We expected HP’s February 9th Pre-MWC event to show off a single tablet, but it seems that we will be in store for two. Engadget has gotten some leaked renders and marketing materials that show off some of HP’s tablet strategy.
Engadget’s “trusted tipster” reveals that HP is planning not one, but two tablets: a 9-inch model codenamed Topaz and a 7-inch model called Opal and will be running on an unspecified 1.2GHz processors.
The first thing you’ll notice is that it looks like the love child of a Palm Pre and an iPad. It also appears that the device is lacking physical buttons (capacitive perhaps) and a front-facing camera.
The render also shows off what looks like webOS on the device itself. Perhaps more than any other mobile OS, we expect webOS to have the easiest transition to larger-sized devices, so this makes sense.
The tipster didn’t provide any further details about Topaz we are going to have to wait for the press event for more dirt. But for Opal we’ve got what looks like an internal slide indicating that we might see this in the wild in time for the new school year in September. What we can hope from this predicament is that Topaz might be hitting the streets much sooner, hence not time line slide necessary.
Although webOS is better designed to scale to multiple device sizes than many of its competitors, the lack of brand recognition in the smartphone market — when compared to iOS, Android (Android) and even BlackBerry — may limit some of the initial customer base.
We still have high hopes for HP as they do make fantastic netbooks and notebooks. We don’t have much longer to wait since February 9th is pretty much right around the corner.
Via Engadget
