Though technically not available until July 19 from the Samsung online store, three new Galaxy tablets are selling at online retailers in the U.S., such as Amazon, BestBuy, and NewEgg. The Galaxy Tab 3 is budget-friendly and comes in three sizes: 10.1-inch, 8-inch, and 7-inch.
The largest of the three is the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. It has a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 and 149 ppi. The orientation of the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is in landscape mode by default, which places the home button in the middle of the long side, with the home button and volume rocker on the top left edge.
The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is 6.93 inches tall, 9.57 inches wide, and 0.31 inches thick. It weighs in at 1.12 pounds. Processing power comes from a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU with two cores. The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 comes with 1GB of RAM and internal storage of either 16GB or 32GB.
As for cameras, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 has a 1.3MP front-facing camera and a 3MP rear shooter. The battery is rated at 688 mAh. The biggest Tab 3 is also the only one equipped with an IR blaster, turning the tablet into a universal remote and living room media hub.
In the middle of the pack is the 8-inch Galaxy Tab 3. The screen is rated at 800 x 1280 pixels, with the highest ppi at 189. Its dimensions are 8.24 inches tall x 4.87 inches wide and 0.29 inches thick – the thinnest of the three new options – and it weighs only 0.69 pounds. It comes with a built-in reading mode, which makes it a great e-reader.
The processor is one of Samsung’s own: a dual-core, 1.5GHz Exynos. Of the lot, the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 has the most RAM, 1.5GB, and the strongest rear camera, 5MP. Storage options are the same as its bigger 10.1-inch brother, and both come with the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system. The battery capacity for the 8-inch Tab 3 is 4450 mAh.
The smallest, cheapest, and lowest-spec option is the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0. It has a screen with 600 x 1024 pixels (169 PPi), and measures 7.4 inches tall x 4.37 inches wide x 0.39 inches thick. It is the thickest of the three, but also the lightest, at 0.67 lbs. The twin-core processor is rated at 1.2GHz with 1GB of RAM. Internal storage options are set a bit lower than the other two, at 8GB and 16GB. The rear and front-facing cameras are the same as the 10.1-inch model, and the battery provides 4000 mAh.
Currently, all three models are Wi-Fi only. Future releases will include 4G HSPA+ and LTE. Each new Galaxy Tab 3 slate accepts microSD cards, which allow the memory to be boosted by up to 64GB.
Base models of the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, and Galaxy Tab 7.0 cost $400, $300, and $200 respectively. The 7-inch Tab 3 has been available in India since April.
Last year, Samsung shipped 17.9 percent of all smartphones worldwide. According to TechCrunch, “Once, all mobile players were looking at simplifying their product lines to be more like Apple, but now Samsung is surging on a scattershot approach, and it has the resources and the momentum to keep at it for a while to come.”