Samsung scheduled a special media event for today to announce U.S. availability dates and pricing for the Galaxy Note 10.1, and we now have these details for you.

The Galaxy Note 10.1, the bigger but younger brother of the Galaxy Note phablet, was unveiled at MWC 2012, but unfortunately for interested tablet buyers, Samsung decided to go back to the drawing board to upgrade the device instead of selling it in the months following the Spanish event. Therefore, the tablet only started selling in August.

U.S. Android tablet buyers will be able to grab their Galaxy Note 10.1 starting with tomorrow, August 16. The Wi-Fi versions will sell for almost the same prices as their main rival, Apple’s iPad: $499 for the 16GB version, while the 32GB model costs only $50 more, or $549 – the 32GB iPad retails for $599.

While sales do begin tomorrow in most U.S. stores, the Best Buy store in Union Square, New York City, will sell the Galaxy Note 10.1 starting at noon today.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 features a 10.1-inch touchscreen display, 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, 5-megapixel rear camera, 16/32GB of memory, microSD support, Wi-Fi, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board and S-Pen stylus support.

The S-Pen stylus seems to be Samsung’s main selling point for the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, with the company insisting during the U.S. event on the importance of the stylus and the way it can be used for creative purposes in relation with stylus-friendly apps found on board the device.

Also worth noting is the fact that the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update will be rolling out by the end of the year, although we don’t have any clear roll out dates at this time.

Are you buying the Galaxy Note 10.1, or will you rather buy a more affordable Android tablet?