When we wrote about Hewlett-Packard's last set of Android tablets in December, we said that they did little to stand out. While a bunch of mid-to-low range hardware is never that exciting, one way to catch our attention is to release a tablet at a super-low price. With the HP 7 Plus, the company is looking to do just that. The 7-inch tablet is only $100.
For $100, you can't expect much of the spec sheet. The HP 7 Plus has a 7-inch 1024x600 IPS display, a 1GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor (made by a company called "Allwinner"), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, 802.11 b/g/n, a microSD slot, and a 2800 mAh battery. The biggest downside HP could have fixed at this price point is the software: it's only running Android 4.2.2. Android versions are free, HP.
There's also no mention of Bluetooth or GPS, and the bezels look huge—but hey, it's $100.
HP has had a tough time in the tablet market. The company beat everyone to the punch by making several convertible Windows XP laptops, but they never really took off. When the iPad came along, HP's answer was to buy Palm and WebOS, an acquisition that led to the HP Touchpad. Forty-nine days after its launch, the company ended all WebOS operations. This discontinuation, in addition to a lack of consumer demand for the $500 device, led to steep discounts, with HP eventually selling the Touchpad for a mere $99.
With the Touchpad in mind, this move could be seen as a jump back into the $99 tablet game. The demand for the $99 Touchpad was so high that HP actually did another manufacturing run to meet demand. Now we'll see how a name brand tablet that is actually supposed to cost $99 does at a $99 price point.
The HP 7 Plus is available right now from HP.com.
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