The Hudl 2 was a tablet computer that was produced for British retailer Tesco and manufactured by Pegatron. It was announced in October 2014 as the successor to the original Tesco Hudl, which was released on 30 September 2013. The device features an 8.3-inch screen, a 1.83 GHz quad-core processor and 16 GB of internal flash memory. The tablet was originally launched with Android 4.4.2 KitKat and is officially upgradeable to Android 5.1 Lollipop. On 23 October 2015, Tesco announced that the Hudl 2 had been discontinued and that no successor was planned.
History
The Hudl 2 was announced at a launch event on 3 October 2014 with the tagline "We want to show you the bigger picture", accompanied by the hashtag "#Letshudl".
Hardware
Design
The Hudl 2 was available in eight colours. It has a soft coating on its back and a large front bezel. When held in landscape it is much wider and slightly slimmer than the original Hudl, though it is the same height. At 420 grams it is heavier than its predecessor and competitors; the original Hudl weighs 370g whilst the Nexus 7 weighs only 290g.
Screen and input
The Hudl 2 has an 8.3" IPS panel, LCD display with a resolution of HD 1920×1200 and a pixel density of 273 ppi. This is a significant improvement over the older model, which had a 7-in 1400×900 LCD display with a pixel density of 242 ppi. The screen is less bright than the older model. The screen features a multi-touch capacitive panel, and contained within the device is a gyroscopic sensor, 3-axis accelerometer and an ambient light sensor. It is possible to connect the Hudl to an external display through use of the onboard HDMI port.
Audio and output
The hudl2 has speakers on the back of the device, in the format of speaker holes in two rows at each side of the tablet. There is also a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Battery
Tesco claimed that the battery could last up to 8 hours, an hour more than the original Hudl.
Storage
The Hudl 2 comes with 16GB of internal storage of which approximately 9GB is available to the user. The total storage capacity of the Hudl 2 is expandable through the microSD card slot up to 32GB. With the 5.1 Lollipop update, the Hudl 2 officially supports 128GB cards.
Accessories
There was a wide range of accessories available for the Hudl 2. Tesco offers:
The tablet runs on Google’s Android operating system, giving it some advanced features such as voice search. It has access to Google’s collection of apps including Chrome and Google Maps. It also has some of the same software as the first hudl such as BlinkBox, allowing the user to purchase or rent films. The Hudl 2 comes with new e-reader software for viewing e-books. As it is Tesco’s product, there is an emphasis on encouraging the users to continue or start shopping in Tesco by having services such as Tesco Direct and Tesco Bank in folders available from the homescreen. The 'My Tesco' launcher is present as it was for the first hudl, allowing the users to access shopping interests such as their Clubcard account or to find their nearest Tesco store.
Child use
Tesco promote the Hudl 2 as a family tablet. Their dedicated child safety app comes bundled in an attempt to achieve this goal. This app lets a user create a separate account for each user and limits accessible web content based on the user's age range. Other features of the child safety app include being able to control the amount of time users are allowed to use the device each day and the ability to block entire apps from users.
Reception
With its low price of £129, most expected the hudl2 to be similar to its predecessor, an accessory to laptops. Instead reviewers were impressed by the specifications of the tablet for its price point. Chris Finnamore of ExpertReviews rated it 5/5, calling it a "vast improvement" over the Hudl 1. CNET wrote "it has more than enough to satisfy most families and its wealth of parental control information will help you arm your kids with the knowledge they need to stay safe online". The parental control options were lauded by other reviewers as well; AndroidCentral describes how "owners are asked if they wish to configure the hudl2 to block sensitive content, restrict the amount of time a child can use the product, and more". A shared point of praise among reviews was that of the hudl2’s strong push towards family and less savvy customer usage. The Independent were particularly impressed with the Get Started app. They said "Get Started offers comprehensive and clear tips on how to use the tablet for everything from shopping to gaming, as well as showing some basic security measures and ways to share the Hudl safely amongst family members". Despite the many successes of the hudl2, reviewers were displeased with some of the more fundamental specifications. The five megapixel camera was described as "shoddy" by The Independent, and many reviewers were unimpressed with the battery life. As with many tablets, the hudl2 comes with several preinstalled apps of varying usefulness which cannot be removed but can be disabled. The "My Tesco" launcher is preinstalled as the default launcher, though has been described as "sluggish" by TechRadar.
Discontinuation
On 23 October 2015, Tesco announced that it would no longer be stocking the Hudl 2 although it would continue offering technical support to existing owners. While it did not explain the reason behind the decision, the company had been pursuing a strategy to focus on its core bricks-and-mortar grocery business which had already seen it sell off or close its video streaming and e-book operations. The announcement came one week after Tesco had announced that it had no plans for a Hudl 3 and "nothing planned at the moment" in the sector. According to Marketing Magazine, a number of key people who had worked on the Hudl project, including its lead Android engineer and product managers, were no longer with Tesco.
