Samsung launching modified Galaxy Tab 10.1N Android tablet

Samsung has released yet another version of it’s Galaxy Tab Android Honeycomb tablet.
Named the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, the latest version is on sale in Germany and appears to have some design modifications to differentiate it further from the Apple iPad 2, following legal wranglings between the two company’s.

Apple had accused Samsung of copying the design Apple’s tablet, stating: ‘we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.’ This led to a ban of the sale of the tablet in Germany and Australia.

Samsung has made two significant changes to the design. One is the bezel, which now wraps around the edge of the tablet, the second is the repositioning of the speakers. Will this be enough to prevent Apple from pursuing it’s legal action?

Florian Miller, patent expert comments on his blog Foss Patents: I’m not in the position to say that this product definitely steers clear of infringement. That’s up for the courts to decide. But without a doubt, Samsung has upped the ante for Apple and its lawyers in case they wish to request a new injunction or allege that this constitutes an infringement of the existing one.’

He continues: ‘A Community design is infringed only if all of its key characteristics are matched, or if that is the overall impression on an informed person. The Galaxy Tab 10.1N still has rounded corners, but Apple doesn’t have an exclusive right on just one such feature: what is protected is a set of characteristics and the overall impression it makes.

The original Galaxy Tab 10 first appeared earlier this year and we even had some hands-on time with it, however following the launch of the iPad 2, Samsung quickly withdrew the tablet and replaced it with the svelte Galaxy Tab 10.1, just 8.6mm deep. The Tab 10.1N will be the third incarnation of the tablet.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1N will go on-sale in Europe next week, but there’s no news on when/if it will come to the UK, our guess is not – especially if the original the Tab 10.1 is still on sale here.

 

Via: EWeek Europe Via: Mobiflip