Samsung device showcase
Shortly before we went to print, Samsung invited us along for a sneak preview of its upcoming wave of smartphones and its next tablet that should hit the New Zealand market in the very near future. Coming just a day after the announcement of the iPad 2, the device that really caught my eye was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. In terms of specs, Samsung’s second stab at the tablet market can toe it with Apple’s latest and perhaps even outperform it in many areas: it’s running Google’s tablet-ready operating system "Honeycomb”, a 10.1-inch display capable of outputting at 1080p and a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It also features an 8-megapixel, rear-facing camera capable of recording HD video, and a front-facing, 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling.Arguably at the top of the pile of the new range of Samsung handsets is the Galaxy S II. We were pretty impressed with its older brother (reviewed back in November last year), particularly its vibrant AMOLED display. Well, naturally Samsung has taken that technology up a notch, implementing a 4.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus display that truly has to be seen to be believed. It’s also packing a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel camera also capable of recording 1080p video. Remarkably, this one is even lighter than its featherweight predecessor.But Samsung’s not just pandering to the high-end crowd, with a range of phones on the horizon to suit the varying needs of consumers. The Galaxy range will soon include the Galaxy Ace, aimed at young professionals, which features an 800MHz processor, a 3.5-inch HVGA display and runs Android 2.2. We’ll also see the Galaxy Mini join the proliferation of low-cost, low-end smartphones into the New Zealand market. With its 3.14-inch QVGA, a 600MHz processor and Android 2.2 out of the box, this entry-level device should be priced very competitively on launch.We got a brief play with these devices, but we’re hoping to get our hands on most of them very soon for more comprehensive testing, so keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming issues.
