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Samsung today unveiled the Galaxy Tab 2, updating its 7-inch model and its award-winning 10.1-inch Android tablet with features that the CRN Test Center believes make them even more versatile than their elders.
For starters, Tab 2 devices will include an SD card slot, greatly simplifying the movement of files to and from the devices and expanding their storage capacity by 32GB. The company told the CRN Test Center at a confidential hands-on briefing on Monday that the SD card slot was among the most requested new features.
Even more far reaching, the new Galaxy Tabs will now be equipped with an infrared emitter, enabling the tablets to take the place of any number of existing remote control devices, including those for televisions, cable set-top boxes, DVD/Blu-ray players and other home entertainment components. What's more, a new version of Samsung's Smart Remote software, which itself is based on Peel Technologies' Smart Remote, learns the media consumption patterns of its users and taps Internet data to display what's on a user's most-watched channels in real time. It also categorizes available television content for easier access based on content.
At a confidential briefing earlier this week, the CRN Test Center saw Smart Remote working well in the confines of the demonstration, but we were unable to configure our review unit for controlling any of our test television sets. However, the software to its credit popped up a dialog box asking for all the particulars of the equipment that it failed to control, and sent the data to Samsung for processing.
Galaxy Tab 2 devices now run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on a 1GHz dual-core processor with 8GB standard in the 7-inch and 16GB in the 10.1-inch unit. Both include a 3MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera.
