HP officially unleashed its 7-inch Android tablet on the U.S. market, and the new HP Slate 7 costs only $169.99 with free two-day shipping included.

The HP Slate 7 is the company's cheapest tablet to date, excluding the HP TouchPad 9.7-inch tablet. The HP TouchPad launched back in 2011 with a $499 starting price, but the ill-fated slate quickly dropped its price tag to $99 in a liquidation sale.

Now, HP released its 7-inch slate as a challenger to Google's popular Nexus 7 tablet. The HP Slate 7 is available for purchase from HP's website for $169.99, and deliveries should be fulfilled within two days of the order. As previously mentioned, the slate comes with free shipping.

Unlike the TouchPad, the new HP Slate 7 is built with a budget in mind, and it comes as a low-cost device. It's roughly the same size and shape as the Nexus 7, but costs $30 less. HP's offering sports a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a Rockchip RK3066 ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM.

The HP Slate 7 packs 8GB of internal storage, but unlike Google's Nexus 7 it also has a micro SD card slot for additional memory. HP's tablet also comes with dual cameras. On the other hand, while the Nexus 7 ships with the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the HP Slate 7 is one version behind, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Other features of the HP Slate 7 include 801.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 3,500 mAh battery which should last for about 5 hours of run time, according to the company.

Comparing the HP Slate 7 and the Nexus 7, Google's slate still seems like a better deal due to its quad-core processor, newer software, higher-resolution display, longer battery life and twice the internal storage. The HP Slate 7, meanwhile, does have both front and rear cameras and a micro SD card slot, which may appeal to those complaining about the Nexus 7's lack of expandable memory. For audiophiles, the Beats audio on the HP Slate 7 may also make a selling point.