Sprint to become first U.S. carrier to offer Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 10.1

While the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been available in the U.S. since mid-June, Sprint is gearing up to sell the tablet through its outlets as well and in doing so will be the first U.S. carrier to officially sell the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab.

The Galaxy Tab up for grabs will not have 3G or 4G capabilities, however, and will instead be the 16GB Wi-Fi version of the tablet. Sprint has recently done the same with the RIM PlayBook, offering only the Wi-Fi model sans any mobile telecommunications hardware. Instead, the company will be relying on the end-user to equip the Galaxy Tab with a Sprint MiFi hotspot for 3G/4G connectivity. Of course, this will cost extra, as the MiFi currently runs for $79 in the Sprint online store.

Otherwise, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be equipped with the usual dual-core 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, 1280x800 resolution screen, 1GB RAM, front and rear cameras and Android Honeycomb OS. While a USB port is absent, an official USB adapter is available for $20.

Users looking for a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with built-in cellular hardware will have to wait for the rumored LTE-enabled 4G model for Verizon. Meanwhile, the WiFi-only model should be hitting Sprint stores starting June 24^th for $500 (Electronista has incorrectly reported a launch date of July 24^th).

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