It seems the Tablet arena is no longer strictly the preserve of Apple and the iPad, as Samsung have confirmed the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a Tablet style touch screen device running on Android.

There is no doubt that other Android based Tablet products will be hitting the shelves soon, as such the competition is going to get very tough very quickly for the iPad and the Galaxy Tab. However, looking at the spec list it appears the Galaxy Tab has enough about it to handle any competitors.

The Galaxy Tab has mobile connectivity built in, but this is not going to replace your mobile phone anytime soon. The device weighs a mighty 380g, and measures 190 x 120 x 12mm, and boasts an impressive 7.0 inch display. The display itself is a TFT capacitive screen, supporting up to 16 million colours, and with a pixel resolution of 600 x 1024. The display supports multi touch input, and has a built in accelerometer. There is also a three axis gyro sensor, and built in is one of our favourite products for text entry, Swype.

Powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor, the Galaxy Tab runs on Android OS 2.2, and is able to be upgraded to future Android OS releases. There are two versions of the Galaxy Tab to be released, one with an internal memory capacity of 16 GB, the other with 32 GB. This can be further expanded with the use of Micro SD memory cards, officially supporting cards up to 32 GB in size.

The Galaxy Tab is a quad band GSM product, and also supports 3G, along with HSDPA and HSUPA for high speed data transfers. WiFi 802.11 b/g/n is also included, as is Bluetooth v3.0, with A2DP support. The Galaxy Tab also incorporates a GPS receiver, with aGPS support, for use with Google Maps and a variety of location based services.

On the media side, the Galaxy Tab is a powerhouse device, with a list of features that reads like a Who’s who, or a What’s what of technical prowess. Starting from an inclusive 3.2 Megapixel camera, with autofocus and LED flash, the Galaxy Tab also offers full HD video playback, with a built in TV OUT function, an on board video and imaging editor plus support for a vast array of digital media formats, including DivX, as well as MP4, WMV, MP3, AAC and FLAC. There is also a built in 3.5mm audio jack for private listening of music or videos on the device.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a pretty impressive device, and as a first Tablet device running on Android, it has certainly set the bar at a high level for others to compete against. Then again, one of the great things about the Android OS is the huge variety of devices available that use that system, and judging by the variety of mobile phones already available, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a whole range of Tablet devices being released in the coming months, that will suit pretty much every budget.