Polaroid joins the budget Android tablet gang with its new M Series slates

Polaroid has announced a pair of Android tablets at CES 2013. The M7 and M10 have a 7-inch and a 10-inch screen respectively and considering their specifications, are very reasonably priced.

Polaroid is going all-out to reinvent itself at CES this year, with the introduction of a tablet aimed primarily at kids and an Android-based mirrorless camera, but also keeping hold of its traditional photographic roots with the Fotobar. It’s not stopping there either, as it has unveiled a pair of new Android tablets wearing the Polaroid name at the show.

It has called them the M7 and M10, and they’re described as having “Mighty performance” at a “Minimal price.” Bold claims both, so do they live up to expectations? We’ll start with the M7, which as the name suggests has a 7-inch screen size, however instead of using a basic 1024 x 600 panel, Polaroid has given it a 1280 x 800 resolution IPS display. This sets it apart from some of the other cheap Android tablets we’ve seen at CES, such as the offering from Coby.

Inside is an unnamed dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage memory and a microSD card slot too. The M7 also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a 2-megapixel video call camera. It uses Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and there is access to the Google Play store, however the pictures do show a flashy user interface over the top of the OS. We’re pleasantly surprised by the price of the M7, as it’s $130, which sounds reasonable when you consider the specs.

The M7 is joined by the M10, which gets a quad-core processor – again, of unknown heritage – 16GB of memory, an HDMI-out port, a microSD card slot, the same 2-megapixel video call camera as it’s smaller sister, plus a 5-megapixel primary shooter on the back. The price for the M10 is $230, which is considerably less than bigger screen slates such as the Nexus 10, should you not be bothered about its high-resolution screen.

Both the M7 and M10 are due for release in the spring, although an exact date isn’t known. Depending on the user experience provided by that Polaroid skin, they could be worth a closer look.