Samsung Introduces 8.9- and 10.1-Inch Galaxy Tabs Coming This Summer

Samsung wants customers to have a choice, and to that end, it unveiled two new tablets today at CTIA in Orlando.

What is the right size for a tablet–7 inches? 8? 9? 10?

Now, you don’t have to decide. Well, except that you do.

Samsung introduced the 8.9-inch and the 10.1-inch super-thin tablets, which will release this summer. The 10.1-inch tablet will be available June 8. A sixteen gigabyte Wi-Fi version will cost $499. The 32GB version will cost $599. The 8.9-inch version will cost $469 for 16GB, and $569 for the 32GB. No word on when this size will launch, except that it is coming this summer.

In the end, there will be a mind-boggling number of options.

Both models will also have the option of 4G connectivity, WiMax or LTE, which is promised to be priced very competitively, according to Samsung Mobile’s SVP Omar Khan.

The announcement, which was made at CTIA this morning in Orlando, included a few user videos, featuring ideal users for the different sized tablets. The filmmaker preferred the larger screen to view video, and the travel writer preferred the more portable size to stay in touch with friends while on the go.

The hardware, which is both insanely thin and lightweight, is also robust. Both Samsung Galaxy Tabs have a 1GHz dual-core processor, a long-lasting battery and cameras in the front and back.

The tablets will also come with Samsung’s entire array of software, including Readers Hub, Social Hub, Music Hub, and its Touchwiz 4.0 software overlay, which will include live panels that can be customized on the home screen. They both will be running Honeycomb, Google’s latest Android operating system.

The topic of tablet size can be quite polarizing since Apple believes that the iPad’s nearly 10-inch screen is the ideal size.

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs went on a tirade back in October, saying that the seven-inch screens that Samsung and other Android vendors originally launched were going to be dead on arrival.

He went as far as to say that users will have to sand down their fingertips in order to use the touchscreen effectively. “Apple has done extensive testing on how close you can put elements on the touchscreen, and 10 inches is a minimum size to create great tablet apps,” he said.

It appears that Samsung took Apple’s user research to heart.

“Samsung has always been about choice, and building products that fit the unique needs of our consumers,” Khan said.

Anonymous

“The hardware, which is both insanely thin and light-weight, is also robust.”

Is that Samsung’s words, or yours?

If your’s, then how thin? And how light? And how did you try to destroy it?

If Samsung’s, then how do you keep the job?
http://twitter.com/snookiesnoo Nunya Biznes

More vaporware from Samsung. Jobs “went on a tirade”? Maybe saying that gets you pageviews but thats not what happened.
http://twitter.com/snookiesnoo Nunya Biznes

Samsung wouldn’t even turn the tablet on or let anyone touch it. Because its a hastily mocked up dummy in reaction to the iPad 2.
Anonymous

Wow, that 10 inch one looks like it may be worth looking into wow.

http://www.real-privacy.it.tc
http://www.facebook.com/robpierson Rob Pierson

If Samsung updates the Tab anything like how it does with Galaxy droids, they numbers of unhappy customers will continue growing.

2.1 on the Fascinate still? Seriously?
http://www.awakenedvoice.com Robert Safuto

8.9 and 10.1 inches? What a mess. Too many choices in a market category that will soon be flooded. Don’t forget that the HP WebOS tablet should be coming out in June too. The BlackBerry Playbook will be out by then as well. The battle for those who don’t want an iPad is turning into a train-wreck.
zps

not a train wreck for users that find 10″ to be too big (i’m one of them). i’m very happy for the 8.9″ version.
Anonymous

In the technosphere, any time you disagree with nerd dogma, that is a “tirade” or a “rant.” Actually listening to Jobs calmly explain his cogent, well-developed thoughts on this issue after being asked by a reporter why Apple doesn’t make a 7-inch tablet is not required.

Try and find a graphical PC with a 7-inch screen. Even the original Mac from 1984 had a 9-inch screen. The apps and Web pages are all made for a 10-inch 1024×768 “PC class” screen like iPad. Anything smaller and you have to make mini-apps and zoom Web pages, in which case, you might as well use a 3.5-inch pocket device.
Anonymous

Nailed it.
Anonymous

> In the end, there will be a mind-boggling
> number of options.

Another way to say this is “a developer-boggling number of options.”

There are only a handful of Android tablet apps right now, much less than 100, and they are all designed for a 10-inch screen like Motorola XOOM.

Changing the screen size on a tablet is not like changing the screen size on a PC; it’s like changing the keyboard size on a PC. A tablet is fundamentally a keyboard (you touch it) with a screen built in; not a screen without a keyboard as it first appears. Every app is like a whole new keyboard and the developer needs to make the buttons a usable size for a wide range of user hands. Therefore he or she needs to be able to know the user’s screen size.

A physical metaphor for a touchscreen would be a PC keyboard where the whole center pops out and you can pop in an “Angry Birds keyboard” or a “FaceBook keyboard”. The makers of the various keyboard inserts need a standard size to pop into.
http://x.co/EGXP Domainers Gate

just call it AMAppZON.com
Anonymous

I have a Galaxy Tab and an Ipad1, I don’t find Galaxy Tab to be too small, in fact it is slightly better than Ipad1′s 10 inches as it is easier to hold. As far as apps are concerned, don’t care much about apps on a tablet or a pad, I just want a good browser, responsive UI and great battery life, both IPad1 and Galaxy Tab fit the bill, so bought both.
Anonymous

what happened exactly ? and really as a consumer why should I care about what Jobs think is ideal for the consumer ? I like 7 inch and anybody arguing otherwise is wrong including Steve Jobs.

Samsung Introduces 8.9- and 10.1-Inch Galaxy Tabs Coming This Summer

comments so far. Add yours.

AllThingsD by Writer