The hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (P7500) tablet was launched last night at a function held at Urban Tree in Sandton, with its availability in retail stores being announced for this Monday, August 1st.

The 32 GB Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is the thinnest Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) tablet to date, is the company’s latest entry in the tablet market, competing against the likes of the Acer Iconia A500 and Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

The tablet, which measures a mere 8.6 millimeters and weighs 595 grams, has a 10.1” (hence the name) touch-screen display with a WXGA (1280 x 800) resolution. This is centered inside a narrow bezel to enhance the wide viewing angle. It additionally houses the excellent Tegra 1 GHz dual-core application processor and a 6800 mAh battery, which the company asserted will provide up to ten hours of continuous video play on a single charge.

Notable Features

Another feature noted at the launch was the inclusion of Samsung’s Hubs feature to manage popular content. The social hub aggregates email, contacts, calendar and Facebook and Twitter feeds into a central location, while the reader hub and gaming hub does the same for e-reading and gaming respectively.

The tablet further boasts a customisable user experience, which Samsung is calling the TouchWiz UX, enabling users to customise the home screen of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with digital pictures, favorite web sites and social network feeds.

Additionally, the TouchWiz UX includes a ‘Mini Apps’ tray of commonly used features, including a task manager, calendar and music player, which can be launched while other applications are in use.

Opportunity Knocks

George Ferreira, the chief operating officer for Samsung Electronics Africa, explained that the greatest momentum in the technology world at present entailed the growth of apps for mobile devices, which meant there was ample opportunity to provide devices that exploited the media-rich apps currently being developed.

Paulo Ferreira, the head of Mobile Product and Business Solutions at Samsung South Africa, further emphasised the suitability of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for enterprise and business clients as well as consumers, detailing that business users on the road could establish a virtualised connection to their desktop computer at the office and access their desktop applications on the Galaxy Tab.

The company also showcased its Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone, which we recently reviewed and remained impressed with.

“We have combined our innovations in design and display with an intuitive user experience, creating a new class of products that will lead the tablet market,” concluded George Ferreira. Keep your eye on TechSmart for a full review, which will be coming shortly.