After burying us with 8.9-inch, 10.1-inch, 5.3-inch, and 7.7-inch tablets, Samsung is going back to their 7-inch roots today.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 has been announced for a launch later next month, offering Android 3.2 Honeycomb, a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, with a 3 megapixel camera on the back with LED flash, and 2 megapixel camera on the front for video conferencing. Models with 16 and 32 GB of memory will be available, plus up to 32 GB in the microSD memory card slot. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus also manages some pretty impressive dimensions, weighing in at 345 g and being only 9.96 mm thin. As far as connectivity goes, the Tab 7.0 Plus will plug into HSPA+ networks, as well as use something called Wi-Fi channel bonding, to get up to twice the speed out of your local wireless network.
While Samsung’s approach lately has seemed a little scattershot, it’s hard to complain about an overabundance of choice. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was a fine piece of hardware, and maybe Samsung can bring the same quality to a broad range of tablet sizes. The 7-inch size in particular is a sweet spot for many people who place portability ahead of viewing experience. Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing Samsung experiment a bit more with actual form factor, since pretty much all tablets look identical at a glance.
Although the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is expected to find its way to T-Mobile at some point, Indonesia and Austria are first on the late-October launch list, followed by U.S., Europe, Asia, and everywhere else in the world. White and grey versions will be available, but there’s no mention of pricing just yet.
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