Hasta La Gadget!

At last, the webOS-empowered TouchPad, HP’s answer to the growing tablet market. And make no mistake, it’s coming in with guns blazing — specs-wise, the slate stands up pretty well to the competition currently in play (e.g. iPad) and the other up-and-comers not quite out the gate (e.g. Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook). Stacked side-by-side, it’s clear Apple’s entry is lacking a bit in both memory (256MB vs. 1GB for everyone else) and front-facing camera — not that we expect that to be the case for all of 2011. When it all comes down to it, what’ll set these slates apart will be the platforms and software themselves — should make for an interesting summer, no? In the meantime, for the nitty-gritty on technical specifications, venture past the break.

Continue reading HP TouchPad vs. iPad vs. Xoom vs. PlayBook: the tale of the tape

HP TouchPad vs. iPad vs. Xoom vs. PlayBook: the tale of the tape originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday launched a touchscreen tablet and two new smartphones powered by Palm’s mobile operating system, webOS.

Dubbed the TouchPad, the HP tablet has a 9.7-inch screen with 1024 x 768 resolution, a front-facing camera for videoconferencing and a dual-core 1.2-GHz processor.

Due for a summer release, the TouchPad also includes stereo speakers, gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, Bluetooth compatibility and support for Adobe Flash. HP did not announce a price tag.

“For the first time webOS is available on a form factor that lets the intuitive elegance of the platform really shine through,” said Jon Rubinstein, HP’s senior vice president.

The TouchPad tablet is HP’s entry into the touchscreen tablet market created by Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad in 2010. That market is rapidly growing more crowded with the advent of tablets such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and the upcoming Motorola Xoom, both running Google’s Android operating system. By contrast, HP is betting on webOS, which powers its current Pre and Pixi smartphones, but which lags behind both Android and Apple’s iOS in developer support.

In the past, HP has sold stylus-controlled tablet PCs running the Windows OS, but that product category never grew beyond a tiny business niche. The webOS-powered TouchPad is HP’s first consumer-oriented tablet device.

HP acquired Palm last year to develop a mobile operating system in-house. Wednesday’s offerings are the first products resulting from the new acquisition.

HP highlighted the TouchPad’s web-connected syncing experience called Synergy, which also works with HP’s webOS phones. Enter a calendar entry on the TouchPad, for example, and if you enter your user name and password on a webOS phone, the calendar automatically synchronizes the entries.

HP added that the TouchPad would include its own built-in phone service for handling calls on the TouchPad. However, the company did not have full details about carrier support.

The TouchPad’s user interface features a dock at the bottom with core apps for e-mail, browsing and others. An arrow button on the right brings up a launcher that shows a window of the most frequently used apps.

Third-party apps for the TouchPad will be developed with WebKit, the same development tools used to make apps for the earlier webOS phones such as the Palm Pre.

HP also showed off notification features that it claims are less obtrusive than competitors’. An instant message could pop up a mini notification in the upper corner of the screen, for example, and you could select the notification to switch to the IM app.

“The TouchPad is nothing short of a breakthrough,” Rubinstein said.

HP earlier in the press conference launched two smartphones, the HP Veer (above) and the Pre 3 (below). Both phones include a 5-megapixel camera and slide-out qwerty keyboards, and both include support for Flash. The smaller Veer has a 2.6-inch touchscreen, and the bigger Pre 3 has a 3.6-inch display.

Both smartphones can be turned into wireless hotspots to share their data connection with up to five different devices (similar to the Verizon iPhone). HP is marketing the Pre 3 as a “professional workhorse” for power users.

The Veer will be available early spring, and the Pre 3 will be shipping in summer.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Continue reading HP TouchPad to boast Skype calling, Kindle app

HP TouchPad to boast Skype calling, Kindle app originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time Inc. has been trying to work out a deal on tablet magazine subscriptions for some time now, and it’s just made a fairly big move in that direction with the help of HP. It confirmed at its “Think Beyond” event today that it has teamed up with the publisher to offer subscriptions to some of its magazines on the TouchPad when it launches this summer. That will apparently include Sports Illustrated, Time and People initially, with Fortune and other Time Inc. titles to follow further on down the road, according to AdWeek. Still no word on pricing, but HP promises they’ll deliver an “immersive reading” experience.

Update: Palm’s Lisa Bewster has confirmed via Twitter that this deal also involves Time getting its big wish: subscribe to the print magazine and you’ll get full access to the tablet version.

For more on all of HP’s webOS announcements today, click here!

Time inks deal with HP to bring magazine subscriptions to the TouchPad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There she is, the HP TouchPad. It’s the webOS slate we’ve been yearning for ever since probing (then) Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein on our first-ever Engadget Show, but sadly, it looks as if HP has yanked any and all Palm labeling from the final product. Introduced today in San Francisco as part of a newfangled webOS triumvirate, the TouchPad (previously known by Topaz) is shaped almost exactly like the iPad. It tips the scales at 1.6 pounds and measures 13.7mm thick, which is somewhat of a downer for those already put off by the heft found in Apple’s slate. As we’d heard last month, HP’s shipping this one with its own Beats audio engine, Touch-to-Share (a feature that lets users easily transfer a website, document, song, text or call from the phone to the tablet — or vice versa — simply by tapping the two devices together) and a huge reliance on the cloud. Also of note, Jon just mentioned that this is only the “first in the webOS TouchPad family,” hinting that the Opal may be just around the bend.

Other specifications include webOS 3.0, “true multitasking,” Touch-to-share, instant-on productivity, a 9.7-inch display (1024 x 768 screen resolution), a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU (!), inbuilt gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and 16GB / 32GB of internal storage space. There’s also a front-facing 1.3 megapixel webcam, support for video calling, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, A-GPS (3G model only), “twice the memory of a Pre 2” and a set of stereo speakers. Rubenstein claims that this here tablet is “screaming fast,” and the software UI we’re seeing looks downright luscious. There’s a new paneled email application a Growl-like pop-up notification system, support for Skype calling, compatibility with Amazon’s Kindle e-book store, plenty of cal / email integration courtesy of HP Synergy, a slick virtual keyboard, VPN support, wireless printing as well as Google Docs, QuickOffice, Dropbox and Box.net compatibility. One of the killer features that can’t be found on a competing tablet right now is this one’s ability to talk to the Pre 3 — so long as there’s a Touchstone involved, one can have their Pre 3 and TouchPad communicate, even piping over notifications and texts from the phone onto the slate. It’s a brilliant idea, and we’re obviously amped to see just how well it’s implemented.

Over on the accessories front, there’s a case / stand (which includes a handy flip-out kickstand for desk use), a wireless keyboard (yeah, this one!) and a new Touchstone dock that enables all of the wireless communication magic between webOS devices. If you’re curious about specific models, the first out of the gate will be a WiFi only version, with 3G and 4G variants to follow suit in due time. As for the all-important pricing and availability? “Coming this summer,” with pricing to be determined “at a later date.” Bah, humbug!

Update: Video after the break, and have a look at our hands-on here!

For more on all of HP’s webOS announcements today, click here!

Continue reading HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad: webOS 3.0 tablet with 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, coming this summer

HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad: webOS 3.0 tablet with 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, coming this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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