HP Touchpad rumored to launch June 12; webOS 3.0 Application Roundup!

Precentral.net got their hands on a couple of manuals all pointing to a worldwide release of the Touchpad on  June 12th.  The device is HP and Palm's response to the iPad and will be running webOS 3.0 - a version specifically tailored to take advantage of  large amounts of screen space.

Now with the Touchpad's launch eminent, what applications can we expect to be available on it at launch?

Touchpad Mojo Emulator Leaked

Beta 5 of webOS 3.0 shows a refined, darker interface to the one shown off on the Touchpad in the last several months, along with an emulator to run older webOS apps alongside a gesture area.

The screenshots of the emulator were leaked to precentral.net, showing off the never-before-seen mojo emulator, the browser, copy and paste, the virtual keyboard, the email app, an unfinished exhibition mode, Bing Maps, and the photos application.

Full gallery after the break.

potential webOS netbook and printer in developer logs?

This last week in some developer logs two new devices appeared -- one with a 480 by 320 screen and no physical keyboard or removable battery; the other with a 1024 by 768 screen and a physical keyboard.

  The first one has the same resolution as the original Palm Pre, Pre Plus, and Pre 2.  But it wouldn't make sense to have another phone like the Veer with a small screen resolution, when the Pre 3 is coming out with an 480 by 800 screen resolution.  It could potentially just be a Pre without a keyboard, a webOS mp3 player, or something bigger like a Kindle but with a smaller screen resolution.  Maybe it's the rumored slab, but with the screen width and height cut in half to fool the logs?  Maybe.

But in my opinion it seems most likely to be a printer.  A screen with that resolution would do great on a printer, and the lack of a  keyboard or removable battery makes sense on a printer.

Then, there's the Touchpad-screen resolution with a keyboard.  It could be a webOS netbook, but it could also just be a Touchpad with a wireless keyboard.

 Time should show what these devices are, -- if they ever make it to  the market that is. HP's been talking about putting webOS on laptops and printers since last year, so this news shouldn't be surprising.

HP preparing for a rough 3rd Quarter; Earnings release today

Bloomberg recently leaked a memo from Hewlett-Packard, saying that they need to "watch every penny and minimize hiring."

Q3 is going to be another tough quarter, one in which we will be driving hard for revenue and profit. We have absolutely no room for profitless revenue or any discretionary expenditures.

This may look like bad news on the surface, but will probably be good news for webOS.  They aren't selling as much consumer products -- desktops, laptops, etc.  Which is where webOS comes in.  Windows can't compete with iOS on tablets, and as we all know the iPad is taking a big chunk out of the laptop and netbook sales.  This means that HP really needs to push the Touchpad, and along with it webOS on PCs, phones, printers, everywhere applicable.

HP Touchpad and Pre 3 pricing leaked?

According to none other than Playboy magazine, the HP Pre 3 will be $200 on contract, and the Touchpad will start at $500 off contract.  That sounds about right, though I was hoping the Pre 3 would come in at $150 / 2 year contract.  Prices are still competitive with Apple's -- the current iPhone is at $200 on contract and the current iPad starts at $500 on contract.

Though, uh, after the article was published on Precentral and Engadget, Playboy's editor posted on twitter that they were just estimates.

Source: twitter

HP Veer Launched today!

This morning Palm posted a lot of quotes of positive reviews with nice things to say about the phone.  Now that the phone is launched, time to see where the best deal to get the phone is...

A replacement magnetic headphone adapter for the Veer costs $10,  a magnetic adapter to usb cable costs $20.00, and a touchstone to charge the phone costs $50.00.

The phone costs $50 on a contract upgrade or a new contract from HP's website, the black Veer is avalable online at AT&T's official website for $99 on contract,  from Amazon.com you can get the phone for $50 on contract, or $399 off contract, and from Bestbuy's official website you can get either the white or black Veer on contract for free.

So if you want the phone the cheapest on-contract, I'd recommend Bestbuy.  If you want the phone off-contract, Amazon's the only place to get a reasonable price for it.

Anyhow, it looks like the Pre 3 and Touchpad are set to launch in the next couple of weeks - so if you want a decent-sized smartphone and/or a webOS tablet, stay tuned.

New Rebranded Touchstone Available!

The new HP Touchstone is now officially available from HP's website, and will soon be available elsewhere. It appears to have removed the Palm logo, and is now pure black.

They cost $50.00 each when ordered from HP's website, and charge touchstone-compatible webOS devices inductively -- by just setting it on the charger rather than mess with any cords.

Exhibition Mode - Time

WebOS 2.0 devices such as the Veer 4G or Pre 2 can automatically go into exhibition mode when placed on the charger, - which can show a variety of information ranging from just the time (Useful for an alarm clock), an agenda mode with your calendar info, to facebook and applications that also have exhibition features.

The phone will remember touchstones uniquely, so one touchstone can be programmed to be an alarm clock, while another can be set to be a photo slideshow.

Agenda View in landscape mode; Exhibition can
 be used in either portrait or landscape modes

Source: HP's Official Website 

Free White Veer on two year AT&T contract at Bestbuy?

Look's like Bestbuy's got the pricing right for this powerhouse-in-a-tiny-formfactor phone, so now it can compete with the iPhone 3GS, or the Samsung Captivate, pricing wise.

But only the white Veer 4G will be eligible for free on contractit might be the only Veer available in the store). It will be available tomorrow, but if you want to reserve yours before it launches it'll be a $50 deposit that will be refunded as a Bestbuy gift card when you pick up the phone.

Personally I think that universally the pricing should be the same.  Make it free in both colors, and have the pricing universal at all places you can order the phone.  Or, do $50 universally, and throw in free mobile hotspot (Like the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon).

Maybe that's just me, and with current arrangements the phone will sell well, -- but for free, this phone seems like an excellent deal.

Veer Application News

Well, I was expecting HP to announce the hundreds of HP employee created applications they created last year but mysteriously never released, but it turns out it was more of a small, but still cool announcement on Thursday.

Whitepages officially released an app for the webOS app catalog, taking full advantage of webOS features such as Just-Type and Synergy. Google set webOS to the list of browsers capable of using Google Docs web edit; and ScrollMotion announced they would be bringing SmashWords eBooks to App Catalog sometime in the next several months, but possibly as early as the end of the month.

As of right now there are 6779 applications in the catalog, which seems lacking because even Windows Phone 7 has over 15,000 apps -- and it hasn't even been around for a year!

Hopefully the Touchpad and Pre 3 are the hardware developers want before jumping aboard the webOS bandwagon.

Source: Smashwords, Precentral.net

HP Pre 3 hits the FCC in dual CDMA/GSM - world phone

Looks like the Pre 3 will be heading to AT&T and Verizon.   After hitting the FCC in AT&T frequencies a few weeks ago, the Pre 3 will also be hitting in a CDMA flavor, with world GSM bands and a SIM card slot.  Sadly it looks like no LTE support.   But, the more carriers with new webOS goodness, the merrier.

A launch seems imminent, with a German carrier having it available for preorder and shipping in the next "5-6 weeks".

Source: FCC / Precentral.net / Wireless Goodness / webosroundup.com

New webOS apps to launch May 15th?

According to ubergizmo, new HP webOS apps are to launch in the next 5 days to compliment the release of the HP Veer on AT&T Sunday.  This is good news, as webOS's app catalog hasnt even reached the 10,000, -- having around 6,000 official apps, and not all of them tailored to the Pixi/Veer screensize.

The annoucement is expected to come Thursday, at 8:00 AM EST.

Veer to launch on AT&T March 15th

Yesterday an official release date was announced for the HP Veer 4G -- along with confirmation it would be on AT&T, and would be available in black or white.  The phone will be avalibale for $100 on a two year contract, and is said to be marketed towards those who want a smart phone at a feature phone's price.

Highlighted features of the Veer include that it will have a full version of Adobe Flash 10.1, it will support being a wifi hotspot for up to five devices, and the device will support carrier billing for purchases in the app catalog.

The device will support HSPA+ up to 14.4Mbps per second (like the Atrix 4G and Inspire 4G), and will run webOS 2.1, but will be upgradeable to webOS 3.0 at a future date.

Back after a 5 day Hiatus

Sorry, had a couple of time-consuming projects to work on the last several days, but back to blogging and tweeting about webOS like usual!

Veer to launch in white?

According to Pocketnow, HP is hoping on the bandwaggon of having their device available in white.   Apparently a press shot, the Veer 4G will be available in white, when it launches on AT&T sometime this month.

Personally I'm digging the whole stormtrooper/penguin thing they've got going on.  What do you think?

full sized image
Source: webOSroundup; originally from Pocketnow