Opal 7-inch tablet codename confirmed by HP apps page 47
The past few weeks have been almost exclusively about the HP TouchPad. We’ve had leaks, videos, pre-orders, training, homebrew, and much much more. There’s been so much we almost forgot about the 10-inch TouchPad’s codename: Topaz. Remember that? Back when heard about the Topaz tablet, we also heard about its smaller seven-inch cousing, the Opal. And then nothing. Well, friends, the Opal is back, and true to form, in a small way: it’s appeared as a compatible device in the app listings on HP’s very own website.
Palm, and now HP, put up the page to highlight some of the better apps available in the App Catalog. Hovering over the title of any of the apps under the App Experience or Featured Apps tabs opens a tooltip that contains the app’s price, minimum OS version, the app version, and a list of compatible devices:
Devices: Palm Topaz|Palm Roadrunner|Palm Pre|Palm Opal|Palm MantaRay
Topaz we know to the the TouchPad, and the Roadrunner is the Pre 2. MantaRay is to be the Pre3. And Opal? That’s the little seven-inch webOS tablet that we haven’t heard anything about since March, when it appeared set for a September release (with the TouchPad coming in June). Is the Opal to be the TouchPad7 trademark HP filed for not that long ago?
Source: HP; Via: PalmPre-France; Thanks to rsanches in the forums for the tip!
47 Comments
mantaray?
"MantaRay is to be the Pre3."
I believe that is the slat webOS phone that was spied a few months ago.
Opal is the real deal though, that's pretty sweet.
Stingray
http://www.precentral.net/keyboard-less-webos-phone-stingray-exclusive
That's the first thing I though of too, but if rumors are true and the Stingray is supposed to launch in Aug/Sept on Sprint, why wouldn't it show up in that graphic along with all of the other devices?
NEED.MORE.WEBOS.DEVICES... :D
used a Galaxy Tab yesterday, but that 16:9 7" screen is no real pleasure.
hope they stick to a 4:3 7" screen.
Totally agree. I don't like letterbox for anything. If I want to watch a movie I'll do it on a large screen!
Totally disagree. The Galaxy Tab and the other 7" Android tablets are the perfect form factor for a tablet. Anything bigger than 7" is far too big for a tablet - I may as well just take my Macbook Air and have a full computer. The form factor is why I'm not interested in the current Touchpad (and, as an aside, the Pre3 - Pre2 is perfect size, Pre3 is off toward ginormous Android phone territory).
As for the 16:9 v 4:3 debate, I think you're equally insane. 16:9 in portrait is excellent for reading web pages and ebooks. I think my Galaxy has been in landscape about twice since I got it. Never understood why most people seem to use tablets in landscape. Plus with 16:9 you do have the option of watching video. I had an iPad and even with the larger screen, the video experience was about the same as the Galaxy on anything widescreen.
Veer+opal would be a killer travel combo. I'd keep the touchpad at home, but take the 7" around town with me. Sprint WebOS please.
off-topic how is jump a 3d game?
If the 7" is a phone then it would be awesome, if it is just a small TouchPad then I really hope I don't like it better then the one I buy in 2 weeks!
7" for a phone? Are you a giant?
No I would use a headset and not have to carry two devices... LOL
u maybe able to if u get a 3g/4g enabled one. i mean the touchpad already has all the phone stuff intergrated because of the call forwarding features so why not just have it own line right? !!
It's not clear whether the TouchPad has *everything* integrated for phone calls--it may just relay some of it and not do it on its own. We'll know when the 3G/"4G" one lands.
Werent there rumors about "students" oriented version of Opal? Cant find those anywhere..
7 looks too small. 10 looks too big. I feel like I'm in a Little Red Riding Hood story. This bed is too small. This bed is too big.
Red riding hood? lol.
lol
Golden locks??
If the Opal has a 4:3 resolution ratio, maybe it won't look as small as the 7" 16:9 tablets. (For comparison, the 9.7" iPad & TouchPad look bigger than the 10.1 Xoom et al Android tablets because the first use 4:3 and the latters 16:9).
I'm with you on this, but I'd say 7" looks too small, 10" feels too big. 10" tablets just feel a bit too heavy in the hand and leave me wondering why I don't just use the laptop. 7" is *almost* big enough, but the real estate leaves me wondering why I wouldn't just use my phone.
8" or 9" might be juuuust right. 7" and smaller work alright for dedicated e-readers because you focus on text. Just text. Filling your view. A tablet performs more complex tasks, so a bit more room is a good idea, but you still want that light-as-a-feather feel since you handle it the same way.
But ah well. Close enough for now, I reckon.
Incidentally, I waited through to the third gen Kindle for much the same reasons. Always loved the device, but the weight/size and screen contrast just weren't. quite. there. They nailed it the third time and it became an impulse buy.
After hating that no smartphone was quite right for years, I jumped all over a Pre minus and still happy with it. 1.4.5 and all.
With money being tight again now, I can't help but feel I might just wait it out again for the next "just right" gadget.
Goldilocks perhaps?
Oh God, no. Please don't keep those "Stingray exclusively for Sprint" rumors alive. We want a damn keyboard. If I wanted to type on glass, I'd have gotten a 'Droid by now.
M.
No doubt. Sprint seems stuck in the Evo mentality.
Hey, Sprint: it's played out. It's a neat option and some folks like it, but those of us who hated the idea before hate it even more having tried it.
Thought it was sort of pushing the limit, I thought the Veer was a well-executed jab at the huge slab trend. Big props to HPalm for that one.
Ready for my Pre 3 or variant now, thanks.
^I was thinking the same thing but now I'll take any webOS phone coming to sprint this year.
Hi all,
If it's a phone isn't 7" a little large to schlepp around with you all day long??
Take care,
Jay
hey jay, with all the call forwarding features of the touchpad, if u got a 3g/4g enabled device, why wont u be able to use it as a phone since it has all the cal forwarding software already built in!
Hi all, I agree I want a keyboard...I hate typing on glass....take care, Jay
that's why I love my Epic. not too big, not too small, type on glass when I feel like it, of flip out a keypad. I only wish it could dualboot a webos on it. Then it would be truly Epic lol.
Ps, can't wait for some webos goodness :)
Couldn't the Opal be the Veer? Did the veer ever have a code name?
The leaks say Opal is a 7" tablet. Plus, the phones are named after the fish family (Stingray, MantaRay), thought I can't explain the Roadrunner, except that it was a 2nd generation instead of a third gen device.
Tablets seemed to named after gems: Topaz, Opal...
Veer's codename is Broadway.
That will be the TouchpadGo?
i believe the TPGO is the 4" slab phone coming to sprint. its either that or pivot. i hate pivot, and i think HP is trying to make Touchpad a real brand. so im going to stick to touchpad GO!
I suppose I'm going to be waiting for a long time, but I want a HDMI out and some kind of way to add storage space to make it a digital media hub.
I am hoping that this happens with the 7" Touchpad, but I think I'm going to be disappointed.
You don't have to wait. Just get an iPad 2 and a Pogo Plug or use Amazon or whatever.
I'm guessing that once this TouchPad launch is behind us, HP will start rolling out lots of cool, new devices. Just my gut feeling.
I don't know about you, but I'm already wondering about all the products HP plans to launch. How is the consumer supposed to keep track of all these products. My gosh, all these codenames and all. What if webOS is a flop?
So far I'm not worried. They're focusing on the newness which starts with the Veer, TouchPad and Pre 3. That's a great family to build awareness on. The rest is slow expansion.
Still, your last question had me worried, too. I'm satisfied by how HP's leveraged their partnerships with retailers to get webOS out there. If they can get a good advertising blitz behind that, I'd say the HP buy out paid off for Palm in terms of attention.
The average consumer doesn't bother with the codenames and doesn't know anything about the products until they hit store shelves (and beyond that, until he/she has occasion to go browse).
And HP has a more immediate concern than the consumer keeping track--namely, demonstrating to the consumer that these products are here in the first place. They're supposed to be planning a major campaign, per all these comments/leaks/rumors. Let's hope they have good stuff up their sleeves.
I'm glad that HP will have the 7" form factor for tablets. From my limited experience with the Nook Color and Samsung Galaxy Tab, this size is convenient, easy to hold, and good for viewing pictures, casual web browsing and reading ebooks. The only activity that doesn't work well is reading magazines - the ones I've seen so far on the Nook store end up having the text be too small to be read comfortably and zooming/unzooming is clunky/slow.
For the 7" form factor, I like the portrait view better.
I think there will be room for both sizes (7" and 10"). webOS on a tablet will be a big step ahead of Android as far as usability. I like the huge app catalog that Android has but miss the ease of use that webOS brings in regards to multitasking.
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If Topaz is Touchpad and Opal is the little sisterpad and Mantaray is Pre3? What was Veer? Stingray?
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