Orange outs own-brand Tahiti Android tablet

Orange UK has begun selling its first own-branded tablet, the Android-powered Tahiti.

"We're pleased to be expanding our portfolio of own-brand devices into tablets for the first time," Paul Jevons, product chief at Orange UK parent Everything Everywhere, said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Tahiti is a stylish, lightweight device with a great-quality screen, which we believe will help customers to get the most out of their multimedia content whilst on the go."

The seven-incher runs the 'Honeycomb' 3.2 variant of Android on a dual-core, 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor. It has a capacitive multitouch touchscreen, rather than a resistive one.

The tablet costs £70 on a two-year, £25-per-month data contract. It also comes for free when bundled with the second version of Orange's low-cost San Francisco Android phone, on a two-year, £41-per-month combined contract.

Orange has not revealed any plans to release the tablet on a contract-free, unsubsidised basis.

The Tahiti weighs 390g and measures 124mm by 190mm by 10.5mm.

The tablet has a 5-megapixel camera, as well as assisted GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSDPA connectivity.

Orange's Tahiti comes with Honeycomb, the first version of Android designed specifically for tablets. There are no plans to upgrade the device to Ice Cream Sandwich, the operator told ZDNet UK.

Ice Cream Sandwich, or Android 4.0, is optimised for both smartphones and tablets. This makes it more attractive to developers, who may want to code apps for tablets while still having the safety cushion of a smartphone customer base, as Nvidia chief Jen-Hsung Huang noted on Monday.

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