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This past Wednesday, Samsung Mobile and Rogers co-hosted an event to provide media, bloggers and fans with a chance to play with two hotly-anticipated Android devices coming from the world’s largest handset maker in the next few weeks. Rogers, Bell and Telus have all announced it will carry the company’s first Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, and we were on hand for a video preview of the device.

A few words: it’s small. Very small. When you hear that the 7″ device is only 4″ or so smaller than the iPad, that may not mean much to you, but in person it means being able to comfortably hold it in one hand; being able to slip it into a jacket pocket or large back pocket; being able to take it out effortlessly on the subway or streetcar and hold on to the poll for balance (something I wish the iPad was small enough to do).

Android 2.2 Froyo works very nicely on the device, and the performance was for the most part smooth. Some apps upconvert better than other to the 1024×600 resolution, but as you can see from the video, both Google Maps and Angry Birds look stunning and perform flawlessly. And, as Android-based tablets get more pervasive, app developers will enhance their programs with better functionality and high-res graphics.

The camera did not seem like some add-on that would never be used, and the front-facing camera is appreciated. The back camera’s panorama mode is excellent, too.

I was skeptical about this venture by Samsung into Android, especially with the Tab, a market so utterly dominated by the iPad that it’s basically a monopoly. But Samsung is smart, and will be selling the tablets on contract through various carriers around the world, bundling 3G plans in with multi-year commitments. This will keep the price relatively low, and entice people who were otherwise wary of spending hundreds of dollars up-front for a 3G iPad (even though they are signing a multi-year data contract, the initial expenditure is surely more agreeable).

We only have a few weeks to see if the plan will work.

Availability and pricing from Rogers will be released in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.