The first shipments of HP’s initial webOS tablet will begin in March 2011, though it’s unlikely to reach consumers straight away, according to the latest whispers out of Taipei. DigiTimes‘ sources claim Inventec will begin ODM production of the first webOS slate at the end of Q3 2011, whereupon it will head to HP for software testing.
The first of several webOS slates – the company tipped to be using webOS as “the mainstream” of their tablet strategy – it’s unclear if the model in question is the HP Topaz or HP Opal we saw leaked details of yesterday, or another model as HP implies is also imminent. The company is expected to make its first announcements on February 9 2011.
Oh snap. Today, as you might have seen, there was a bit of a break with the HP Topaz and Opal webOS Tablets, of which the renders break credit goes to Engadget. Well HP and Palm saw that. They read blogs, imagine that. They decided that the release of the tablet image might have deterred some people from coming to the event, so they sent out another invite, this one without bothering to BCC the list of emails it was sent to! Odd play indeed.
Take a peek below to see what’s up we’ll still keep our eyes peeled for the event and it’s happenings, but this makes the situation CLEAR – that leak was never meant to happen. This list of 20 or so journalists sent to do the cleanup. Alright, that’s alright. Cheers, HP. Cheers.
Look, let’s be real: our Palm tablet scoop today was awesome. For its part, though, HP wants to remind us all that it’s got other news in the pipe for its event early next month, going so far as to tease invitees that they haven’t seen the latest on Engadget.
Not to say that we won’t be trying very, very hard to ensure that our readers do see the latest right here… but point taken, HP. See you in a couple weeks.
HP has an announcement to make regarding webOS on February 9th. The tagline “Something big, Something small, Something beyond” had many people trying to guess what the company had to show off, with plenty of fingers being pointed at a tablet device. HP and Palm haven’t been coy with their tablet talk, though, and have confirmed that a tablet device is on its way featuring Palm’s webOS mobile Operating System (OS). As many high-profile devices generally do, it seems that at least one of the tablet devices has found its way into the Internet, in internal render form, well before the official unveiling of the device.
A source has sent Engadget the first renders of the tablet device that HP and Palm have been working on. According to the source, HP is working on a pair of tablet devices. Topaz, which we’ve heard about in the past, is the 9-inch variation, while the Opal is the 7-inch, smaller version. The render doesn’t do much to show us what will actually be coming to market later this year, and into 2012, but there are a few interesting things to take away from it.
There’s a microUSB port on the bottom, and the design of the tablet seems to feature a three-speaker layout. There doesn’t seem to be any hardware buttons on the device, which goes right in-line with what we’ve heard in the past. While it’s a tablet device, we imagine that HP and Palm have made it so that the device can be rotated. With that in mind, while we can see that there’s a gesture area right above the microUSB port, Engadget believes it will probably rotate with the display. At the top of the device, there seems to be a front-facing camera.
Details about the devices, both the Topaz and Opal, are still non-existent at this point. Word about a release date, let alone the specifications and pricing of the tablet devices, are still up in the air at this point. Though, we don’t imagine that HP and Palm will not showcase at least one, if not both, of these tablets at their press event right around the corner. A captured screenshot does suggest that an LTE-based version of the Opal will be launching on Verizon’s network in September, 2011. While an LTE-based AT&T model won’t be popping up in stores until July, 2012.
HP has suggested that webOS-based netbooks may be in the pipeline, along with smartphones and tablets. According to a webOS carrier training site, HP’s master plan for the Palm-sourced platform is a single OS running on phone, slate and netbook, which “all talked to each other and shared information.”
“That’s hot. Love it. Why can’t I do all that stuff on my PC?
Maybe you will. That’s the big idea.
If I could run webOS on my phone and a slate and a netbook…
And they all talked to each other and shared information.
A friendly little product family…
That connects you to the world in amazing new ways.
I’m in. Let’s go
Today, let’s start with the phones. Tomorrow will come soon enough.” HP training site
The site suggests that HP will “start with the phones” and that “tomorrow will come soon enough” for other devices, though the company has said that it is pushing ahead with potential tablets this year. Whether that means we can also expect a netbook later in 2011 is unclear; the Palm smartphone range is arguably stagnating, and would likely be HP’s first port of call for refreshing their acquisition.
However, with HP’s February 9 event fast approaching, and HP VP Todd Bradley promising “a breadth of products” that day, it’s possible we’ll see at least the early stages of a multi-device strategy. That was originally expected to comprise phones and tablets; now it seems we’ll have full QWERTY keyboards in the mixture as well.
HP VP Todd Bradley has been laying down some teasers for the upcoming February 9 event, telling CNBC that the company has “announced February 9th we have a broad public set of announcements, broadly about the future of webOS and the breadth of products that it’ll enable.” While a tablet is not specifically confirmed, Bradley later goes on suggest that HP is “focused” on the tablet market and that HP will show during the event how it plans to differentiate its slate from the iPad.
“As we think about how that enables everything from smartphones to tablets to PCs to potentially other large screen devices, we see an enormous opportunity, both for ourselves and for our customers, to get the best web experience, the best content experience, that they can.” Todd Bradley, Executive VP, Personal Systems Group, HP
Interestingly, Bradley also said that it was a conscious decision by HP to share the webOS news at a separate event, rather than risk it getting overwhelmed during CES 2011. The company is also being as careful as it can be to avoid tablets cannibalizing traditional PC sales, with Bradley suggesting that “tablets are phenomenal for content consumption; PCs [are] great for content creation.”
SlashGear will be at the February 9 HP event bringing you all the news as it’s announced. It’ll be closely followed by MWC 2011, where we’re imagining we’ll hear which carriers have picked up whatever new webOS devices HP unveils.
See that image above? It’s not a forthcoming Palm LTE phone for Verizon Wireless, but it could be a sneak peek into Big Red’s plans for the future. If you’ll recall, VZW’s CTO Tony Malone hinted last week at CES that integrated LTE voice + data wouldn’t come until 2012 or 2013 at the earliest, and for now, all LTE devices would be relying on 3G for voice and 4G for data. Heck, not even all of the first-wave LTE devices will support simultaneous 4G data + 3G voice. Of course, we all know that LTE voice is coming eventually, and a new test portal at Verizon’s official website may be a clue as to how things will be arranged once it’s live. We’re guessing that an admin simply populated this page with information and images from the standard Pre Plus page — there’s no way an LTE-enabled Pre is planning to slink into VZW’s lineup — but it’s pretty obvious that at least someone within the company is thinking about a world where voice calls are completed over LTE. Potentially more interesting is the “4G plan pricing on this phone” line — during Verizon’s second LTE presser at CES, none of the executives on stage would talk dollars and cents, but this makes it fairly clear that there will definitely be separate plans for 4G phones, most likely ones with higher prices. Feel free to hit the source link if you’d like to poke around, but we wouldn’t expect it to remain online for much longer. One more look is after the break.
Update: As we predicted, the page has been pulled. Good thing the important bits are right here for you and yours.
An interesting product page has popped up onto the Internet today, featuring a device that looks strikingly similar to a device that’s been available for quite some time now (but is no longer). We seem to be looking at a Palm Pre Plus for Verizon, and the specifications for the device listed here do indeed outline the handset in question. However, there’s a few key alterations in this product page that have us wondering if a mistake has been made, or if we’ve caught a glimpse of what we should expect to see at HP’s webOS special announcement.
The device is listed as the Palm Voice Test, on the rather official-looking product page. As for the subdomain “testman,” the same device appears as the Palm LTE Voice. While the 4G references are pretty clear, and it seems that Verizon is looking to launch a Palm/HP product with LTE on board, there’s no confirmation of this device existing. And, even more interesting, is that the specifications on the page don’t outline a sequel to the Palm Pre Plus — it describes the Pre Plus.
There are obviously questions swirling around about the device shown above, along with the LTE references. While Verizon has an announcement to make on Tuesday (tomorrow), it seems pretty clear as to what device the majority of people believe will be announced. And it’s not the Palm Voice. However, HP’s event is in less than a month, where the device could certainly be announced. Stay tuned — it looks like things are about to get very interesting.
Every CES has its unofficial theme – we’ve seen netbooks and ereaders flood the booths in previous years – and 2011 was the turn of tablets. As predicted before the show, the rise of the iPad, the imminent release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the promise of a new, lucrative segment has worked like catnip to manufacturers large and small. Check out the SlashGear CES 2011 tablet roundup after the cut.
We’ve been tracking Notion Ink since late 2009, and this year had the chance to see what’s so exciting about the company’s Adam tablet. The one Android-based slate on show that didn’t have to apologize for running something earlier than Honeycomb, Adam’s key strength is its awesome Eden UI and multitasking system. Our hands-on videos show it best, but considering this tiny start-up has managed to do what has pretty much escaped Microsoft for the past decade, it’s very promising.
Motorola’s XOOM is another slate with great promise, and its debut on Verizon this quarter – along with a 4G model in Q2 – is already getting people excited. Like Adam, the XOOM runs NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset – you can find more about what that means in our Super Phone hub – and while it will be one of the first tablets to give us an official glimpse of Honeycomb, it also packs a few copy-worthy features. For instance, Motorola has designed the XOOM’s modem as modular, so that the 3G version it will launch with can be easily upgraded to a 3G/4G version later on; that will hopefully make international 3G/4G launches more straightforward as well.
T-Mobile has a 4G tablet of its own, in the shape of the HSPA+ capable G-Slate by LG. The most mysterious of the carrier-provided options, there’s not much known about the G-Slate beyond its Android 3.0 OS and 10-inch display. T-Mobile preferred to spend its time talking about the new Dell Streak 7, the long-rumored 7-inch sibling to the original Streak. Unfortunately it won’t be able to take advantage of the full speeds on offer as T-Mobile doubles its HSPA+ network to support up to 42Mbps, being limited to 21Mbps instead, but with Dell’s heft behind it we wouldn’t count it out.
Perhaps our biggest surprise of the show was how strong an option RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook is shaping up to be. A step away from the Android crowds, the PlayBook’s QNX-based OS and dual-core TI OMAP4430 chipset single it out as a very capable contender, with a UI that bridges the larger screen size and the traditional BlackBerry interface well, and lashings of processing grunt on tap. It too will have a 4G option, courtesy of a launch on Sprint’s WiMAX network. Perhaps it was RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis’ enthusiasm rubbing off as he personally demo’d the slate to us, but the PlayBook looks like it could end up part of the iPad’s strongest competition.
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook demo:
While the slate form-factor has been the most common, ASUS and Samsung took a risk and opted for sliders in their tablet ranges. The ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Samsung Sliding PC 7 don’t show much imagination in their names but have enough to differentiate themselves in their hardware, each packing a full QWERTY keyboard for those who want the finger-friendliness of a touchscreen but also want to do some serious text entry. Beyond that similarity, though, the prospects are very different. Samsung opted for an Intel Oak Trail processor and Windows 7, promising full desktop functionality for those who care about it, but running the risk of underwhelming mobile battery life and having to reskin the OS with its own Touch Launcher UI. ASUS, meanwhile, opted for Android 3.0 Honeycomb running on Tegra 2, a far more mobility-friendly decision but potentially lacking the “grown up” software flexibility of the Samsung.
Though hardware has been brimming over with Tegra 2 and other dual-core chipsets, the software side of things has suffered. We asked for intelligent ecosystems, tablets that fit into a more comprehensive system of media, hardware and connectivity, and few delivered. Vizio’s VIA Tablet and Phone look to have come the closest, coupling integration with the company’s smart TVs and cross-device access to things like streaming media and OnLive gaming, but it’s something the big names have failed to deliver on. That’s going to make positioning their devices in the market all the more difficult; Apple gets a lot of criticism for its relatively closed-garden approach, but it also does a very good job at putting the iPad into context with the rest of the iTunes ecosystem. Rivals are going to have to learn to do more than produce lengthy spec sheets if they want mainstream buyers to slot another mobile device into their lives.
There have been a few notable absences at this year’s show, too. HTC continues to get name-checked in the Honeycomb tablet rumors, but failed to show anything more than smartphones at CES 2011. Worse still, the company was overshadowed by Motorola’s ATRIX 4G, with its clever laptop-style docking station. We’ll be looking to MWC 2011 in February to see if HTC can redeem itself there.
Motorola ATRIX 4G demo:
HP and the promised webOS slate was also conspicuous by its absence, and the surprise reveal we’d half-hoped for in the run up to CES failed to materialize. We’re yet to see an attention-grabber like Palm’s Pre debut a few years back, and interest in the company’s smartphone line-up continues to wane. Hopefully something suitably groundbreaking will show up at the HP webOS event on February 9. Microsoft, too, was tipped to be putting greater software emphasis on touch computing, but instead gave the Windows-faithful – both among users and manufacturers – little to smile about. The rumoured Windows 8 preview never transpired, and Windows-on-ARM got more keynote attention by CEO Steve Ballmer. That might have seemed the ideal opportunity to talk UI, but Microsoft didn’t cash in.
The absent spectre looming over all the tablets at CES 2011 was the second-gen iPad. Rivals have had a year to ready their alternatives, but Apple hasn’t been standing still in the meantime; the iPad 2 is rumored to be unveiled as early as this month, and while it may not have the all-singing, all-dancing tech specs of some hardware we’ve seen in the past week, it will have a solid user-base, well-stocked App Store and gobfuls of brand appeal to build upon. Factor in that many of the big-name slates are waiting on Honeycomb, against Apple’s ability to announce a new device and then ship very soon after, and the iPad 2 could well be repeating its predecessor’s sales success imminently. 2011 is most definitely the year of the tablet, but that’s the only certainty in what’s turning out to be a volatile segment.
With the next big thing out of Sunnyvale just weeks away, it’s hard to believe anyone much cares about about the Pre 2 at this point — but for what it’s worth, Walmart’s now pimping the Verizon-flavored version of the phone on its LetsTalk-powered website for a release at some indeterminate point in the future. Interestingly, the news of a February webOS event hosted by HP ties in nicely with a recent rumor on PhoneArena that suggests Big Red’s Pre 2 will live a very short retail life starting later this month as HP transitions into “its own line of webOS handsets,” which could very well be what these guys want to show off next month. Might we have a Kin-style collectors’ item in the making?
