As the IFA tech tradeshow winds down in Berlin, one of the clear standouts at the show was the Samsung Galaxy Tab, an Android tablet phone. The Galaxy Tab is a 7-inch tablet that is positioned to compete with the iPad.

For a side-by-side comparison of the Galaxy Tab and the iPad, check out the comparison chart at PCWorld. To summarize the differences — the Galaxy Tab is smaller and lighter and supports up to 32GB of expandable storage. In addition, while the iPad is without a built-in camera, the Galaxy Tab has both front and rear-facing cameras. And of course the Galaxy Tab has smartphone capabilities.

Android is Google’s mobile operating system, currently restricted to cell phones. That may not be the case for long. Several consumer electronics companies would like to use the Android OS for other gadgets, including e-book readers, digital photo frames and netbooks. There are even some working prototypes being shown by manufacturers such as Fujitsu.

There is pressure on consumer electronics companies to market devices with more functionality at a lower price. An open source OS that runs on multiple platforms will facilitate development of such devices. Android, which is based on the Linux kernel, is an open source OS with the backing of Google. It remains to be seen if Microsoft can come up with something or if Android will satisfy this new demand.