done by Microsoft, but like the mp3 player market, it's Apple that brings it to the forefront- and makes it popular.
      If the efforts of Microsoft and other PC manufacturers were the sole source of customer interest information, I doubt Apple would have even made the iPad...
      unclefixer@...
      Reply Vote

    • thanks MS for getting the product completely wrong..

      @NonZealot .. then not making the appropriate changes to the design.. and leaving the market ripe for harvesting.. thanks MS.. LMAO..

      2010 and bill gate.. iPad is nice but, i think it need a stylus.. these guys are SO stupid.. they are incapable of learning... writing with a stylus is way slower and WAY more inaccurate than typing bill.. it's 2010 bill.. no one wants to use a stylus to enter text bill..

      but now that i think about it... do remember this thing called a newton?? did ms have anything that outdated that?? don't think so.. so maybe it is apple coming back and correct their own mistakes.

      but MS really does seem to be making a habit of coming up with something that's a little wrong or a little too early and is rejected by the public then never self correcting.. then someone else just does the corrections and swoops in.. MS like to sit on their laurels WAY too much..
      doctorSpoc
      Reply Vote

      • Ah yes, the Newton!

        @doctorSpoc
        So the Newton was the first smartphone, media player, tablet, printer, hovercraft, portable shield generator...

        Anything else you want to attribute to the Newton?

        [i]but MS really does seem to be making a habit of coming up with something that's a little wrong or a little too early and is rejected by the public then never self correcting.. [/i]

        I will agree with this. MS is fantastic at coming up with the most innovative ideas this world has ever seen, getting it 95% of the way there, and then tripping on their own shoelaces just before the finish line. At that point, Apple hops off the back of MS (having been carried throughout the race), adds a bit of marketing pizazz, hops over the finish line, and you zealots all cheer!

        MS truly is their own worst enemy and Apple's best friend.
        NonZealot
        Reply Vote

      • A little bit off there NonZ

        @NonZealot
        Apple observes not only what MS does and sometimes fails at but others as well. Often what Apple does is find a new tech that is not being optimized or used correct and well corrects the mistakes of others. Now it's far more than adding marketing pizzaz but less than inventing the tech itself. However I will point out that if using a new technology as it SHOULD be used was so easy why oh why don't others figure it out? After all Apple gave other tablet folks a full decade or more to figure it out:P

        Pagan jim
        James Quinn
        Reply Vote

      • James Quinn, a few points in your analysis are flawed

        [i]After all Apple gave other tablet folks a full decade or more to figure it out[/i]

        And what exactlly did Apple figure out? Something you are afraid to say: The iPad is really nothing new in way of a tablet, it is just the iPod scaled up.

        The real accomplisment was marketing it to people who already had what they needed into purchasing a "super sized" version of an MP3 player.

        The next logical step for Apple will be to create a 7 inch version, in which Apple will market it to owners of iPods and iPads as then next "magical" item they will need for times when the iPod is too small, and the iPad too big for the occasion.

        Logic would also indicate that you will be one of those purchasers, and that you will attempt to justify your purchase on this site.
        :|
        Tim Cook
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @NonZealot Not entirely true - remember the Apple Newton that was out several years ago? A few people bought it but it was admittedly one of Apple's failures. What product did Microsoft bring to the tablet PC table? I honestly cannot recall a tablet PC unless one counts the laptops with the screens that one could turn backwards and be folded against the keyboard making a very large tablet PC... I believe it was an HP model.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

      • Fijitsu makes the Stylistic line of tablets

        and has for years. A true tablet: no folding keyboard or turning screens. Ther are others, if you search your Internet you will find them.
        :|
        Tim Cook
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @NonZealot
      Sure yes! Ms gave "Surface", "windows ce", and popcorn... great! Those outrageous copiers, like Apple, give something that works - they are bad!!
      green alien
      Reply Vote

    • Dream on. The market didn't exist before Apple

      introduce the iPad. All you wild gesticulating notwithstanding. Apple takes what other people have done and actually turns it into something that doesn't suck.
      frgough
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @NonZealot <br>Lol. Come on, let's be honest until the iPad came out there has not been a real market for a tablet. Even Microsoft's top guy came out said the iPad is running the market. Numbers do not lie my friend. Apple was smart in not releasing this device early. Wait till it is ready, then create the market.
      spikedstrider
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

    I agree with NonZealot on Microsoft developing technical solutions that then become part of Apple's products, but Apple absolutely gets top marks for marketing--how else can they continue to sell products that have competitors with higher quality, better features and costing much less (not to mention available on decent phone networks).
    MicheleAdams
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @MicheleAdams - it's the software stupid! M$ interfaces suck and Apple's UI is usable and elegant.
      menk
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

        @menk Then why did Microsoft just sell the most most copies of an OS ever!?
        LP212
        Reply Vote

    • Ah, the old standby. It's the Apple marketing mind

      control technology! Forcing people into a zombie-like state, shambling to the nearest Apple store to throw money at the statue of Jobs.

      I'll bet you don't even realize how stupid you sound when you make the argument.
      frgough
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

    if this device displays flash video websites then it is a slate device that will sell moderately well because there are an huge body of people like me who will not buy an Ipad because will not show flash video web sites thus restricting a person's ability to see all the Internet.
    gregnewm7
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

      @gregnewm7
      I will not buy anything that makes you tether to a computer. iTunes is so stupid.
      Droid101
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab Android tablet; can it out-price iPad?

    How do you justify your headline 'out-price' when you don't report a price on this device? So I'm guessing it sells for much less than iPad?
    ITOdeed
    Reply Vote

    • Out-price iPad?

      @Micromush ... The headline is a question, not an answer. If he knew the price, the headline would have been "... out-pricED the iPad." (Assuming it has a lower price, of course.)
      levinson
      Reply Vote

    • the "out-priced" 'em alright 800 euro over $1000 USD for 32Gigs... WTF!!

      @Micromush
      doctorSpoc
      Reply Vote
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