9.7-inch HP TouchPad webOS tablet announced

In addition to HP Veer smartphone, the company has also announced its first webOS tablet named the 'HP TouchPad'. Designed to be used alone or as a digital companion to your webOS phone, TouchPad connects you and your devices through the elegant webOS experience.

HP TouchPad comes with a 9.7-inch diagonal flush capacitive multitouch display, virtual keyboard, instant-on access, support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta in the browser and access to thousands of webOS applications.

With the HP Synergy feature, you simply have to sign in to your Facebook, Google, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo! accounts and your contacts, calendar and email automatically populate your TouchPad.

HP is also working with Quickoffice to include the Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, which lets you view and edit documents, such as Microsoft Word and Excel. It also comes with VPN support to connect to corporate networks.

HP TouchPad is scheduled to be available in the summer. Exact pricing and availability will be announced at a later date.

HP TouchPad Features and Specifications
+ HP webOS
+ High-speed connectivity
+ Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2-GHz processor
+ 9.7-inch diagonal XGA capacitive, multitouch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit color, 1,024 x 768 resolution display
+ The option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage
+ High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta for access to rich, Flash-based web content
+ Wireless connectivity:
o Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
o A-GPS (3G only)
o Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
+ Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, and a 3.5 mm headset/headphone/microphone jack
o Internal stereo speakers and Beats Audio
o Front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling
+ Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
+ Robust messaging support
+ Light sensor, accelerometer, compass (magnetometer) and gyroscope
+ Rechargeable 6,300 mAh (typical) battery
+ Micro-USB (Charging and PC Connect) with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
+ Built-in HP Touchstone technology for easy charging (HP Touchstone for TouchPad sold separately) and HP touch-to-share to share web addresses between TouchPad and compatible webOS phones
+ Dimensions: 190 mm x 242 mm x 13.7 mm (7.48 inches x 9.53 inches x .54 inches)
+ Weight: approximately 740 g (1.6 pounds)

More information about HP TouchPad is available at www.palm.com/TouchPad.