Samsung has its eye on Microsoft and the Surface tablets, launching a brand new slim Windows 8 tablet just last night called the ATIV Tab 3. Technically this is the successor to the original ATIV Tab, as for some reason Samsung left out an ATIV Tab 2.
Measuring 8.2mm thick and weighing 550 grams, the ATIV is a good half a centimetre thinner and close to weighing half as much as Microsoft’s Surface Pro. This is of course, down to Samsung’s penchant for using lightweight white plastic to build its tablets. That 8.2mm thickness gives Samsung the right to claim that the ATIV Tab 3 is the world’s thinnest Windows 8 tablet, by the way.
Unfortunately form factor is pretty much the only area the ATIV beats Microsoft’s hefty tablet. The display is 10.1-inches diagonally and sports a resolution of 1366 v 768 (155 ppi) – nothing astronomically sharp, by any means, and considerably lower than the Surface’s Full HD 1920 x 1080 display.
A dual-core Intel Atom Z2760 processor runs the show from the inside, paired up with the now standard 2GB of RAM and a very generous 64GB of storage. Although you’re getting a lot more storage than usual from Samsung here, there is still a micro SD card slot which allows you to bump it up some more. Other connections include Micro USB and Micro HDMI out, plus NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. There will also be a cellular version of the tablet sold with 4G connectivity.
Finally, on the back you’ve got a 5 megapixel camera which unfortunately lacks autofocus capabilities, plus a non-descript front facing camera for Skype calls.
Samsung’s latest Windows 8 tablet will arrive a little later on in the year, with no exact release date or price details revealed just yet.