Interested Android lovers, and news readers as well, can own the JellyBean 32GB tablet if they're willing to pay .33 to start off the arrangement and another £17.33 in the succeeding 18 months.

Or if buyers would not want to be bothered by billing statements from The Times for the next one year and a half, they can opt to shell out £299, which covers the whole package of enjoying the hot Google tablet and a daily dose of updates from the perspective of the Murdoch-owned media firm.

Take note though that the same Nexus 7 model, which sells like hotcakes in all configurations including its cousin gadgets the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, is offered at roughly $US199 without any monthly obligation. So, are consumers really getting a hot deal on this?

At best, what The Times offers is quite interesting, Lee Matthews of Geek.com said. By itself, the British paper evokes so much history having seen its first printing way-back in 1785. Archives of this initial edition and the succeeding runs of the paper to present will be thrown in with the whole package, making it a definite lure for the sentimental on everything English, Mr Matthews said.

Plus, subscribers will be entitled to taste a world woven together by News Corp through privileged access from any device of contents from The Times with additional "benefit from Times+, a members-only set of events such as film screenings and expert talks," CNET said.

But beyond The Times' sphere, more Nexus 7 deals seem to carry better allure, CNET said, with the best so far on online retailer Three, which sells the Asus-assembled tablet "for £49 with 15GB of data for £25 per month, for a total of £649 over two years," that comes with 3G connectivity as opposed to The Times' Wi-Fi net access.

On the other hand, experts agreed that News Corp is heading to the right direction in peddling its paywalled news contents with the added attraction of delivering quality and affordable gadgets.

In the case of Nexus 7, tech reviewers have been heaping praises on Google for its purposeful global blitz of bringing as many gadgets as possible to global consumers, which may have been packed with negligible compromises but not on visual and processing muscles.

"The Nexus 7 is one of the most popular tablets on the market. It comes with the latest version of Jelly Bean, 10 hour battery life while browsing, and more general awesomeness," a blog post from AndrodCommunity.com said.