As Android tablets prepare to make a splash at CES 2011, Samsung is already ahead of the game with their Galaxy Tab Android tablet. While reviews of the device were decidedly mixed, they gained a clear advantage by being first to market, and the Galaxy Tab has become, by default, the bar by which Android tablet quality is measured against. According to TechRadar, Samsung’s Android department isn’t planning on sitting out CES 2011 just because they already have a tablet device to market. According to Samsung Hub, Samsung will be taking a shot at the Android media player market at CES, unveiling the Galaxy Player.
Image Credit: Samsung Hub
It will feature a 4-inch LCD at a resolution of 800x480, and will carry a 1Ghz CPU. It will come with dual cameras, 3.2MP on the back, and standard VGA on the front. If the screenshots on Samsung Hub are accurate, it will feature the Samsung TouchWiz user interface running on the Android 2.2 Froyo mobile OS.
Samsung isn’t the first to try and release a non-phone Android media player. Outside the tablet form-factor market, there have been a few attempts already at playing the same game Apple played with the iPhone and iPod Touch. We reviewed one such Archos device recently, and so far nobody has been able to make an Android media player as successful as Apple’s lineup. One big issue that manufacturers have run into in making an Android PMP is that Google isn’t so willing to give non-3G devices access to the Android market. This time around, Samsung claims that it is working around this issue and plans on offering access to the Android Market in the Galaxy Player. There has been no word on pricing, but this and other details will likely be unveiled at CES.