Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been flooded with a deluge of tips about the HP Zeen ever since we posted those first FCC images of the tablet device this morning, and it’s actually a little surprising at how perfectly everything aligns. We’ve now had multiple tipsters confirm that the Zeen is an e-reading-focused Android tablet with the unique ability to connect directly to an HP printer and function as its interface without the need for a computer. But that’s not all — here’s everything else we know:

• The Zeen is a capacitive tablet running a HP skin on top of Android 2.1 — it won’t get shifted to webOS, and it’s not clear if it’ll get upped to Froyo before launch given the development time required. It has capacitive touch buttons, a SD card slot, video support, and at least some prototypes have cameras with a special webcam app installed.
• The goal is for the HP home screen and skin to be the only home screen available, but that hasn’t been fully implemented yet.
• E-reading is a major focus, and the Zeen has “significant” integration with the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore and ecosystem. Makes sense, as the Nook itself is based on Android, and being able to print e-books from the Zeen would be a huge differentiator — and a great way for HP to sell more ink.
• The Zeen will come in two configurations: a $399 bundle with a new printer called Zeus and as a standalone unit for an unknown price. The Zeus has its own “basic” control setup, but when the Zeen is docked it provides a rich interface to the printing functions — presumably a web-connected interface like the one HP’s been moving towards with other printers.
• Despite the CQ model number, the Zeen is a straight HP product, with a laser-etched logo on the back.

So that’s what we know about this enigmatic product. It certainly adds up — HP has long said one of the reasons it bought Palm was to use webOS as a consistent interface to other connected devices like printers, and it only makes sense that the company was working on executing that strategy with an OS like Android long before Jon Rubinstein and company joined the team. Besides, how better to sell more ink than by making it easy for consumers to hit Facebook and print pictures without having to use a computer at all? It’s certainly interesting — we’re waiting patiently to see when and where the Zeen next appears.

The HP eStation Zeen, the Zeus printer, and everything we know about them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you thought that things would be quiet in the world of Apple news until the yearly September iPod event, you’d be wrong. The rumors have already begun. Hardmac claims to have pictures of a next-gen iPod Touch with a rear-facing camera and flash. Rather than the usual blurry-cam picture we expect for leaks, it is a nice Apple Store-ready hero-shot. It is also, weirdly, in a case.

It’s almost certain that the new Touch will have a camera. We also know that the iPhone’s camera is pretty big, and would only just fit into the Touch, so seeing it all the way up at the corner of the Touch – its thinnest part – seems odd. So too, does the lack of a FaceTime-capable front-facing camera, but maybe that’s being saved for next-year’s model.

There’s not really much to get excited about here. The most interesting question, and the one that no spy-shot will answer, is whether or not the iPod Touch will use Apple’s A4 processor. I’d say it’s pretty likely: there are advantages of cost by using the same processor in all iDevices, as well as making things a lot easier for developers, who only have to write for one powerful processor, and two screen sizes (if the iPod Touch gets the Retina Display, that is).

One thing we do know, though, is that there will be new iPod models sometime in September, just like every year. Expect analysts to start “predicting” this fact very soon.

Pictures of the iPod Touch 4… well, almost [Hardmac]

See Also:

• U.K. Retailer Leaks New iPod Touch Details: Camera, FaceTime …
• Teardown Reveals iPhone Camera Could Fit the iPod Touch — Barely …
• Video, Pictures: iPod Touch With Camera Appears in Vietnam …
• A Tale of Two iPods: Why the Touch Has No Camera
• Rumor: iPods Nano and Touch to Gain Cameras

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Sure, we’ve heard Verizon discuss Android tablets once or twice, but it’s just now that we’re getting our first real juice about Motorola’s companion device. The Financial Times reports that Verizon and Motorola are teaming up on an Android tablet with dual cameras, Adobe Flash support and a ten-inch screen, plus mobile hotspot functionality (which implies Verizon cellular data) and — get this — access to pay TV. As it so happens, Moto makes a Verizon FiOS set-top box, and sources tell the Times that the television tablet may get grandfathered in to the very same technology. No word on processing power or price, but the rumor mill says we could see it as early as fall of this year. And given the timing, here’s hoping the Android inside will have some Google TV mojo, too.

Motorola-Verizon tablet will have FiOS TV, ten-inch screen? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were secretly hoping that RIM’s acquisition of the blackpad.com domain name was nothing more than a joke (or a preventative measure, at worse), but it sure sounds as if that’ll be the name the folks in Waterloo go with come this winter. According to unnamed sources who have unloaded new information to Bloomberg, RIM’s first tablet will actually be “introduced in November,” though there’s no clear indication as to when it’ll ship. Said sources have also stated that the device will sport a 9.7-inch display, inbuilt WiFi and Bluetooth, and a downright comical Blackpad label. We get the BlackBerry link and all, but really? Here’s hoping for a last minute change of heart.

[Thanks, Simon]

RIM’s 9.7-inch Blackpad rumored for November launch — yes, Blackpad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A quick WHOIS confirms that RIM’s taken control of blackpad.com — yes, it’s long been rumored as a potential name for the BlackBerry tablet, but we’re certainly hoping Waterloo’s just parking a domain name to keep squatters at bay, because, seriously, we just got over the iPad jokes, you know?

P.S.- And might we see whatever this is at the RIM / AT&T event on Tuesday? Consider our interest piqued.

RIM takes control of blackpad.com, laughter takes control of our minds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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