HP Announces TouchPad, Veer and Pre 3: All Powered by Qualcomm
by Mithun Chandrasekhar on February 9, 2011 2:27 AM ESTWe're here at HP's webOS 2.1 event in San Francisco. HP has announced a couple of big things today; a tablet (HP TouchPad), a (tiny) smartphone (HP Veer) and a professional phone (the Pre 3), all running the webOS 2.1 operating system.
The TouchPad is a 9.7" (1024x768) tablet powered by the Qualcomm MSM8x60 SoC with a 1.2GHz dual-core Scorpion CPU, a 1.3MP webcam, 16 or 32GB storage, 1GB RAM and 802.11 b/g/n. The TouchPad weighs in at about 1.6 lbs and 13mm thick. The TouchPad WiFi-only version will be coming to US sometime this summer with 3G/4G versions and other markets to follow.
| Tablet Comparison | |||||
| Apple iPad | HP TouchPad | Motorola Xoom | |||
| Screen Size | 9.7-inches | 9.7-inches | 10.1-inches | ||
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | ||
| Weight | 1.5 lbs WiFi (680g) | 1.6 lbs (730g) | 1.6 lbs (730 g) | ||
| SoC | Apple A4, single 1.0GHz Cortex A8 | Qualcomm MSM8x60, dual 1.2GHz Scorpion cores | NVIDIA Tegra 2, dual 1.0GHz Cortex A9 | ||
| GPU | ImgTech PowerVR SGX 535 | Qualcomm Adreno 220 | NVIDIA GeForce ULV | ||
| OS | iOS | webOS | Android | ||
The Veer is a 2.6" (320x400) dimunitive QWERTY slider powered by the Qualcomm MSM7230 800MHz single-core SoC, 5MP camera, 8GB storage, 512MB RAM, 802.11 b/g and it is coming this Spring.
Finally the Pre 3 is a 3.6" (480x800) QWERTY slider powered by the Qualcomm MSM8x55 1.4GHz single-core SoC, 5MP camera with LED flash with HD video recording (and a front facing camera), 8 or 16GB storage, 512MB RAM, 802.11 b/g/n and will be coming this summer.
If you want to know more about what new features and updates webOS brings to the table, have a look at our webOS overview article here.
We will follow up with a more detailed analysis of the event and announcements (and there's been a LOT of that) later today, so stay tuned!
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
26 Comments
View All Comments
metafor - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
Depends on what you mean by performance. Certainly it may benchmark higher but I think there are inherent advantages of dual-core (one process not lagging another) that aren't tangible in graphs.I think today's 1GHz CPU's are plenty to handle most if not all single-threaded tasks. I'm not sure how noticeable a bump to 1.4GHz would be.
Of course, compared to what Palm had before, this will be lightyears ahead.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
Very true. One of the biggest benefits of a multi-core architecture is making up for inefficiencies in any software scheduling algorithms. If a process is incorrectly over scheduled on a single core, the UI thread or other processes may starve. On a dual-core platform, they simply continue executing on the idle core.Take care,
Anand
tviceman - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
I have to admit I'm a little disappointed to see HP not adopting Tegra 2, but I'm hooked on webOS so I really hope Pre3 comes to sprint.sprockkets - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
Didn't HP get the memo that chicklet keyboards were so 2003? At least the tablet has some promise to it with their good OS.memoroid - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
Until HP releases the price details, IMO, it doesn't deserve a comparisonConficio - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
"touch the Touc?Pad".Thanks for being to simely with this info!
Conficio - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
Thanks for being to *timely* with this info!austonia - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
iOS, Android, BB OS, WebOS are all on phones & tablets now. where does that leave WP7..? unfortunately named.kmmatney - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
I think Microsoft is still trying to shove Windows 7 onto tabletsConficio - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link
I'm missing any mention of GPS capability. Does it not have it?