When it comes to the long awaited iPad killer, there apparently have been a long list of candidates to have emerged over the years ranging from the Blackberry Playbook to Google’s rumored Chromepad to even various Android tablets.
While the latter does have the potential to match iOS, most of the Android tablets (like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab) sport a much smaller size than the iPad, despite being priced about the same as Steve Jobs magical device.
Unless a competitor can match the iPad’s size and price, Apple will continue to dominate the tablet arena leaving everyone else to fight for second place.
While I have yet to see a real challenger emerge, HP could be the company to make Apple nervous regarding their latest tablet revelation.
A trusted tipster just sent in these internal renders of HP / Palm’s “Topaz” webOS tablet, which is one of two tablets currently being developed in Sunnyvale. That’s right, two tablets: the 9-inch Topaz and a 7-inch model codnamed Opal — a lineup that fits nicely into Palm’s “Something big, Something small, Something beyond” tagline for its upcoming February 9th event. Looking at the render, we’re seeing the no-button design we’d previously heard about (we’re assuming the gesture area rotates with the display), a front-facing camera, a micro USB port on the bottom, and what appears to be a Vizio Tablet-style three speaker arrangement for stereo audio in both landscape and portrait modes — that’s two speakers along the left side and a third on the right. (That’s just a guess, though.)  (via Engadget)
Although I’m pessimistic regarding the success of the Opal (which will probably be aimed at the sub $500 market), the Topaz from specs alone looks like it might be able to go head-to-head against the iPad and potentially win.
It’s about the same size as the iPad and it even mimics the button-less design rumored to be debuting upon iPad 2.0. Combined with webOS’s UI (which every geek worth their salt will admit is second to none) and HP could have a blockbuster hit on their hands.
Unfortunately the two factors could reduce the Topaz to yet another failed iChallenger are price and the number of apps (as in ones made for the tablet specifically and not merely super sized ones from Palm Pre).
HP is rumored to be launching the Topaz in September of 2011, although we are looking forward to them providing more details about the device next month.
(Image Credit: Engadget)
Originally posted on January 20, 2011 @ 3:18 pm