Samsung to refresh 7in Galaxy Tab this September

Samsung is reportedly gearing up to release a second generation of the 7in Galaxy Tab, one year on from the launch of the original Android tablet. According to Italian site HDBlog, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 will come with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of Ram and Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread rather than last year's Froyo. …

[ratbert]

Gingerbread? Really?

Why oh why would they release a tablet running Gingerbread? It might not be a 10" screen, but the hardware would clearly be up to it, and the Tab is a tablet, not a phone...

I've got the current Tab, and am following the home-brew development of a Honeycomb ROM with great anticipation - from what's been demoed so far it looks to run HC quite happily (though a small bit of OCing is recommended ;)

[M Gale]

Eww, 3.0 UI

It's awful. Really. Why does it suit a tablet better than 2.x?

Plus the 3G version IS a phone, or at least contains the chipset for it. Right now I have a dialler that lets me make calls. As I understand it, Honeycomb has no dialler.

So a reduced functionality, and a UI that just reminds me of Microsoft when they went all Fisher Price. No thanks.

[M Gale]

What about the update for existing 3G Tab owners?

You know, the Gingerbread update we were promised for late May? Mine is the carrier-free GT-1000 model, bought and paid for without a contract so there's nobody to delay things while they add their own useless trinkets. The supposed update is the only reason I'm currently tolerating that godawful shite known as Kies on my system, so can I please get a firmware upgrade so I can uninstall that bloatware post-haste?

Or are we going to be told "you want new firmware, buy a new Tab" like so many other Samsung device owners in the past?

[Anonymous Coward]

vaporwear

i wouldn't be surprised if, much like many of the suggest android phone updates, this just never appears.

Many of these android 'suppliers' seem to be of the persuasion that if you want a more up to date OS, you can jolly well buy some more upto date hardware, although in this case, you still dont get the current os when buying the new hardware.

[Gerhard Mack]

done?

It was released but I suspect they forgot about carrier free users or expect you to take it into the shop for the update. Personally, I just downloaded the official update from a third party and installed it myself.

I can confirm that gingerbread his a huge improvement in battery life.

[RMartin]

Darn it

Current tabs were supposed to have been upgraded to Gingerbread last month, but the update still hasn't appeared. Now all becomes clear - Samsung figure that a £400 upgrade is better than a free one. Almost makes me want to get an iPad - ha ha haaa, not really.

[Tom 38]

This is what puts me off Android

With iphone, you get the OS updates as soon as they are released, there is none of this fragmentation, or relying on a manufacturer to release an update.

I still don't get why this would be running Gingerbread rather than Honeycomb. Y'know, the tablet OS. On a tablet. :crazy:

[Anonymous Coward]

Title

Who cares?

7in tabs are dead on arrival.

Sent from my iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

Speak for yourself!

Well I think 10" tabs make people on trains look like comedy waiters juggling huge plates desperately trying to watch the lastest CSI episode or read The Times! MIght be perfect for a desk or loafing on the sofa, but not tightly confined public transport systems.

I want a 7" sized tablet as I don't want a "comedy plate sized" tablet that's too bulky but still want something bigger than a phone screen to watch movies on, my hands are big enough to comfortably hold a 7" tablet in one hand.

[joejack]

@Speak for yourself

I want so much to agree with you. I even had my eye on a Nook Color to root with Honeycomb, but after looking at technical ebooks on a 7" and 10" tab, was forced to change my mind. The 7" only holds half a page, and constant scrolling would be maddening when trying to read through a programming book.

[Anonymous Coward]

Title

It was more sarcasm to be honest. I enjoy watching the tablet wars unfold. Its quite desperate from some camps (RIM for example) and is going to be even funnier when microsoft fling their weight at it in a few years time (always turn up to the party a little late and in a bad condition)

I enjoy my android smartphone, but have no interest in these tablets. I have a 12in note/ netbook, and that can run proper app(lication)s

[Arctic fox]

Re: "Speak for yourself!"

I agree, the 7 inch form-factor is a very handy one. After all it has roughly the same external physical dimensions as a Kindle - great for reading and big enough for seeing some video etc.. I can very well see that the 10 inch tab has its place but that place is not on a crowded bus!

[Rob Daglish]

@Rmartin,m gale

2.3.3 is here? Just bought mine for rock bottom price SIM free, and updated it more or less as soon as I got home? Early June, admittedly, but even so...

[M Gale]

Not for me it isn't.

Kies is either not working, or Samsung are just being arses. Mind you, it might be because I bought the thing from PC World. In any case, it's a 3G-equipped model GT-P1000, takes any SIM, isn't locked to any particular carrier...

...and still doesn't have Gingerbread.

Baseband version P1000XXJK5, build number FROYO.XWJJ7, if that helps any. Running Ubuntu right now so can't be arsed rebooting into Win7 to run Kies, but I remember the last three digits that Kies reports being CPW, which others seem to reckon means "Carphone Warehouse". Wut?

[M Gale]

Spoke too soon!

Just tried today. "New Firmware Available".

Will give it a go shortly. Time to see whether it works or bricks, I guess!

[M Gale]

Update:

New firmware. Few hundred megabytes of shite downloaded.

...and the Tab tells me I'm still running 2.2. Hang on?

[PaulR79]

Price?

If they put a price as high as the original Galaxy Tab then it really will be D.O.A. I don't know how they thought that price was sensible when they released the original last year and it sounds like they're trying to price up the newer Honeycomb Tabs similarly over here in rip-off Britain. Prices were already stupidly high compared to other countries (not all, granted) but with the VAT increase we're paying an ludicrous amount for the same thing.