The Samsung rep responsible for the unveil claimed that the seven-inch model was one of several, with larger tablets to be released over the coming months. A stretched version of the Galaxy mobile phone, the tablet looks remarkably familiar – pulling design cues from Apple’s new iPad.

But there’s one thing which separates it from Apple’s new device: the inclusion of a phone calling mode as standard. Samsung’s photos show the tablet next to a Galaxy mobile, with their screens both illuminated and stuck on the home menu. Alongside contacts, internet browsers, and other applications, and phone icon is clearly visible.

Hewlett Packard certainly isn’t a stranger to the tablet world; the home computer manufacturer has ventured into touchscreen products before with little commercial success. Their new HP Slate PC is due for release later this year, and some analysts are already touting it as the device with potential to kill the iPad.

Boasting a 1.6GHz processor and an expandable 64GB of built-in memory, it’s hard to argue. The Slate PC includes support for Adobe Flash as standard, alongside a front-mounted webcam and 3 megapixel rear camera. While we can’t imagine the rather bulky Slate PC becoming a popular photography device, the inclusion of these two features – ones that were sorely missed in the iPad – could push it closer to success.

The end result of the tablet war isn’t likely to be hardware domination, but the prevalence and growth of new software. Samsung’s Galaxy tablet is built around Android, Google’s increasingly popular and highly flexible mobile operating system. HP’s tablet uses a modified version of Windows 7.

With three devices on the market, each boasting their own operating system, the tablet race could end up becoming a battle for software domination. Google and Apple, once close corporate friends, have become bitter enemies, spewing rhetoric and crunching competition numbers at any possible opportunity. The mobile operating system divide has, in many ways, created PR problems for both companies.

It’s hard to say which of the three devices is likely to succeed, at least in the traditional sense. With the backing of advertising giant Google behind it, the Galaxy tablet could become a real contender. Hewlett Packard too shares a unique advantage; as the only mass market tablet with Windows onboard, it could become a major strategic piece for Microsoft’s greater expansion into mobile operating systems.

And with Apple Inc. moving away from their friendly days with Google, this platform war could become more heated than ever. Of course, it’s significantly less of a worry for us consumers; with three equally hot tablets soon to be on the market, things are looking better than ever.