Hewlett-Packard on Sunday announced the HP Slate7, an affordable Google Android 4.0-based consumer tablet that is expected to compete against the company’s natural rivals on the emerging slate-type PC field. At the price of $169 per unit, the HP Slate7 has all chances to become popular among price-conscious consumers.

HP Slate7 is powered by a system-on-chip with two ARM Cortex-A9 general purpose cores running at 1.60GHz and custom graphics adapter. The tablet features 7” screen with outdated 1024*600 resolution. The HP Slate7 features a stainless-steel frame and soft black paint in gray or red on the back. It also is the industry's first tablet to offer embedded Beats Audio by Dr. Dre, for the best-sounding, richest audio experience available on a tablet. The HP Slate7 includes a 3MP camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front for chatting, videos and photos.

"To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors and leverage an array of operating systems. The HP Slate7 delivers the Google experience with services like Google Now, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and Google+ Hangouts for militiaperson video chat as well as access to apps and digital content through Google Play," said Alberto Torres, senior vice president of mobility global business unit at HP.

The HP Slate7 joins the recently introduced HP Chromebook as part of HP's push to offer access to the Google experience. HP's tablet offerings reside in the company's newly formed Mobility Global Business Unit. Torres joined HP from Nokia, where he was executive vice president and oversaw the MeeGo products and platform.

HP will provide an array of simple and easy-to-access support tools and resources to help customers take full advantage of all of the features the HP Slate7 has to offer. In addition to extensive phone and online support offerings included with the HP Slate7, HP is offering customers the opportunity to add to the standard product limited warranty with its HP Care Pack services. HP Slate7 customers will have the option to protect their investment with a two-year HP Care Pack for $29 or a two-year HP Care Pack with Accidental Damage Protection (ADP) for $49.

The HP Slate7 is expected to be available in the United States in April with a starting price of $169.

Tags: HP, Hewlett-Packard, Android, Google, Nvidia, Tegra