Tag Archives: webos

tablets

HP’s 7-Inch Slate 7 Gets May 1st UK Release

HP-slate-7-android-tablet

HP has already announced plans to release a 7-inch Android tablet sometime this year, after its first webOS device, the TouchPad, failed to make a dent in the market. Now, the company seems to be ready to fight back, and grab a little market share from popular players like Apple’s iPad Mini, and Google’s Nexus 7. The product, which the US hardware maker is going to actually role out, is set to have a UK release on May 1st, with a tiny £129 price tag, and a formidable list of internal specs, including a 7-inch 1024×600 display, 1GB of RAM, an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core 1.6GHz processor, 3.15MP plus 0.3MP cameras, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for the tablet OS. With the new Slate 7, we’re also looking at 8GB of storage (expandable up to 32GB via microSD), Red or Silver hues at your choice, and integrated Beats Audio software. Those who are looking to be the first to have this one within the European boundaries, can officially pre-order the slab from HP’s UK online store, right away. There’s still no word when you will be able to get this one Stateside.

[HP]

Operating Systems, software, tablets

HP TouchPad is Getting Ready For an Android Invasion

HP TouchPad has been getting a lot of attention lately, as prices have “mysteriously” dropped to $99 – which seems like a heck of a good deal, to say the least. But pricing aside, the WebOS (TouchPad’s platform), as good as it may be, simply doesn’t have, at the moment, enough applications to offer. In fact, there’s not much to find if you are looking for quality usage, beyond the usual stuff (e.g music, internet surfing, emails). Now, if we could just get the Android version to match up with the 9.7-inch touchscreen display, eh? Well, it might actually happen, with recent Team-Touchdroid announcement, indicating a very cool tweak which enables the HP slate to fully support a 10-point multitouch frame. Neat, isn’t it? Make sure you scroll down after the break, there’s a short video that proves it.

Update: As a matter of fact, there’s an app for that, which lets you smoothly run Google’s Android platform on top of HP’s WebOS along with apps and some other goodies, as demoed in vid with just a few clicks away, after the break.

 

[via Liliputing]

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tablets

HP TouchPad To Launch July 1st Priced at $499.99 (Update: July 15 In The UK)

After a year of rumors and plenty of speculations, the HP Touchpad is now very much a reality. Some might even say it is a real contender to the iPad tablet. Well, in terms of price everything’s pretty much the same, as the 16GB version will run for $499.99 and the 32GB for $599.99. According to the company announcement on Thursday, the first webOS-powered tablet which boasts a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor along with a 9.7-inch touchscreen display, will become available Stateside on July 1st (pre-orders start at June 19th) with European/Australian launch dates just a few days after. In addition, HP has indicated that it is planning to offer a 3G model as well, in partnership with AT&T, later this summer. Full PR after the break.

Update1: And looks like the brand new TouchPad device from HP is about to officially start selling in the UK on July 15th, with prices ranged between £399 for the 16GB WiFi-only model, or £479 for the 32GB version, at Great Britain’s top retailers like Argos, Carphone Warehouse, PC World, Amazon, and much much more.

Update2: Looks like it didn’t take long for the prices to drop down, as HP officially confirms a $100 discount off its brand new TouchPad lineup, which brings us to a grand total of $399 for the 16GB version, and $499 if you’re buying the 32GB one.

[HP]

 

 

Continue reading HP TouchPad To Launch July 1st Priced at $499.99 (Update: July 15 In The UK) →

tablets

HP Touchpad Tablet Gets The Hands-on Video Treatment

At this point, it looks like HP is really geared up towards their long-awaited debut of the WebOS Touchpad device, which has been recently made into a quick hands-on video that shows a little about the capabilities of the company’s upcoming 10-inch tablet. In that same period, the Touchpad seems to be able handling very smoothly powerful enterprise apps such as Citrix and eDrawings Viewer, while at the same time, running day-to-day tasks like sending emails or surfing the net are far easier than expected. Need some more steps to prove this? Hit the jump and see for yourselves.

[via PreCentral]

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tablets

HP’s 9.7-inch Palm TouchPad Announced: 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, Beats Audio engine and webOS 3.0 Platform

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We’ve already seen a glimpse of what HP’s 9.7-inch Touchpad device looks like, and today it finally sees an official announcement. And while the tablet itself doesn’t break any design ground, the new webOS 3.0 platform is simply mind blowing. Weighing in at 1.6 pounds and measuring only 13.7mm thick, the Palm TouchPad, which used to be called Topaz, also includes a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, along with a very sharp  9.7-inch 1024 x 768 touchscreen display, an integrated gyroscope, accelerometer, your choice of 16/32GB of internal storage, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, A-GPS capabilities, and a 1.3MP front-facing camera, for audio/video conferencing support. Also, as far as music entertainment at this new Hewlett-Packard tablet goes, you get yourself a set of inbuilt stereo speakers, powered by HP’s own Beats audio engine that produces a  ‘Jump Smokers Sound’ that will make you dance, shake and rock.

Software wise, HP/Palm’s webOS 3.0 is beating everything easily so far. Generally speaking, it does kick Apple’s ass in some of the places, and certainly a lot nicer to use than any Android-powered devices we’ve ever had a chance to experience. Not only is the UI slick and geared toward public consumption, it is probably the only one out there to feature a true multitasking, to date (you hear that Apple?). Besides that, there’s a very cool email app preloaded inside, as well as a virtual keyboard, VPN capabilities, touch to share integration, wireless printing, and well established QuickOffice, Google Docs, Dropbox, and Box.net support.

Regretfully, price wasn’t announced yet (someone’s probably waiting for Apple to announce iPad 2 first) and the ship is set for this undetermined “coming this summer,” date…but that doesn’t mean we are any less excited, right?

While waiting, make sure you hit the jump to watch the video.

Update: We’ve just added another quick hands-on video, courtesy of TechnoBuffalo.

Continue reading HP’s 9.7-inch Palm TouchPad Announced: 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, Beats Audio engine and webOS 3.0 Platform →

tablets

HP webOS Tablets Rumored For a March 2011 Arrival

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Well, it looks like we don’t really need to wait until February 9 to get details about one of the most anticipated webOS products in the HP lineup – they’re right here, courtesy of Engadget tipsters, and we couldn’t be pleased more with this, could we? Generally speaking, we’re looking at two new webOS slates that HP adds to its most impressive burgeoning portfolio, a 9-inch codenamed Topaz and a 7-inch going by the name Opal. And while we couldn’t help noticing a certain similarity between Palo Alto’s future slabs and Cupertino’s trendy and fashionable iPad device, there are yet several differences distinguishing the two species from each other – the lack of “home” button, for instance, or the presence of a micro USB port on the bottom along with a 1.2GHz processor and a front-facing camera upfront. In addition to that, we can also spot a set of three stereo speakers for audio layout (in landscape and portrait modes) on both Hewlett Packard units, while their back side seems to be getting a black glossy coating material of some sort.

Aside from the minor details, and the fact that the first webOS tablets family may start shipping in March of 2011 (unconfirmed), we do not have much to say, except that at least one version, out of the two that HP plans to release, will be offered in three optional paths: as a WiFi-only model, as part of an AT&T 3G plan or with Verizon’s Wireless’ LTE network. Either way, we hope these rumors turn out to be true. Stay tuned.

Update1: As far as measures go, rumor has it that the Opal will be sized at 180 x 144 x 13mm while the Topaz slate is a bit bigger, at 241 x 190 x 13mm. Screen wise, we’re looking at a 1,024 x 768 pixel TFT LCD multitouch display, instilled on both versions, along with a “premium audio” system based on HP’s most  advanced Beats audio platform. Other than that, we also hear that potential buyers are likely to be given “tens of gigabytes” of cloud storage, which frankly sounds pretty neat as well, but then, you’ll have to wait for February 9 in order to get even more savvy.

Update2: The good guys over at Pre Central have managed to put their hands on an internal paper with a list of specs of HP’s upcoming tablet. As it turns out, the 9.7-inch HP Topaz is likely to include a 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor on board, along with 512MB of DDR2 memory, an Adreno 220 GPU for the graphics, a mic,  802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1024 x 768 touchscreen resolution, a front-facing 1.3MP webcam and either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage at your choice. Besides that, we also expect some neat goodies under the lid, such as a built-in accelerometer, paired with a gyroscope, and a light sensor for auto background colors, while battery wise, we’re looking at somewhere around 8 hours of continuous work.

[via Engadget]

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News, tablets

HP Slate 500 Spotted Online With Windows 7 Onboard

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Oh what’s this? You may be consciously thinking that HP has already buried the idea of having a Windows 7 powered tablet released to the pond, right?  – but it didn’t – at least according to some official HP and Energy Star pages, recently surfaced and luckily tracked down by the good IDG News people. What’s in there? Not much besides some interesting details about an HP 500 slate which presumably runs a Windows 7 Premium OS inside, tucked with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, two cameras and a batch of extensions we already know. So where’s the promised WebOS, you may ask? We’re not sure at this point but clearly, the US giant is literally working on something these days, we think, actually we’re positive. anyway, stay tuned.

Update1: HP has officially confirmed that it’s still working on some brand new tablet products. A spokesperson from the Personal Systems group told Engadget that they’re “in customer evaluations now and will make a determination soon on the next steps.” Dear HP, we’re really looking forward to getting this into our hands and seeing what you’re going to build.

Update2: According to Todd Bradley, EVP, Personal Systems Group, for HP it seem that Windows 7 slates will officially make a debut somewhere “this fall”, targeting the enterprise markets rather than consumer pockets, as we initially thought. Regretfully, at this point, there’s no word about when or where HP’s most anticipated WebOS slates will actually go live.

Update3: Now it’s official, HP confirms a webOS tablet for ‘early 2011’. According to HP’s Todd Bradley “You’ll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future and a webOS-based product in early 2011.”

[via PCWorld]

Computers, General, Mobile, News

HP To Acquire Palm For 1.2 Billion Dollars

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Hewlett-Packard has just announced that it would buy Palm for a staggering price of $1.2 billion dollars, roughly about $5.70 per share of common stock. The merge and acquisition, which are planned to close by July 31, can give the Palo Alto computer giant a great opportunity to get a bigger slice from the hot and trendy smartphones market, valued at $100bn alone and with annual rapid growth of 20% . HP executive vice president Todd Bradley said that “Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices” and also added that “Between smartphones, slates, and potentially netbooks, there are a lot of opportunities here.” And he’s right, just think about the endless potential  possibilities of having Palm’s stunning WebOS integrated in HP’s future multi-touch devices, whether these are mobile phones, tablets or other portable machines – it’s HUGE and HP, in our opinion, has clearly taken a few significant steps in the right direction, especially now when strident voices, complaining about a sluggish HP Slate performance, start floating around – WebOS can definitely improve speed reaction dramatically –  and someone at the HP headquarters has probably figured this one pretty well. Brian Humphries, HP’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development quoted saying “our intent is to double down on WebOS”. That’s very important, considering the months of speculations where Palm was desperately looking for a buyer. And given the fact that HP is getting over 1500 patents that Palm currently owns (that probably has considerable value as well, isn’t it?), along with a very good team of young talented engineers and one relentless chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, who is expected to remain with the company another few years long, this very complex deal that few months back, could easily have seemed impossible, can all of a sudden turn into a nice and promising bargain. PR announcement after the break.

Update: Digitimes says that HP Taiwan VP, Monty Wong has officially confirmed a webOS tablet to go live somewhere around October of this year. Stay tuned for more to come.

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