A
Chinese consumer electronics firm is offering for sale a media tablet
based on Android 4.0 for less than $100, MIPS Technologies Inc. said
Monday (Dec. 5).

The
tablet, which is available in China and online through Ainol
Electronics Co. Ltd., features a 7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen
and is powered by a MIPS-based processor from Chinese Ingenic
Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The tablet supports WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0,
HDMI 1.3 and microSD, as well as 3-D graphics with the Vivante GC860
GPU, 1080p video decoding and dual front/rear cameras.

The
tablet, NOVO7, is the first tablet based on Android 4.0, also known as
Ice Cream Sandwich. It will be available in the U.S. and other
geographies within the next

several
months under brands from companies including Leader International Inc.
and OMG Electronics Ltd. It will also eventually be available in 8- and
9-inch form factors, according to MIPS.

According
to Robert Bismuth, vice president of business development at MIPS, the
functionality of the NOVO7 is roughly equivalent to Amazon Kindle Fire,
which is

sold directly through Amazon for $199.

Bismuth
said the company is working with other customers that will be bringing
to market MIPS-based applications processors for tablets based on
Android 4.0. Bismuth said the sub-$100 price point of the tablets is
likely to be a sign of things to come. "The price advantage that the
MIPS architecture brings to licenses helps to drive down the cost of all

devices we are in," Bismuth added.

Bismuth
pointed to an interesting proof point from recent history that
underscores consumer interest in lower cost media tablets. When
Hewlett-Packard Co. announced in August that it would discontinue its
TouchPad tablets after just weeks on the market, it lowered the price
point on the devices it still had in stock to $99 and $129. Consumers
snapped them up within 48 hours.

"There
was no future for [TouchPad]—no future support or future apps," Bismuth
said. "But it did the four or five things that people wanted."

The
Ingenic processor that powers the tablet is Ingenic JZ4770 mobile
applications processor, which leverages a MIPS-based XBurst CPU running
at 1 GHz, MIPS said. The company said the XBurst processor
power-efficient architecture provides extended battery life and the
tablet draws less than 400mA  of power during active web browsing.

The
JZ4770 is among the first MIPS-based SoCs targeted for mobile devices
that delivers more than 1-GHz frequency, increasingly a requirement for
tablets and other devices that incorporate rich multimedia and
high-performance applications and functionality, according to MIPS.

"I
am thrilled to see the entrance of MIPS-based Android 4.0 tablets into
the market," said to Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at
Google Inc., in a statement. "Low cost, high performance tablets are a
big win for mobile consumers and a strong illustration of how Android
openness drives innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers
around the world."

MIPS has posted a corporate video touting the tablet and its role in its creation on YouTube.