Tesco To Offer Samsung Galaxy Tab For Just £529

Tom Jowitt,

Tesco is to sell Samsung’s Galaxy Tab for almost £70 cheaper than the official UK list price, making it much more competitive against the iPad

Every little helps. Tesco is to sell the Samsung Galaxy Tab for just £529.99.

This is roughly £70 cheaper than the official UK list price of £599.99 which was confirmed by DSG Group, the owner of Currys, Dixons and PC World, earlier this month.

Confusion has surrounded the exact pricing of the Galaxy Tab for a while now. It was revealed a few weeks ago that the Samsung Galaxy tablet would be more expensive than the equivalent Apple iPad, so it is good news for consumers that Tesco has decided to lower the price.

SIM Free, Clubcard Points As Well

Tesco verbally confirmed to eWEEK Europe UK that the £529 Samsung Galaxy Tab will be SIM-free, meaning the user has a choice of which contract to join. The tablet will be available from the Tesco direct website from 1 November, with free delivery, and 1,058 Clubcard points.

There are no tie-in’s and it is up to the user to get the best contract they can, Tesco said.

The supermarket also confirmed that users can start pre-ordering the tablet now. Any orders placed before 1st November should be delivered on 2nd November 2010. Orders placed after 1st November will be subject to normal delivery lead times.

Tesco is not the only one offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab for £529. The Carphone Warehouse is also offering the device SIM-free at the same price, or even cheaper at £499 on a 30-day rolling contract. Mobile operators O2, Vodafone and Orange are also stocking the device.

However, it remains to be seen whether these UK mobile operators will offer a better subsidised price for the Samsung Galaxy Tab with a contract, making the Samsung device even better value.

Apple threat?

Unveiled on 2 September at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show in Berlin, Samsung’s long-anticipated Galaxy Tab features a TFT-LCD 7-inch screen and a Cortex A8 1GHz processor, paired with Google’s Android 2.2 operating system. It comes with 16GB of internal memory as standard, scalable to 32GB of external memory, as well as Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.

Unlike the Apple iPad, one its main competitors, the Galaxy Tab offers a camera and the ability to use it as a phone should you wish. And of course, it supports Flash.