HP eStation Zeen: What's all this, then? UPDATE: Android eReader? 62
Engadget has done some digging in the FCC and uncovered a device that's three kinds of weird and one kind of interesting. It's a filing for the "eStation Zeen," which is a Slate-looking device sporting WiFi. Things get odd when the details get filled in: apparently it is rumored to be running Android and meant to be an e-reader with a special focus on docking to a printer - though apparently the hardware is less than inspiring. The FCC confidentiality is set to lift on December 31st this year and, well, there's some Compaq branding in the mix as well given that the product number is "CQ720A"
If the device is going to make it to market, we'd like to assume that HP will transition it to be a webOS-based device. They have said that they'll be using webOS exclusively for smartphones and have no plans to make an Android smartphone, but I guess we could parse that to intentionally not include slate devices. We can't say we're confident about the options here: a quick port to webOS would probably result in poor hardware/software integration, releasing an Android tablet would cause all sorts of confusion, and scuttling a product after sending it to the FCC doesn't exactly send a good message either.
What say you, webOS-nation? Interested in a Zeen?
UPDATE: Engadget's gotten additional deets on the Zeen, and in the process dashed our hopes of seeing webOS. According to their multiple sources, the Zeen is going to be an Android 2.1-powered device with an HP overlay. Yeah, Android. This sucker is also a capacitive tablet with an SD-slot, video support, and - get this - "significant integration with the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore and ecosystem." Additionally, there's a "Zeus" printer to go along with the Zeen, bundled together they'll go for a cool $399.
Source: Engadget, FCC; via Engadget; Thanks to everybody who sent this in!
62 Comments
this is just... Dissappointing. I'm optimistic, but I dontgetit.
So I wouldn't be too disappointed about this because this may have been planned by HP for awhile and HP shouldn't ditch old production plans just because they are planning on using WebOS for slates and phones. Maybe HP wants to release a phone before they release a tablet running WebOS. I say this is no indication of anything bad or good. The only thing I care about is that when they do finally release a phone running WebOS, that it has WAY better build quality and better hareware. I would like a few UI changes as well but that's not as important as the first two. I could wait one more year for another WebOS phone as long as the hardware meets my expectations. Seriously, what's the point of having a powerful OS like WebOS if the hareware isn't powerful enough to run it properly?
HP should definitely ditch the plans if this device isnt anything special. They need to focus the efforts and get their shit together. These mixed messages arent doing them any good.
HP is a big company. This does not appear to be anything very complicated, not using any WebOS resources, and was probably fully developed well before the acquisition was set up. It's a simple E-reader, and proabably selling under the Compaq umbrella as a value item. It's not a slate, its not a phone, HP sells a lot of stuff and until we see an Android Toaster, lets stop playing drama queens standing on the window ledge, aiming for the Epic 4G fountain in the courtyard. Does the HP world have to stop until the next phone comes out?
(sadly, I know the most popular answer to that. Some people will never let themselves be happy or relaxed)
Define "special." For HP I would venture to guess "profitable" is in their definition somewhere. They've already spent the $ developing the device so if they dropped it this late in the development it would impact their bottom line unless they finished and tried selling it.
Car analogy:
Imagine buying a car for your business, only to have it 90% complete because production stopped when the next years model started development. The catch; you're still being charged 90% of the price for the work done on the incomplete car.
In this case you and your business are the VP/High Level Manager in-charge of the slate/printer integration project in HP and the car is the Zeen. Your business had a chance of being profitable, if only that extra 10% of car/Zeen had finished being produced and you didn't have a massive red number in your expense books.
+1 The E-reader is like a doorstop. It's simplistic and limited. It doesn't dilute the interest or need for any other products. But it gets the HP name into a different part of the market and warms people up to accepting other HP wireless items when ready.
Most people wont care what OS is on the reader, since most of its use will be "content" and not apps. So if you have this little reader, then see the HP/Palm slate, you may associate any positive experience with the reader, with new products by HP. If you like WebOS, you can't be threatened by an Android E-reader, its done, tested and approved. Make some money to help with WebOS R+D and get the HP name further into the wireless arena of new connected devices. Jeesh.
We need hardware soon to keep people interested before they're locked on contracts with other phones, but not some goofy-named, poorly done thingamajig. It's hard telling what if anything this discovery means, but keep digging; maybe there's a Palm Pro or Pre %% in there too.
"PreII" stupid orange button mix up..
Is there a date for the entry? Also, what's the timeline for submitting and the entry showing up in the FCC. Just seems a bit too off the recent published HP/WebOS direction. Maybe this was put in a while back?
the received date on the FCC document says July 9 2010. And the final test date was July 15th 2010.. Interesting if you ask me. That's just a week after the purchase of Palm was finalized. Now if Palm was already developing a pad device in their R&D (which Rubenstein has kinda hinted at in some past comments.) then what's it to be said they use the internals of the Palm researched pad device and place them in HP hardware slate'ish device?
most pad devices out there are extremely close on size and width. So on a long shot here lets say Palm had the internals researched and developed and that's one of the things HP seen in the R&D area that coaxed them to finalize the deal with excitement because they had a piece of hardware that Palms developed internals could fit in perfectly which would make for a fast turn around time...
just saying...
also the confidentiality is set to lift on December 31st? Hmm can we say something is going to be announced at CES? That's perfect timing.
Not interested in a Zeen @ all. Looks and sounds wack to me. Don't waste you time HP. The way to get in good is to release a reputable smartphone first, that way people will even consider a slate.
why a smartphone first? Because Apple did it that way? It's time for people to seperate what HP does with webOS from what Palm will do with webOS.
Because the market for smartphones is far larger than for tablets.
That said, I think a dual launch, asap, would be the way to go.
Trust me man, if I thought things needed to be done Apple's way, I wouldn't be on Precentral. Or be a Pre owner for that matter. And *note* I only say a reputable smartphone needs to drop first, if this device is going to be a webOS device. Anything that HP does concerning webOS cannot be seperated from Palm, or the success of the next Palm webOS smartphone. The masses will not embrace a table if it is not proven on a smartphone. Also, it doesn't hurt to follow some of the things Apple did. After all, they are a lot more successful with it than Palm. So don't come @ me like your talking to an Apple fanboy. New smartphone thats embraced by the masses, followed by a tablet.
I can imagine HP offering a tablet (perhaps not the one mentioned in this post) with webOS before they offer a new smartphone device and people getting excited about webOS thought the use of a tablet. As far as tablets go too, I don't think the average consumer will care if a webOS tablet is Palm branded or HP branded because odds are it will be the first time they've been exposed to webOS. Announcing a new phone at the same time as a tablet would make a great deal more sense and then they should be branded the same way.
I have no interest in a tablet until I feel as though my WebOS device is fully on par with my Treo.
ZERO interest. I don't want a slate computer, I want a new phone. It truly looks like HP bought Palm purely for its OS and that's all.
If it's just an e-reader they might release it with android for practical reasons.
After all, Barns and Noble Nook runs on android. Do you think anyone who uses the device knows that?
Yaaaawwwwwwwnnnn.. Where's the damn phone?? I'm like a nanosecond away from the Evo...
I'm already enjoying my Evo!
If they switch to WebOS and make it more than just an ereader? Very much so.
If it's just an ereader...well, I already have one of those.
Android? Thanks, but no thanks.
don't like it I want hp to use webos only no android and no windoows based tablets and smartphones period.
the shape/formfactor looks a lot like my TC1100 tablet. Sounds more like a placeholder for a something like, similar device which will have webOS on it at the last minute. This original mention of the Zeen was back in Dec 2009.
If you read the updated Engadget post, it's a fairly poor performer on Android. I suspect that when HP saw webOS' scalability they immediately saw it as the Zeen and other devices' OS...hence the buyout. WebOS has always been talked-up as scalable to other uses, not just smartphones.
eStation Zeen - I like it. It makes me feel like I'm on an isolated planetary outpost. Nothing magical or fantasy about it. It's hard sci-fi at its best.
"This is eStation Zeen...can anybody read me...have made contact with extra-terrestrial life forms...we are not alone...I repeat...we are not alone...eStation Zeen over and out!"
An e-reader. Why do I want another device to carry around. I have a laptop (HP) and my Pre (Sprint). That is all I need to have but as patient as I am generally if there is not some new phone hardware coming out before my contract is set to renew then I will unfortunately have to check out the competition - not saying I will buy - but as is with all retail products if someone is looking at all available options there is reduced chance that yours will get purchased. PLEASE don't make me look at the competition. Not on the whiner band wagon yet, but thinking about purchasing a ticket for my first ride - - - lol. Go HPalm!
What happened to all those people who kept saying "wait until the merger is done, news and announcments should flow like crazy after that", well, it is even worse after the merger. I realy do not like this new Palm/hp....
+100
They're now saying that HPalm should wait and make sure they develop the "right" smartphone instead of a rushed one (I guess like the Pre). I'm not thinking there will be anything until next summer at the earliest now... :-(
is it possible that the Zeen is the de ice that was mentioned in Youtube video yesterday? That device was named the Zen! Or,maybe there will be a Zeen and the next new smartphone"Zen."???
Perhaps the Zeen will be even cooler than the Zune!!
Seriously -- regardless of the hardware it needs a brand-new name. Judging by the admittedly-unclear age of this filing, my bet is that all we really know about it is that it'll be rectangular.
A WebOS tablet would be pretty cool, imho. WebOS e-reader? Not so much...
zeen as in "magazine"
I would totally buy a WebOS based e-reader with e-paper, a long battery life, and a pen for taking notes. No brainer. Make it. And make it open to as many bookstores as possible.
why do I need an eReader that docks to a printer? so I can use my eReader to print an eBook I bought for it? why not just buy the freakin paperback?
if I can run a word processor and write on the thing and make documents or pdfs or something I understand, but an eReadeR? whaa?
This isn't for you,it sounds like.
From new Engadget article:
We've been flooded with a deluge of tips about the HP Zeen ever since we posted those first FCC images of the tablet device this morning, and it's actually a little surprising at how perfectly everything aligns. We've now had multiple tipsters confirm that the Zeen is an e-reading-focused Android tablet with the unique ability to connect directly to an HP printer and function as its interface without the need for a computer. But that's not all -- here's everything else we know:
you all didn't think HP would do something that made sense, did you? Really... Like develop a smartphone with cool specs.
Silly hopeful pre owners (yes I'm one too but work with HP)
hahahahahaha
Android is the future and so the android army marches on excepting new recruits and webos deserters daily!
Excepting means to exclude. Get a dictionary app on your Droid or something.
I guess it's time to say bye-bye to webOS on any mobile device. This just completely flies in the face of everything that HP said pre-Palm acquisition and after.
Actions speak louder than words. I guess HP just saw the numbers as to where webOS has been heading marketshare-wise.
:-(
Wait, huh? This is an e-reader not really a tablet device like an iPad or 'Slate'. As mentioned before the Nook runs on Android and you would never know it. It will be a glorified Nook in my opinion.
And how does this affect mobile phones...you lose credibility being such a pessimist.
Well, first, none of us have any credibility as far as HPalm goes, no one know anything.
But, here's the problem I have with this. So, this was submitted to the FCC a month ago and we still have heard nothing from HP in the way of a product announcement.
What does this mean for other devices from HPalm? None have been sniffed out by the insiders who scan these types of sites for info on upcoming devices. Which, sadly, means they are a long way off.
But, in the end you're right, I am a pessimist when it comes to HPalm. It's been a month since the acquisition and there is deatly quiet from them on any product.
Why do I still think it is the right thing to do to "leak" something about a new smartphone? They have tons of customers whose contracts are coming due and want to jump to a new device -- all HPalm has to do is leak a little info that there will be a new device and some rudimentary specs and this will freeze these people from leaving.
Like me, mine is up 9/1, if HPalm "leaked" a 4" screen, 1.5Ghz proc, 1GB of RAM and 16GB SD card -- you can bet I would not go anywhere. But, if nothing is there by 9/1 (or when the Epic comes out), I will most likely jump to Android for a year. Then check out and see if HPalm does indeed have anything after that year. Sure, you may say "but they may get you back as a customer". Yep, but they sure may lose me for good if Android keeps its momentum and the devices keep flowing as fast and improving as much as they have since the Pre was announced.
HP spent $1.2 billion on Palm. Don't think that they're already giving up on it.
Webos is a niche market OS thats quickly going down the toilet! Cards and multitasking was cool but its not getting any traction in the real world just a big yawn!
Sounds like they have there money on both just in case. Kinda makes them sound like liars now.
Much to do about nothing. This thing has probably been in the works, and the pre-production phase long before the buy out.
Makes no sense to shelf it. Better to try to recoup some of the R&D dollars back.
Anyone else think they'll announce a product line all at once to include phone(s?), tablet, netbook & printers? Unfortunately that would be a CES type of announcement but they've said 2.0 this year. Can't wait for a new phone + 2.0!
didn't that exec at HP just say HP will not release any android devices at a conference...i forget which one but it was on this site
Yeah, until they saw the light and realized that Android is the future and like them many of you will also realize webos though nice is going no where fast.
didn't that exec at HP just say HP will not release any android devices at a conference...i forget which one but it was on this site
Don't believe everything you read, Android is the future not webos and hp knows it. The Android amry is strong and marches on!
Can HP save Web OS at this point? I kind of doubt it. Android momentum is huge while Webos still releasing bubble gum apps and games. I really liked my Pre but it didn't deliver.
You, Pre lovers as I once was are finally begining to see the light that android is the future and webos phones is still just a niche market. As you can see most retailer don't want to sell it anymore due to low sales and lack of interest by the general public. No real devs want to take a chance to develop for something that has a 1% market share. The Android army marches on!
There is still hope for Web OS. A few months ago Android was in the same boat but the advantage was that it launched with better development tools. Pre launched with nothing and is still lacking in so many areas. If HP can solve that problem and relaunch then Web OS could catch on. I like the elegance of Web OS and how beautiful it looks. Android looks like Windows 95 and Web Os looks like Windows 7. If Palm can solve those problems and get the OS running smooth it can turns things around.
The problem is, WebOS offers very little, if anything at all, over Android at this point. Whereas Android offers greater functionality and far superior applications.
Anyone else think they'll announce a product line all at once to include phone(s?), tablet, netbook & printers? Unfortunately that would be a CES type of announcement but they've said 2.0 this year. Can't wait for a new phone + 2.0!
Why wait join the Android army, there are plenty of us deserters over there and more coming daily...Palm is full of promises and lack delivery!
Hey Kinkster. Are you done with the trolling. We get it. You don't believe in webOS. You've made yourself clear. WTF are you doing here then, hanging out with losers like us. Don't you have a better Android site to go march on with your army of converts?
Because I still own the piece of crap webos device and as long as I own one I will speak my mind so if you don't mind ???? Sorry but the truth hurts!
No one forced you to buy a Palm Pre. No one shoved it down your throat. If you don't like it, and you are perfectly entitled to that feeling, but don't blame others for making a poor choice. Blame yourself and now that you're with Android, stop looking back and move on with your life.
Having had a Pre does not entitled you to poison discussions current Pre owners have. Stop being a brat and get on with your life and enjoy your new phone.
And about your truth, you're as close to it as anyone else. Meaning you've got no clue like the rest of us.
This community started out so innocent... but now its fun!
webos still has a chance...