Samsung Offers Glimpse Of Galaxy Tab Tablet

Samsung is offering a quick glimpse of its upcoming Galaxy Tab tablet PC, via a 20-second promo clip on a corporate Website.

That clip reveals certain key details about the device, which Samsung doubtlessly hopes will carve a bit of the burgeoning tablet PC market away from the Apple iPad. In addition to a 7-inch screen, the Galaxy Tab will include video calling and Web browsing, and run Android 2.2.

Samsung apparently plans to debut the device on 2 Sept, during an event in Berlin.

Aggressive Moves

The company has been making aggressive moves in the mobile space of late, including the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S on multiple carriers. One version of the device, the Samsung Epic 4G, will be released on 31 Aug. on the Sprint network. The combination of Super AMOLED screen, 1GHz processor, and Android 2.1 operating system positions the Galaxy S platform as a multimedia powerhouse, capable of competing not only against the Motorola Droid but also the Apple iPhone.

In a similar vein, the Galaxy Tab places Samsung in competition with a number of other companies for a share of the tablet PC market. The recently released Dell Streak includes a 5-inch screen and modified Android operating system, with 3G connectivity through AT&T. Hewlett-Packard plans to release tablets running both its recently acquired Palm webOS and Windows 7, and Research In Motion is reportedly working on a slate-like device that will leverage the BlackBerry brand.

The Galaxy Tab, and those other tablets, will find themselves locked in battle against the Apple iPad, which sold 3.27 million units during the third fiscal quarter of 2010, and retains first-mover advantage in the consumer tablet space. The current rumor-mill suggests that Apple will launch a new version of the iPad with an upgraded processor in early 2011, alongside a smaller version of the device.

Virtual Keyboard

Based on the online clip, other Galaxy Tab will also feature Swype, which allows users to enter words on a virtual keyboard by dragging their finger between letters, and “augmented reality,” an Android feature that uses a device’s cameras to overlay information onto an image of the local environment.

The Samsung Website’s reference to the Galaxy Tab’s “full Web browsing” could be an allusion to support for Adobe Flash 10.1, the next iteration of the software that powers rich content for many Websites; Apple refuses to support Flash on its mobile devices, citing concerns with security and performance, leading other companies to tout their own Flash support as a competitive differentiator.