HP announces the Slate 7, but do we need another 7-inch Android tablet?

Updated: February 26, 2013

If anyone really remembers, HP actually had one of the very first Windows based tablets on the market. The thing is though for some reason was a complete flop and the product ended up being sold for a phenomenal discount, as they were fazed out faster than they were fazed in before the real tablet wars even began. Now it seems HP wants to get their feet wet again and will once again be entering the tablet market hopefully to better success than they have seen thus far with their tablets. So what has changed, well for one thing no more windows OS, HP is embracing Android technology this round, which has seen very decent results in many other devices.

The new tablet which is dubbed the Slate 7 and runs a close to stock version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. For internals, it sports a Dual-Core 1.6GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of memory, 8GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, Bluetooth 2.1 support for 802.11 b/g/n Wi Fi and an underwhelming 1024 X 600 FFS+ 7-Inch LCD display. One thing to mention though is that the Slate 7 is slated to be sold at $169.99, which may give them enough of an edge to make some decent sales if the support and apps are done right. The Slate 7 also features both a front and rear camera something that the Nexus 7 and others lower-end tablets are lacking, but in truth how much that really matters is very subjective from a users point of view.

To allow for SD quality video calls, the Slate 7 has a VGA quality front sensor and the back camera has the ability to capture 3MP images if you have the need. As far as the weight goes the new Slate 7 is approximately 362 grams (0.8 pounds), but it does have a stainless steel frame that should make it fairly durable and is 10.7mm thick (0.42 inches). Another feature that is very hit or miss are the speakers powered by Beats Audio which I feel is really not any great thing at all and more of a marketing gimmick. The 7-inch tablet market is full of contenders dying for your money and the price tag of $169 may be a real draw, but we will have to see how the public embraces the new device. HP has also said that they will only focus on form factors that make economical sense and that there will be an entire new line of tablets coming later this year.