TESCO HUDL 7”

We’re about as unsure regarding the vibrancy of the market for a Tesco-produced tablet as we are about how to pronounce the brand name of the Hudl 7”. (Is it “huddle”? “Hoodle”? “Hudley”?) However, we are happy to report that the folks at Tesco are apparently not just thoughtlessly throwing this electronic device onto European store shelves and has included a range of colors plus opportunities to accessorize.

The technical specs in the Tesco Hudl 7” are as impressive as any mid-range tablet out there, store branded or no. For starters, the 1.5 GHz quad-core processor may be the fastest in any budget tablet model and the 1440 x 900-pixel high-definition touchscreen is truly outstanding at this price – the Hudl is designed as a “family tablet” and thus movie-watching was in mind when implementing the classic 16:9 ratio of the movie screen. The 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage space are average for a 7” tablet, but the micro SD card slot can get another 64 GB on this device.

Finally, one oddity: The Tesco Hudl includes no camera, an interesting choice presumably made to keep the price of the tablet down. The installed software is Tesco-centric; the Android 4.2.2 operating system has been tweaked a bit for Tesco branding. An in-house app allows Clubcard members to get free movies and television programs in addition to allowing doing that shopping-kinda stuff online.

Scary to think, but could Tesco actually become a viable contender in the 7” tablet field? This is one of the more impressive debut-product launches we’ve ever seen – in blue, red, black and purple, no less.