Well that didn’t take long. Earlier this month at CES, HP exec Todd Bradley not-so-subtly hinted that a webOS tablet would be introduced February 9. Today, we’re getting a thorough first look at the ecosystem HP plans to introduce in a few weeks.
Engadget first published internal images from a “trusted tipster” this morning, revealing HP Palm’s Topaz tablet: a 9-inch, button-less device featuring a front-facing camera, microUSB port, and multiple speakers. The site also claims that Topaz will run on an unknown 1.2GHz processor and will most likely launch in September.
But that’s not all. It’s been assumed that February 9 will introduce multiple devices, and the event’s invitations read “Something big, Something small, Something beyond.” So it’s only fitting that the “something small” be a 7-inch tablet. “Opal” is also projected to make an appearance the ninth, and Engadget’s insider says it will be sized comparably to the Galaxy Tab, except “smaller and wider.” It will most likely launch after Topaz.
The same anonymous source also says HP could possibly unveil a feature called Tap-to-Share. It sounds a lot like the Bump app, and will let users share content by tapping two devices together – the difference being that it will be able to transfer songs, apps, websites, or documents between phones, PCs, slates, or tablets. The insider also got his hands on an HP survey, which revealed more about what we can expect to see in the tablets and other pieces of the “ecosystem” on February 9: the ability to answer smartphone calls on a tablet, access to your music library via Wi-Fi or 3G connections, and “true multitasking” that allows users “to run ‘up to 20 applications simultaneously.’”
All the hype in the world can’t dismiss the competition HP’s going to be up against though: The Xoom, PlayBook, and of course, the iPad 2 are all looming in the near future as well.
