- Carphone Warehouse has halved the price of its Android Avoca 7 device
- It has a 7-inch screen, 8GB of storage and a front-facing camera
- Price has been dropped to attract customers in the run-up to Christmas
- It is set to compete with other budget tablets from Tesco and Argos
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This Christmas was already gearing up to be the most fiercely fought battle between tablet makers, and now Carphone Warehouse has entered the fray.
The retailer has halved the price of its Android Avoca 7 tablet from 99 down to just 49 to compete with the likes of rivals Tesco and Argos against their respective budget devices.
It doesn't offer the same features as the more expensive models, but Carphone Warehouse claim it is 'perfect for families.'
Carphone Warehouse has halved the price of its Android Avoca 7 tablet, pictured, down from 99 in the run up to Christmas. It has a 7-inch screen, 8GB of internal storage and runs the Jelly Bean version of the Android operating system
The Avoca 7 comes with a 7-inch screen and has a limited amount of basic 8GB storage available - which can be increased up to 32GB using a Micro SD card.
This matches the storage on the Argos MyTablet but is half of all other major 7-inch tablet rivals.
Carphone Warehouse's tablet has a 1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM and a 0.3MP front facing camera.
The 350g tablet also runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software, which means it supports Android apps from the Google's Play store, and its makers claim it has a battery life of around eight hours.
Graham Stapleton, Carphone Warehouse's CEO said: 'We know over a third of tablet purchases are for children and family use but that one of the main barriers to not buying a tablet is cost.
'Our Android 7" tablet smashes right through the previous lowest priced tablets and is perfect for families and anyone wanting a modern, portable tablet at a bargain price.'
HOW APPLE'S SMALL-SCREEN TABLETS COMPARE TO RIVAL TABLETS
*Direct from retailers. Prices may vary on third-party shops or during promotions
Since Google announced its 2013 Nexus 7 Asus-built device in July, there have been six 7-inch tablets launched from major retailers.
These range in quality and price from Carphone Warehouse's cheapest, up to Apple's 319 iPad mini with Retina display, announced on Tuesday.
It means this year's tablet wars in the run-up-to Christmas is set to be most competitive yet, and it's likely some of the older devices may become cheaper still nearer the time.
Ed Connolly, buying director of electricals and home technology at John Lewis told MailOnline: 'Last year, tablets were the must-have technology product for the festive season, and we predict this year will be even bigger with tablets flying off the shelves at a rate of one every fifteen seconds this Christmas.
The Avoca 7 will compete against the 7-inch MyTablet from Argos, pictured, that costs 99.99. Argos announced the device earlier this month and said it is aimed at teenagers because it comes with parental controls enabled by default
Apple's CEO Tim Cook, pictured, announced the new iPad mini, right, as well as its fifth-generation iPad, called iPad Air left, on Tuesday that will compete in this year's festive tablet wars
'The competition is more intense than it's ever been, with sales of the latest Samsung, Google and Microsoft tablets up 80 per cent year-on-year.'
Argos' announcement last week that it was launching a budget device, called MyTablet, aimed at teenagers, was straight off the back of Tesco's Hudl announcement.
Tony Jiang, associate strategist at digital agency TH_NK said:
'The introduction of [cheaper tablets] undoubtedly opens up the tablet market to a much wider audience. Tablet technology is at a point where it's cheap enough to produce good quality, low cost devices and Tesco and Argos are looking to capitalise on that by selling them at a high volume to entry level users who may be using tablets for the first time.
'Whilst these budget tablets may not be able to compete with their more powerful counterparts from a performance perspective, they do perform suitably well for the casual user, and it's likely that their features will improve in new models over time without prices increasing.'
However, he warned that too many tablets at a similar price could split the market and users may choose devices based on what extra the company offers, such as Tesco's Blinkbox TV and film service.
worldweary, Heavens Gate - UK, 13 minutes ago
It looks a waste of money as it's so low spec. Buy cheap buy twice. I have the new Nexus 7 and will get the new 10 for my wife when it comes out soon. We have an iPad and the only reason to buy that is the Magic Puzzle app, which sadly isn't on Android.