Samsung this year added 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch tablets to its Galaxy Tab lineup, but it hasn’t forgotten its roots as the first to market with a small 7-inch tablet. The company goes back to those roots with the release of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus next week. Our first look at a pre-retail sample yielded some surprises: For one, you can turn the Plus into a universal remote control.

The “Plus” designation differentiates it from the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab, which was our top-rated 7-inch tablet and, with recent price reductions for the Wi-Fi-only version, a CR Best Buy product. You can still find it for sale online.

But we’d certainly opt for the newer Plus model ($400). Mirroring Samsung’s 10.1 and 8.9 Tabs, the 7.0 Plus runs on Honeycomb (Android 3.2), the latest Android operating system for tablets. It also features Samsung’s enhancements to the user interface, which let you customize the home screen and include a tray of mini-apps, among them a calendar and music player.

The Plus also comes in a 32GB memory option, priced at $500 (the original Galaxy Tab was available only with 16GB). And the 7.0 Plus is slimmer and slightly lighter than its predecessor, with a higher-resolution webcam (2 megapixels). The microphone is located on the face, where your hand is less likely to block it.

But the Plus has even more: It adds an infrared emitter, and a universal remote-control app called Peel Smart Remote that lets you control your TV (including brands other than Samsung) and set-top box through a colorful interface with thumbnails of popular programs. And unlike its larger siblings—but like the earlier 7-inch Tab—the 7.0 Plus has a MicroSD memory-card slot, allowing you to expand beyond the built-in 16GB or 32GB storage.

Aside from those additions, the 7.0 Plus is virtually identical to the current 8.9 and 10.1 models. It has Samsung’s branded Media Hub and Music Hub, file and task manager apps, and DLNA capability for sending content to a TV or from networked storage. We did notice one little regression: The 7.0 Plus is not as bright as the older model when set to maximum, which can reduce its usability outdoors.

Like other Android tablets, the 7.0 Plus can display Flash content on websites—but Adobe has said it plans to discontinue development of Flash for new mobile devices and operating systems, so perhaps Apple has won this argument.

Amazon is accepting pre-orders for the Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and T-Mobile will carry a 4G version.

—Dean Gallea