Belkin lets the cat out of the bag for Samsung’s new Tabs

New Galaxy Tabs are on the way from Samsung, but news of their local arrival hasn’t come from Samsung, with accessory maker Belkin bringing it to our attention first.

The news comes courtesy of Belkin which has chimed in to say that it will be releasing new covers for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 4 range.

“Galaxy Tab 4 range,” you say? “What Galaxy Tab 4 range? GadgetGuy hasn’t written about this yet.”

The reason we haven’t written about it is because Samsung hasn’t locally announced the devices, and Belkin appears to have let the flat touchscreen cat out of the bag (Belkin makes bags, so this is totally fair).

Overseas, Samsung has announced the new tablets, with the Galaxy Tab 4 tablets arriving in 7, 8, and 10.1 inch sizes just like they did last year. Based on images from Samsung’s US press site, the designs appear to be extensions from what Samsung has designed in the Note range of products, and before it the Galaxy S, but with some reasonably thin bezels and a continued use of the soft buttons flanking the centre hard button.

Most interestingly is the screen, which hasn’t evolved at all, and stays at the 1280×800 display resolution across the board, putting the tablets well and truly behind competitors that have taken Full HD and higher resolutions for their tablets. Even Samsung’s own Galaxy Note tablets include better resolutions, so we’re a little surprised by this.

Many of the specs appear to be the same regardless of what tablet you choose, with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB storage, microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth, and two cameras: 3 megapixel and 1.3 megapixels.

Really, it looks like Samsung will be focusing on screen choice for these tablets, and given the specs, we’re hoping to see them classed as budget models, given they don’t seem to have a thing on the Galaxy Note range of tablets Samsung already has out.

Belkin will be making several cases for the new Tabs, with the 10.1 getting a magnetic folding “Slim Style” cover and a “Multitasker Cover” with business card and stylus storage, while the Tab 4 8 inch gets a “Shield Fit” for keeping the device secure, and a “Tri Fold Cover” is made available for the 7 and 10 inch models.

“Our expanded Samsung range across tablet and smartphone accessories reinforces our commitment to deliver the widest variety of options and features for Australian and New Zealand consumers to choose from” said Belkin’s Brendan Sparks, Head of Product Management and Marketing for Belkin in Australia and New Zealand.

“It reinforces our belief that added protection and functionality can exist side by side,” he added.

As for availability of the products, that’s something we can only assume, as Samsung hasn’t released anything locally, and Belkin is saying that the cases should be out in early May.

There’s probably no reason to have the cases out doing nothing, so hey, that must mean the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 products will be out in May. Voila.