HP returns to mobile world with Slate 7, its first Android tablet

After the unfortunate demise of webOS (which is now available in open source form), HP has finally re-entered the mobile race – the company has unveiled the Slate 7, the company’s first Android tablet, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC).

As the name suggests, the Slate 7 is a 7-inch tablet, sporting a 1024 x 600 resolution FFS+ LCD touchscreen display, which boasts wide viewing angles and good low light performance. There’s a dual-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9 processor ticking away inside, accompanied by 1GB of RAM.

Then there’s a 3 megapixel rear shooter, VGA front camera, 8GB storage expandable via microSD, Bluetooth 2.1 (yes, it’s not even version 3.0), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and a battery that should be good enough for 5 hours of video playback (HP didn’t mention the battery capacity).

The Slate 7 runs a stock version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, with Beats Audio integrated for better sound output via headphones. HP is also bringing its expertise in printers with ePrint, which is a feature that will allow users to print documents from the tablet to a compatible HP printer.

The entire spec sheet of the Slate 7 screams entry-level, and HP has priced it accordingly at $169. With devices like the Nexus 7 available for only $30 more and with much better specs, it’s hard to see HP selling too many of the Slate 7, but it’s always good to have more options in affordable tablets.

It’s great to see HP returning to the mobile market, now we’ll just have to wait and see how well they fare against other manufacturers. They’re working on bringing out more Android-based tablets soon – maybe we’ll see something compelling and desirable in those, and perhaps a phone as well.