The way things are shaping up around the WebOS based tablet that HP launches February 9th. The overall feeling harks back to the days when Apple had just launched the iPad and everyone thought it was just a matter of time before HP unleashes the Slate device that would go on to tame the iPad. It was a time when HP had ensured the HP Slate never went out of news by releasing videos of the Slate at regular intervals which only whetted the appetite of those who were desperate to have something to counter the Apple tablet.
However, this time, it might not be HP releasing what’s going on behind the scenes at the HP stable. Rather, the latest leak of the HP Topaz can be attributed to the sleuthing capabilities of the guys at PreCentral, and what they have come up with pretty much paints a clear picture of what to expect with the Topaz tablet.
The specifications do look impressive to say the least. Like a Dual core Qualcomm MSM8660 clocking at 1.2GHz coupled to 512 MB of DDR2 RAM. Adding to the processor’s multimedia and graphics capabilities will be an Integrated Adreno 220 GPU that is designed to make light work of anything that’s thrown at the tablet.
Screen size of the Topaz measures 9.7 inches of oleophobic Gorilla Glass screen enabled display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and much like the iPad, the Topaz will be available in three storage options of 16, 32 and 64 GB. Connectivity with the Topaz comes in the form of Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. The Topaz will also come integrated with a 1.3mp camera on the front that will allow video chatting along with other goodies such as an accelerometer, eCompass, gyro, a light sensor, and a microphone.
Topaz enabled with optional WWAN for HSPA, LTE, or CDMA maybe in the works for a release sometime later though features such as 2 integrated speakers with Beats Audio and a 3.5mm audio jack is going to be part of the Topaz feature right now. Powering the device will be 3150mAh cells that HP claims will be able to keep things going for at least 8 hours. Lastly, all of the above has been housed inside a 190mm x 240mm x 13.7mm case that weights 700g or 1.5lb.
There are also reports of HP to be keen to include Flash support on the Topaz along with other features such as inductive charging via Touchstone technology. However, this will be a generation ahead of what can be seen on the Palm Pre and Pixi in that the charging dock will also allow for sharing of picture, site or contact wirelessly or streaming of audio files via BlueTooth to the speaker dock. Apart from these, the Topaz tablet is also touted to be capable of having wireless access to such features like mapping and directions, printing, video streaming to an HDMI/VGA output, or sharing of audio files from a Palm smartphone. In fact, the Topaz is also likely to be capable of wireless video gaming via the video dock.
These will be in addition to the cloud based services such as as Snapfish to deal with pictures, Melodeo music, HP Cloud Drive or HP Cloud Canvas.
So all in all, everything is pointing to a mega event on the 9th of February when the real thing finally makes its debut.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
