The massive UK supermarket chain has released its second generation hudl tablet.
The hudl2 is larger than its predecessor and is also a faster device with a better design that is equipped with enhanced parental controls, and Tesco hopes that its latest Android tablet will have more success than the first Hudl, which was released in September of last year at a selling price of £119 (about US$190) and sold 750,000 units in one year.
The initial hudl device was well liked for being a low cost tablet that got the basics right.
The group digital officer at Tesco, Michael Comish, commented that “Cutting-edge technology doesn’t have to come with a big price tag.” Comish added that “hudl2 may be affordable, but we’ve cut no corners when it comes to performance – this is our best tablet offering yet.”
The hudl2 is slim, 8.3 inches, and is powered by a 1.83 quad core Intel GHz processor. This makes it three times faster than the previous version. It also comes with Android KitKat 4.4.2, a 1.2 megapixel (MP) front facing camera and a 5MP rear facing camera, dual band wi-fi, 16 gigabytes (GB) storage with opportunity to expand to 48 GB, and 8 hour battery life.
The tablet has been optimized for entertainment and is equipped with a parental filter that includes “The Parent Zone”, which can be customized for as many as seven users. Parents are given the power to customize each profile to match their child’s age to help filter out content that may be inappropriate. Parents can also set a time limit for children playing with the mobile device.
The new Android tablet has been improved in every way possible.
According to Comish, Tesco has “improved on the tablet in every conceivable way.” He added that “We delivered a product people wanted, at a price they could afford.”
The retail price for the new hudl2 Android tablet from Tesco will be £129 (roughly US$205). However, it will also be available on Clubcard Boost, part of Tesco’s loyalty program, which means that the device could cost as low as £65 (just over US$103). The tablet will be available in eight different colors and will go on sale starting October 9.
The Canadian manufacturers of the “world’s lowest cost” version of the device is aiming for ultra-cheap.
Datawind, a Canadian mobile manufacturer that has already been making tablet commerce news headlines through its creation of the lowest cost device in this category, the UbiSlate 7Ci which retails for $37.99 still isn’t cheap enough for the company which is now looking to reduce the cost of the ownership of these gadgets.
The company is hoping to be able to slash 50 percent from the price tag for its products.
The hope is that this low price will open up tablet commerce to pretty much anybody. According to the CEO of Datawind, Suneet Singh Tuli, “This idea is to bridge the digital divide, it’s really that simple, the idea is to overcome the affordability barrier.” The company currently boasts five different locations, including Toronto Canada, as well as England, India, and Germany.
They feel that tablet commerce can be affordable for everyone and that everybody has a right to it.
Singh Tali explained that “We think as the Scandinavians do that (Internet access) is a fundamental human right.” The team from the company is now working on implementing a new strategy that will help to slash the price for tablets that will be considered “good enough” for many consumers, especially considering they will only be paying around $20 for them.
Datawind is best recognized for the work that it has done with the Indian government. It has previously supplied them with inexpensive tablets for a program that is designed to ensure that students will have access to these mobile devices.
Recently, MIT Technology Review magazine called Datawind one of the 50 smartest companies in the world. That was following the launch of its cheap tablet computers under the Aakash brand with the Indian government.
At the same time that the government of India is now considering the proposals of a number of companies, including Datawind, for the next generation of Aakash, the business has now set its sights on tablet commerce in North America as well as the United Kingdom. It is hoping to place a better focus on selling UbiSlate branded devices directly to the consumer.
