£30 Datawind Ubislate could be the cheapest Android tablet yet

In an increasingly lucrative race to the bottom in time for the Christmas rush, Indian hardware manufacturer Data-wind has blown the Car phone Warehouse and its Avoka 7 slate out of the water with the £29.99 Ubislate 7Ci.

First developed for the Indian education sector, where it was branded as Aakash, the Ubislate range is comprised of suitably entry-level devices and the Ubislate 7Ci is the most basic. Specifications are underwhelming to say the least, with a 1GHz Cortex-A8 processor, 7in, 800x480 resolution TFT display, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage, along with Android 4.0 and integrated Wi-Fi.

A micro-SD card slot is a fairly standard addition, but it's rare to find a full-size USB port in any Android tablet - let alone one that costs £30. It will let you connect USB flash drives, external keyboards, webcams, dongles or other peripherals. You'll also find a basic VGA camera on the front of the tablet.

The next model up in the Ubislate range is the 7 C+, which has exactly the same specs as its cheaper sibling, but adds Edge cellular connectivity. This takes the price up by a penny under £20.

If you're looking for the absolute cheapest Android tablet around in time for Christmas, you'll be able to buy a Ubislate 7Ci directly from the Datawind website.