Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 7.7 and Galaxy Note smartphone tablet hybrid

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS GIANT Samsung has announced its latest line-up of mobile products, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 and the Galaxy Note smartphone.

The announcements came at a press conference at the IFA 2011 event in Berlin, where Samsung unveiled its latest products including laptops, cameras, smartphones, media players and tablets.

The smaller Galaxy Tab features a 7.7in Super Amoled Plus display that promises to be extremely clear and vivid. It also touts a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, 16GB to 64GB of storage, a long-lasting battery capable of up to 10 hours life, and, of course the Android operating system, in addition to the same things in its larger sibling, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, and a microSD slot.

It's interesting to note Samsung's decision to launch a smaller tablet. This could be due to its intense legal battle with Apple over the 10.1in Galaxy Tab, which has resulted in an injunction against sales of the device in Germany and the potential for the ban to spread to the rest of the European Union. Changing the size might not be enough to satisfy the courts, but it's likely too late to make any significant alterations to the Galaxy Tab 7.7.

The Galaxy Note smartphone features a 5.3in HD Super Amoled display, one of the largest on a smartphone today. Due to this Samsung is calling it "a new category of product", halfway between a smartphone and a tablet, but whether or not it will fail to do its job as a smartphone due to its larger size remains to be seen.

The Galaxy Note is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, comes with HSPA+ connectivity, an 8MP camera, and the Android operating system. It will also come with the S Memo and S Pen apps to improve users' multimedia and editing experiences.

Other companies would have called the Galaxy Note a tablet, like the 5in Dell Streak that was launched last year. Many considered the Streak a hybrid of a smartphone and a tablet, just like the Galaxy Note, so Samsung's claims of innovation are not necessarily convincing. At least, however, Apple might be unlikely to sue it over the Galaxy Note. µ