HP Palm Unveils TouchPad Tablet Featuring WebOS 3.0

The world was quite surprised when HP Palm unveiled yet another tablet at its press event yesterday, this time with a finger friendly OS. The 9.7-inch iPad doppelganger is named none other than the TouchPad (code-named Topaz), and may actually make us forget their somewhat cumbersome, Slate 500.

Even more exciting is the choice of OS HP went with on the new device. No, it’s not Windows 7, not Android, and not Palm Pre’s OS; it’s a Web OS that relies on the cloud, something Google can definitely applaud.

The “WebOS 3.0” offers smooth swiping and multi-tasking, and it actually does look a bit like Palm’s dazzling OS, with angled tabs and fluid window opening. In addition, HP Palm is touting the multi-tasking capabilities of the OS. You can stack emails, compose a new one and go back to another, check a Twitter notification, and go back again. Engadget got a hands-on demonstration from a HP Palm rep, but the TouchPad didn’t appear to allow gestures, at least to get back out of application interfaces. He may also have only been using WebOS 2.0. You can check it out here.

As for specs and internals, the HP Palm TouchPad weighs just 1.6 pounds and is only 13.7mm thick, and it’s iPad-sized screen has the same 1024 x 768 resolution. It has a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 16 or 32 GB of storage, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, standard WiFi and Bluetooth, GPS (in the 3G model), and a gyroscope, compass, accelerometer, and stereo speakers.

The other interesting additive is HP Palm’s Touch-to-Share feature. This apparently allows you share documents, music, and other files between smart phones and tablets via the cloud. A few more things that stand out between this and the iPad include keyboard-size customization, Adobe Flash, and apparently wireless charging among other awesome accessories.

No price or date has been set on this one, but we should begin to see them roll out some time this summer.

Via: Engadget