Samsung's hotly anticipated Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet is expected to make an appearance very soon. JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile, has confirmed that the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet will make its debut at the MWC 2013 in Barcelona next month.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet, codenamed KONA, is rumored to sport an 8-inch screen and the model numbers GT-N5100 (3G) and the GT-N5110 (Wi-Fi), and will throw the gauntlet to the 7.9-inch iPad mini.

Per reports from Korean news sites iNews24 and news1, JK Shin said that the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet will be unveiled at the MWC 2013 in February.

Rumor has it that the Galaxy Note 8.0 will have an 8-inch TFT Super Clear LCD with 1280 x 800 pixels resolution. It will measure 8.31 x 5.36 x 0.31 inches and weigh 0.72 pounds, making it slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad mini, which measures 7.87 x 5.30 x 0.28 inch and weighs 0.68 pounds. 

The tablet will likely pack in a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, a 5-megapixel primary camera, a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera, 2GB of RAM, and 16/32GB of on-board storage (expandable memory up to 32GB). A powerful 4600mAh battery is speculated to fuel the Galaxy Note 8.0 and run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 is also expected to have the S Pen stylus, in keeping with the Note line-up's tradition and USP.

JK Shin also put to rest speculations that Samsung had brought upcoming devices to the recently concluded CES 2013, and shown them off in secrecy to select business partners.  Shin also let on that the much touted successor to the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4, would be coming soon; however, it would definitely not be unveiled at the MWC.