The HP 7 Plus low-cost Android tablet that launched in Europe a few months back has now hit retail in the U.S. as well, selling for just $99.99.

As the price tag itself indicates, this dirt-cheap Android tablet is low-end and generally unimpressive both in terms of design and performance, but it is quite decent for this price range.

For just $99.99, the HP 7 Plus offers a quad-core processor, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, and up to 5.5 hours of battery life, among other specs.

More specifically, the slate sports a 7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, packs an Allwinner A31 ARM Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage capacity, and a microSD card slot for additional memory.

Other specs include a 2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front shooter, a 2,800 mAh battery, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with Miracast wireless display support. In terms of weight and dimensions, the HP 7 Plus tablet measures 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.32 inches and weighs in at 10.4 ounces.

To sweeten the deal, HP is also throwing in 25GB of free lifetime storage with the Box cloud storage service, and is also offering free Kingsoft Office software. As previously mentioned, the slate runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, which means that it's Google-certified and comes with full access to the Play store.

Dirt-cheap tablets typically don't have much to offer, and HP's low-end slate definitely doesn't excel in screen resolution, battery, or other departments. On the other hand, the specs it does pack should allow for a decent performance with basic use. Devices with higher-resolution displays, more powerful processors and better overall performance also come at higher prices.

If you just need a tablet for basic use and are shopping on a budget, the HP 7 Plus is quite a neat option. Budget tablets have come a long way and now offer more for less, with increasingly more options popping up for budget shoppers. The HP 7 Plus low-cost Android tablet is now available directly from the company's website at this link, and its $99.99 price tag is hard to beat.