HP Unwraps New 8-inch Android Tablet

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has added to its collection of Android-based devices with a no-fanfare launch of a new 8-inch tablet running Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, featuring pared-down specifications and positioned at a budget-conscious price to compete with Microsoft (MSFT) Windows-based fare from rivals Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba, and, of course, Apple’s (AAPL) iPad Mini.

The HP 8 tablet, which appears on HP’s Home and Home Office Store website and is priced at $169.99, officially is dubbed the HP 8 Model 1401US. It’s powered by an Allwinner A31s quad core ARM processor, houses 1GB of RAM and features 16GB of flash storage and a micro SD card slot. A 7.85-inch multi-touch display delivers 1,024 x 768 screen resolution.

HP’s mobile unit also offers 802.11 b/g/n wireless, a headphone jack, stereo speakers, battery life of up to seven hours, a front-facing .3MP camera and a 2MP one in the back. The tablet comes in silver, weighs 0.69 pound and measures 200.3 x 136.3 x 7.95 mm.

The vendor is shipping the HP 8 equipped with 25GB of free Box cloud storage and a variety of pre-installed Google (GOOG) apps. HP is backing the tablet with a one-year limited warranty on the hardware and 30 days of software support. The vendor also is offering customers a $20 savings if the HP 8 is bundled with an HP printer priced at $129 or more, and is promising it will ship the unit within 24 hours of ordering.

Among the HP 8’s competitors, both Toshiba’s 8-inch Encore tablet and Lenovo’s Miix 2 8 are offered at $299 and Dell’s Venue 8 starts at $179.99. Apple prices its iPad Mini, which is more feature-rich than its rivals, at $399.