Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7-inch

With so many variations, Samsung's Galaxy range of tablets surely offers a little something for everyone. The latest addition is the Galaxy Tab 2 -- officially the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) -- which is the natural successor to the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. 

This new boy offers a 7-inch screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and, best of all, ships with the latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

There's no word yet on pricing or availability, but I'll keep you updated when we hear anything concrete.

Design

Outwardly, the Tab 2 won't take your breath away. It has the sort of unremarkable stylings you could easily walk past, but it's perfectly respectable. The front of the device is dominated by the screen with a thick black bezel. The grey back peeks around the edge slightly at the top and bottom, which Samsung will be hoping keeps Apple's lawyers at bay.

Samsung is going to offend the sum total of nobody with this colour-free, grey back casing.

Around the back of the tablet you'll find a big expanse of grey, which is about as interesting to look at as a concrete paving slab. The subtle Samsung branding makes it look a little smarter, so you could pull it out in the boardroom without being fired for gross misconduct. As for build quality, my initial impressions are that this tablet seems sturdy.

With a screen size of 7 inches, the Galaxy Tab 2 is considerably more hand-friendly than its bigger brother, the Tab 10.1, which means you'll have a much easier time of carrying it around everywhere. On the other hand, if you want to kick back with a good movie or intend to do loads of web browsing on your sofa, you might find you benefit from a bigger screen.

The good news is that this tablet is light and very comfortable to hold in one hand. That could make it good for reading ebooks, for example. 

The screen has a resolution of 1,024x600 pixels, which is pretty good for a device of this size. It looked bright and clear when I clapped eyes on it, but it's worth noting that the screen itself is highly reflective, so you'll need to watch out for overhead lights. Using this tablet outdoors in the sunlight could be a trial.

The highly reflective screen could get annoying under lighting, which is unfortunate for Samsung, as there's oodles of it at Mobile World Congress.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

The Tab 2 is to be the first tablet from Samsung that ships with the latest version of Android, known to its mates as Ice Cream Sandwich. It's likely the other slates in the Galaxy range will be given updates, but it's heartwarming to see a new product with the newest software as standard.

Ice Cream Sandwich is Google's latest OS. It aims to create a unified experience across smart phones and tablets and promises to be faster while adding new features like face unlocking. I've found the face unlock feature on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to be rather hit and miss. It's a fun novelty, but it's too easily fooled for it to be a secure safety feature.

Samsung has re-written its hilariously named TouchWiz interface for ICS too, so expect large social networking hubs on the home screens, as well as the ebook, music and video hubs you'll find on other Samsung devices. While some of Samsung's tweaks can be quite handy, we often find it goes overboard in adding extra software. If you take the time to strip out what you don't need, you'll likely see a speed increase.

The Tab will take microSD cards up to 32GB.

Specs

Under that plain grey hood is a 1GHz dual-core processor, teamed up with 1GB of RAM. Compared to quad-core monsters such as the Asus Transformer Prime, that's not much to brag about, but it should be plenty of juice to keep a 7-inch slate ticking over.

I haven't had a chance to run my usual barrage of benchmarks on it, but I didn't notice any stutter or lag during my hands-on time. With the performance tweaks of Ice Cream Sandwich in place, I'm hoping for a nippy experience all round, and that includes playing hi-def video and running graphically demanding games.

We'll soon start to see extremely demanding 3D games and apps popping up though, designed to take advantage of the supercharged processors of the tablet elite. We'll have to see how this little fella stacks up against those more muscular devices.

In terms of storage, the Tab 2 will be offered in 8, 16 and 32GB varieties. It also supports microSD cards up to 32GB, so you could always opt for the cheaper version, chuck a high-capacity card inside and spend the money you've saved on sweets and puppies.

Samsung is going to offend the sum total of nobody with this colour-free, grey casing.

On the back of the tablet you'll find a 3-megapixel camera. Cameras on tablets aren't usually anything to write home about so we're not expecting much. It will probably be just about good enough to get a shot of your mate passed out with pizza on his face so you can share it to Twitter. There's a front-facing 640x480-pixel camera too, for video calling.

Outlook

The Galaxy Tab 2 looks set to be a worthy update to the original Galaxy Tab. I'm chuffed it ships with the latest version of Android. Although it isn't specced as heavily as some tablets, we're hoping it offers enough juice for all the mad stuff I want it to do. This could prove a decent, highly portable Android tablet. Stay tuned for a full review soon.