In an effort to enter the booming budget tablet segment, HP has just launched its new 1401 tablet in the U.S. It doesn’t come with a very impressive hardware sheet, but makes up for it with the pricing. At $169.99 HP 8 1401 is certainly worth a look. Read on for more on the hardware specifications.

The tablet comes with a 7.85 inch 1024 x 768 resolution display, a 2 megapixel camera on the back, a 0.3 megapixel front shooter and a relatively unheard of AllWinner A31S quad core CPU clocked at 1 GHz. It also sports 16GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, 1GB of RAM and a 3,800 mAh battery. HP is bundling 25GB of lifetime cloud storage from Box with the tablet.

At 7.85 inches, this device is the same size as the Apple iPad Mini. And while the hardware on board is nowhere close to other competitive offerings from the likes of Samsung, ASUS or even Amazon, the ‘8 1401’ should not disappoint you.

HP cannot promise any updates in the future which means that the tablet will remain on Android 4.2. So if constant software support is something you’re looking for, this tablet isn’t for you. HP is also offering the Slate 7 Plus for $149.99 which packs a quad core Tegra 3 chipset and a 7 inch 1280 x 800 resolution display, which might be a better bet if you’re looking for a smaller tablet.

• SourceLilliputing