Upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 may run Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread.

Samsung has a new naming scheme for tablets this year. Understandably, the Samsung Galaxy Tab (the original Android tablet which came out last year) was called that because the Korean manufacturer did not have any other tablets in its portfolio. But now, with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 announced, it was time to shake things up a bit.

Oh, and launch a successor to the original Galaxy Tab. That’s apparently just what Samsung plans to do in the near future, according to HDBlog.it. And that tablet will be called, predictably, the Galaxy Tab 7. Okay, enough about the name, which was almost obvious anyway.
What about features? Well, it looks like the Galaxy Tab 7 will be just a giant Samsung Galaxy S II, just like the original Galaxy Tab was basically a bigger version of the original Galaxy S. We’ll get to the innards of the tablet in a moment, but for now let’s let something sink in: it will run Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread.

Yes, Samsung plans to release a new tablet, in 2011 no less, running a version of Android designed for phones. Sure, Samsung is, in this regard, following in its own footsteps (think Galaxy Tab), but perhaps it really shouldn’t have. The Galaxy Tab wasn’t overly criticized for its choice of OS version because, frankly, there was nothing that Samsung could have done about that, except maybe not launch a tablet then at all. Google hadn’t finished Honeycomb when Samsung launched its first tablet, so that was understandable.

But now? Now a tablet-optimized version of Android is out, and has been for a while. By the time the Galaxy Tab 7 actually hits the streets, Honeycomb will probably be at version 3.2 or so, with many bugs fixed and stability improved. So what is Samsung thinking? Who knows. Let’s just hope all this turns out to be false.


Samsung is apparently even going to make a big fuss of the Galaxy Tab 7′s phone features (which it will be able to have because it will run an OS version designed for phones). Because the first thing someone buying a tablet would want to do with it is place a phone call.

Spec-wise, the “giant Galaxy S II” image comes to mind. The tablet is said to have a 1.2 GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos processor, 1 GB of RAM, 2 GB of ROM, 16 GB of internal storage space, microSD card support, a proprietary connector with USB host capability, a 7-inch WSVGA touchscreen (just like the original Galaxy Tab), an IPS panel, and it will have TouchWiz 4 on board, which is described as being “halfway between Honeycomb and the Galaxy S II’s TouchWiz”. So supposedly a more tablet-optimized TouchWiz to make up for the OS version there, a la HTC’s Flyer with its tabletized Sense UI.

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 will be released this fall (or autumn, if you’re not in the US). We’re still hoping that Samsung will have a last-minute change of heart and launch it with Honeycomb on board. Or wait for Ice Cream Sandwich to arrive. We’ll see.

APPLE AND SAMSUNG BATTLE

The news this week has been the battle of Apple and Samsung fighting it out in the court system. The High Court of Australia ruled to lift the ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. This announcement was a huge win for Samsung who has been in an ongoing global patent fight with Apple in several different countries around the world.

iPad 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

There are both similarities and differences when it comes to comparing the two tablets.

First of all, the price tag for both models is roughly $500. Both tablets allow convenient access to popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. They also include great web browsers, email, and other applications that are quite useful.

Both tablets include tons of free and paid games and offer the ability to watch shows through popular websites like Netflix or YouTube. Both offer the ability to stream live for several hours on a fully-charged battery.
Excellent peripherals and apps are available for making voice or video calls. They are both very convenient and user-friendly for taking photos, playing music, recording audio, and making videos. A bad point that both tablets have in common is that if the battery fails, it cannot be removed by the user but rather a service technician which is obviously not so convenient.

There are differences between the two tablets as well.

The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 is more lightweight than the iPad 2. Apple traditionally provides apps that are constrained to its system only which makes the iPad 2 less flexible than the Galaxy 10.1. This however creates a safer system that is less vulnerable to glitches and application mishaps. There were some apps that were not available on the Galaxy 10.1 such as Netflix and Skype but they are now currently supported. There are still some apps that are not always available for the Galaxy 10.1 however since it can download non-Apple apps, it can support other great programs like Adobe Flash which is not supported on the iPad 2.

As the battle continues between Samsung and Apple over patent infringements, consumers are the deciding factor in determining which tablet is the best. Samsung remains the closest rival to the iPad so until other companies enter the smartphone and tablet race more competitively, we can expect to see the best to offer as far as PC tablets coming from Apple and Samsung.