HP 7 Plus vs. iPad Mini 2 vs.Galaxy Tab 4: Specs and Features

HP has launched its new HP 7 Plus budget tablet pc with a 7-inch display with a 1024 x 600 screen resolution, 2MP rear-facing camera and 0.3MP front-facing camera, a quad-core, ARM Cortex A7 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal memory storage with a microSD card slot for additional memory storage up to 32GB, a 2,800mAh battery, with a micro-USB 2.0 port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a mono speaker. The HP7 Plus will run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

HP 7 Plus contains the display size in its name, as do many tablets. It features a 7-inch IPS LCD screen and comes with a 1024 x 600 screen resolution. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 4 features a 7-inch LCD screen with a 1280 x 800 screen resolution. Apple’s iPad Mini 2, on the other hand, comes with a 7.9-inch LCD screen that has a whopping 2048 x 1536 screen resolution. The second-generation iPad Mini’s resolution is equal to that of its larger iPad brother. When it comes to the display round, we give the win to the iPad Mini 2, a tablet that not only beats its competitors when it comes to screen resolution, but is also slightly larger than either of them – closer to an 8-inch experience than a 7-inch. The 7-inch experience is ideal for playing games and reading throughout the day.

HP 7 Plus has a 1Ghz, ARM Cortex A7 quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM, plus 8 GB of onboard storage with a microSD card slot that provides an additional 32GB of storage. The Galaxy Tab 4 has a 1.2Ghz, quad-core processor and 1.5GB of RAM with 8 or 16GB of memory storage and a microSD card slot for an additional 32GB (Wi-Fi) or 64GB (LTE). Apple’s iPad Mini 2 has Apple’s own A7 dual-core processor with an M7 motion coprocessor and a 64-bit chip for gaming and graphics along with 16GB-128GBs of local memory storage. Overall, the win goes to Apple with its incredible 128 GB memory storage capacity, and the A7 processor chip can more than hold its own in the processor category – despite its quad-core competitors. The M7 motion coprocessor chip will come in handy when gaming using the device’s in-built gyroscope and accelerometer.

Galaxy Tab 4 will run you at around $199.99 ($200) for the base version, while Apple’s iPad Mini 2 features a starting price of $399. In the price category, HP takes the prize with its impressive $99 price tag for the HP 7 Plus. The HP 7 Plus is half the price of the Galaxy Tab 4 and 25% of the price of the Retina iPad Mini 2, but there are some compromises in the experience as you saw above. You won’t sacrifice much on memory storage and cameras, but the $99 price tag will force you to sacrifice screen resolution – a biggie when it comes to the user experience. If 1280 x 720p photos can appear washed out, imagine what the HP 7 Plus’s 1024 x 600 screen resolution will yield!

Tablet PC Battery

Battery power is important for the life of the tablet pc, the longer the battery, the better your user experience. The HP 7 Plus boasts a 2,800mAh battery that is said to give a paltry 5 hours, 30 minutes of tablet usage. The Tab 4 comes with a 4,000mAh battery, while the iPad Mini 2 comes with a 23.8-watt hour HP 485041-003 Battery, which brings the iPad Mini 2 battery to 6,471mAh and provides up to 10 hours of usage. In this category, the iPad Mini 2 wins once more with its longer battery and longer usage time. It’s easy to see the iPad Mini 2’s dominance in the area of battery life when you consider that it has a little over twice the battery life of the HP 7 Plus (2,800mAh vs. 6,471mAh, respectively).

Overall HP7 Plus tablet is the most affordable, the iPad Mini 2 the most formidable. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 4 offers both. What can you take away from the spec comparison? It all boils down to offerings and price. The HP 7 Plus offers excellent storage, top budget price, and ok cameras, but lacks good screen resolution and battery life. For just $99, you get a sufficient tablet. For $399, four times the price of the HP 7 Plus, stands Apple’s iPad Mini 2. Apple’s iPad provides everything you want and need (including stellar battery life), but you pay a rather hefty price tag for an 8-inch tablet. Apple’s iPad Mini 2 costs approximately the same as Google’s 32GB 2013 Nexus 7.