Microsoft seems to have lost out on the mobile OS race. The Windows Phone 7 OS has not really made it to many phones and while there is a lot of hype, there is little hard substance which we can look at. A handful of videos here, a barrage of photos there, and everybody is still talking about Android or iOS. Well, there is one place they may be able to carve out a market share for themselves: the tablet OS market. With speculation that Android 3.0 will be a merger with Chrome OS, and Google publicly announcing that 2.2 is not a tablet OS, it seems that there still remains an "official" niche to be filled in terms of tab OSes, and if the snappy performance in the video above featuring the HP Slate and Windows Phone 7 OS is any indication, Microsoft still have a fighting chance. The ques
So amidst cancellations and etcetera, rumours are resurfacing of the webOS-powered tablet from HP, known as the Hurricane but also known as the PalmPad. The rumours are saying that we'll be seeing this bad boy around Q1 2011 and one might think it arrives to the market slightly late. Here is to hoping for powerful internals.
via ubergizmo
The ExoPC Slate is now abuzz across the net as a video has surfaced showing it in operation. This slate is supposed to be showcased at Computex Taipei in the following month. The above video shows a fairly speedy boot, smooth video playback, probably due to the Broadcom chip that the ExoPC Slate houses. This slate has an N270 Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and runs on the Windows 7 operating system, which is certainly interesting. The screen is 8.9-inches running at a 1024x600 screen resolution.
via Ubergizmo
After hearing the rumours that the HP Slate is discontinued, after learning that HP had bravely snagged up Palm, there are now rumours floating about that HP is to create a webOS-based tablet which is going by the codename Hurricane. HP Hurricane. Sounds pretty cool. Let's hope that it shapes up to actually be pretty cool - better than the two alternatives of this all being smoke and mirrors or the actual HP Hurricane turning out to be a lethargic disappointment. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. Apparently this thing is slated (kek! *groan* not again!) for Q3 2010.
via Engadget
There still hasn't been any official word on whether or not HP has actually shelved their Slate but that hasn't stopped ExoPC charging full steam ahead with the anticipated September release of their Windows 7-based slate which, apparently, will run 1080p videos. Cool. The projected launch date is the 7th of September in the US, Canada and France coming at first in 32GB flavour and retailing at around $599 USD. As the folk at Engadget have it, the ExoPC UI Layer is a sleek interface where you can save web shortcuts, have access to an app store and a dev kit. Specs follow.
11.6-inch capacitive screen
Atom N450 processor
Broadcom's Crystal HD card enabling 1080p playback
OS: Windows 7
via Engadget
Apparently, the Windows 7-based tablet from HP which is Intel powered has been discontinued because it is simply "too power hungry", apparently on the way to suffering the same fate as the LG GW990. Rumours have it that HP is now working on an Android based tablet - however, HP's recent acquisition of Palm might suggest that a tablet featuring webOS or something similar could be a very real possibility.
via PMPToday
Yup, looks like HP was the one who stepped up to the proverbial plate and purchased Palm at a cost of $1.2 billion USD and it has been confirmed. HP are said to be "doubling down" on webOS, possibly getting involved in slates and netbooks, so hopefully good things are in store in the future.
via Engadget
Shrouded in mystery no longer is the still unnamed Android slate from Dell, which was revealed officially at CES.
Well, there’s still a bit of mystery but through announcements or educated guesses it’s got a 5 inch 800 x 400 capacitive multitouch touchscreen, Android OS (presumably 2.0). built-in SIM card option, a 5mpx back-facing autofocus camera with dual LED flash, 3G broadband support, WiFi, Bluetooth, a microSD slot and a 1300 mAh battery.
via pocketables
