HP releases another cheap Android tablet

 

HP has quietly announced a new tablet. Meet the HP 8. It’s a rather mundane tablet with a ho-hum screen and above par specs. It’s nothing special. But it’s cheap and cheap sells.

The HP 8 employs a 7.85-inch screen with a 1,024 x 768 resolution, which as Engadget points out, is a few pixels less than what’s found in competitor’s tablets. Inside, there is a quad-core chip, 1GB of RAM, and a rather small 3,800mAh battery.

HP is sticking to the smaller tablet size. The company launched the lackluster HP Slate 7 last year. It was garbage. But it was also cheap and likely allowed HP to get into the tablet game on the cheap. The HP 8 is more of the same in an updated package. HP likely doesn’t expect this to increase the company’s tablet marketshare, but rather test the waters while remaining active in this important market.

The HP 8 costs $170. At that price, it competes with the original (and dated) Amazon Kindle Fire and budget Samsung devices. It’s a smart move by HP.

It might be an uninspired tablet I’m digging the Hewlett-Packard branding under the screen, though. Classy and fresh.