Isaiah's Tech

Coming from Fox News is reportedly word on HP's Palm tablet making a grand unveiling at CES 2011 in two weeks. Dubbed the PalmPad, for now at least, this tablet will be competing with the others and will be running on WebOS 2.5.1 which will be the next version of the OS. Apparently, there'll actually be four models of said tablet but it's unknown exactly what the differences are right now.

Specs reportedly include a nearly identical display to the iPad's current 9.7-incher, a 3MP rear-facing camera with an LED flash, a front-facing 1.3MP camera with an LED flash, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI output, and possible WiMAX connectivity for Sprint USA. At least one of the models is expected to have an 8.9-inch display but this one won't be at CES 2011. Man, I can't wait!

[BGR, 9 to 5 Mac]

On stage at D: Dive Into Mobile, Jon Rubenstein has just mentioned exactly what we want to hear. He mentioned that "we have a variety of products coming next year, including a new tablet". This is basically confirming that there'll be new WebOS-based smartphones and even a tablet next year. I can't wait. Unfortunately, he gave absolutely no details regarding any new hardware that will be hitting the market in 2011 so all we really can do is wait.

He also mentioned that they're going to make a push into the cloud to make phones, tablets, and even printers work seamlessly. Palm still has potential so let's hope that they can take advantage of it.

[Engadget]

Coming from Digitimes is word that HP is planning to order 6 to 7 million Inventec built tablets set to become Palm's WebOS-based tablets. This will be taking place in Q1 2011 if it's true and this could very well be the "PalmPad" or the codename "Hurricane" that everyone's getting excited about.

Another Digitimes article has mentioned that tablets from Asus, Acer, Dell, Samsung, and Toshiba are also on the way very soon. Sources are saying it'll be before the end of the year, but I highly doubt that. I guarantee that we'll be seeing them all at CES 2011 in early January 2011 though. These tablets are said to be running on Intel's upcoming Oak Trail platform which are new Z670 Atom CPUs.

Apparently though, Asus is working on a 12-inch tablet that will running on a Core i5 CPU, which would be a beast. I'm going to assume that it'll be running Windows 7 and pricing is said to be $1,000 to $1,300 so it won't be something cheap which is definitely expected. However, I do have a feeling that they may sell out of these because I can't see Asus making a ton of these tablets - kind of like Toshiba and their dual-screen Libretto notebook.

Look out for them all soon, it'll be a great CES. Don't miss it.

[Slash Gear]

During HP's Q3 2010 earnings call, Todd Bradley said an interesting sentence. "You'll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future and a webOS-based product in early 2011." That in itself is a confirmation that HP is definitely going to be releasing a webOS-based tablet in Q1 2011, just like they told their employees. Let's hope this doesn't flop like all the tablets have so far - with the exception of the iPad, of course.

[Engadget]

A lot of people out there are just waiting for HP to release their WebOS tablet and it looks like we'll still have to wait at least 5 months until that happens. According to the latest word going around HP has reportedly told their employees that they're going to launch one in Q1 2011. The project, just like we heard before, is being codenamed "Hurricane". Specs are still unknown of course, but this is something to look forward to.

[Engadget]

According to Digitimes, HP's Taiwan VP has just mentioned that their tablet is set to launch before October of this year. Right now, we don't know if this one will have Windows 7 or WebOS, but I'm hoping that it's the WebOS-based "Hurricane". Unlike Google's Android, HP mentioned that there are no plans for WebOS to hit netbooks.

[Venture Beat, Crunch Gear]

You should already know that HP purchased Palm for the huge lump sum of $1.2 billion. The Examiner has just mentioned that HP is working on a tablet, codenamed the Hurricane, and it'll be webOS-based. Apparently, this is scheduled to launch in Q3 of this year and will attempt to slow the iPad sales down. Of course, for specification details we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully the battery life is around the same as the iPad.

[Engadget]