Samsung pulled off a bit of a shock during the press conference at its European Forum in Prague. Generally, these events are used to bring a European perspective to products formerly unveiled at CES or Mobile World Congress, but the company used this year's in-house convention to launch the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0).

The 7-inch tablet will be a replacement for the first Galaxy Tab, feature a 1GHz dual-core processor and be the first of Samsung's Galaxy Tabs to get Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) as it will come preloaded from the box.

Unlike the Galaxy Tab 7.7 we saw at IFA in Berlin last year, or the company's Galaxy Note "phablet", there's no OLED screen on the Tab 2. Instead, its touchscreen is a WSVGA (1024x600) PLS TFT display, but the device does come with a 3-megapixel camera on the rear (VGA on the front for video calling).

It features Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity. There will be 8, 16 and 32GB models available, and each can be upgraded with a microSD card of up to 32GB (thereby offering a potential of 64GB in total).

A 3G version will also be available (HSPA+ 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100), which will offer A-GPS and Glonass on top of all of the other features, and all models will get Samsung's new Video Hub, a marketplace to rent or buy more than 1,000 movies.

"We have actively worked to enhance and extend our tablet offering since the launch of the original Galaxy Tab 18 months ago, to put us in the position we are in today of being able to offer our customers a portfolio of devices of varying sizes relative to their different needs," said Simon Stanford, managing director, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division.

 "We are delighted to be offering our customers even more choice with our latest tablet which is our first to feature Android 4.0."

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) will hit the UK first, in March, with pricing yet to be announced.

What do you think? Would you buy a 7-inch tablet? Let us know in the comments below...