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HP’s Phil McKinney talks more about the HP Slate

Hey, remember when Microsoft and HP showed off the new HP Slate during CES 2010 earlier this month/year? HP has just posted a video featuring Phil McKinney and the HP Slate… and they couldn’t have picked a better time, less than 48 hours before Apple’s “launch event” for 2010 (supposedly the Apple tablet is debut during then). I’m getting kinda sick of Apple tablet rumors; I usually click off/close windows when I see “Apple tablet rumors” being posted – normally it’s the same old speculation recycled over and over again to generate hype. But after checking out the (mostly positive) reaction across the net today towards the HP Slate, I think this is gonna be a very appealing, very competitive offering against the currently-vaporware competitor from Apple (and also other tablet form-factor devices). I mean, a full fledged Windows 7 in a relatively compact and slim design… and HP’s usual touch-optimized, Touchsmart-like user friendly add-on user interface – bring it on!

Here’s the YouTube video courtesy of HP (You can watch it in HD if you like)

Dell Precision M6500 + Nvidia Quadro FX3800M appears; HP Elitebook 8740w imminent?

Quadro FX3800M in Precision M6500, as seen on Dell's order website

Just as focus began changing last week from ‘product rumors’ to ‘seasonal shopping’, Dell decided to bust out the first ever entrant into the ‘Mobile Workstation’ category for 2009/2010. Meet the Precision M6500 – specification and design wise, it sounds and looks a whole lot like its predecessor. The main changes are Core i7 under the hood (same 1.6 and 1.73 GHz variants we’ve been seeing in things such as the HP Envy 15) and, more interestingly, a new Nvidia Quadro FX3800M graphics card. I’m not sure if bringing up word of the FX3800M is a mistake or deliberate move on Dell’s behalf, as Nvidia has neither made an official announcement nor does their website show any ‘Quadro FX3800M’ card (not to be confused with the existing Quadro FX3800 for desktop) – the latest high-end mobile workstation graphics card shown on Nvidia’s website is the Quadro FX3700M.

But anyhow, this is surely a sign of things to come. Upon seeing this (Dell Precision M6500 specs), I think almost any person with some computer know-how and ability to make predictions will say that Core i7 and Nvidia Quadro FX3800M are almost definitely appearing in the upcoming HP Elitebook 8740w (future competitor to today’s freshly announced Dell). The Elitebook 8740w will probably also have the rumored standard features for HP’s next-gen Elitebooks. Since we’re discussing hardware here, I mind as well throw in my guess for the Elitebook 8740w’s display – I bet it will most likely re-use the same matte, 16:10, 1920×1200 17 inch panels from the 2008 Elitebook 8730w because 1) people wanting a ‘workstation’ would also want the most screen resolution they can get (a 16:9, 1920×1080 display would probably be glossy, and are geared towards movie watchers who don’t want black bars above/below their video) and 2) it’ll probably be expensive and a hassle for HP to re-develop another DreamColor display if they were to cut down to 16:9 ratio, and 3) the Dell Precision M6500 has a 16:10, 1920×1200 screen (and who wants to lose out to the competition?

In other Elitebook rumor news, another reader by the name of Juggs says the HP Elitebook 8440w/8440p (14 inch) and HP Elitebook 8540w/8540p (15 inch) notebooks will be announced on January 25 and January 26 next year respectively. Hmm, I’m not sure why HP would split them up into two separate announcements seeing they’re both similar products. Even more strange, no mention of the announcement of the Elitebook 8740w? Juggs also goes on to confirm that Core i5/i7, DDR3 RAM and LED backlit displays will make their appearances on the next gen of Elitebooks

HP iPAQ Data Messenger Review

I recently got my hands on a retail version of HP’s iPAQ Data Messenger phone (European version).

It’s a nice, simple and stylish looking Pocket PC phone which is a tad smaller than the iPAQ 600 I have. To summarize in one sentence what the HP Data Messenger is all about, it’s actually a slightly smaller iPAQ 600 with a QWERTY keyboard and more fashion sense.

The main features of the HP iPAQ Data Messenger is a 2.8 inch QVGA (320 X 240) touchscreen, a slide-out backlit QWERTY keyboard from the side, with an optical navigation pad and touch sensitive controls on the front, 3 megapixel camera and it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. There’s also a 2.5 mm headphone jack for making calls/listening to music and micro USB port for charging and connectivity to your computer.

Sure, I do not doubt what people think about the iPAQ Data Messenger – even at the time of its debut, which was around October 2008, it’s specifications already looked dull, dusty and outdated compared to its competitors with similar form factors (that is, devices running WM 6.1 Pro with slide-out QWERTY keyboards). Both the Sony Xperia X1 and HTC Touch Pro offer either larger/higher resolution screens than the HP Data Messenger and come with their own Today Interface, which attempts to cover, what people brand as hideous and clunky, the Windows Mobile UI.

So what’s the point of the HP iPAQ Data Messenger, you ask? Well, it’s mainly targeted at business people who want a straight forward business Pocket PC phone (And we all know Windows and Windows Mobile mean business). It’s not meant to be a flashy or show-off phone with tons of bells and whistles. I find the Sony Xperia X1 a bit on the pricey side (which Sony product isn’t?) while the HTC Touch Pro is the true competitor of the HP Data Messenger and will probably steal quite a few sales thanks to its superior specifications.

However, what’s going for the Data Messenger, versus the Touch Pro 1, is that it has a 2.5 mm headphone jack (I can easily plug in an adapter for 3.5 mm standard headphones) and the fact that I can start out with a fresh phone and install whichever 3rd party Windows Mobile Today Interface that I want. Compared to the new Touch Pro 2 and other new phones released over the past week this month and it’s a different story; those other phones are much more appealing, sadly.

The only way HP can probably fight for now is by lowering the price of the Data Messenger so more people will go for it… and get off their butts NOW to the design room, then hopefully down the road somewhere, release more appealing and competitive iPAQs which are actually able to stand toe-to-toe against the competition!

I love HP (especially their notebooks) but I seriously think they should actually put in some effort into their Pocket PC/smart phone department!