HCL launches two great new budget tablets, starts at US$160

Budget tablets are a dime a dozen these days, but it’s interesting to watch companies push them into new market segments. With the rise of the iPad it seems that tablets will soon be commonplace in the classroom. HCL agrees. The Indian company announced two new low cost tablets –- the HCL ME U1 and the HCL MyEdu Tab. While the MyEdu Tab is aimed squarely at India’s classrooms, the ME U1 displays a good low-end price and feature mix, making it a great option for anyone shopping for a budget slate.

Both tablets run the freshest version of Android. The HCL ME U1 boasts version 4.0.3 of Ice Cream Sandwich and features a 1GHz CPU, 7-inch, 800×480 resolution capacitive display, 0.3 megapixel front camera and 512MB of DDR3 RAM. It has 4GB of internal storage space — expandable up to 32GB with the microSD slot — with full and mini USB ports. Connectivity options include W-Fi, but 3G will come through a USB Modem. The tablet is priced at Rs 7999 or approximately US$160.

The HCL MyEdu Tab is similar to the ME U1 in terms of specs and comes in two variants with additional educational content — MyEduTab–K12 and MyEduTab-Higher Education(HE).

The price for the MyEduTab – K12 is Rs 11,499 (± US$230) and includes educational content as well as a memory card with additional free educational apps and NCERT books.

The Higher Education(HE) version of the MyEduTab is priced at Rs 9 999 (± US$200) and includes educational content and online certification pack.

Both tablets will be available in India from April 2012.