Samsung to challenge iPad with a 10-inch Android 3.5 slate due in 2011

Riding on the buzz its Galaxy Tab slate has generated, Samsung is apparently focusing on a larger device that should take on Apple’s iPad. According to J.K. Shin, Samsung’s mobile communications president, there’s a “larger tablet” in the works, allegedly scheduled for an early 2011 release.

It should be powered by Android 3.5, which will cause some to question of the early 2011 claim. Google is expected to launch Android 3.0 during the first quarter of next year, which means there will most likely be at least a few months more between subsequent maintenance Android 3.0 releases and a more substantial Android 3.5 update. It’s also possible that Samsung new slate might run  Chrome OS that Google said would initially power netbooks.

And while we’re speculating, maybe Android 3.5, code-named Gingerbread, will take more than a few clues from Chrome OS. Watchers think that Gingerbread was designed specifically with tablets in mind. Google said Chrome OS will initially focus on netbooks and notebooks, but the operating system is thought to be coming to desktops and servers at some point as well.

The ten-inch slate would represent an interesting departure from Samsung’s public stance portraying the iPad as less than portable. Meantime, critics agree that the Galaxy Tab, shown above, has put both Samsung and Android on the tablet map. Samsung’s inaugural slate is more portable than the iPad due to its seven-inch display that allows one-hand operation while fitting in a large pocket, if the official commercial is to be believed. It weighs in at 380 grams, which is lighter than Apple’s tablet, and packs in a seven-hour battery.

First impressions are fairly positive and the people who had a chance to try it first-hand have concluded that it’s a compelling tablet that puts Android in the position to compete in the market so far dominated by iPad.