CrunchGear is reporting that the Italian site
HDblog has received exclusive details on Samsung's least-publicized new tablet product: the
Galaxy Tab Seven (aka, the
Galaxy Tab 2). The Seven will be the successor to the wildly unpopular
Galaxy Tab, which debuted last fall to almost universally poor reviews (though our own Aaron Gingrich
thoroughly enjoyed it). The
Galaxy Tab was the first major-manufacturer Android tablet, and it seems based on the new tablet's specifications, Samsung learned a lot from the Tab's less-than-successful run.

Unfortunately, it looks as though they failed to learn from the Tab's biggest failing - the OS. The
Galaxy Tab ran Android 2.2 Froyo, a version of Android that is less than optimized for tablet computing. With the release of the
Galaxy Tab 10.1 in New York City, and the upcoming Tab 8.9 - both of which run Honeycomb - we thought Samsung had finally changed its ways and learned to live on the cutting edge. We spoke a bit too soon.
The Galaxy Tab Seven will be running Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. Yep. So... Why? Well, the 7-inch form-factor, Ice Cream Sandwich, and an anticipated Fall release date are likely to blame.
While Honeycomb obviously works on a 7-inch display, the small size does make Honeycomb's rather busy interface a bit crowded. But I think we can all agree that's a pretty lame excuse.