LAS VEGAS – Samsung and Verizon Wireless today introduced at CES 2012 the Galaxy Tab 7.7, an Android-powered tablet that also acts as a smart remote control for TVs.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is very, very similar to the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, which we reviewed in November, with a few notable differences. First of all, obviously, it's a little bigger – instead of a 7-inch screen, it's 7.7 inches. As I was holding and playing with it, though, that didn't change its identity as a 'small' tablet. I would never have been able to peg its size if I hadn't been very familiar with 7-inch tablets. Like other Samsung small tablets, it's very thin and light, at only 7.9 mm thick and 12 ounces.

The Tab 7.7 also supports Verizon's 3G and 4G LTE networks, as opposed to the Wi-Fi-only Tab 7.0 Plus. That makes for a lot more flexibility, although of course you'll pay in battery life.

Otherwise, the 7.7 carries on some of the best (or at least most notable) features of the 7.0 Plus. It has a great-looking 1280-by-800, Super AMOLED Plus display, with more subpixels (and thus a tighter overall look) than standard Super AMOLEDs. It also has a built-in IR blaster that works with the included Peel Smart Remote app to turn your tablet into a universal remote control. I had some serious trouble with the Peel app on the Tab 7.0 Plus, though.

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This is a Google Android Honeycomb tablet, running on a 1.4Ghz dual-core processor, and it felt zippy enough that I had no complaints. Samsung isn't promising an upgrade to Android 4.0, though, which is frustrating. There's a 3-megapixel camera with 720p video recording on the back, and a 2-megapixel camera on the front. Wi-Fi includes (unusually for a consumer tablet) 802.11a, and there's 16GB of on-board storage, along with a MicroSD memory card slot.

Samsung's little tablets are well-built and appealing, and this is no exception. The slim body feels very well built, and the metal back is pleasantly cool to the touch. Samsung has gussied up Honeycomb with its TouchWiz interface, adding gewgaws like a little line of desk accessories you can quickly pop up from the bottom of the home screen. The company also took a stab at trying to fix Honeycomb's app-discovery problem with its unusually good Samsung Apps showcase. That virtual app store—it's really all links to the Android Market—only shows apps designed for tablets.

Honeycomb still confuses many users, though, which is why I would have liked to see the promise of an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade; at least that would be a fresh start. The Tab 7.7 is an admirable replacement for the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, but it's going to be hard-pressed to compete with the Apple iPad's app selection (as its siblings, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 are similarly struggling in the U.S.)

We didn't get a price for the Galaxy Tab 7.7, and Samsung and Verizon say it will show up within a few weeks.