Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Student Edition Could Hurt Nexus 7

An anonymous reader sent Engadget proof that Samsung plans to sell a Student Edition of its Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 tablet at Best Buy sometime around August 19. This would mean the gadget will likely appear in the Sunday paper adverts along with other competitors pushing their back-to-school bargains before students hit classes this fall.

According to the tipster, the 7-inch Android tablet will be bundled with a keyboard dock and a USB peripheral connector. But the big news here is that this bundle will supposedly only retail for $249 -- the same price as the 16 GB version of Google's Nexus 7 tablet. The Galaxy Tab itself -- Samsung's 8 GB Wi-Fi only model -- isn't quite as feature-packed as Google's offering, but the added keyboard certainly makes up the difference.

Over on Samsung's website, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 specs (and here's a pdf) show that it comes packed with a 7-inch, WSVGA (1024 x 600) TFT screen. It only carries 8 GB worth of internal storage, but an added microSD card slot allows users to expand its capacity up to 32 GB. The tablet also features a rear-facing 3MP camera for photo shoots, and a VGA front-facing camera for video conferencing.

As for other bells and whistles, the Samsung tablet sports a 1.0 GHz dual-core SoC, 1 GB of RAM, a Li-Polymer 4,000 mAh battery, 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 3.0, a USB 2.0 Host port, and a built-in IR blaster for turning the tablet into a Smart Remote for your TV. The OS of choice is Google's 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," which may or may not hit Jelly Bean status, depending on Samsung's mood.

The photo of the boxed Student Edition handed over to Engadget shows a white bevel on the tablet (as shown on the Samsung Mobile website here), and a white keyboard. So far Best Buy hasn't announced anything official, and it may not, letting customers discover the bargain in paper and online adverts.

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