Samsung's 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab tablet — billed by the company as the "world's thinnest mobile tablet" — will be available nationwide June 17. It costs $499 for a 16 GB Wi-Fi only version, and $599 for a 32 GB Wi-Fi only tablet.
The 10.1-incher is a straight-on iPad competitor with its size and pricing. On June 8, it will be available for purchase at Best Buy's Union Square store in New York City. Starting June 17, it will be sold at Best Buy, as well as Fry's Electronics, Amazon.com, Newegg, Tiger Direct and Micro Center.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also be available from Verizon Wireless and Sprint this summer. Verizon says the tablet will be "4G LTE-enabled," meaning it should be able to run on Verizon's fourth-generation cellular network, as well as Wi-Fi. The tablet, in either "Metallica Gray" or "Glossy White" will cost $529.99 for the 16 GB model and $629.99 for the 32 GB model, Verizon said. There is no word yet on Sprint pricing.
Samsung's flagship tablet is "8.6 millimeters slim" compared to the iPad 2's 8.8 mm depth (about a third of an inch — and 33 percent thinner than the original iPad). The Galaxy Tab weighs 1.25 pounds, also slightly lighter than the iPad 2's 1.33 pounds.
But it's not just size or weight that will matter with the new Galaxy Tab. It will run version 3.1 of the Android operating system; 3.1 is also known as Honeycomb, and it's a version of the OS that's been especially designed for tablets, to maximize speed.
"The Galaxy Tab 10.1’s ultra-thin design and 10-inch touchscreen are impressive differentiators in the tablet market place," said Dale Sohn, president and CEO of Samsung Mobile in a press release.
The tablet has a dual-core, 1 GHz processor, 2-megapixel camera in the front and 3-megapixel rear camera. You can learn more here.
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