Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1)
I never quite understood what makes a company use product names so confusing that no one has any idea what products are available, but that hasn’t stopped Samsung from doing it. Weeks after the announcement of the Galaxy Tab 2 – a device almost identical to the 7.0 Plus – comes the news that said tablet was actually the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) and is only one of at least two Galaxy Tab 2s. The Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) has now been revealed, and it’s essentially identical to the original Galaxy Tab 10.1.
From what I’ve been able to tell from the specs, they downgraded the front facing camera, upgraded the Bluetooth version to 3.0, and added a microSD slot. The chipset isn’t mentioned, only described as 1GHz dual core, so it’s likely the same Tegra 2 chip that’s in the previous 10.1 model. That’s it, otherwise same resolution, size, even basic (back) design. Oh, it does ship with ICS, which is technically a difference until the original gets the update as well. So, why release this at all? I mean, it looks pretty useless now in 2012 with Tegra 3, Exynos and other chips enabling tablets to be far faster than the old Tegra 2 generation. Well, I think the secret is in the front design. The image shows an exposed aluminum bezel, with what looks to be front facing speakers on either side. As tiny a detail as this is, it might be all Samsung needs to put a stop to Galaxy Tab sales bans in some countries once and for all. It doesn’t look like the iPad from the front anymore, anyways, and I think that’s the entire point of this.
Still, I hope Samsung prices this right. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was a premium device when it first came out, but those specs are at the low end of the scale in 2012. In my opinion, $400 is too much for this. $350 might be doable though, but I wouldn’t go any higher than that, and I don’t care that the current model sells for about $400 these days; Tegra 2 isn’t worth that much.
