Three new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 tablets arrive next month

Samsung will release three new tablets in the US early next month. Here's your guide to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, 8.0, and 7.0 

In early July, Samsung will unveil three new tablets in the US: the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, and the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0. 

All three tablets are part of the new Galaxy Tab 3 line, which Samsung first introduced back in early June. Confused by all the numbers? Here's your quick primer: The Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is the smallest of the bunch (the 7.0 refers to the 7-inch display). Samsung says the device is "compact enough to easily slide into handbags or a jacket pocket so that consumers on-the-go will appreciate its compact size and lightweight design." 

The 7.0 is also the cheapest of three-tablet Galaxy Tab 3 line, at a relatively affordable $199. And the spec list, for that price, is actually pretty decent: the Android 4.1 operating system, a 3-megapixel back-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 1.2-GHz dual-core processor. 

Samsung is positioning the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, meanwhile, as a kind of beefed-up e-reader.

The 8.0 (price tag: $299) ships with "reading mode" technology, which Samsung claims can "optimize the display to deliver perfect illumination and tone for comfortable paperlike readability in a variety of lighting conditions." The 8.0 also gets the Android 4.2 operating system and app multi-tasking. 

Last in line is the 10.1, a premium device priced at $399. Besides the bigger frame, the Tab 3 10.1 is equipped with a 1.6GHz dual-core Atom chip with 1GB of RAM, the Android 4.2 operating system, and a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 – the better to watch movies and play games, Samsung notes. 

So how will these new devices – and especially the flagship Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 – stack up against similar offerings from Samsung's competitors? Well, Sascha Segan of PCMag.com isn't particularly optimistic. 

"Other than the Intel play [on the 10.1], I'm a little underwhelmed here," he writes. "At a $399 price point, it's obvious that the Tab 3 10.1 isn't going up against flagships like the Asus Transformer Infinity or the latest iPad, but I'm also concerned about the upcoming Asus Memo Pad FHD 10, which has the same Intel chip and a higher-resolution screen at a potentially lower price."

Launch date for the Galaxy Tab 3 line is July 7; pre-orders open this week. 

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