Samsung and Vodafone Announce Galaxy Tab 10.1

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung and wireless carrier Vodafone announced officially at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the release of a new Android-based tablet PC on the operator's airwaves, the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 (Model: P7100).

Samsung and Vodafone unveiled that the new GALAXY Tab 10.1 should arrive on shelves in spring loaded with features that would provide users with a great experience when playing games, reading ebooks, surfing the Internet, or accessing social networking sites.

The new device is powered by Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, and packs a dual core application processor inside, an Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, along with a 10.1-inch touchscreen display, a larger one when compared to the original Galaxy Tab.

“Vodafone customers in over 20 markets around the world will be the first to get the GALAXY Tab 10.1 when it goes on sale this spring,” Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Director of Terminals, said.

“Samsung have produced a stylish, market-leading implementation of the new Android 3.0 platform which will be the first Honeycomb device to arrive in many of those markets. Vodafone’s competitive data tariffs and reliable, high-speed networks make using the GALAXY Tab 10.1 a great experience.”

The specifications list of the new device shows that the 10.1-inch TFT LCD screen boasts a WXGA (1280 x 800 pixel) resolution, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, along with a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

Moreover, the device also includes low power DDR2 memory, 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, a 6860mAh battery for extended usage time, the whole suite of sensors, HSPA+ 21Mbps, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or GPS.

At the same time, the tablet PC comes with support for Google Mobile services like Gmail, YouTube, Maps, or the Android Market for downloading and installing applications.

“Samsung continues to develop innovative products that contribute to the continued growth of the Android ecosystem,” said Andy Rubin, Vice President of Engineering at Google.

Note: Fellow editors Cosmin Vasile and Alex Vochin are on the floor at the 2011 Mobile World Congress and are keeping us posted with pictures and live reports on the latest product previews and launches.