It looks like HP is ready to give Apple a run for its money. HP just revealed their new product line and I have to tell you, it looks amazing. I really like HP and there have been many rumors within the tech world that Hewlett-Packard was coming after Apple with guns blazing.
Their new Palm products this year include a new Palm-designed webOS device. This is the TouchPad, a Palm tablet PC and alternative to Apple's iPad. In addition to the tablet, HP also introduced two new webOS smartphones.
The TouchPad is certainly beautiful, but it doesn't quite have Apple's sexiness. The device is 13.7 mm thick and weighs in at 1.6 pounds. The touchscreen is 9.7 inches with 1024 by 768 pixel resolution. Sound familiar? Well, that is just because the stats are almost identical to the iTouch.
The TouchPad has everything you would expect from a tablet. It has wireless connectivity, internal speakers and it comes in an 8gig version along with a 16gig option. You can also chose between 3g connectivity or a basic wi-fi version. All of the versions come with a 1.3 megapixel webcam, video calling support, a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and sports a dual core 1.2 GHz processor. Additionally, with WebOs, users can access and edit Microsoft Office files.
Again, all of this is pretty much the same as the iPad, the biggest differences are that the TouchPad runs WebOs rather than iOS. The other difference is that it has a microUSB charger port, LED alert light and support for Adobe Flash. It looks like the touchpad keyboard is a little different as well, with a row of numbers for easier text entry.
The question is, is this tablet going to be a serious competitor for Apple? That remains to be seen. The price point for the tablets haven't been released and that is probably going to be a deciding factor in the success of this new tablet. If HP offers the TouchPad at a similar price as the iPad, many people will still buy an Apple. The other thing that might prevent many users from choosing it are the specs on the iTouch 2. From what I have been hearing, I think that the people who haven't purchased the iPad are either those who wouldn't be interested in a tablet or those who have decided to wait it out and see what the iTouch has inside. Unless the TouchPad is offered at a considerably cheaper option than the iTouch, I think that many people will wait to see how it will measure up to the iPads next incarnation.
In any event, I don't think that HP fans are going to be camping out all night waiting for this device's release. But, it has the potential to be a great option for tablet pc users.
What do you think about tablet pcs? Let me know in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for TechCareersBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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