Samsung officially unveiled the main competitors of the iPad 2 and pushed the rivals a lot

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A recent leak that Samsung planned to release a pair of tablets at once to compete with the iPad 2 and other products has now been confirmed by an official announcement that took place at the exhibition. CTIA 2011 in Orlando, USA. What can I say – Samsung is gradually turning into an Asian analogue of Apple. Previously, in certain areas, Sony was considered such, but in recent years it has lost its innovative spirit and has become more and more aimed at the mass consumer. The redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 (previously known as the Galaxy Tab II) and the new Galaxy Tab 8.9 are among the most technologically advanced tablets based on Android 3.0.

For the most part, the characteristics were confirmed, although there is new information. Samsung did not tell about which processor is used in the devices, limiting itself only to indicating the frequency of 1 GHz and the fact that it has two cores. In addition, there is no information about the matrix used in the displays, but the resolution in 1280×800 dots Confirmed for both tablets.

Unlike the first prototype, the camera in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has become worse, or, let’s say, the number of megapixels has decreased from eight to three. It’s not a fact that the pictures will suffer greatly, the size of the matrix is u200bu200balmost the same anyway. It can be assumed that such a decision was made in order to reduce the size of the device. By the way, both 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch tablets are the same in thickness – 8.6mm, which is smaller than even the iPad 2 (8.8 mm). The resolution of the webcam on the front is 2 megapixels. The younger brother has similar photomodules.

Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models, similar to the iPad, will go on sale. Samsung continues to promote the HSPA + standard (speed to the subscriber is up to 21 Mbps) and the corresponding modem is installed in both tablets. The Wi-Fi module supports IEEE 802.11b/g/n protocols, plus there is a Bluetooth 3.0 adapter. A set of traditional sensors: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a digital compass, GPS and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the brightness of the display.

Both models will go on sale with 16, 32 and 64 GB flash memory and, if desired, it can be increased using microSD cards. That is, the maximum storage capacity in the new Galaxy Tab is 96 GB – impressive. Exact weight and size characteristics Galaxy Tab 8.9 – 230.9 × 157.8 × 8.6 mm, 470 g, Galaxy Tab 10.1 – 256.6 × 172.9 × 8.6 mm, 595 g.

It is worth noting that the tablets have stereo speakers, while Apple adheres to the mono policy. In terms of autonomy, the devices are comparable to the iPad and in video playback mode they can work up to 10 hours.

I’ll take a closer look at the software platform. In this case, it’s Android 3.0, plus the proprietary TouchWiz shell for tablets. The latter is a rather interesting solution that allows you to change the size of widgets and actually offers work with programs in windows. Unfortunately, so far everything is not working as smoothly as we would like. The usual lags of the Android 2.x interface have successfully moved to Android 3.0. At least in the demo video below slowdowns are visible to the eyeand they are unpleasant. So far, everything can be attributed to the dampness of the operating system and shell. Still, the release of the tablets is scheduled for this summer, maybe by then the software will be better.

But the manufacturability of tablets can turn into nothing against the backdrop of insane prices, and lately Samsung has not been shy about “going crazy” in this matter. However, Apple’s tough pricing policy has forced the Korean competitor to curb its appetites. According to official data, the 16 GB Wi-Fi models of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be offered at a price $469 and $499 respectively. 32 GB models will cost $100 more. Samsung promises to start selling the older model on June 8 this year, and the release of a more compact counterpart is promised for “early summer”. [SlashGear]