Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0. The tablet will join the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 in Samsung's smaller tablet offerings meant to compete with the iPad mini, Nexus 7, and Amazon Kindle Fire.
The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 will feature an 8-inch display, run the latest version of Android, and be marketed as a mid-range tablet. Samsung seems to be intent on keeping its Galaxy Note tablets as the high-end tablets in its lineup.
Samsung's newest member to the Galaxy Tab family will bring some upgraded specs and a larger screen compared to the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 released earlier this year. The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 will feature an 8-inch 1280 x 800 WXGA TFT LCD display with 189ppi (pixels per inch). The tablet will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and include 1.5GB of RAM. Samsung is including the latest version of the Android operating system to drive the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which also means it can run Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0 found on the Galaxy S4. It will include a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.
Samsung is also including some of its exclusive apps found on Galaxy smartphones and Galaxy Note tablets. Some of the titles include Samsung Kies Air, Samsung ChatON mobile communication service, Reading Mode, Story Album, Group Play, S Translator, S Travel, Dual view (it allows you to run more than one application simultaneously on the screen). Samsung's Pop-up video and Watch On offer users a nice way to interact with video services on the tablet. Samsung's exclusive apps add some cool features that are not found on any other Android smartphones or tablets and shows Samsung's commitment to really setting its Android offerings apart from what everyone else is doing in the Android world.
The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 will be offered in two storage capacities, 16GB and 32GB of internal storage; users will be able to expand that storage by the included microSD expansion slot that will support up to 64GB cards. As far as connectivity goes, Samsung will offer both a WI-Fi only and 3G and 4G LTE options of the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0.
Samsung hasn't provided pricing or an expected release date of when the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 will hit stores shelves, except a promised "later in the year." Stay tuned.
