Hewlett Packard has a mixed record when it comes to mobile devices. You may remember the award-winning iPaq handhelds, their early Windows tablets, then buying Palm only to sell on Web OS to LG and now their current approach of trying almost everything running Android. I’ve missed a few steps along the way but you get the idea. And now, HP has launched a couple of new tablets into the French market but it won’t be long before we see the new HP 8 G2 and HP Tablet 7 G2 elsewhere in the world (although these names may change). We also believe there’s a HP 7 Plus G2 coming too, which could be a premium version of the Tablet 7. Like the original 7.0-inch device, these are budget models and are selling for between €112 (the Tablet 7 G2) to €180 (the 8 G2). This is between $145 to $235.
In terms of specification, the Tablet 7 G2 comes equipped with a quad core 1.2 GHz Allwinner A33 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage plus a MicroSD card slot, a 7.0-inch 720p screen, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Inside the Tablet 7, you’ll find a 11.25 W / h battery with a claimed battery life of five and a half hours. The 8 G2 has a 7.85-inch screen with a 1,024 by 768 pixel screen 4:3 aspect ratio screen, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage plus a MicroSD slot. The 8 G2 has stereo speakers and the same WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity, but a bigger battery capacity of 15 W / h and a claimed battery life of seven hours. Both devices run Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat.
You might not have heard much about Allwinner, but they’re a Chinese processor manufacturer and their products have a focus on low power consumption. The Allwinner A33 is a new product that was announced in June 2014, made to be pin-compatible with an older generation Allwinner dual core processor. The A33 is a quad core design based around the Cortex-A7 processor core paired up with Mali400 graphics. And whilst the relatively low hardware specification means that the HP tablets won’t challenge the Nexus tablet, given that the interface is essentially stock it should be a fluid experience. However, one thing to be aware of is that HP don’t have the best reputation for keeping their tablets up to date, so if you were to pick up one of these devices it may not get Android L. Still, for the likely target market this probably won’t matter too much.
