**Tesco value tablet - The Hudl**

[sarge78]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24203271
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/23/tesco-low-cost-hudl-android-tablet/

The 7" tablet market just got even more interesting! It looks great value for money.

Specs:
Rockchip RK3188 (28nm HKMG, Quad core cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz and Mali 400 @ 533Mhz.)
1GB ram?
7" screen @ 900p (looks decent enough to me)
16GB with microSD slot.
HDMI out.
Built by Archos.
Minimal branding.
9 hour battery life.
£120 or £60 with Tesco vouchers.

It should offer better performance than the 2012 Nexus 7, let's see if Tesco/Archos/Rockchip deliver top software support.

 

[sarge78]

Android tablets have always occupied the sub £100 market, this is the first one that isn't a bad (not including skinned service tablets like the Fire and Nook)

£60 is a cracking price for existing Tesco shoppers and a great option for kids, esp when it gets 4.3 and the restricted account functionality. It would be a great option for schools too, I bet they do a new equipment for schools drive.

 

[sarge78]

The more I see the more I like. Wonder if the Mali 400 is fast enough to run the 900p screen? Its a tad quicker than the note 2/GS3 so it should be good enough.

Have you seen anything that suggests this will be receiving software updates? Bearing in mind that it's cheap and made by Archos.

It all depends on Tesco bloat I guess, Archos/Rockchip have got a few similar devices out already so stock updates should be quick? No idea what Archos are like though, Oh they all have 2GB too! Fingers crossed!

I don't think it's 3G-ready, so you'll need to use another device as a hotspot - either an EE phone as they allow tethering or a MiFi.

What's wrong with offline maps?

A Garmin Nuvi is £100 and will be a better sat-nav than a cheap tablet running some mapping software. For a start they are designed to have things such as screens you can see in sunlight, GPS receivers aren't an afterthought etc.

The screen looks good, it should be fantastic in a car. The GPS might be crap though, best wait for a few reviews.

 

[sarge78]

Had a play with one today and Tesco/Archos nailed it. Hopefully there wont be any issues.

No it won't, these Rockchip/budget SoC's are not as efficient so the CPU will probably perform a little worse or on par.

Also the Mali 400 GPU is not the same as the one in the Galaxy S2 or the S3 so expect performance again worse than the Geforce ULP GPU in Tegra 3.

Rockchip is still good for the price, but never mistake it for anything other then a ultra budget SoC.

Huh? Tegra 3 (T30L) is the cost cut 40nm, single channel, 1.2Ghz binned part. This is a fairly stock 28nm HKMG ARM cortex A9 SoC.
Oh it gets almost identical or better GPU performance to Exynos 4 quad in the note 2, a tad faster than the 2012 Nexus 7.