Samsung Galaxy Tab 2: facial recognition unlock, other Ice Cream Sandwich perks

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 to be introduced in Britain in March, then rolled out elsewhere. The successor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be one of the first tablets to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich system. 

Customers look at Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab tablet computers at a store in Seoul last month. The company is set to release its successor tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, in Britain in March.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters/File

February 14, 2012

Samsung has unveiled the successor to its first 7-inch Android tablet, but this time the device will run the latest feature-rich version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) will be one of the first tablets available with Ice Cream Sandwich, which has a haltingly beautiful design and tons of new features like facial recognition unlocking that make using Android elegant and fun. The Galaxy Tab 2 will join Samsung’s diverse family of tablets like the Tab 8.9 and 10.1, which compete the best they can against Apple’s iPad, the most popular tablet in the world.

“Two years ago, [the] Samsung Galaxy Tab began to offer customers more possibilities on the go,” said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Samsung, in a statement. “Since then, Samsung has actively enhanced our tablet line-up with several tablets in different sizes.”

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On the spec side, the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) has a 7-inch screen with 1,024-by-600 resolution, a 1-GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 3-megapixel camera on the rear, and a front-facing VGA camera for video chat. There will be both Wi-Fi and 3G models available. For 3G connectivity, the device will support HSPA+ downloads up to 21 Mbps (if you can ever find a network that actually can deliver that.)

The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 will launch first in the U.K. in March and then spill out into other markets. While the U.S. isn’t mentioned, the device will almost certainly arrive stateside like its other tablets.

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