Best Buy has started taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, making the electronics retailer the first store in the US to offer the Android tablet. You can order a 16GB model for $469.99 or a 32GB tablet for $569.99. That makes the 8.9 inch tablet about $30 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Aside from having a slightly smaller display, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is largely the same as Samsung’s larger tablet, which has been available in the US since June.
The new model has a a 1280 x 800 pixel capacitive touchscreen display, 1GB of RAM, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 3MP rear camera. It ships with Google Android 3.1 Honeycomb and Samsung’s TouchWiz software. There’s a proprietary docking port for charging the tablet or connecting to a computer. You can also buy docking stations or adapters to attach USB accessories or hook up your tablet to an external display via an HDMI cable.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 measures 9.1″ x 6.2″ x 0.3″ and weighs a little less than a pound. It has a 6100mAH battery and native support for a wide range of audio and video codecs including MKV, Xvid, H.264, FLV, and WMV.
via Laptoping