8-inch Samsung tablet to debut in February

Samsung has confirmed rumors, first reported on Friday, that it is to launch a new 8-inch tablet at next month's Mobile World Congress.

The company's head of mobile communications, JK Shin, accidentally revealed the reports to be true in an interview with South Korean news site iNews24, although he refused to divulge details of the device's specifications or performance, other than the size of the display. Earlier reports suggest that the tablet will run the latest version of Android (4.2 Jelly Bean) out of the box and will be competitively priced to challenge the iPad Mini head on. Therefore expect it to retail for less than $300 when it goes on sale.

However, as one rumor disappears, another one surfaces. Bright Side of News claims that Google will make an appearance at the MWC with a second-generation 10-inch Nexus-10 tablet which Samsung is building. It promises the highest resolution of any 10-inch display tablet (2560x1600p) and is expected to have a much more powerful processor. The first-generation tablet won much admiration for its display but many users complained that it lacked in performance.

This latest rumor combined with other stories suggesting that the South Korean company is also planning to launch a mini 5.8-inch tablet aimed at gaming and rich media content suggests that Samsung is doing its best to cover all of the bases (in terms of display size) in the rapidly growing tablet market and is trying to second-guess Apple's next move as rumors also continue to mount in terms of what the next iPads will feature when launched later this year.

Sony also confirmed Tuesday rumors that it is planning a 10-inch Xperia Z tablet by officially launching the device in Japan. As predicted it has a full HD 10.1-inch display, a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage and like the new flagship Xperia Z smartphone it is water-resistant. The rest of the world will get their first official glimpse of the device when it too appears at the MWC, set to take place February 25-28 in Barcelona.