Yesterday’s WebOS pow-wow in San Francisco saw HP making its most significant moves and revelations since the acquisition of Palm last year. HP lifted the lid on the TouchPad WebOS tablet, a spanking new Pre 3 smartphone and a funky new smartphone called the HP Veer. Hinting at WebOS PCs in the future and forever sealing the Palm brand. See our new video, Ted’s hands on with the new TouchPad from the show floor!.
Highlights from the event in San Francisco yesterday include:
- Palm is gone as a brand but WebOS remains part of HP
- WebOS is coming to PCs and notebooks, soon
- The HP Veer is a tiny WebOS smartphone – essentially an even smaller version of the Pre 2 with similar features (8GB of memory, 800Mhz Snapdragon processor, mobile hotspot, 5 megapixel camera)- out in Spring.
- The HP Pre 3 is a larger Pre, now with 3.6″ inch screen, a larger QWERTY keyboard, dual cameras, a Qualcomm CPU running 1.4GHz, geared towards business users. Out in Summer.
- The HP TouchPad with a 9.7 inch display, 1024 x 768, 1.6 pounds, Beats audio, video calling, 1.3 megapixel webcam, 16GB or 32GB storage, dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor. Accessories include keyboards, cases and docks. Like the BlackBerry PlayBook, the HP TouchPad can interface with the WebOS smartphones (possibly for wireless 3G data) but will also work as a standalone Wi-Fi tablet.
- New touch-to-share feature allows you to tap TouchPad and Pre/Veer and send websites, files and other documents wirelessly between the two devices.
- WebOS devices will be able to print to HP printers from the outset.
- HP is putting considerable R&D and money towards WebOS
Pricing and availability for the Canadian market has not yet been released.
Video: HP unveils its new TouchPad tablet and Pre3 smartphone running on webOS
For leading edge coverage of smartphones and leading edge operating systems, check out our Mobile Channel
