LG Android tablet slated for Q4

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LG has confirmed it will be releasing a tablet device based on Google Android in time for Christmas.

The company has not revealed any details of what the slate's features will be but promises "something different."

This secrecy is typical of the current slew of Android tablet announcements and is possibly tied in with the release of Android 3.0 in October. Only Motorola seems to be willing to come out and say it is planning to support the new operating system.

LG has said the tablet will be the high end of its Optimus range, which will be the flagship brand for its smartphones and tablets. LG is also prepping a Windows 7 tablet.

It comes as no surprise LG has made its announcement following a similar statement of intent from Samsung. The two companies are in a constant battle to become the dominant South Korean manufacturer and often do like-for-like product launches.

The interesting development here is Samsung has specified a Q3 launch, which could be over a month before LG debuts. It could be that Samsung knows something about Android release dates the rest of the world does not appear to know or it may launch with Android 2.2 and offer a software upgrade later.

The rumour mill is going crazy about the Gingerbread project, set to result in Android 3.0. It is almost certain the highest screen resolution will be boosted to 1280x760 pixels to accommodate larger screens. Less certain is a minimum requirement for a 1GHz CPU and a minimum on-board memory requirement of 512MB.