Years ago, HP purchased Palm with the intention of producing tablets based on WebOS. After a very short time on the market, the company pulled the plug and liquidated their stock for $99. These tablets, of course, sold instantly. Now, HP has developed an Android tablet which actually intends to be sold at that $99 price point.
Called the HP 7 Plus, this tablet has a quad-core SoC from Allwinner Technology, based on the low-power ARM Cortex A7 architecture. This is the architecture that you often see paired with Cortex A15 cores in their "big.LITTLE" arrangement. Complementing this processor is 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, 640×480 front-facing and 2MP rear-facing cameras, and about five (5) hours of battery life. It is capable of Miracast over WiFi, which is an impressive feature for its price.
The operating system is Android 4.2.2, Jelly Bean. While this is not the most recent distribution of Android, it should definitely serve users looking for an under-$100 tablet. Seriously, this space is huge and often a crap shoot in terms of reliability. If HP released a decent device, it could be a winner.
The HP 7 Plus is apparently available now, but out of stock, for $99.99. I do not know whether they already released and sold out immediately, or if it is still waiting on its first shipment.
“an Android tablet which
“an Android tablet which actually intends to be sold at that $99 price point.”
That tablet intends to be sold for $99.00, does the tablet run an advanced AI app that I have not read about? Does the tablet have the ability to side load itself with a full Linux distro, and tell Google to go take a long walk off of a short pier. Can it attach itself to a quad copter and drop a load of stinky poo onto the CEO of Nvidia for pushing the crappy Android runtime onto its upcoming Tegra K1 tablets based on the K1 SOCs, with no options for a full Linux distro(and do not say full Linux on any development platforms, I mean full Linux shipping on finished Tablet SKUs). Can It stand in front of Google headquarters and shout, that imprisoning the Linux kernel under the Android runtime is not the same as having a true Open Full Linux OS based device. That’s some smart tablet for 99 bucks, can it run WebOS also. And could that screen bezel be any bigger, and 5 hours of battery life, the bezel itself is big enough to hold a battery that can run the thing for a week!
someone got issues!
someone got issues!
That means you are buying one
That means you are buying one of these great $99.00 devices, enjoy that GOOSPAM runtime and crAPP ecosystem, I’ll take whatever tablet runs Steam OS.
Several of these comments are
Several of these comments are getting very much out-of-hand. Could you all class it up, please?
And no, that does not mean flame in JSON.
Fuck Linux, moron.
Fuck Linux, moron.
MonkeyBoy is that You,
MonkeyBoy is that You, shouldn’t you and gates be pulling the strings of that wooden boy CEO!
And here is a Little note to the Steam Box/Steam OS folks, do not delay the release of the Steam Boxes/Steam OS, just because the controller is not ready, you Need to get that Steam OS ecosystem out ASAP, otherwise the Big Closed Ecosystem monopolies will have time to delay their ultimate strategy, with some hollow concessions, to keep you down and out. The Steam OS, and its success, is more important than a controller that can be perfected at a later time, get your product to market, and an ecosystem built around it before you are cut off at the pass!
It is the same nutjob that
It is the same nutjob that always posts here. I cannot even imagine the disorder he has.
CrapOSes-disLikeUS, and
CrapOSes-disLikeUS, and Troll-e-Osus-Maximus!
Walmart already has a 7″ HP
Walmart already has a 7″ HP tablet based on the Intel Z2460, 1.6Ghz single core, dual thread chip. Is HP actually going to compete with itself? Are there even any other players in this market?
There are a few, just not
There are a few, just not really from PC manufacturers (at least not that I know about). The ones that I've seen, I've either not recognized the name at all, or they made stuff like MP3 players and mainstream headphones.
Maybe Intel was not offering
Maybe Intel was not offering HP enough contra revenue for their SKUs, and HP got a much better deal with the outdated ARM SKU, that’s not to say the Intel SOC is any more or less outdated, but maybe HP wanted to skimp on the battery more than the Intel SOC would allow. Anyway expect these tablets the grace the shelves of many a CVS and Walgreens, next to the other makes with names you can not pronounce, but they probably came off of the same assembly line, that one worker tasked with the mind numbing job of placing the different brand labels on these devices.