Vodafone UK Hints At Galaxy Tab 2

Vodafone UK will be stocking the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, following its launch at this year’s Mobile World Congress show next week, according to a posting on its Facebook page.

Last month, a leaked PR schedule showed that Samsung was intending to launch the next version of its Galaxy Tablet at the Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona. The unveiling is scheduled for the slightly unusual time of Sunday 13 February, at 7.30pm at night.

But the news that Vodafone UK could soon be stocking the next generation Samsung tablet came to light after a posting on its official Facebook page which linked to an article about the second generation Samsung tablet.

Galaxy Tab 2 Arrival

“There are some great Android smartphones in the pipeline – Nexus S, Xperia Play and LG Optimus 3D – with more coming to Vodafone soon. But Android’s just about to get even bigger with the launch of the first Honeycomb tablets around the corner,” it said.

“There’s a preview video of Honeycomb in this FoneHome article so take a look and let us know what you think. Will you be picking one up?,” it added.

Observers think Vodafone would not post a link to such an article unless it is planning on offering the new tablet. However it is worth noting that Vodafone UK has so far not made any official comment on the matter, and calls by eWEEK Europe UK were not returned at the time of going to press.

Tab 2 Specs

The next generation tablet, already dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, is expected to andinclude an NVIDIA dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 1024MB of RAM, a 7 inch 2048 x 1200 Super AMOLED display, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera,  and a 3 megapixel front-facing webcam. It will also offer  3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, USB ports and 64GB of internal storage with microSD expansion.

But the big news is that the new tablet is widely expected to run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Google has already admitted that Android 2.2 is not optimised for tablets as it cannot support applications on touch screens larger than 4-inches efficiently, but Honeycomb is thought to promise a much more impressive tablet experience, with advanced multitasking, a widget-driven interface and desktop-like tabbed web browsing.

The South Korean electronics giant is already said to be working on a bigger 10 inch alternative for those wanting more screenspace, compared to the originals 7-inch display. And at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January Samsung introduced a Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab, and an Android-running “smart player” called the Galaxy Player.

Return Rate Queries

The orginal Galaxy Tab made a promising a promising start after recording solid sales of 1 million units, since its UK launch back in early November.

However recently there have been question marks over the actual number of hard sales to consumers, after a Samsung official Lee Young-hee said that the 2 million Tabs the company claimed to have shipped since last September weren’t actual sales to consumers but shipments to retailers and wireless companies such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T and others who offer the device.

Meanwhile AllThingsDigital recently noted that ITG Investment Research, who had tracked sales data from nearly 6,000 wireless stores in the United States, found that return rates for the Galaxy Tab through December were about 13 percent. Tab return rates through 15 January apparently totalled 16 percent.

Samsung however dismissed reports that its Galaxy Tab tablet is suffering a high return rate, but did admit to lower-than-expected sales.

“According to Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications Business, the return rate is below two percent,” argued Samsung in a statement.