HP 8 was quietly launched on the HP website on Friday. With the tablet world being crowded with various companies looking for a piece of the action, HP has yet to make a breakthrough, Daily Tech reports.

About a year back, HP made a big buzz by releasing a budget Android tablet which rolled out at the Mobile World Congress 2013, the HP 7. The 7-inch device came with ARM-based quad-core Allwinner A31s CPU, 16GB storage, and 1280 x 800 screen resolution. It was priced at $169, and later slashed down to $149.90.

Fast forward to today, and HP released another Android tablet, albeit with less fanfare. The HP 8 tablet was quietly launched on the company's website, coming with a 7.85-inch LCD display, 1024 x 768 resolution, Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB storage with microSD. It runs Android 4.2.2 Jellybean and price is $169.99.

Back in the early days, "budget tablet" referred to Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire (2012). There were only two types of tablets: the full-size iPad and the others. The others were those priced less than Apple's iPad line.

In 2013, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX attained specs that could keep up with the iPad, but as smaller tablets, they were called "midrange" devices. Today, "budget" tablets are those manufactured by non-reputable companies.

The HP 8 is a budget tablet by a reputable maker. With the $170 price tag, it is $60 less costly than the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX. HP 8 tablet is now available on the HP website with free U.S. shipment.