Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 stops by our office, poses for the camera

The just announced Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 was kind enough to come by our office on its way to the MWC shelves. The latest Samsung slate is supposed to bring the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich experience on the 10.1” screen, while keeping the price as reasonable as possible.

Before switching it on, you can barely tell the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 apart from its predecessor, but the actual user experience is quite different with the second gen slate. The latest Android version feels way more polished than the transitional Honeycomb and you can tell even on a pre-release unit like the one we have here.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 at ours

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is actually a bit thicker (9.7mm vs 8.6mm) and heavier (588g vs 560g) than the original Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is a bit of a disappointment, but we are hoping this was only done to bring the price down and it will be worth it. It’s not that the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 feels bulky – as we said it really looks the same, but one would normally expect next-gen devices to be slimmer and lighter, not the other way around.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 sized up against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

And here comes a quick video hands-on video we’ve prepared – we hope you enjoy it.

Hopefully this got you warmed up for tonight. There are big announcements to come from Huawei, Sony and HTC in just a few hours, so make sure you hang around after 3.30 CET (GMT+1) or you might miss something.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 sides and back panel