We were very excited when we found out that we were receiving the Samsung Galaxy Tab before its North American release date of November 1st, 2010. We wasted no time in turning the unit on and realizing that the Super TFT screen that was revealed when it was announced was as vivid as promised. High definition video never looked so good! After a few more minutes of staff members taking turns playing with the device, we had to move onto the next step and take the Galaxy Tab apart.
Order the FULL PRODUCT TEARDOWN here
The first thing we noticed was the re-use of the Hummingbird processor first seen in the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant. The 1 GHz S5PC110, that features the same ARM A8 core as seen in the Apple A4, was most likely chosen for ease of implementation and to reduce costs of processor component by introducing it across various product platforms. With the use of the Hummingbird, Samsung seems to be replicating the business model of Apple – using their own processor as the cornerstone of their design to reduce costs in the product’s development. Expect to see the S5PC110 in numerous Samsung devices going forward.
The comparisons between the Samsung Galaxy S and the Tab don’t just end with the Hummingbird processor! Samsung continues to promote its own products with the use of the KB100D00YM memory Package-on-Package (PoP). This PoP has 8Gb of MLC Flex OneNAND, 1 Gb of OneDRAM and 3Gb of Mobile DDR. The Galaxy Tab also shares with it’s smaller “cousin” the Vibrant the same RF Transceiver (Infineon’s PMB5703) and audio codec (Wolfson Micro’s WM8994E).
Broadcom managed to continue getting impressive design wins as they were able to carry over from the Galaxy S handset to the Tab the use of their BCM4329 Bluetooth/FM/WLAN single-chip and their BCM4751 GPS receiver. Triquint Semiconductor also carried over from the Samsung Galaxy S to the Tab their TQM6M9014 switch with their TQM626028L and TQM666022 duplexers.
Other notable components included the use of the same 3-D digital gyroscope that was found in the Apple iPad, STMicroelectronics L3G4200D (making this the first tablet to use a gyro) and Atmel’s MXT224 touchscreen controller that was found in the Samsung Wave.
SanDisk also provides flash memory in the form of a memory package that features 16 GB of MLC NAND Flash (dies from Toshiba) and SanDisk memory controller.
Using the expertise that can only be provided by TechInsights, all the information you need – from what exactly is in the Galaxy Tab to the technology that comprises each individual component – can be made available to you using the resources of our combined analytical capabilities and our expansive database of information.