Samsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9 at only 8.9 inches is smaller than Samsung's more popular Galaxy Tab 10.1 but this sleek, well-designed tablet proves that size doesn't matter.

Samsung's Galaxy line-up is a testament to the company's experiments in tablet size. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is too large for some users while the Galaxy Tab 7.0 is too small. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is a perfect middle ground. Size may not seem like a big factor on choosing tablets but customers should actually place serious consideration in their tablet's size. For users who want to use their tablets to watch movies, a bigger screen size will be more important than portability. And for users who travel a lot, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is lightweight at 15.8oz and only 8.6 mm thick, making it about 0.2 mm thinner than the Apple iPad 2.

It's the little things that would make a tablet fit for you and users who want a tablet to be portable but with a large enough screen to read ebooks or watch videos, then the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is the perfect choice. The 8.9's size won't tire the user after holding a long time and it's suited for typing without an attached keyboard. Users who don't want to use the virtual keyboard can still use the Samsung Keypad which comes in two sizes.

The Tab 8.9's specs are pretty standard fare for the Samsung Galaxy line. The 8.9 has the same dual-core 1 Ghz Tegra processor as the Tab 10.1. It also has a high-resolution 1280x800 pixel display, 1Gb of RAM and Wi-Fi connectivity. Onboard storage options are 16 Gb, 32 Gb and 64 Gb but without a micro-SD card for expansion purposes. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 also has a 3 mega pixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and a 2 mega pixel front-facing camera. The video camera is capable of capturing 720p video at 30 frames per second.

The Tab 8.9 runs its own user interface on top of the Android 3.1 operating system. The TouchWiz is an optimized user interface that adds more features for the users like Media Hub, Music Hub and Social Hub. It's an aesthetically pleasing addition but it comes at the cost of the Tab's performance. Swiping between home screen stutters a bit and even rotating the screen will take a second or two to reorient. It's a minor annoyance but it's noticeable enough.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is a solid and classy looking Android tablet that would be a good alternative to the bigger Tab 10.1.