Samsung Galaxy Tab officially launched

After weeks and weeks of leaks, teases and rumours, Samsung finally unveiled the much anticipated Galaxy Tab and here are the details.

The Galaxy Tab comes with a 7-inch TFT-LCD WSVGA display with a whopping 1024×600 pixel resolution — no surprises here but we’re surprised that Samsung didn’t opt for its own AMOLED technology for the display. Inside, there’s a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU ARM Cortex-A8 processor with 512MB RAM powering the device and we suspect that it’s the same one that’s churning out delicious 3D graphics on the Galaxy S. Unlike the Galaxy S however, the Galaxy Tab will be running Android 2.2 but it does come with the familiar and easy to use TouchWiz 3.0 UI skin on top, so you can expect pretty much the same level of usability.

There are two cameras on the Galaxy Tab, one 3MP rear-facing main camera with auto-focus and LED flash, and there’s a 1.3MP front facing camera for video calls. We’re slightly disappointed that the galaxy Tab doesn’t come with 5MP camera instead like the Galaxy S and Wave but Samsung has a reputation for making good camera phones so we’re expecting a lot from this 3MP sensor. The camera takes 720p video as well.

We’ve had some time playing with the Galaxy S and Wave, both comes with front-facing cameras but we can’t find a feature where the front-facing camera can be used for taking pictures. So we’re expecting that it will be the same for 1.3MP front-facing camera on the Galaxy Tab.

There’s a choice of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage with an external hot-swapable MicroSD expansion slot that accepts cards up to 32GB. This gives you a storage potential of 64GB.

There’s a massive 4,000mAh battery giving you seven hours of movie playback in 1080p. Samsung has included various codec support allowing the player to virtually play every format under the sun. Swype is preloaded as to is ThinkFree, an app that provides basic support for Word, Excel and Powerpoint allowing you to get some work done on the Galaxy Tab.

Interestingly, you can make phone calls on the Galaxy Tab if you want to as there is a microphone and a speaker but expect to look completely weird with the Tab stuck on your face while you’re yapping away.

Connectivity wise, its suffice to say that the device has everything. Bluetooth 3.0, b/g/n WiFi, HSPA with 7.2Mbps download and 5.76Mbps download. There’s AGPS and a slew of sensors and accelerometres to keep you happy.

What can we say about the Galaxy Tab? From the live feed of the launch at IFA, we are thoroughly impressed with what we’re seeing. The Galaxy Tab appears to be a worthy contender to the iPad and from our previous experiences with what Samsung can churn out in terms of hardware, we have a strong feeling that the Galaxy Tab will continue the tradition without any issues.

Of course we can’t conclusively draw a verdict now without having some time to poke and prod the Galaxy Tab but it does make a very impressive first impression. Now the big question is if and when the Galaxy Tab will make its way to Malaysia. We are hoping that it will be sooner that we expect.