Samsung’s push to be a premier tablet maker continues with yet another model that’s been designed to cater to those who like a smaller screen. The 7-inch 16GB Tablet with Wi-Fi (known as the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus) is an ode to the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab that came out in 2010, but it borrows much of the technology from its 10-inch cousin.
The front of the unit looks a lot like the original 7-inch, but has a sleeker back, a better screen and a lighter weight. It’s thin, but not as thin as the 10-inch, presumably because it’s easier to squeeze in components into a bigger form factor. The tablet uses a dual-core Samsung Exynos 4210 processor with 1GB of RAM and and 16GB of internal storage.
Like Samsung’s other tablets, the 7-inch offers limited ports and buttons. You get the power button, volume rocker, and an infrared sensor on the top, along with a headphone jack and mic on the left side, dual speakers and a proprietary port on the right, and a microSD card slot on the bottom. If you want to playback content onto an HDTV, you’ll need to use an adapter.
There are two cameras, a 2-megapixel in the front, and a 3-megapixel in the rear.
Another key difference between this and the original is the software — this 7-inch runs on Android 3.2 Honeycomb overlayed with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface.
The infrared sensor at the top of the unit works with a built-in app called Peel to turn the tablet into a remote control for your TV. This is similar in concept to what Sony’s Tablet S has, except that Samsung includes a guide showing visuals of the shows that are on. Tap them and you can watch that show right away (assuming it’s actually airing at that time, of course).
If you don’t have a cable or satellite subscription, however, the app is pretty much useless because it doesn’t work with over-the-air broadcasts. There’s also no search feature, which is an unfortunate oversight. Samsung has hinted at the prospect of Peel working with services like Netflix, but that’s not the case as of now.
The new 7-inch tablet is available starting on March 15th and will sell on Future Shop for $349.99.
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