As April passes quickly for the planned launch of the Slate 7 tablet, the folks at HP are now saying it will go on-sale 1 May for £129. Prospective UK owners can now navigate to HP’s website to pre-order. 

The Slate 7 is HP’s first shot at an Android tablet, ditching WebOS and competing with the Nexus 7 from Google and Asus. The Slate 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on top of a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024x600. 

Underneath, you’ll find a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 3.15-megapixel rear-camera, VGA as the front-camera for video conferencing, microSD slot with support for up to 32GB of expandable storage, 8GB of internal storage, Beats Audio, WiFi, and a removable battery.

Like the Nexus 7, HP has taken the pure-Android route, doing away with any OEM skin on top (ie,TouchWiz). An HP ePrint app for easy printing to its line of printers will be baked on, though.

HP also plans to launch the Slate 7 in the US for $169, in both red and slate gray. The company hasn’t provided any word on a launch stateside. however.

As we noted in our hands-on time at Mobile World Congress, the Slate 7 feels well built and easy to use, but the thick bezel (frame) around the screen seemed a bit overkill. 

We suspect spending a little more cash to get the Nexus 7 will be the better option, but if you’re an HP loyal and live in the UK, you can grab the Slate 7 now.