ViewSonic ViewPad E70 is a £130 Android ICS tablet

ViewSonic is preparing to fire a very cheap Android tablet into the UK market -- I was told the ViewSonic ViewPad E70, pictured above in prototype form at the company's stand at MWC, should retail for around £130 when it launches this spring.

It's a 7-inch tablet with a 1GHz chip, and Android Ice Cream Sandwich on board -- albeit heavily skinned with ViewSonic's own 3D interface. It is possible to toggle to an ICS-only view though via the home key.

Notably there's no access to the Android Market -- doubtless because it's so cheap -- so E70 users will have to make do with alternatives such as 1Mobile or web apps.

The E70 is a Wi-Fi only tablet but it's fully loaded with ports including mini-HDMI, mini-USB, micro-USB and a microSD card slot. On board storage is 4GB, and there's 512MB of memory. Bluetooth is also included.

The capacitive touchscreen has a lowly resolution of 800x480 pixels, and there's a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, but the final device won't ship with a rear camera, despite this prototype sporting a lens on its back.

The company was also showing off a higher-spec version of the slate -- called the ViewPad G70 -- which includes 3G and access to the Android Market, but will cost about twice as much.

ViewSonic also has a 9.7-inch Ice Cream Sandwich slate in the pipe-line. Click through the photo gallery above to see snaps of all its tablets, plus a pair of dual-SIM Android smart phones it's bringing to market. Let me know what you think down in the comments, or over on the Facebook page.

The ViewPad E70 has a raft of ports on its rump -- including mini-HDMI, mini-USB, micro-USB and a microSD card slot.

Here's the ViewPad G70 -- this ICS tablet has the same basic shape as the E70 but a more luxurious feel and higher spec, including 3G, 1GB of RAM and a 2-megapixel rear camera. Its screen is 1,024x600 pixels.

And here's the G70 toggled to the Ice Cream Sandwich-only view, with a blissfully clean looking homescreen. Expect ViewSonic to add a lot of bloatware to the final tablet.

Here's the G70 from the side -- as you can see it's no size-zero slate, but is pleasingly substantial. It also feels nice to hold, thanks to a soft back.

This whopper is the ViewSonic ViewPad E100, which has a 9.7-inch screen and a 1.2GHz chip. It also runs ICS and includes 3G. Resolution is 1,024x768 pixels.

Here's the E100 from the side -- it's thinnest at the very edges, thanks to an iPad 2-esque bevel. Ports wise there is mini-HDMI, mini-USB, micro-USB, a microSD card slot and SIM tray.

ViewSonic was also showing off two dual-SIM Android smart phones. This snazzy white and yellow handset is the ViewPhone 4S, which will be running ICS when it launches, but was being demoed on Gingerbread for stability reasons. You'd be hard pressed to tell though, because of the thick skin that is ViewSonic's own 3D UI.

Here's the top of the ViewPhone 4S -- which includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button. The phone has a 1GHz chip and a 3.5-inch, 640x960-pixel touchscreen.

On the back of the ViewPhone 4S is a 5-megapixel camera. The glowing green light on the side is a charger indicator.

ViewSonic also had this ruggedised phone at its stand -- the ViewPhone 3 will run Gingerbread when it launches. It has an 800MHz chip and a 3.5-inch, 320x480-pixel screen.

From the side the ViewPhone 3 is clearly quite chunky -- but then it's designed to take a few knocks so the bulk helps it toughen up.

Here's the back of the phone with its 5-megapixel camera. ViewSonic reckons this phone would suit travellers, thanks to its dual-SIM tray and toughened body.