- Samsung Developing Own User Interface
- Honeycomb OS and Soon HSPA+ at 21 Mbps
Thinner and lighter than the iPad 2! Samsung’s own user interface running on top of Android Honeycomb! HSPA+ at 21 Mbps in the future!
Those were Samsung’s talking points during a CTIA launch of two new tablets — the 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch Galaxy Tabs, both of which run the tablet-specific Honeycomb version of the Android OS. Samsung called them the thinnest, lightest tablets in those screen sizes.
Samsung clearly recognizes that a few millimeters and grams won’t alone take market share from the pervasive iPad. It has undertaken an effort to develop its own user interface called Touch Wiz that runs on top of Android.
However, it did not appear to be finished and Samsung said it will not be available when the new tablets first ship. It offers these functions:
- A home screen called Live Panel that can be customized
- A mini apps tray for frequently used apps such as a browser
- A social hub that includes e-mail and messaging (Samsung promised more details later)
- A reader’s hub for books, magazines and newspapers
- A music hub for downloading and playing music
- A media hub where content can be downloaded and played on up to five other Samsung devices
| 10.1 | Wi-Fi only | 16GB | $499.00 |
| 32GB | $599.00 | ||
| 8.9 | Wi-Fi only | 16GB | $469.00 |
| 32GB | $569.00 |
The 10.1-inch unit plays full HD video and has two speakers for surround sound.
Like all the recently introduced tablets, it has Nvidia’s dual core Tegra processors and two cameras. The 3G models of both Tabs can be used to make phone calls.
Samsung played up some extra cost features that will appeal to the corporates: SAP, Microsoft Exchange, Sybase, hardware-based encryption, Cisco’s AnyConnect plus Microsoft’s Office suite.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 at 8.4 mm is thinner than the iPad 2, it said.
Samsung said the model 8.9 gets up to 10 hours of use between battery charges.
Both units come with Bluetooth and the full-range of Wi-Fi.
Samsung made a big deal about the units having 4G but then said that 4G is actually coming soon, like the Motorola Xoom. They can be upgraded at some unspecified future date to 21 Mbps HSPA+, which AT&T calls 4G.
Samsung suggested that the 8.9-inch screen model would be available early summer. It said the 10.1 model will be available in June.
Samsung was aggressive in pricing, with the model 10.1 matching the iPad 2:
The company said availability and prices for the HSPA+ version would be announced later.
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