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Tablet news: Touchsmart tm2 getting LV i3/i5 soon, rumored webOS HP Slate

Hey, here’s a two-in-one news story about HP tablet/slate devices. The first, fairly solid rumor/announcement is that the recently released HP Touchsmart tm2 will be packed with the latest, but currently unannounced, Intel low-voltage Core i3 and Core i5 processors in a few months’ time, most likely somewhere during summer, towards the July/August period where Intel has had some history in announcing new stuff. Well, that’s great news for ‘back to school’ goers and people who can wait for a while before buying their new notebook… but probably not so great for people like me – you know, the type who wants the ‘latest and greatest’ but at the same time needs to get a new notebook pretty soon (I’m looking for an ultra-portable to replace my current HP Mini this year).

In other news, there’s whispers of a HP Slate like slate in development that will run WebOS (courtesy of buying Palm not two weeks ago). Sources are saying that mobile processors will definitely be used in this latest “Slate” (compared to the original HP Slate that will run on Intel Atom ‘netbook’ processors), though the topic as to which mobile processor is up for speculation (I’m betting some upgraded/future Snapdragon processor/Nvidia Tegra 2). Rumors from the web (which usually are less reliable, like the time that the speculated ‘HP iPaq K3 Obsidian’ turned out to be called the ‘HP iPaq Glisten’ instead) label this upcoming HP slate, the HP Hurricane. Seeing we haven’t quite gotten any names from sources yet, I guess we’ll stick to that for now – look out for further news about the HP Hurricane in the future (which will be listed under our existing HP Slate news category)

HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet full specifications; 16:10 multitouch, available for order

I’ve been waiting days for this and it’s finally here – the HP Touchsmart tm2 is available for (pre?) order on HP’s official website. But more importantly, the full list of available options and specifications are there as well. Processor options max out at Intel’s 1.6 Ghz dual core, low voltage processor with ATI Mobility 4550 graphics. Good news for “movie widescreen” haters too, the Touchsmart tm2 has a 16:10 multitouch widescreen with 1280 x 800 resolution – that’s a tinsy bit lower res than you’d find with a 16:9 widescreen (1366 x 768) but gives you 32 extra pixels of vertical resolution to work with.

The Touchsmart tm2 won’t have a built-in optical drive (though an external one is available separately) and currently lacks any option for backlit keyboard keys or 9 cell battery. However, 7200 RPM hard disks are standard and the notebook/tablet is merely an inch thick at its thinnest point.

HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet now official!

It’s here! The HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet PC! This notebook has a 12 inch multi-touch display, an all new design (versus the old Pavilion tx1000, tx2000 and tx2), is powered by a Intel Core 2 Duo processor and has ATI graphics. Here’s a list of the Touchsmart tm2’s main features:

• Intel Core 2 Duo low-voltage processor
• ATI graphics
• Full-sized chiclet keyboard “borrowed from the Pavilion dm3″
• 12 inch capacitive multi-touch screen (you can use either your fingers or the included stylus) with swivel function
• 3 USB ports, VGA connector, covered LAN port, headphone jack (no microphone port, probably shared with the headphone port), HDMI output
• Buttonless trackpad like on the Envy 13/15: it supports multi-touch but can also be set to conventional “single touch” mode
• New Touchsmart UI and Bump Top 3D desktop interfaces for interactive multi-touch
• New, slimmer and more solid design (new imprint patterns too!)
• External optical drive (there’s none built-in)
• 9 hour battery life
• Sub-$1000 starting price

In my opinion, the Touchsmart tm2 is a whole lot like a ‘tablet Envy’ with its new design and specifications. You can see a lot of HP Envy design elements on the bottom half of the notebook (keyboard, palmrest, buttonless trackpad, rounded edges and simple port layout) as well as in its features list (long battery life, multitouch trackpad support, an Intel low-voltage processor paired with ATI graphics) which make it sound much like the Envy 13. The upper-half looks like a mashup of the original Touchsmart tx2’s glossy display with the slimness of the Elitebook 2730p tablet’s display. And there are buttons on the edges of the screen too, to be used when the Touchsmart tm2 is in slate mode. Thankfully, the price of the Touchsmart tm2 is more reasonable than the HP Envy series, with a sub-$1000 starting price tag. If you asked me, all of a sudden, the Touchsmart tm2 is starting to look real tasty… it’s almost the perfect ultra-portable notebook/tablet, save for the glossy display.

HP joining venture with Microsoft to launch ‘Courier’ tablet

HP will team up with Microsoft to launch a tablet this Wednesday

Hot off the press is an article by the New York Times highlighting the impending launch of the “Microsoft Courier” (or at least something based off the concept) tablet this Wednesday by Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s CEO) at the Consumer Electronics Show. Looks like there’s gonna be quite a bit of drama as HP (as in Hewlett Packard) and Microsoft team up to launch a tablet way before Apple’s tablet even comes out of ‘vaporware speculation’ status! Go team Microsoft! This upcoming tablet will be a ‘HP device’ (although what sort of branding it will receive is still a mystery. Will it be branded with Microsoft or HP’s name?) will have multimedia functions, including a reader feature, and a touchscreen (size unknown) supporting multi-touch input.

HP Pavilion/Touchsmart tm2 coming this CES?

The folks at eCost have a product page for the HP  tm2 (whether accidentally or otherwise, I don’t know), HP’s upcoming consumer tablet PC. The tm2 will most likely go under HP’s Touchsmart branding, if not, their Pavilion line. Specifications wise, it looks like the Touchsmart tm2 will be a small step back versus the existing Touchsmart tx2 tablet in terms of processor speed and graphics, but makes up for that with DDR3 memory and probably much improved battery life due to the new power sipping processor (the current tx2 uses an AMD processor with higher clock speed).

Things that seem to remain the same compared to the previous model include the inclusion of a 12 inch multi-touch display that can be ‘rotated’ into tablet form/notebook, fingerprint sensor and connectivity options. The big question here is whether the new Touchsmart tm2 is a direct replacement for the 1+ year old Touchsmart tx2, or is there something more powerful on its way a few months down the road?

HP bringing “Touchsmart UI” to iPAQs?

Upcoming iPAQ K3, is this the new 'Touchsmart UI' for iPAQs?

The current iPAQ Data Messenger is a decent Pocket PC device (though not the best, obviously, which is why HP needs to do better) – flush screen, 2.5 mm headphone jack, QWERTY keyboard – but one of the things that people were complaining about when it was first announced was the lack of a ‘custom’ Windows Mobile skin. Well, you know, things like TouchFLO 3D by HTC and Samsung’s Touch Wiz UI’s… I’ve recently been told (And found out from reading ‘late’ reviews on the net) that HP now includes a new ‘HP Menu’ interface on later iPAQ Data Messenger units.

The implementation isn’t as elaborate as the UI’s from HTC or Samsung as it only makes the Today screen more finger-friendly among a few other screens – while HTC, for example, have gone all the way to make almost the whole Windows Mobile OS more ‘thumb-able’). Nevertheless, that’s pretty good for starters (after all, this is HP’s first attempt at including a Windows Mobile ’skin’ with their mobile devices). I’ve SEEN the interface, but haven’t tried it yet because as one of the early adopters of the iPAQ Data Messenger, mine obviously didn’t come with the ‘HP Menu’. I’m also perfectly content with the TouchFlo 3D-esque Throttle Launcher I installed on my iPAQ and updating the device’s ROM is a pain as it resets everything.

HP's existing Touchsmart PC; note the design cues and UI

Right. So what does all this have to do with TouchSmart UI? The next piece of the puzzle comes in the form of a product design image – specifically, the upcoming iPAQ K3 (which the whole world knows about). I’ve seen the user interface in the iPAQ’s screen before (see the picture above) – almost one and a half years ago when the bunch of rumored ‘Windows Mobile 7′ screenshots supposedly came out. I remember the big debate that followed; whether it was ‘for real’ or just a custom skin. It still remains to be confirmed at this point in time what Windows Mobile 7 really looks like, Microsoft has remained mum thus far as they concentrate on marketing Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows 7. The screenshot above looks suspiciously like the rumored WM7 interface (though it could just be a skin), save for the color scheme. Microsoft has a thing for the color blue, while the HP Touchsmart UI has a black color scheme – again, just like the screenshot above. There’s also a 3 x 4 grid of large icons there and the clock at the top of the screen uses a font which is surprisingly consistent with the one HP uses on their Touchsmart PCs. It all looks too un-Microsoft and more ‘Touchsmart’ than ever…

Is HP about to bring their Touchsmart UI to upcoming iPAQs? I have reason to believe so. First it was the all-in-one desktop Touchsmart, then late last year, HP brought out their first Touchsmart notebook (tablet form-factor)… so logically, the next step would be to create a ‘Touchsmart handheld’. I guess we’ll find out this fall, around September-October (aka iPAQ Season), which is when HP usually announces new handheld/mobile devices.