Three seems to be the magical number for Samsung, with the tech giant bringing to Australia its very affordable Tab 3 range.
The refreshed Samsung Tab range comes in three size options, the first being the 7-inch tablet. Made for one-handed use, this is the cheapest of the lot, priced at $249.
Samsung is touting this tablet for every-day use and general net browsing, with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 4000mAh battery.
The 10-inch Tab 3 has a $399 price-tag, and is being targeted toward family use and sharing the screen. It runs on the new dual-core Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, with 1GB of RAM and a 6800mAh battery.
The "hero" product of the lot is the 8-inch option, which sits nicely specced in between the 10-inch and 7-inch tablets. Priced at $849, it also runs a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, with 1.5GB of RAM and a 4450mAh battery.
The screen resolutions of 1280x800 (10 and 8-inch) and 1024x600 (7-inch) brings the screen quality down to 189ppi for the 8-inch, 149ppi for the 10-inch and 169ppi for the 7-inch.
They all have micro USB ports for charging, and both the 8-inch and 10-inch tablets have 16GB of internal storage expandable to 64GB through microSD card slot, while the 7-inch has 8GB of internal storage expandable to 32GB.
One-inch difference
While the above specs don't seem to differ too much, we've wondered before why Samsung would have 7 and 8-inch options available. But with the Tab 3 range, what differentiates the models the most is what apps and features they come with.
The major difference between the two fall to the fact that the 7-inch option is for the budget conscious, while the 8-inch model has more features and apps in-line with the 10-inch model.
There are a number of differences in app availability through Samsung's app store, but one such would be that Samsung's new Readers Hub and Games Hub, for example, are not included in the 7-inch model, while they are included along with the new Music and Learning Hubs on the two larger models.
Among a number of other app features that the the 8-inch gets, it also has a 5MP rear-facing camera over the 3MP cameras the other two models have.
Tablets for everyone
Samsung looks to be striving to provide consumers all over the world a very large and differing array of choices with their products.
While it seems that the Galaxy Note tablets will continue to be Samsung's premium range, the very affordable, but lower-specced Tab 3 range looks to be targeting the more casual user.
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on TechRadar.
"We recognise that tablets are becoming an essential device for a wide range of Australians, but perhaps most significant is the uptake and use among families," said Tyler McGee, vice president for telecommunications at Samsung Australia.
Samsung has not announced the date that the Tab 3 will be going on sale across Australia, but they'll be available for pre-sale at Samsung Experience stores starting tomorrow. Samsung has said that they will also be sold in either Wi-Fi-only variants or with 4G capabilities in the future.
