Samsung Mobile Phone Blog

When the Apple iPad was introduced, it defined the tablet computing genre that had earlier shown promise but never fully exploited with HP and Compaq tablets of the 90s. Today, the mobile computing market is treated to another computing specimen that sits midway between the tablet and the mobile phone – the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Positioned as striking a blend of mobile phone handiness with tablet-like functional versatility, it’s easy to see the new Tab from the Korean leader in mobile phones as being a direct competitor to the iPad, especially when Samsung releases it hot on the heels of the iPad’s.

Grand Features

The Samsung Galaxy Tab takes off from Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S and as a mobile phone, it certainly is the biggest and heftiest with 190 x 120.5 x 12 mm dimension at 380g. Its 7-inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen with multitouch, 16 million colors and 1024 x 600 resolution has no equal among smartphones as it approaches tablet dimensions. In fact, it has many features that rival or exceed those of the Apple iPad.

For starters, a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU with PowerVR SGX540 graphics accelerator and 512 MB RAM running puts it at par with the iPad processing power. But it edges out the iPad with a true multitasking Android v2.2 Froyo. It also has 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and D1 (720 x 480) video capture at 30fps. Topping off its edge over the iPad is a microUSB v2.0 port and external microSD support for up to 32 GB.

The Tab features a wealth of data and radio connectivity options that include a tri band UMTS on 3G with HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA at 5.7 Mbps data connectivity speeds. It is also a quad band GSM with class 10 GPRS/EDGE data speeds on 2G. Data connectivity richness is evidenced by WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP as well as an onboard GPS receiver with A-GPS.