Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 heading our way with bigger Honeycomb-toting charms
A leaked PR schedule for Samsung's Mobile World Congress press event shows that the Galaxy Tab 2 tablet will be unveiled at the show, with rumours flying of a larger size and more powerful processor.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab sold more than 2 million units last year, and is still flying off the shelves. But in a couple of weeks, Samsung will take the wrappers off its sequel, the Galaxy Tab 2, at its Mobile World Congress press conference.
How do we know? Samsung said so. A leaked PR schedule for the event on 13 February, reproduced by electronista, shows that the last half-hour will be devoted to a presentation of two new devices: the Galaxy S 2 smart phone and the Galaxy Tab 2 tablet. This being a timetable, they could be working titles, of course.
The success of both original devices -- the superb Galaxy S has sold more than 10 million units around the world -- would suggest that sticking with the name is a sensible option.
So what can we expect from the Galaxy Tab 2? It may be larger than the 7-inch Galaxy Tab, with rumours of a 10-inch model floating about since last September. Samsung fuelled the speculation further with its official press conference invite, showing a mysterious tablet device accompanied by the text, "Something big is coming to Barcelona... Changing needs of consumers continue to shape the development of devices."
Last week, however, industry site OLED Info claimed that the Galaxy Tab 2 is set to stick with the 7-inch size, but upgrade to an AMOLED screen, complete with 3D capabilities. It also tipped the Tab 2 for an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, an 8-megapixel back camera capable of shooting 1080p video, and 64GB of internal memory. Support for Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb software is also expected, although possibly through a post-purchase upgrade.
On Friday, Samsung announced its latest financial results, although it had more to say about the Galaxy S 2 than the Galaxy Tab 2 in its statement on new mobile devices:
"Samsung announced it will introduce the successor to its Galaxy S smart phone during the first half of 2011, featuring a dual-core processor and Super AMOLED Plus display to further enrich user experience... In the tablet market, Samsung will complement its Galaxy Tab with a range of devices to optimally meet various user needs."
So, several Galaxy Tabs are on the way, but the first will have its big reveal on 13 February in Barcelona.