HP quietly launches budget-minded 8-inch Android tablet

HP has quietly launched a new low-cost 8-inch tablet simply known as the HP 8. Unlike many of the other 8-inch slates we’ve seen as of late, HP’s latest is powered by Android (4.2.2 Jelly Bean) instead of Windows 8.1 while the $170 price point does come with a few compromises.

Known officially as the HP 8 1401US, the tablet features a 7.85-inch multi-touch IPS display operating at a lowly 1,024 x 768. Under the hood is an Allwinner A31s ARM Cortex A7 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of flash storage and a microSD card slot should that not be enough.

The HP 8 also features 802.11 b/g/n wireless that is compatible with Miracast, a headphone jack, stereo speakers and a 3,800mAh battery good for up to seven hours. A 2-megapixel camera is mated to the rear while a 0.3-megapixel front-facing shooter handles selfies and video calls.

The tablet weighs 0.69 pounds and measures 200.3 x 136.3 x 7.95 mm with a silver finish. It also arrives with 25GB of free cloud storage and ships free of charge in the US.

If you’re looking for something that’s a touch nicer or would prefer a Microsoft operating system, the recently reviewed Encore or the Miix 2 8 might be worth a look. Both feature slightly better displays and Intel Bay Trail Z3740 chips as well as double the storage and better cameras. Pricing starts at $240 for the Lenovo and $280 for Toshiba’s offering.

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