Aldi to enter budget tablet market with £79 Medion Lifetab

Announcement follows similar moves by Tesco, Asda and Argos

The Aldi Lifetab E7316 - while stocks last. (Aldi)

Discount supermarket chain Aldi has launched its foray into the budget tablet market by teaming up with electronics firm Medion to release the £79 Lifetab E7316.

For the price it’s being offered at, the Lifetab E7316 boasts some fairly solid specs. It’s packing a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory (which can be expanded by a memory card). The Lifetab is also running the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system, and has a USB host function as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

There are also some pre-loaded apps, including Kaspersky Tablet Security and Softmaker to open and edit Microsoft Office documents.

However, there are some budget specs to reflect the budget price. The 7-inch is screen is relatively low-resolution at 1024 x 600 pixels, and the front and rear camera are only 0.2 and 2.0 megapixels respectively. Furthermore, the battery life will only last you up to four hours between charging.

To round up the specs, the Lifetab weighs in at approximately 310g, with dimensions of 192 x 122 x 10.8mm.

Aldi’s budget tablet launch follows similar moves by a number of other supermarket chains in the UK. Asda recently announced a deal to start selling a Medion tablet which is similar to Aldi’s in both specification and price. Argos also unveiled the MyTablet, which costs £20 more than Aldi’s tablet, but is identical in terms of internal processor, the quad-core processor used and the operating system being run.

Tesco was the first supermarket to release a budget tablet with the launch of the Tesco Hudl. Priced at a relatively lofty £119, the Hudl has been undercut a number of times, none more so than by Carphone Warehouse.

The Medion Lifetab E7316 will launch in Aldi on Sunday (December 8) with reportedly limited stock.