HP Launches Tablet, Hides Palm’s Name

From The Online Reporter   

 

HP has launched three new WebOS devices, including an iPad-sized tablet, but so far the reaction has been a bit mixed.

The tablet, a 9.7-inch device called the TouchPad, a 3.6-inch touchscreen smartphone called the Pre3, and a smartphone called the Veer were unveiled this week but didn’t receive accolades right off the bat.

For the tablet, we still don’t know price or an availability date beyond "late summer," so the big question at everyone’s fingertips has been: "Will consumers wait for this if the iPad 2 hits the shelves first?"

The name Palm was not said at the launch, so it is likely that the brand is good and dead, with only the WebOS branding as a reminder.

HP also announced that WebOS will be coming to "other connected devices" including printers and possibly PCs this year. All WebOS devices can connect via HP’s Synergy product — which merges data from the cloud.

HP called the TouchPad "the breakthrough WebOS user interface fully realized in the tablet experience."

Specs on the tablet include:

 - Capacitive multi-touch display.

 - Instant-on.

 - Browser with Flash 10.1.

 - "Access to thousands of WebOS applications."

 - WebOS 3.0 with true multitasking.

 - 9.7-inch display (1024 x 768 screen resolution).

 - A dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU.

 - Accelerometer, gyroscope and compass.

 - 16GB to 32GB internal storage.

 - 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calling.

 - 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, 3G support.

From the demonstration, WebOS looked very fast and responsive, definitely fit for tablets. The TouchPad kind of looked like the iPad while WebOS 3.0 was very reminiscent of Honeycomb, so it is something that at least the techies and current tablet users will be familiar with.

Only time will tell for TouchPad, and since it isn’t arriving until late summer there’s not much besides time.

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