Samsung stalls Galaxy Tab Euro release after Honeycomb hold-up

By Shane McGlaun
on 3 Jun, 2011

Yesterday we mentioned that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be hitting the US in limited quantities on June 8 at one Best Buy location in NYC. We also mentioned that pre orders would start everywhere on June 8 for the 10.1 with full availability of the tablet on June 16 for the US. If you are, a fan of the tablet in Europe that has been hoping that meant you would be able to get the device about the same time, bad news.

Eldar Murtazin is says that Europeans won’t be able to get the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or 8.9 until about August. Note we don’t say “delay” because Samsung has never promised the Galaxy Tab 10.1 on a specific date for Europe so it can’t be delayed. Murtazin also says that the Samsung tablets are being offset from the US launch in Europe due to Android 3.1 issues. It’s interesting that if there are issues, the US tablet uses Android 3.1 as well.

Are we to presume this means Samsung is launching the tablet in the US with some sort of problem? Murtazin has a decent track record with these sorts of rumors so for now we will take his word and hold out for official confirmation from Samsung on a European launch.

[via Eldar Murtazin]

http://twitter.com/alsutton Al Sutton

There’s a whole heap of “European” issues around localisation, from making sure all the translations are correct (something which has tripped-up releases before, a couple of Gingerbread versions said “Turn off USB” instead of “Turn on USB” in UK English), through to some countries using a comma as decimal seperator (which Android doesn’t handle well – http://goo.gl/7yC6i), right down to additional WiFi frequencies being available and used by equipment in the EU which the Tab would have to be compatible with.

In short it may not be a deficiency of the tab, it may be more a case of localisation issues.
- http://twitter.com/f1n3b01 hussein ghandour
  
  i always wanted to ask a question and u seem like the kind of person that can break it down to a noob like me regarding the upcoming 4g or LTE version of the tab 10.1 by verizon.. can it be unlocked to be used on other carriers or such as in supports a SIM card?! because im not living in the states and i would love a 3G compatible version of this tablet
AJ

If I look at the Dutch sites, it looks like it is already available here – though it is using 3.0 and not 3.1.

See:
- http://www.2call.nl/telefoon/11165/samsung-galaxy-tab-10.1-p7100?ref=8902
- http://www.phoneshop.nl/telefoon/11165/samsung-galaxy-tab-10.1-p7100?ref=7902