Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 due next week

Fondleslab frenzy

With Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 launched today in select stores and reviewed here, attention has shifted to its smaller 8.9in brother, which could be in our hands as early as next week.

We didn't anticipate the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 so soon after Samsung insisted it wouldn't arrive until "later this year". If the Amazon storefront of German distributor Atelco Computer AG is to be believed, the release date has been brought forward to 12 August, with the company offering the 3G version on pre-order for £605.

We've reached out for official confirmation from Samsung and will update accordingly.

Meanwhile the slightly larger Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has rolled exclusively onto Dixons' shelves, with PC World and Curries both offering the 16GB Wi-Fi only version for £399, also offering customers a 32GB model for £479 and a 64GB one for £559.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb on a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. It has 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi on board, Bluetooth 3.0, and front- and rear-facing cameras with 2m and 3mp pixels, respectively.

A next-gen 7in Galaxy Tab is also expected in September. ®