Rumor: final tweaks to the Topaz slate 158
Clayton Morris is reporting he's heard more inside details on the upcoming tablets from HP. As we suspected, the specs we revealed earlier this week may not have been final - the major chances purportedly include a smaller battery to reduce the weight down to an iPad-competitive 1.5 pounds as well as a few overall design tweaks to "accommodate third party accessories." As we reported yesterday, the USPTO rejected the PalmPad trademark and Morris reports that HP is looking at other names and while they're calling it the "TouchPad" internally, the final name hasn't been decided on. In any case, they've apparently started building the devices in China already, giving more hope for a March release.
As suspected, HP is definitely interested in doing something in the music space (our money is still on Melodeo / nuTsie integration). Finally, the 7" Opal tablet has apparently been spotted running Sprint's EVDO (not WiMAX) network, and the education-specific version he'd previously reported on has been scrapped.
Source: Clayton Morris; Thanks to everybody who sent this in!
158 Comments
I'd prefer more battery than less weight
Exactly. I wouldn't care if my Pre/Tablet weighted a ton. A battery that lasted all day with "my" usage would be great.
We all know that's a lie. If it weighed a ton, you wouldn't even look at it.
Well if something of that size weighed a ton, I'd like it to transform into something more mobile.
Like a car. o_0
Can down here to post the same thing. My Pre would be much better with 50% more battery.
Mine actually does (I sprang for the 2600mAh battery). It was absolutely worth it, but the thicker profile can be a pain sometimes and the lack of cases that accomodate the larger battery is a problem.
No reason you can't have both. Release the it less weight and release a battery "case" that doubles the battery life as an accessory for those that want it.
Its funny, maybe HP doesn't get it. One of Apple's main UX goals is long battery life. Clearly HP is using the iPad as the benchmark, but they ironically picked the wrong feature to match. Is HP missing the mark here? Or maybe the smaller battery life in real use is good enough, and they want to tweak the weight so its more portable.
You should go down to product development and teach them how it's done. Go on, and tell me how it goes.
Maybe they added a battery door so we can replace the battery.
Oooh-la-la.
sprint customers almost happy yet?
nope, not until I have a new palm phone in my hands.
Actually, I do feel a little better. At least there are hints that the two are still playing with each other. I'll be even happier when we hear about new phones coming to Sprint.
no. i need a phone.
Not really. I am not interested in paying for two lines of service just for myself. I want one device(phone) with service through a carrier and auxiliary devices(tablet/netbook/etc.) should use that device as a access point. At the rate things are going it looks like an individual is going to need a family plan all to himself.
I haven't been happy for 6 months. My wife will be jumping ship to Android if she can't get a phone in the next month or two. Her second Pre is trashed. Power button no longer works. You have to turn it on by charging on the Touchstone.
Not sure what you're talking about. My power button was trashed on my first pre, and the slider worked just fine as a power switch. Didn't even have to drag the padlock.
Oh no, not the battery!
i believe it was previously reported to have 2 x 3300 mAh batteries. thats a good amount of juice. the largeest power sucker in a tablet is the screen. if they are using some sort of OLED or AMOLED screen this puppy will have decent bat life. if not (which is probably the case. i bet it has an LCD) it will only have marginal bat life. we will c
Regarding the PalmPad trademark rejection, is there any reason that HP cannot go ahead and call this PalmPad anyway? The reason for rejection was that PalmPad is too close to Palm (which presumably is owned by Palm anyway). So no other organisation can sue HP for using PalmPad.
And HP should still be able to sue anyone who uses a name too similar to PalmPad since we now know it is close to Palm, which IS a registered trademark, right?
They should call it the hPad
nothing like some h in the morning to get u going
Tableau?
How about Tableau?
I just don't want them to use the term 'Pad' at all. Way too unoriginal. Look at BlackBerry, they used a name no one would have expected! Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but at least it's original.
Seriously, wot's wrong with just naming it Topaz? That's an awesome name.
Topaz is a DRM / eBook format used by Amazon. If they named a device which can be (and will be, given that I'm the main pReader developer :)) used as an eBook-Reader "Topaz", they probably would be sued even before the first device hits the shelves.
How unfortunate... good to know though!
Do you think there would be a substantial likelihood of confusion to a consumer between an ebook format and a tablet computer. I bet 85% of Kindle users don't know what "topaz" means to them, they read Kindle books on their Kindles, it is only the geeks among us that know that topaz is a DRM/eBook format used by Amazon on their Kindle devices.
The question is, would Amazon care if they could win or not? All they'd need to do is to sic their lawyers -- which are already paid by them anyway -- on this.
Never underestimate the willingness of corporations to sue, or at least threaten to sue. The way the copyright, patent and trademark system works, it's basically a big, commercial cold war.
Mutually assured destruction included.
Yes, with Ruby on Amazon's board, I'm sure Amazon is going to sue HP. [/sarcasm]
Trademark law is fairly weak - very few people sue on it. If Amazon felt like HP was diluting it's sales because of an inferior mark, it might. Otherwise these things usually settle for a lump sum payment, which ends up being chump change. How do you think Apple got the iPhone from Cisco and iPad from Fujitsu?
Fact remains that we still don't know what they're gonna name it.
i was thinkin the same thing about topaz. this tablet is def some sort of jem. thx for shutting down that idea Jappus ;)
Agreed with dropping the 'Pad'. I'm not hating on Apple, I'm hating on 'Pad'. Slab, slate, anything but 'Pad'.
or Plateau?
Or maybe Plateau?
Good point!
How about "The New Flatness".
Bit too long maybe? Hmm...
And would we refer to it as "The" "The New Flatness" or just "The New Flatness"?
I think, since HP is obviously most recognizable as the initials for Harry Potter, the new pad should be called the Rita Skeeter Quick Quotes Quill & Notepad. ;)
'Accommodate Third Party Accessories'?
Please oh please oh PLEASE let there be a standard USB port! Having one of those already puts you light-years ahead of an iPad! It's one of the main reasons I've been using Archos tablets since 2007
I'm with you on this. There is no reason a full size device doesn't have a full size USB port.
I don't see the point in standard USB port at all. The only difference between standard USB and micro USB is the port itself. What they have to do is support third party accessories that's all. As long as they do that you could plugin anything with the same micro USB port.
And make it much harder to use all current USB devices. Seriously, you would have to get a MicroUSB-A Female to USB-A Female adapter (which, thankfully I have) to use most things. My Archos let's me just plug in a USB flash drive (something that doesn't come in Micro, mind you) and copy files. I can plug in a standard keyboard, standard mouse, and anything with usb storage. That is the point in a standard USB port.
Sprint huh!?... Ok good... Now where's the phones!!!??
Jeez, can't you wait until the Feb. 9th announcement?
I just wanted a Wifi version, but fear the cost. I cant afford $500+. Hope they can hit $300-$400 at lowest for the Wifi version. Then after I get my Sprint Pre's webOS 2.0 I will probably finally install preware and overclock my pre & hopefully install the tether app I read about that was easier to use and I'll be set.
I'm thinking sub $500 for the Opal, $500+ for the Topaz...even on Wifi.
I would be insanely happy if the Topaz Wifi went for under $500 (and no, $499 doesn't count)
Holy crap - you're working with a Sprint Pre and haven't overclocked it?! Install preware NOW and get your overclock and your tether on. Both are drop dead simple. Overclocking makes a *huge* difference, and finally being able to tether so easily makes life fantastically easy in the right situation.
Seriously.
Do it.
Come back and thank me later.
The biggest reason to use a custom kernel isn't overclocking, but memory management. However, bumping to just 720 MHz makes a big difference.
Indeed, memory management is what gets the device going. Overclocking just gives it that extra oomph.
I agree with tcurtin - overclock NOW! I am a recent overclocker and tetherer (last month) and am loving it. I have my pre- at 1 GHz and no more TMC error. There is the occasional battery drop-from-the-cliff from 40% to 0 in a sec. Not sure if other overclockers see that.
Specs say accelerometer and eCompass, but no GPS
"Optional WWAN+GPS SKU"
Is that GPS?
um any news on phones?
Did you read the article? Should answer your question before you had to pollute the comments with something useless.
yet u seem to waste ur time to write something more useless ..go figure
there wont be any phones announced at the feb event
Care to share where you found out that no phones will be announced?
You say this based on what information? A lot of people expect that new phones WILL be announced.
I'd say these are even bigger points than the specs on the tablet:
"Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon support by the end of the year"
"Amazon Kindle will have software ready for WebOS shortly after launch"
"At the developers event HP will announce a 1 million dollar app contest"
(copied from the source link)
Now THAT'S exciting. =)
Yeah....
"...by the end of the year" That's pretty exciting....or maybe it will be "in the coming months."
Point taken. =)
Still, it's better than not acknowledging webOS' existence at all. But again, as the next poster states, we've had assurances like this from other notable software companies before.
I seem to remember the Pre was going to have Flash and a full version of Documents-to-Go by the end of some year or another...
by the end of 2012?? what a joke! that's really quite sad.
I would prefer they pay $100k to 10 of the most in-demand apps (could take a user poll to obtain this list).
Same here, but it's the state of webOS today that we take what we can get. =/
Everything is in the coming months... I am sick of waiting. If it isn't at the launch I am gone and begrudgingly going to Apple.
Yeah, the lack of phone news is troubling, makes me think there was a palm pixi refresh in design stage when HP bought palm and much like the pre2 they didn't cancel it.
Makes me think that tablet stuff is being handled by HP more than Palm themselves and the phone aspect is buried deep in the Palm labs. Remember, we had NO leaks on the Palm Pre before it was announced. Palm is very good at this.
battery wtf!!!!!!!!!
I know this is probably more of a WebOS 2.0 question, but can someone again tell me if and how a VPN client will work with these "pads." Reason I ask is that our work environment took away Active Sync, rendering my Palm Pre useless at an enterprise level. (and WebOS does not support GOOD for Enterprise, which is what we are on now.)
I like what I am finally seeing here HP/Palm, a slate and a new WebOS phone that both mirror each other would be the only two devices I need. Oh and please get Sprint on board even though they probably don't deserve it. (company, not customers)
$1 MILLION App Contest!?
That might get some Developers' attention!
hahaha
HP>Money!
"HP - To say they got dough just doesnt cut it!"
in order to get developer attention, you need an os and device worth developing for. why do you think 87% of developers prefer iOS? it's no accident.
money and popularity. iOS is terrible. But its a bandwagon. Popular. Lots of people.
Apple's products are just a long line of bandwagons.
yes. and some have a gorgeous design and others are very innovative. but for the most part...just a name.
i can create an innovative and sexy toilet plunger, but that doesn't mean that it's the best plunger for my toilet.
although i do agree, they make some sexy, sexy stuff, but no matter how many people want to copy apple, i'm just not going to have a use for anyPad right now.
more phone leaks plz.
I'm at Palmtouchpad, errr Touchpalmpad overload. We get the idea...ipad scale webos device with current gen standard/expected hardware....we know nothing of any upcoming phones.
there wont be any phone leaks. also, there wont be any real phone news at the hp palm event. its easy, look: think big (the big tablet), think small (the small tablet), think beyond (how its all going to work). sorry to burst your bubble!
Can people please stop interpreting the big, small, beyond thing? Seriously, everyone is so unimaginative with their predictions.
there better be phones announced. Otherwise, this is going to be a PR fiasco to all the non fanboy sites. "HP hosts a big solo event for 'Me Too' slates," that are nothing more than standard ipad chasing devices with webOS slapped on them. as someone else around here said, if these things aren't bringing any innovation to the platform (i.e. no significant hardware and software improvements, such as HDMI out, USB port, etc) and end up just being a 10" Pre 2, it's not going to be pretty.
Gee, if the battery was user replaceable, the user could select their own tradeoff between weight and longevity.
[EDIT: I speel gud!]
if current devices are any indication of what people 'want,' they dont want to replace their own batteries and carry four or five spares. they want their devices to deliver lasting battery strength so they dont have to worry about that. you are living in the past, my friend.
1. Maybe you should tell Toshiba. Their new tablet has a Pixi-like rubber back with replaceable battery.
2. If you READ my comment, you would see that I suggested a user replaceable battery would give the USER the ability to decide which is more important: weight or longevity.
You and your iProducts are living in your own world, my friend.
I just had a funny thought of a 12 inch touch stone back popping off of an PalmPad
Oh yeah, just because Apple is making it so hard to open the device and take the batteries out with their screwy screws, it's a clear indication consumers have no interest in even looking at batteries.
current devices are an indication of what people will put up with in order to get an experience they are generally pleased with. The idea that a person who buys ObjectA finds everything about it attractive is ridiculous.
By your logic, people would shun an iPad that provided the OPTION of changing the battery. I'm sure that isn't the case.
they should definitely call it The Had, as in this has already been defeated before it was released.
oh, on a side note, i recently purchased an iphone and i've been swimming in all the great apps it has. let the records show that in this day and age, apps matter, developers matter, and a device is just a device if it cant deliver on all fronts.
Can I borrow your Crystal Ball? I want to buy some lottery tickets... Oh, and the Super Bowl is coming up, too.
it's webOS on a large device. That's what is is SUPPOSED to be. If all you want are useless specs to gossip with your tech friends about then you shouldn't have been targeted toward palm. Go be some special company from Japan's fanboy that makes products for show. Seems that's all you want.
Stop drinking the iKool-aid, my friend.
Dammn. This thread was spelling great.
Now it just smells like iPoop.
Yet another article about the HP KIRFpad that uses the iPad as a benchmark. They changed their battery just to come in at the iPad's weight. Why is the iPad's weight so important. I have heard nothing but complaints from people who don't have one, about how heavy the iPad is. Now, it is the perfect weight.
Let's just end this naming nonsense and call it the iPad by HP and let the attorneys fight it out.
Hahah thats awesome!
Kudos to you sir!
Bringing down the weight is a good start though.
damn, manufacturing goes to China again.
Don't worry, Obama is gonna fix it soon.
Most of the devices are being made in China including Apple devices. Maybe Samsung is doing some in its home South Korea. Even Japanese companies are building in China to save on costs. HTC may be still be building in its Taiwanese plants.
Tablets: cool and all, but the phones are what we all NEED!!!
No back cam? Not that I would hold up a big tablet to take a picture, but a lot of tabs have them now and it could be useful somehow
So you want something that you can SAY is better? Not really use? ...at least you're honest and not hostile like most people on here. Ugh.
I would use it somehow. Like when around the house when my phone is on a table somewhere. Also, there could be certain applications that could take advantage of it like a bar code scanner.
I would use it somehow. Like around the house, when my phone is on a table somewhere. I could also be used for certain applications such as bar code scanners....
I would use it somehow. Like around the house, when my phone is on a table somewhere. It could also be used for certain applications such as bar code scanners....
I would use it somehow. Like around the house, when my phone is on a table somewhere. I could also be used for certain applications such as bar code scanners....
I would use it somehow. Like around the house, when my phone is on a table somewhere. I could also be used for certain applications such as bar code scanners....
I'll take anything, I need something to help convince my wife to wanna stay with sprint. Any chance for mobile hotspot with the topaz?
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gardner/edss-david-gee-on-the-spectrum-of-clou...
You didn't hear it from me but HP just moved the heads of one its most sucessfull marketing division to head the Palm div. Imagine the Dr.DRE advertisements to follow ;)
If they can show Dre using a webOS device, you can bet a lot of them will start showing up on the streets (take that as you will).
hahahahaa terrible!
Remember all of those HP commercials with stars sharing all the things they love to do with their HP laptops? Now imagine all those same commercials but with a webOS phone and tablet. And then finish the commercial with some catchy line like: "All this, All at once, All the time." Fade: HP Palm Logo. Fade: Black.
lame. All we care about are specs that beat/rival the top dogs! We don't care if it does what we need it to do better than it needs to be done. It needs to do EVERYTHING ANYONE could ever want to use it for! All I can say is if it doesn't have wings, an oxygen and nitrogen power source, in air gestures, a 5D display, and push to talk, I'm not interested! Oh and if its not on Sprint. I'll stick with my laptop! Because you know I would get rid of it if I had a tablet that could do it all...but nope. Looks like HPpalm is a failure.
Wings are so last-gen, I heard about a HTC device coming out soon that has wings. This will beat it to market, but the HTC news *leaked* earlier, so HTC still got the record of first device with wings covered and Palm is, once again, playing catch-up lightyears behind the curve.
A jet engine, now, aaaah, that would be something.
But HP is not the company to make that happen :rolleyes:
Dear HP. If you think a few ounces less would make this more competitive to the iPad... you are idiots. Battery life matters, weight is far down the list.
You know, it didn't mention that the battery had a smaller capacity, just that it was smaller, as in less weight.
quoted from the source....
"The battery size has been reduced because of weight, which unfortunately resulted in decreased battery life from 12-14 hours down to eight. This sacrifice was made because the goal was to keep the weight at 1.5 pounds which is the weight of iPad and Motorola Xoom."
http://claytonmorris.squarespace.com/blog/2011/1/26/hps-nameless-pads.html
Says you.
I am sure HP has done no market research, no focus groups.
HP knows nothing.
And as the other poster pointed out, the article did not mention less battery power.
READING COMPREHENSION.
And you have how many studies to back this up?
Yes, the iPad has sold like hotcakes. On the other hand, there have been people who haven't bought it for various reasons, including size and weight. (And somehow--shocking, I know--that doesn't show up in Apple's sales numbers. Go figure.) For me, though, size and weight is the main reason why so far I'm leaning toward the Opal over the Topaz--easier to carry and more comfortable to hold for extended periods.
I know nobody wants to hear this but if I wanted an ipad like device, I would have already purchased an ipad with it huge ecosystem of apps and keyboards etc. I'm sure webos lends itself well to that form factor and I really like webos but I'm not going to shell out anything close to 400 - 500 for a large screen Pre. Maybe if I could update my phone on a subsidized sprint plan I might think about tethering a device like this to my new Pre3 a year or two from now... I just don't know what they are thinking...
I do wish them luck and I do wish webos the best. I hope it works out.
I agree, that's why it needs to be more than iOS. SD card slot. TV out. TS2 I/O hotness. top shelf web experience. flash. productivity software.
BeatsPad?
PalmBeats?
DrePad
I heard they're adding a pen input, gps, sd card input and HDMI out. Ohh wait, that would make the item useful and different from the rest of the million of tablets.
Why do so many people here say that there won't be any news about NEW Phone at this event?
I think nobody will buy a HP Tablet if they tell u, u can use it with a Palm Pre Plus - WOW! What a great phone.
I think Apple wouldn't have sold 7 Million iPads if they wouldn't have brought iPhone 4 to life.
Just imagine 2015:
Here's the new iPad 6, it worls also with the great device- iPhone 3! :-)
Because they're idiots. Simple as that.
Half of them are idiots - the half that actually believes it.
The other half has been on this forum from day one, trying to find negativity in every bit of positive news and generally talking things down.
Bad move on the scrapped education version... I hear news that some schools are requiring an iPad. This is HPs chance to indoctrinate children in mass quantities into HP's mindshare, much as Apple did with it's brand in the genesis of it's empire.
My hopes for a dual digitizer are ruined!!!
Apple has already done that, and it's very difficult to indoctrinate children that are already indoctrinated.
Why is everyone's ideas about Feb 9th so narrow minded. Big things will soon happen.
Think Big: WebOS on a Big Screen TVs, slates...
Think Small: WebOS on a watch, phones...
Think Beyond: WebOS on health care systems, Automotive, and whatever you can think of.
I checked the USPTO website this AM and HP has also filed for Veer, Gyst, and Myte under the same classifications as the touchpad which would cover both phones and tablets.
Thanks for breaking the news:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/16/hewlett-packard-files-trademarks-for-...
My Bad ... it was news to the uninformed (me).
Veer sounds like a car device
As webOS is all about gestures why not call the tablet The HP Swipe?
just my two penneth
they'd rather compete w/ the ipad's weight than the battery life? I guess they're counting on it being 'touchstoned'early and often...
I'll be getting the wifi only model, but I'll go ahead and say that anything below 4g for the cell radios is absolutely unacceptable.
They could call it the Maxi Pad (sprint Wimaxx of course) for all I care. Just make it good! Really hoping we hear more phone news though, my Pre Minus isn't long for this world.
They should call it the "MegaPre"
Since its Palm comeback I say they call it the G.O.A.T.! :-D
For the Uninformed that was the title of LL Cool J who said "Don't call it a come back"
G.O.A.T = Greatest of All Time
LL Cool J
My launch day Pre died in November and I went without a phone for 1 month hoping for an announcement (actually, I used my old iPhone--but kinda like not having a phone)
Then I purchased the Evo...now I am anxiously waiting for the next WebOS devices.
I think there must be a lot of people like me, and these people don't come to this board anymore or don't post, because all that seems to be left is a bunch of whiners and know-it-all's that make reading comments comical.
I sure hope the board gets back to what it was some day.
Why does it seem that Hp/Palm is just trying to reinvent the wheel??? Introducing this tablet BEFORE the iPad would have set the bar for other companies to compete. They are releasing a tablet that is trying to compete with a company that has set the bar, and set it high, Even being made by Apple, the iPad will always be one step ahead, just as Apple will always be one step ahead. Palm acts like the Palm Pilot was when the technology world changed, and in some ways it did. Being a Palm Pilot owner, I know how wonderful it was and all the things one could do with it. However, being a teacher, I see that 2nd graders have iPods and iPads, they are exposed to Apple products at a very young age... marketing 101.... hit them young, and consumers forever. Kids today haven't even heard of Palm or any of their products. To get to the point, I can't see this doing well, it needs to set itself apart and an updated Touchstone isn't going to do it. I remember when being shown the Touchstone, I was impressed, but it is one of those technologies that was two-faced. Palm tried to make it 'fun' to charge your phone. I felt like I HAD to buy a Touchstone for my PrePlus because the battery life is AWFUL in my Pre, I can only imagine what the tablet's battery life will be. Maybe they can showcase how much 'fun' it can be to charge your tablet?! I want someone from HP to show me why they are better than Apple. Impress us HP.
so, it seems they will only put a gps radio in the 3G model.
wifi users apparently don't need foursquare or locasion based services... Sound like HP has been listening to verizon again... Arghh
If anyone is registered on Fox News website, you might want to take issue with a comment on this article:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/26/secret-details-hps-ipad-killer...
The comment reads: "This product is DOA, just like that sony internet reader thing... the Dash or whatever it's called. The reason? WebOS. it freakin runs palm. who makes apps for palm? no one. If thing doesn't run windows or android, it's done. why even make a big deal about this? it will never be an ipad killer with webos running on it. you can't transfer apps between your phone or your pad, or your pc of your pad. absolutely useless."
I think I'm registered, but couldnt' remember my username or password. Anybody else want to chime in...
Almost Everyone had a TREO before the iPhone came out. Now about 30 people own PALM phones while the rest are on Android iPhone and Blackberry. Just how do you loose that much ground in such a short period of time? I don't understand that. Then you have more capital behind you to get you updated, but you still are using an 8-Track in your '77 Coupe De Ville. I just don't get that...
does anyone else see that there's a...home button? DX
HPad would be a good name.
I think they should call it the webSlate, as in...
-------
Hey, what is that?
It's my webSlate, it runs webOS, watch this...
Oooh, cool!
Yup, and picking up where I just left off, I can do exactly the same thing on my phone!
Whoah, Real. Cool.
-------
I think whole ecosystem thing is where webOS will really shine.
It's an iPad! Are you kidding Palm?! This is what you've brought to the proverbial table? A complete knock-off?! I'm looking at the picture of the Topaz and looking at my iPad and the power button position? same as the iPad, the headphone jack position? same as the iPad, volume key position? same as iPad.
Palm is dead. Long live Apple.
right! we all know that the location of hardware buttons is supposed to be the differentiating factor between devices, not unique capabilities. why doesn't palm know this?