News: HP unveils TouchPad tablet PC

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has unveiled its webOS-running tablet PC (or slate as HP refers to it), the HP TouchPad.

The TouchPad boasts a 9.7" diagonal capacitive multi-touch display, is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 running at 1.2 GHz and sports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11n.

It also features support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta in the browser and integrated messaging that combines all your text- and picture messages as well as IM conversations with one person into a single view.

The TouchPad is also more compact (190 x 242 x 13.7 mm) than Apple’s iPad (242.8 mm x 189.7 mm x 13.4 mm) although its display is the same size, but it does weigh more (740 g) than Cupertino’s tablet (680 g).

The company stated that it is working with Quickoffice to include the Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, which enables users to view and edit documents, the likes of Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. For video-calling, the TouchPad has a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.

“Today we’re embarking on a new era of webOS with the goal of linking a wide family of HP products through the best mobile experience available,” said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP.

“The flexibility of the webOS platform makes it ideal for creating a range of innovative devices that work together to keep you better connected to your world.”

HP’s Wi-Fi-only TouchPad is scheduled to be released in the US during summer (winter for us) and the exact pricing as well as the release of the 3G model, will be announced at a later date. No local release info is available yet.

HP TouchPad features and specs:

HP webOS
Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2 GHz processor
9.7" diagonal XGA capacitive, multi-touch screen (1024 x 768 resolution)
16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage
High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta
Wi-Fi 802.11n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
A-GPS (3G only)
Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, and a 3.5 mm microphone jack
Internal stereo speakers and Beats Audio
Front-facing 1.3 megapixel webcam for live video-calling
Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP
Light sensor, accelerometer, compass (magnetometer) and gyroscope
Micro-USB (charging and PC Connect) with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Built-in HP Touchstone technology for easy charging (HP Touchstone for TouchPad sold separately) and HP touch-to-share to share web addresses between TouchPad and compatible webOS phones
Dimensions: 190 x 242 x 13.7 mm
Weight: around 740 g

HP unveils TouchPad tablet PC

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