HP WebOS Tablet Details Leaked Ahead of Announcement
Hewlett Packard/Palm have a press conference scheduled for February 9, in which the company is expected to announce a line of webOS tablets. Fortunately, we won't have to wait that long for details.
A tipster sent Engadget renders of the HP webOS tablets (that's right, plural), along with some details about what will be inside. The leak corroborates speculation that February 9 will be the day HP makes its tablets official .
There will be two webOS tablets, branded with both the HP and Palm logos even though HP acquired Palm. WebOS was originally designed by Palm before the acquisition, and it was widely rumored that HP acquired the company largely because webOS was so well suited to run tablets.
The combination of HP hardware with Palm's OS seems to be pretty promising. It looks very similar to an iPad, except that the back is black instead of brushed aluminum. One of the most surprising differences is that the webOS tablets don't have a home button, or any other buttons on the front for that matter.
The two HP webOS tablets will come in two sizes: The Topaz will be 9 inches while the Opal will be 7. They will have a front facing camera, micro USB port (both for charging and data transfer) and stereo speakers. Further specs are still unknown, as are pricing details.
The source says the HP Topaz and Opal tablets will not launch until later this year, sometime after summer, so don't expect to buy one very soon. There will reportedly be WiFi-only and AT&T 3G versions, with a Verizon LTE (4G) version in September 2011 and an AT&T LTE version in July 2012.
