Cut-price Android tablets from China are nothing new, and rarely a cause for concern on the part of big name electronics manufacturers (see T3's favourite knock-off Apple product, the 'Apple iPed'). But according to tech site PCWorld, the $99 Novo7 tablet rocks specs that could see it snapping at the heels of the likes of Amazon and Samsung when it goes on sale in the States in the next few months.

Running the latest version of Google's Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, the Novo7 offers a 1GHz processor, front and rear cameras, 3D capability and an HDMI out. The touchscreen isn't the dodgy, one-finger-only resistative type, either; the Novo7 has a full capacitive, multi-touch display that measures in at seven inches corner-to-corner - the same size as Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet.

So, what's the catch? Well, so far, there isn't one. But the speculation is that this Chinese tablet - which has just been certified by Google - might be deliberately under-priced by the Big G in the US to scare off competitors like Amazon and other Android tablet manufacturers. After all, Amazon are well known to undersell their hardware (the Kindle Fire tablet as well as its line of Kindle e-readers) and make the loss back in digital content like eBooks and music, which is sold to users through Amazon's shopping portals. With Google Music now live in the States and Google Books already in competition with Amazon for eBook sales, perhaps this cheap tablet will turn out to be Google's answer to the Kindle, with everything from films to apps to music to eBooks coming to the tablet courtesy of Google's own servers.

No word on any releases outside of the US and China for the moment - more when we hear it.

Source: PCWorld