Samsung Galaxy Tablet Appears To Be Verizon Bound

Samsung will officially announce the Galaxy Tab on Thursday ahead of the IFA conference in Berlin. According to the sneak peak offered by Samsung itself, we know that the Tab will have a seven-inch touch screen and will run Android 2.2.

Last week, a developer in Israel shared details about the tablet device, and said that it has a CDMA wireless radio inside. On Monday, the Galaxy Tab was spotted in Verizon Wireless' internal system, apparently confirming the earlier report.

If the Tab is indeed headed to Verizon Wireless, that means Verizon will have two tablets by the end of the year (including one from Motorola). Will they be enough to take on the Apple iPad? Yes, says the Israeli developer, who's testing the device.

Slashgear last week reported that "the Samsung slate is fast and a serious iPad contender, with slick Flash playback on the Android 2.2 OS installed, together with strong audio performance," based on word from the developer. That's good news.

What else do we know about the Samsung Galaxy Tab? Based on the video published by Samsung, it appears that Swype software is on board for faster text input. In the few images that are displayed in the video, we see it being held in someone's hand. It looks far larger than even the Dell Streak Android phone, which has a five-inch display.

The Tab will have two cameras on board and can make video calls. Samsung didn't say what kind of software would be involved in the video sharing, nor what sort of resolution the cameras would offer.

Other features noted by Samsung included: HD movie playback, e-reading, Flash support, augmented reality, navigation, and PC-like Web browsing.

The design of the Tab appears to be somewhat similar to the iPad, though the display doesn't look to have the same 4:3 aspect ratio that the iPad does. With a seven-inch screen, the Tab will definitely be smaller and more portable than the iPad, but it's way too big to be used as a phone.