BERLIN: Samsung continues to roll out Android tablets, despite being subject to a number of patent infringement lawsuits from Apple, and V3 got its hands on the latest edition to the ever-growing Galaxy Tab family.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7in looks to be another fine effort from the Korean manufacturer, boasting some tasty specifications and a beautifully crafted, lightweight design.

Despite having a screen almost one inch larger than the HTC Flyer and BlackBerry PlayBook, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 weighs just 335g, making it around 100g lighter than its competitors. The Tab is great to hold and definitely has a decent claim to being the most portable tablet on the market.

Samsung will also retain the voice calling feature in 3G models, making this a hybrid device like the original Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The company has squeezed in a Super Amoled screen with 1,280x800 resolution. The screen is extremely crisp and its brightness marks a step up from the 1,024x600 pixels on the original Tab.

Samsung has ditched the commonly used context sensitive face buttons, and the Tab has no keys on the bezel.

As always, Samsung has increased the device's horsepower, incorporating a 1.4GHz dual-core processor. We found internet browsing swift, and applications loaded quickly. We expect the Tab 7.7 to be one of the fastest on the market when it comes out.

The tablet is also wafer thin and, with a thickness of 7.89mm, looks like a size zero model next to the Flyer (13.2mm) and makes the PlayBook (10mm) look a bit chubby.

The Tab runs on Android 3.2, so the experience is going to be similar to other tablets, but we did spot some features that we haven't seen before. The System Bar on the Tab 7.7 features a screen capture button to instantly print any page. There is also an extra arrow that brings up six shortcuts to apps along the bottom for quicker access.

The back of the device has also been changed, which we were happy to see. Gone is the white plastic back, which made the original very slippery to hold, to be replaced by a gun-metal grey metal casing.

In a nod to its ongoing battle with Apple, Samsung cheekily placed a sticker on the back stating that the "design is subject to change", almost as if the manufacturer is anticipating another lawsuit.

As it stands, we were very impressed with the 7.7in, even more so that the Sony Tablet S. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 looks like it is going to offer a large display without compromising portability, and it could be the best Android tablet to date.

02 Sep 2011