HP announced what looks very much like a re-entry into the smartphone market, with the unveiling of a device that falls into the phablet category for the Indian market – although the company has dubbed it a “voice tablet”.

The company announced two products, the Slate6 VoiceTab and Slate7 VoiceTab, with the numbers in the name relating to screen size. According to the vendor, “consumers are looking to consolidate their phones and tablets, which is propelling the voice tablet market”.

Ron Coughlin, SVP of the consumer products group at the troubled PC giant, said that this is “an exciting new category that represents a meaningful growth opportunity for HP.”

While HP is clearly trying to position the 6-inch device as a small tablet rather than a large smartphone, it is nevertheless moving into a market space that is already crowded by vendors big and small.

The company’s previous converged device efforts have also not been covered with glory: for example it offered mobile-enabled products in its Windows Mobile-powered iPaq product line some years ago, which failed to generate significant traction.

And its 2010 acquisition of Palm also failed to reap rewards.

What is not clear is why HP now thinks it is in a position to succeed with what are essentially yet more Android-powered devices, especially in a market that is as competitive – and cost sensitive – as India.

According to Re/code, Coughlin said that this market is appealing because customers predominantly buy devices without a service contract, and it has “a great brand presence and a great go-to-market system there”.

As much as HP may try to be attempting to define “voice tablets” as a new niche, it will find that it is still in competition with the existing Android smart device vendor base, which already offers devices that are functionally similar.

Slate6 VoiceTab and Slate7 VoiceTab are powered by Android and have quadcore processors. Both also include dual-SIM support.

Availability is slated for February 2014.