Samsung showcases Galaxy Tab, to compete with iPad

Bangalore: Samsung is on its way to give a stiff challenge to Apple's iPad with the launch of its first tablet, the Galaxy Tab. The Android run tablet was showcased at the IFA, Berlin. Last month Dell released its tablet Streak in U.S. and considering the burgeoning market of tablets, more players are likely to join the tablet bandwagon soon. The Galaxy Tab is scheduled to launch in mid-September in Europe, followed by U.S. and Asia launch in the course of few months. The tablet has a 7 inch touchscreen display and has Froyo (Android 2.2) as its operating system, with support for Adobe Flash content. The Galaxy Tab sports a 3.2MP camera and a 1.3MP front facing camera. It is powered by ARM Cortex A8, 1 GHz processor. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, and 3G (HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps). It has a 512MB RAM with the option of choosing between two models with different internal memories of 16GB and 32GB. The memory can be expanded by 32GB using a microSD card. The Galaxy Tab is certified by Google, which means it will have access to other Android apps as well; although analysts doubt if the tablet will have many apps specifically designed for it, unlike its rival iPad. The latter enjoys a good number of third party apps developed specifically for it. Users will also have access to MediaHub, which is an online TV and movie store for renting and buying video by Samsung. Samsung's ReaderHub and MusicHub will soon be launched in the Galaxy Tab. No announcement has been made on the pricing of the tablet yet.