The Wait is Over: Samsung Announces the Galaxy Tab 8.9
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 26, 2011 6:15 PM ESTWhen I first met the Galaxy Tab 8.9 in Florida earlier this year I felt like it may be the perfect tablet form factor: small enough to be really portable, while large enough to really be a tablet. Our own Jason Inofuentes is live at Samsung's press event where the company just announced availability of the 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab. The new tablet will be available nation-wide starting October 2nd in 16GB and 32GB configurations for $469 and $569, respectively.
The specs of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 are virtually identical to its bigger brother. You still get a 1280 x 800 PLS display, just in a smaller form factor. NVIDIA powers the tablet, Samsung lists the SoC as a dual-core T250S, presumably running at the same clocks as the Tegra 2 in the 10.1.
The weight also drops a bit to 447g. The 8.9 features two cameras (2MP front facing and 3MP rear facing), is WiFi-only and ships with Android 3.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz UX. Battery capacity is listed at 6100mAh. Jason should be getting our review sample in the next hour, expect a quick preview in the next day followed by our usual in-depth treatment next week!
| Samsung 2011 Tablet Comparison | ||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 | |||||
| SoC | NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz) | NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz) | ||||
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce | NVIDIA GeForce | ||||
| RAM | 1GB | 1GB | ||||
| Display | 1280 x 800 PLS | 1280 x 800 PLS | ||||
| NAND | 16GB | 16GB | ||||
| Dimensions | 230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6mm | 256.6 x 172.9 x 8.6mm | ||||
| Weight | 447g | 565g | ||||
| Price | $469 | $499 | ||||
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
18 Comments
View All Comments
JohnnyRockets911 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
More than an inch less in viewable screen size and only a $30 price difference?Who the heck would buy an 8.9 when the 10.1 is only $30 more?
And why isn't this $399?
jordanclock - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
For some people, bigger isn't always better?pcgeek101 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
True -- for me though, the only reason I'd buy the 8.9 is for inherently higher DPI. Same resolution on smaller screen = win.surt - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
And waiting and waiting. First one out the gate gets my money.pcgeek101 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
No one cares about screen resolution :( It makes me sad to see us still in the dark ages.bennyg - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
question is, wouldya pay a coupla hundred premium for it over a lower res same size model.OEMs think not enough buyers would, so it don't get built. Bloody good 14" and lower 1080p on laptops still aren't reality except for the $4k Sony Z and not many of them need to be sold at that price for profit to be made.
pcgeek101 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
I bought a 15" Dell Inspiron about 7 years ago that had a 1920x1200 matte display. It was incredibly beautiful, and only cost around $1000. Why are we 7 years later and still cannot achieve high resolutions at a low cost?sprockkets - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
The dpi on your example is the same as the 10.1 Samsung tablet.Soooooo....
lurker22 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
Here we go again, moron manufacturers think people will pay iPad prices for non-ipadsWake me up when its $99
insurgent - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
Enjoy your everlasting sleep, evreyone else will.