Will it be possible to buy the Tab without going through a carrier?

That's it! No mention of prices, but some good info that should make a lot of folks smile!

Now if only we can get the prices Hcarrier prices I guess) and thw wifi only model price and availability I am ready to jump in. The Tab seems like the only perfect tablet right now.

Still would prefer a Meego tablet. Might just wait and check out the WeTab maybe.

Most certainly yes! The WiFi version can't be tied to a carrier. As for the 3G version: It appears as though they're marketing this thing just like the Galaxy S, so you should be able to buy one from Best Buy, Amazon, or other major retailers. I would expect that you can additionally purchase the 3G version off-contract directly from a carrier.

Yes indeed. The price is still looming, but it will be 'competitive' which almost implies iPad-esque pricing, as it's (arguably) the only other tablet in this 'class' of device.

If I had to guess, I would say $479 for the WiFi, $599 for the 3G.

Looks pretty promising.
I do wonder when the first Chrome OS based tablet comes out.

FYI:
http://www.talkandroid.com/14664-sam...n-coming-soon/

A spot of bad news. It seems as the 'phone' functionality of the tab will be stripped from the US version of the device. So individuals looking to replace their smartphones with this bad-boy may be out of luck.

I say *may* because I wonder how much of this is a software restriction. I'm guessing that Sammy just left out the software for phone calls. Hopefully this is nothing a foreign ROMM can't fix.

For me this is a drag (I despise artificial gimping), though I've lived on SIP for the last five years and don't plan on switching. Of course a phone makes a wonderful redundant line in case I'm not available by data and would be useful when travelling.

How do people intend to use this as a phone anyway? Is the intention:

1. To just put a second sim in this and carry it along with your main mobile resulting in having two separate mobile phone numbers.

2. Are there some countries where you can have two sims in two different devices but with one number? So if you get a call it rings on both and you can decide to leave the tab at home and just carry your usual mobile on days when the pocket of the trousers you are wearing are to small for the tab or you just can't be bothered to carry it that day.

3. Just get rid of your mobile altogether and use the tab as your only mobile phone.

Also how do people plan to talk on this? With a blue tooth headset? Won't that mean:

1. You have to wear a bluetooth headset all the time and look very silly or

2. Scramble to quickly put on the headset when a call comes and risk losing a lot of calls cause you cannot find and or put the headset on in time.

Would love to know people's plans. I would love if I could use this as my mobile but just doesn't seem very practical.

For myself, I would still keep my N900 and see if my carrier (vodafone) would let me have another sim or, if not, then I would swap the sim when the situation called for it, say when I was at work and the size of the tab was too big to carry around all day.