Huawei announces 7-inch MediaPad tablet with Android 3.2

Huawei Technologies, China’s largest phone-network equipment maker, has taken the wraps off what they claim will be the world's first tablet to run on Qualcomm’s 1.2GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor and Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Weighing 390g and measuring 10.5mm tall, the 7-inch 'MediaPad' is lighter than the HTC Flyer and Blackberry Playbook, but slightly thicker than the latter. Huawei didn't state the display's resolution, but said its 217 pixels-per-inch IPS panel has a higher pixel density than the iPad 2 (132 PPI), Galaxy Tab 10.1 (149) and Motorola Xoom (160).

Keep in mind that these rivals are all sporting 9.7 or 10.1-inch displays, so for a given resolution it is to be expected that in terms of pixel density they'll come in lower compared to a device featuring a 7-inch panel.

According to Huawei's press release, Android 3.2 is "dedicated to enhance the full potential of 7-inch tablets", though feature-by-feature we don't expect it to be very different from the latest 3.1 release. In terms of specs you can look forward to 8GB of internal storage as well as a microSD slot for expansion, rear and front-facing cameras (5MP and 1.3MP, respectively), HSPA+ (14.4Mbps) 3G support, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 1080P full HD video playback, and around six hours of life. There was no mention of RAM as the company says it's still working with partners on specifics.

 The MediaPad will be supported by Huawei Device’s Hi-Space cloud storage solution and comes pre-loaded with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let’s Golf and Documents to Go.

There was no mention of pricing in the press release but the company promises the MediaPad will be available in select markets from Q3 2011. According to Engadget, Huawei has "no current plans" to produce a WiFi-only model, so we're probably not going to see prices in line with Asus' $400 Eee Pad Transformer and perhaps not even the $500 iPad 2.