As the tablet market gets crowded with a slew of devices trying to compete with Apple's iPad in the $400 - $500 price range, ViewSonic has announced its latest offering geared at the value seeker: a 7-inch Android slate that runs Android 2.2 and costs just $250. The ViewBook 730 is essentially going after the Barnes & Noble Nook Color with a faster 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and the same 8GB of internal memory expandable through a microSD card.
The screen resolution comes in a bit lower at just 480 X 800, compared to the Nook Color's 1024 X 600 display, but otherwise ViewSonic's latest tablet offers quite a bit for the price. That includes a mini-USB port, mini-HDMI output with support for 1080p video playback, a front-facing VGA camera for videoconferencing, Adobe Flash 10 support, full integration with Amazon's Android App store, Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g (no 802.11n, unfortunately).
ViewSonic is also throwing in a stylus to be used with the included RiteTouch software for note taking, highlighting excerpts in books, or working with the Sketcher app to draw directly on the screen.
The tablet features ViewSonic's AirSync technology, which lets it automatically receive over-the-air software updates as they become available, and according to the company it can last from 8 to 10 hours on a single charge. The ViewSonic ViewBook 730 will be available at the end of June for the aforementioned $250.