14 DAY TRIAL // Unveiled back in March, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet is now available for purchase in the United States.
Best Buy is one of the first major retailers to sell both versions of the Wi-Fi only Galaxy Tab 8.9, the 16GB model and the 32GB variant.
Customers who want to purchase Samsung's medium size slate will have to pay $469.99 (about 345 EUR) for the 16GB version or $569.99 (roughly 420 EUR) for the 32GB model.
It appears that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 was Samsung's answer to LG's Optimus Pad slate, as both have the same size and almost similar hardware and software configuration.
However, Samsung's tablet is much smaller (230.9 x 157.8mm), sleeker (8.6mm) and lighter (447g, battery included) than the Optimus Pad, which measures 243.8 x 150 x 12.7 mm and weighs 621g (battery included).
In addition, the Optimus Pad offers users 3D capabilities that do not require them to wear any glasses, as well as a superior 6400 mAh Li-Ion battery.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 embeds a 6000 mAh Li-Polymer battery and runs Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.
Furthermore, the tablet packs 16/32/64 GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
Unlike the Optimus Pad, Galaxy Tab 8.9 features a main 3-megapixel photo snapper on the back, as well as a secondary 2-megapixel front facing camera for video calls.
The slate is powered by a dual core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and an ULP GeForce graphics processing unit.
Obviously, the tablet comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity and Wi-Fi hotspot function, but lacks the 3G option, which is only available within a separate model.
Other highlights of the slate include: Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP support, TouchWiz UX user interface, three-axis gyro sensor, microUSB, TV-out and built-in GPS receiver.