Following on from the plethora of Samsung tablet rumours served up this morning, the Galaxy Tab 3 has been officially announced. Although it may not quite be the tablet that some people were expecting.

Rather than the 8-inch tablet that some were anticipating, the Galaxy Tab 3 will be a more familiarly sized 7-inch device. So it looks likes the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0 could be an entirely different mid/high end tablet, if the earlier rumours are true. As well as being the same size as the previous generation, the Galaxy Tab 3 also looks virtually identical as well. This will no doubt cause a bit of a stir amongst Samsung’s critics.

Hardware wise the 7-inch LCD display remains unchanged with a passable resolution of 1024 x 600, which works out at 169 pixels per inch, but there are certainly crisper displays to choose from on the market already. The dual-core processor has been sped up a tad to 1.2Ghz, up from 1Ghz in the Galaxy Tab 2, and is accompanied by 1GB RAM. The cameras also remain unchanged, with a 3-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel one on the front.

But there have been a few decent upgrades made to this device. Firstly the tablet’s storage capacity has doubled up, allowing for up to 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card expansion slot for an additional 64GB if you need it. The tablet also comes with a 4,000 mAh Li-ion battery, which should keep it running for quite a while.

The Galaxy Tab 3 will ship with Android Jelly Bean 4.1 and will also come in a 3G variety for those wishing to use their Tab3 on the move. But sadly the tablet won’t support LTE networks.

We’re still waiting on a price range, but the Galaxy Tab 3 is expected to go on sale at the beginning of May, with the 3G model following shortly after in June.