Hisense Launches $149 Nexus 7 Clone Tablet

Hisense finally entered the tablet market on Thursday with the launch of its Sero 7 Series, two tablets that are Walmart exclusives and aimed at consumers wanting quality and performance at a reasonable price. The Hisense Sero 7 PRO ($149) and the Sero 7 LT ($99) are available in Walmart stores now, and will arrive on Walmart.com on May 24.

"Hisense is proud to introduce cutting-edge tablet technology that is accessible to the broadest demographic, with unmatched performance in the current market landscape,” said Jonathan Frank, Vice President of Marketing, Hisense USA. "Our new Hisense Sero 7 tablets provide Walmart customers with an attractive, robust and highly powerful entertainment, communication and productivity tool."

The Hisense Sero 7 PRO is nearly a clone of Google's Nexus 7 tablet, sporting a Tegra 3 quad-core SoC clocked at 1.3 GHz, a 7-inch HD IPS touchscreen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage. It also features a 2MP camera on the front, a 5MP camera on the back, NFC and Bluetooth 3.0+EDR. Although the internal storage is meager, the tablet has the upper hand over the Nexus 7 offering mini-HDMI output and an SD card slot for added storage.

Although the product page isn't live as of this writing, the tablet also promises a 10-hour battery life (400mAh), and Twonky Beam, which allows users to share local and Internet resources with other equipment via a DLNA network. The tablet connects to the local network via Wireless N, and the OS of choice is Android 4.2.x "Jelly Bean" which appears to be unaltered. The overall dimensions are 7.9 x 5 x 0.43 inches.

As for the cheaper Sero 7 LT, the specs are less detailed, showing a 7-inch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution, a dual-core SoC clocked at 1.6 GHz (Rockchip RK3066?), 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, and an SD card slot for added capacity. Other features include mini-HDMI output, micro-USB ports, Wireless N connectivity, a 0.3MP camera on the front, a 3400mAh battery, and Android 4.1.x "Jelly Bean". The overall size is 7.9 x 4.8 x 0.41 inches.

The Hisense Sero 7 tablets come preinstalled with VUDU, walmart.com, sams.com, Nook eReader, Pandora Internet Music, Facebook and Nvidia’s TegraZone applications. They're also Google Play certified, meaning users have access to Google's services like Gmail, Google Maps and so on.

"Today's announcement from Hisense underscores our commitment to give customers access to a range of high-quality tablets at low prices," said Kevin O'Connor, vice president and general merchandising manager of electronics for Walmart U.S. "This is just one example of how we are working with leading technology companies to expand our current assortment of brand-name tablets, as well as bring to market new products that deliver on quality and price."

When launched, the Hisense tablets will be found at Walmart online here.