Huawei MediaPad Android tablet (preview)

Huawei has unveiled the world's first Android tablet running the 3.2 Honeycomb version of Google's Android platform, the 7in MediaPad.

Read our guide to the best upcoming tablets in 2011.

Sporting a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera that doubles as full HD 1080p video recorder, and a HDMI port, Huawei claims the MediaPad is a "stylish, high-performing and ultra-portable package." Curiously, it offers both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, so it's likely to be sold through carriers when it launches in Australia.

Although Huawei seems to be making plenty of noise about the MediaPad's 3.2 Android Honeycomb OS, it is essentially the same software powering the current range of Android Honeycomb tablets. The main difference centres around the ability to run on a range of display sizes, including the smaller 7in size of the MediaPad. Other new features are merely bug fixes, better hardware acceleration, and software updates for the Movie Studio, Movies, and Music apps, along with enhancements to Android's live widgets.

The Huawei MediaPad has six hours of battery life, which is comparable to HTC's 7in Flyer tablet but still well below the market leader, Apple's iPad 2. The MediaPad also has a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls, 8GB of internal storage and comes pre-loaded with Facebook, Twitter, and Documents To Go apps. Strangely, Huawei hasn't revealed the MediaPad's RAM specifications.

Huawei also bundles the MediaPad with its Hi-Space cloud solution, which is described as a cloud computing solution that has its own apps store. Details are sparse on this, but we suspect Huawei will offer a cloud storage solution similar to the popular Dropbox service.

Huawei has not announced an Australian release date or pricing for the MediaPad, but it's expected to launch locally in the coming months.