In an interesting (and heartbreaking, for some) report by CNBC, it has been confirmed that HP will not be coming up with any Windows Phone 7 devices (which invalidates the info provided during the Windows Phone 7 launch event, which was before HP bought over Palm). Instead, they’ll be focusing on getting WebOS phones (and tablets, duh) out… in fact, we did mention mid this week that WebOS 2.0 will be coming by the end of this year, presumably with at least one device running the operating system (PalmPad anyone?!).
And what will happen to the iPAQ brand? Well, I hope HP addresses and answers that next…
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)
Well people, it’s official. The HP iPAQ K3 Obsidian has now been officially announced by AT&T, and also renamed to become the HP iPAQ Glisten. Not as if it’s design is particularly flashy (looks much like a modernized Blackberry, in fact) or it’s features are mind-blowing… they’re not. But the iPAQ Glisten looks like a decent offering to anyone wanting an average smartphone (or Blackberry) with a touchscreen – that is, if it becomes sold unlocked in addition to the AT&T contract binding.
- Windows Mobile 6.5
- 2.5 inch touchscreen AMOLED display
- 256 MB RAM + MicroSD/microSDHC slot
- 3 megapixel camera with autofocus
- 3.5 mm standard headphone jack
- WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS and QWERTY keyboard
Someone (well, actually a few people) out there has just spotted a full-touch HP iPAQ out in the wild. Described as ‘a full-touch device with a widescreen touchscreen’ and ‘looks like a HTC Touch Diamond 2 with a more elegant design’, it sounds like something to look forward to… and looks like all is not lost for the few iPAQ fans out there (myself included). The device is set to run Windows Mobile 6.5, apparently with a custom skin over the default UI (Touchsmart interface for iPAQ anyone?!) and has either a WQVGA or WVGA screen (hopefully the latter), but little else is know about the mysterious device.
If asked about the credibility of such “rumors”, this info comes from several reliable sources and it’s been confirmed that it ISN’T the iPAQ K3 since the device has a candybar form factor (iPAQ K3 looks more like a Blackberry, definitely not a candybar). Let’s just call this thing the iPAQ X since we have no idea what HP will name their next device. But anyway, there’s also word that this elusive iPAQ X has an ‘evil twin’ which sports a slide-out keyboard. Looks like HP wants to follow HTC’s trend of releasing two similar WM smartphones, one being touch-only (HTC Touch Diamond) and a keyboard-version (HTC Touch Pro). Time will tell, and I can’t wait when HP makes an official announcement (hopefully soon, please!)
I remember that it was just last year that I was using a HP iPAQ 600 and I installed like a gazillion apps into it and modded the heck out of its user interface. I’ve been using the iPAQ Data Messenger for about 6 months now and have been doing about the same. Today, I just tried to update my ancient v0.94 Throttle Launcher to the latest v1.0 RC3 version, at first rather unsuccessfully. But after a few reboots and file transfers later, things were working again. Sadly, the new Touch FLO 3D interface for Throttle Launcher displayed the fonts and formatting in a messed up manner… and frustrated, I uninstalled the whole package all together. Maybe I’ll put back the old v0.94 again one day (but I remember it wasn’t easy to set that one up either).
Over the last couple of weeks, my iPAQ Data Messenger hasn’t been too healthy – half of its storage memory disappeared for no reason (and I can’t seem to get it back), battery life isn’t as great anymore compared to when I first received it, using my own 3.5 mm headphones with an adapter is a hit or miss affair (sometimes the phone detects it, sometimes not) and the entire slide-out keyboard is feeling unresponsive – I now have to literally mash down at each key when typing out an SMS, it’s both frustrating and painful. I don’t know if I’m just fed up with Windows Mobile 6.1, the Data Messenger or both, but I’ve been using the iPAQ as ‘just a regular phone’ to make calls and text (painfully) these few days. I haven’t been typing anything, articles, reports, blog posts, etc except text messages and brief One Note files for the last few weeks thanks to the keyboard issue – strange, because every key is unresponsive, including those like the Symbol and Windows Start menu keys which I have almost never used.
Right now, I am impatiently waiting for iPAQ Season in October/November and having high hopes that HP will release some revolutionary iPAQ models (or at least models that are up-to-date with the competition) for 2010. I’m also looking forward to the day someone (Microsoft or not) comes out with a unified App Store for Windows Mobile to encourage developers to make more apps once again for the REAL business smartphone OS. I’m starting to find Windows Mobile apps rather stale as everyone gushes over to develop apps for Android and iPhone – isn’t that sad?
I’m feeling less enthusiastic using the Data Messengers these days but I guess I’m forced to hold out… until a better iPAQ comes along, whenever that may be.
On a more positive note, I managed to install the latest S2U2 AKA Slide to Unlock app for Windows Mobile, recommended by Luke, and it works flawlessly (See my home screen above!)
