At long last, readers, the first Android Honeycomb tablet that’s worth your money is finally upon us, and starting tomorrow you can grab your very own Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Unlike other Android tablets, including the 7 inch Galaxy Tab, you can grab this 10 incher without a contract from a carrier the first day it’s available, and at $499, this reasonably price tablet is sure to leave you satisfied.
We’ve reviewed both the Google I/O version and the retail version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and while the differences are minimal, both left us very impressed. Samsung has made a great Android tablet that’s thinner and lighter than anything on the market today and it virtually dethroned the Motorola Xoom even before we got our hands on the thing. Samsung is offering up this powerful tablet in two versions, a 16GB ($499) and a 32GB ($599). These will be followed up by 3G and 4G versions later on, but we’re certainly glad to see that you won’t have to sign a contract to get our hands on this tablet.
The 10.1 inch tablet will ship with Android Honeycomb 3.1 out of the gate, and offers up virtually everything you’d expect from a premium Android tablet. Since the 10.1 is so thin, Samsung decided to skip most of the hardware ports we’re used to see on tablets of this kind, but the tradeoff is worth it. The ultra thin and light body of the device is a dream to hold and you wouldn’t even notice it if you put it in your backpack when you’re on the go.
The device sports the powerful NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, the gorgeous 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800, 3 megapixel camera on the back, and a 2 megapixel camera on the front, DLNA support, along with the expected WiFi (b/g/n) and Bluetooth. The Tab will ship with stock Android Honeycomb and will later receive an update that will add Samsung’s TouchWiz UX to the device. While we’re not crazy about custom Android skins, the TouchWiz UX for the Tab is implemented beautifully without getting in the way.
Who will be picking up one of these bad boys tomorrow?
Press release after the break.