Hasta La Gadget!

Well, well, well. What could Samsung be planning to do with this 10.1-inch LCD panel? The screen is on show at the the FPD International Green Device 2010 trade-show in China, and is displayed naked alongside versions in a prototype “e-reader” and a small notebook.

Clearly, that “e-reader” is really a 10-inch Galaxy Tab: It’s making a video call (not something you’d do on, say, a Kindle) and it has the same row of buttons on the bottom bezel as the smaller 7-inch Tab. The screen has a 1024×600 resolution and a 1,000:1 aspect ratio, but that’s not the most interesting part. Not nearly.

The panel is built using Samsung’s existing manufacturing processes, only instead of using a glass substrate for the TFT it uses resin, which results in a tiny reduction in thickness (fro 0.5mm to 0.44mm), but a huge reduction in weight from 130g to just 28g, excluding backlights.

This could lead to a significant reduction in the weight of tablet computers, which right now are a lot heavier than similar sized e-readers that lack glass in their screens. One spec that isn’t mentioned is whether or not this screen is capable of multi-touch. We’d assume so, given the software and form-factor of the demo device. There appears to be some more work to do, though. Take a look at the right side of the screen in Tech-On’s picture, above, and you’ll see that it is slightly warped. Still, it’s only a prototype.

Samsung Unveils 1.8mm-thick 10.1-inch LCD Panel [Tech-On]

See Also:

• Galaxy Tab
• Samsung Galaxy Tab: Cheaper Than iPad, But Not Really

Does that look like a 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab to you? Sure does to us though Tech-on! is calling it an “electronic book reader” prototype from Samsung. Thing is, when was the last time you made a 3G video call using a dedicated ebook reader? The 10.1-inch panel is a 1.8-mm thick LCD prototype on display right now at the FPD International trade show in Japan. It features a 1,024 x 600 pixel panel resolution, 250nits brightness, 1,000:1 contrast, and covers 50 percent of the NTSC color gamut. Oh, and it’s said to be unbreakable thanks to the new 0.44mm / 28g resin panel (excluding the backlight unit) that replaces the typical 1.26mm / 130g glass LCD panel. And while this particular slim panel won’t be ready for commercialization for another two or three years, there’s nothing stopping Samsung from bunging a production-ready LCD into the 10-inch Galaxy Tab promised for 2011. Check the new LCD in profile after the break.

Continue reading 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel?

10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 03:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already heard Samsung boast that it expects to ship 10 million Galaxy Tabs by next year, and the company’s now back at the prediction game yet again, with mobile biz president J.K. Shin saying he expects the company to sell a million of them this year alone — given that the end of the year is fast approaching, that translates to a million sold in just under 60 days. As if that wasn’t enough, Shin also told Nikkei that Samsung expects to sell 40 million smartphones in 2011, which is more than double its projection for this year — of those, it obviously expects the majority to be Galaxy S phones, but it has quite a way to go from ten million it expects to sell this year. Incidentally, Shin also dropped another hint that Samsung would “soon” be releasing a 10-inch Galaxy Tab, but he doesn’t seem to have provided any more details than we’ve heard before.

Samsung expects to sell a million Galaxy Tabs this year, 40 million smartphones next year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re calling Samsung’s Galaxy Tab the best Android tablet of the moment, but curiously the company seems intent on planting a seed of doubt in the minds of early adopters, announcing what may very well be the next Tab’s display. Early (and likely baseless) rumors on the current Tab indicated it would be fronting a Super AMOLED panel, but of course that didn’t come to pass. Now Samsung Mobile Display is set to debut a new 7-inch Super AMOLED panel at the FPD-International exhibition in Japan in two weeks, ahead of full production in mid-2011. Its 1200 x 600 resolution is a bit odd, wider than the Tab’s current 1024 x 600, but more pixels in the same space are generally a good thing. That’s all we know at this point, and of course there’s no confirmation that this will indeed find a home in a next-generation tablet, but don’t let that stop you from speculating in comments about what else the OLED Tab might offer.

Samsung announces 7-inch Super AMOLED panel, makes first-gen Tab a little nervous originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The story of the Galaxy Tab has been quite a saga, to say the least. In fact, it was actually back in May that we first heard rumblings of Samsung’s plans to unleash a 7-inch Android tablet much like its Galaxy S phones, but it was only after months of painful teasing — including a cruel look at just its packaging on the Engadget Show — that Sammy finally unveiled the Galaxy Tab to the world at IFA. The Tab certainly packed the specs — a 1GHz processor, full Flash support thanks to Android 2.2, dual cameras, support for up to 32GB of storage and WiFi / 3G connectivity — to put other Android tablets to shame, and our initial hands-on with it only had us yearning for more. Without pricing and availability, however, the story was at a cliffhanger. Of course, those details trickled out over the next few months, and here in the US, Samsung finally announced that all four major US carriers would be getting Tabs to call their own. Verizon then finally took the lead in announcing pricing, and revealed that its Tab would hit contract-free for $600 — Sprint followed with the same no-contract pricing along with a $400 two-year contract option.

Indeed, it’s been quite a long journey, but even after all of that, some of the major questions are still left unanswered. Does the Tab provide a more complete and polished experience than all the other Android tablets out there? How are Samsung’s specially tailored apps? And ultimately, has a tablet finally hit the market that can rival Apple’s iPad? We think it’s about time we answer those questions and finally open what might be the most important chapter of the Galaxy Tab story — the official Engadget review. We knew you’d agree, so join us after the break.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab review

Samsung Galaxy Tab review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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