Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus shows up in Germany, circumvents Apple's design patents

Thursday, January 12, 2012



Following its legal troubles in Germany, where Apple successfully banned the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being sold based on design patents, Samsung redesigned its tablet and launched the Galaxy Tab 10.1N in November. It's been on sale since then, even though Apple did try to get it banned too. However, it's unlikely that it will succeed. And now we get another Samsung tablet redesigned for Germany. This time it's the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and the new version is, unsurprisingly, called Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus. Like its bigger brother, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, the Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus has a re-done bezel, complete with a visible metallic frame and speakers now integrated into that frame. This will supposedly alter the tablet's appearance enough so that people don't confuse it with Apple's iPads. The Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus still runs Android Honeycomb unfortunately (an update to Ice Cream Sandwich is expected at some point though), and all the specs are unchanged. It's a purely cosmetic makeover, this, one undoubtedly intended to make sure that Apple can't ban Samsung's new 7-inch tablet from being sold in Germany. The only bad news here is the pricing, a reportedly absurd €600. While Samsung has overpriced tablets before, this is a bit much even for the Korean company. So we're hoping it turns out not to be true.

Thursday, January 12, 2012