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Samsung’s iPad mini-rivalling Galaxy Note 8 tablet has been given a UK release date and pricing — although it’s not great news for cash-strapped tech fans.
Spied by unwired view, Carphone Warehouse has posted a pre-registration page for the 8-inch tablet, offering an “expected” release date of April 2013. That’s not long to wait, but while the house of Mobley has held off on pricing the upcoming tablet, other UK retailers listings suggest Samsung may have made the Note 8 too expensive.
UK tech-flogger Handtec lists the 16GB Wi-Fi only version of the tablet at £371.99, while Expansys wants £349.99 for the quad-core tablet.
Offering broadly similar specs to the £159 Google Nexus 7, that price seems a bit steep, and will rankle shoppers hoping for a bargain on par with Google’s tablet, or the similarly cheap Kindle Fire HD.
It’s also considerably more expensive than Apple’s £269 iPad mini, which itself has been criticised for being too pricey.
Those looking to buy a bargain tablet would be wise to take a peek at Asus’ horribly-named FonePad, which Carphone Warehouse also expects to start selling next month, and — like the international version of the Note 8 — doubles as a phone.
The FonePad is expected to cost £179 when it goes on sale, a price that Asus told me was partly down to avoiding the extra development and tooling costs engendered by smaller devices.
Would you pay £350 for the Note 8, or were you hoping for something a bit cheaper? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
