Samsung unveiled its new Android and Windows-powered touchscreen devices, including a Windows RT tablet; a Windows Phone 8 smartphone; and an Android-powered camera at the IFA trade show in Berlin.
The touchscreen tablet uses an ARM-based chip and the RT version of Windows 8.
The devices, which are branded as Slate or Ativ Smart PCs depending on where they are sold, function as hybrids – working either as standalone tablets or as laptops when added to keyboard docks.
There was only one Android-tablet announcement – the Galaxy Note 2. The device features a 5.5in (14cm) screen and is narrower and taller than its predecessor.
It also features a new Air View function. When a stylus is held about 1cm above its display, previews are triggered of on-screen objects such as the contents of a photo album or an email.
In addition Samsung showed off the Ativ S – its first smartphone to run Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 Phone system. It features a 4.8in (12.2cm) display, making it one of the bigger models on the market.
Samsung’s other announcement was the Galaxy Camera.
The device is the second mainstream compact camera powered by Android to be announced in a week, following on from a release by Nikon.
It marks a new category of devices to use Google’s system, offering the opportunity to install photo editing apps and other third-party software on the machines.
“One of the big reasons the compact camera market is struggling is that people value sharing their images and doing things to them, more than they do having a picture with better picture quality,” said Stuart Miles, founder of the Pocket-lint gadget site.
