The Post-CES/Pre-MWC gap is a notoriously slow period for news, but yesterday ZTE announced their upcoming V81 8″ Tablet.

While pricing and availability have yet to be announced, we’re left scratching our heads as to the low end specs. The device has an 8″ 1024×768 display, dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB memory, 4GB storage, 3700mAh battery, b/g/n WiFi (not a) and a 3G (HSPA, not HSPA+) 21Mbps radio. Equipped with a 0.3M low-resolution front camera and a 2M rear camera, the specs are reminiscent of a device from 2 years ago than 2013.

So to sum it up, in an era of “retina” displays, quad-core processors, and ultra fast graphics co-processors, we just don’t see the point of this one. Unless it comes out priced at significantly under US$100, we can’t imagine why you’d want the V81 when you can buy a Nexus 7 or 10 now with better specs, and direct software updates from Google.