Mobile tablets are the new sought after device for a majority of Americans. Around 90 percent of U.S. consumers either own a tablet or will consider buying one, according to a survey by Samsung (News - Alert) Mobile.

The survey analyzed the most common use cases for mobile tablets among Americans who already own or would consider purchasing a mobile tablet.

76 percent of respondents use mobile tablets for reading the news or books; 64 percent use for watching TV shows or movies; 61 percent surveyed listen to music and around 56 percent of respondents update their social networking profiles, according to the survey.

More than half of respondents would choose to use their mobile tablet to play games instead of on a PC or standalone video game console.

According to the survey, Americans would use a tablet to take pictures or film videos (44 percent), video chat with loved ones (41 percent) or stay connected with their co-workers (34 percent).

Samsung Mobile conducted the survey as part of Samsung’s forthcoming retail launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has several features. Android (News - Alert) 3.1 Honeycomb is powering the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Android is offering faster and smoother transitions between different applications, more intuitive navigation to and from home screens and broader support of USB accessories, external keyboards, joysticks and game pads.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is designed with an NVIDIA (News - Alert) Tegra 1GHz dual core application processor for powerful gaming and multimedia performance. The Tab’s ultra-thin design does not sacrifice battery life, thanks to a 7000 mAh battery providing up to 9 hours of continuous use on a single charge.

Recently, an ABI Research (News - Alert) report said 44 billion mobile apps would be downloaded by 2016. Eight billion mobile apps were downloaded in 2010.

At present, 134,342 free applications are available for download on Google's (News - Alert) Android Market while Apple's AppStore offers iPhone users 121,845 free applications. This will grow further, as the smart-phone and tablet user bases grow exponentially.