HP Decides Against Building Windows Phone 7 Devices

HP has been the focus of a lot of talk since they purchased Palm a short while ago. As we reported the other day, they are still working on their tablets and plan to offer a consumer version running Palm’s WebOS and a business version running Windows 7. Hp is now saying that they will no longer be developing for Windows Phone7. Instead, they plan to focus their energy on creating more WebOS devices, and moving WebOS forward.

I don’t see this as much of a loss for Microsoft. Sure, the more companies that sign on to build devices, the better their penetration into the market. However, HP has had a really hard time building a _good_ mobile device since they bought Compaq all those years ago. Their latest round of devices have some cool features, but lack the general consumer appeal. WebOS may have had some good potential, but that may all be gone with HP at the wheel. We’ll be watching and looking to see if they can keep the magic moving forward. But we won’t be holding our breath.

(Source = PCMag)

HP Confirms Both Windows and WebOS Tablets Coming

HP has confirmed that they plan to release separate tablets running Windows and WebOS. The Windows based tablets will be focused as a business device. It’s expected to have an 8.9 inch screen with video and still cameras, 1GB of memory, and support for an electronic pen for writing and drawing with. I imagine that will be very similar to the stylus used on many of the existing tablets found on the market today.

The WebOS tablet will be the companies consumer offering. There is no information about the specs for the WebOS tablet. It’s possible it could have similar specs to the business version, with the main difference being the OS itself.

We’ll have to wait a while longer to know more. HP did confirm that the Windows based tablet will be available in the fall, but they declined to provide any indication about price. Apple’s iPad has been a smash hit with consumers, and Android based tablets are starting to find their way into the market as well. Personally, I would like to try one of the Windows based tablets. But I’m also very interested in their Android based efforts that we saw back at CES.

(Source = Top Tech News)

Carrypad Reviews the Android Based Compaq Airlife 100 Netbook

“…The design of the Airlife 100 is nice. Good clean lines, a light, 1KG, weight, large and quiet keyboard, good plastics and silent operation leave a good impression. There’s only one design fault of significance and that’s the screen angle. It simply doesn’t open up far enough and you end up with the screen pointing at your chest. This wouldn’t be a problem if the screen had a wide viewing angle but it doesn’t so you’re left with the constant desire to adjust the screen. I’m finding it frustrating. The screen frame houses a 10″ resistive touchscreen of 1024×600 which doesn’t provide iPad-levels of dynamics but does the job well.”

Carrypad has reviewed the Compaq Airlife 100 coming to Telefonica in Spain shortly. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Compaq Airlife since I saw it back at CES in January – back when HP was just calling it a technology demo. There’s so much potential here for a great product, but it looks like Google and HP have missed the mark when it comes to hardware and the operating system features. According to the Carrypad review, the Airlife 100 is lacking a USB host port – something I told HP back at CES was required on such a product if they wanted it to succeed. Consumers need to plug in a USB stick to copy files back and forth. They also might want to plug in a digital camera or even an external mouse. The Airlife is running Android 1.6, but is missing the Gmail application and the marketplace.

I still have hope for the Airlife, maybe it won’t be the 100 model, but I expect HP and Google to get this right and then it will be a killer device. Read the whole review over at Carrypad and let us know what are your thoughts on this device.

Source = Slashgear

How to Hard Reset the iPAQ Glisten

The iPAQ Glisten is HP’s latest Smartphone device. It’s powered by Windows Phone 6.5 and features a front facing keyboard and styling that resembles RIM’s BlackBerry devices.

If you’ve just picked up this device off ebay, or perhaps you’re getting ready to sell it on ebay, or worse – it just freezes and you can’t do anything, you’ll need to hard reset the device. The hard reset process returns the device to factory settings. That means the all your settings and configurations along with applications installed will be removed and the device will return to the state when you first pulled it out of the box.

There are 2 ways to perform a hard reset. The first, and easiest way is by using the menu’s on the device. Of course, for this to work, the device will need to be bootable. From the home screen, press Start / Settings / System / Factory Restore. You will then be prompted to select what should be cleared – the device, or the device and the storage card. Select the option you want to wipe and enter the confirmation code in the box at the bottom of the screen. After clicking Yes, the device will restart and once it’s up and running again, you will have a brand new device.

If your device won’t start up or hangs on the boot process, you can still hard reset the device. Just like using the software menu, this will wipe all your data off the device. Although, using the hardware method does not clear the storage card. To hard reset a device that won’t start up is pretty simple. With the device turned off, press both of the Call and End keys on the front of the device. While holding those buttons down, press the power button. Just after the HP logo displays on the screen, you will see text at the top of the screen that says “Clean Boot”. That means your device is in the process of starting fresh. Once it’s done, you’re device will be like new.

HP Android Netbook Becomes Compaq Airlife and Starts Shipping

Back at CES 2010, I met up with HP who was showing off a cool little Android netbook that they would only refer to as a “technology demo”. The netbook featured everything you would expect and want to see on a device like this including a Snapdragon processor with a solid state drive. In fact the only thing it was missing as a USB port for plugging in some extra memory or to quickly move files around.

Since this was a technology demo, there was no talk of price or availability. But it looks like HP has started shipping this to Telefonica in Spain. The device is no being called the Compaq Airlife 100 and can be had for about $300 with a monthly data plan.

I’m really interested in this device as it’s getting close to the time to replace my laptop and this is an almost perfect device for me. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll see this available here in North America soon!

Source = Slashgear

HP Announces Intent to Acquire Palm for $1.2 Billion

HP announced today that they have entered into an agreement to purchase Palm, pending regulatory approval. The deal is valued at approximately $1.2 billion and has been approved by both Palm and HP boards of directors and is expected to close in HP’s 3rd quarter ending in July 2010. While this sounds like a great deal, one has to wonder if Palm will suffer the same fate as the iPaq did when HP acquired Compaq many years ago.

Of course, there is hope that this could be a match made in heaven. For Palm, the influx of money and manufacturing knowledge and resources is a huge asset. For HP, it provides them with an OS that they can grow across multiple devices and platforms. Palm has been doing some good things with their WebOS over the last year and they have a very loyal following. So it will be interesting to see if HP can keep the momentum rolling.

The complete press release is below. Take a look and share you thoughts with us. Are you interested in buying an HP Palm Smartphone?

[ ..Read More.. ]

CES: HP’s Android Technology Demo

HP does have much of a presence at CES this year, but they are at ShowStoppers and Digital Experience. One of the things that they were showing off is a “Technology Demo” of Google’s Android OS running on an ultra slim netbook style device.  HP wouldn’t say much about what’s under the hood on this marvel, other than a SnapDragon processor running at an unknown speed and some sort of solid state memory for the limited storage it offers.

Sorry about the rough picture.

The general idea here is to provide a mobile device for people that work in the cloud. It offers instant on and quickly suspends when you close the lid, in order to ensure the best life out of the battery.

When asked if this device could possibly make it to production this year, HP simply restated that this is a technology demo only and they can’t talk about possible future products or roadmaps.

I have to admit that I was very impressed by this unit. I wasn’t too sure about the Android laptop rumors that have floated around in the past, but after seeing HPs technology demo, I’m sold and looking forward to the possibilities that this will bring with it.

The New HP iPAQ Voice Messenger Smartphone – Take 2

Jack Cook posted about a new voice messenger device from HP earlier today. What’s interesting to me, is that HP might have learned from their past mistakes on this device. The original Voice Messenger device from HP was a horrible unit with poor screen, low memory, and no real appeal or wow factor to speak of. To be fair, the voice software that came on the device was pretty cool, but aside from that, there was nothing that made anyone want to own one of these.

I rode HP hard about this device from day one, and I’m excited to see that they listened to what the community had to say and came back with what appears to be a pretty sweet device.

The new Voice Messenger comes with a sure-type like 20-keypad device, integrated GPS, WiFi, 3G, Quad-Band, Bluetooth 2.0, 128MB SDRAM / 256MB Flash ROM, a 1260 mAh battery, and a 3.1 megapixel camera. Best of all, it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard edition. It’s great to see that some companies still see the value in having a non-touch screen device.

Visit HP’s web site to learn more about the new Voice Messenger Smartphone. I haven’t seen any information on price or availability yet, but I would expect this to be shipping in the next month or so. I think I’m going to need to get my hands on one of these for review.

Is The HP iPAQ 510 Really A Top Rated Smartphone?

According to Expansys, the HP iPAQ 510 is among the 3 top rated Windows Mobile Smartphones on their site. The other 2, in case you’re wondering, are the Samsung BlackJack II and the Palm Treo 500v. I have no problems with the other two devices, they are both very nice handsets – yes, even the 500v. But the HP device is nowhere near top rated. When the device was released it was slammed by just about every major gadget site. The best thing it has going for it is the voice software that HP pre-loaded on it. From everything I read, it’s pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the device sucks at everything else. It’s running a lower resolution that we haven’t seen on Windows Mobile Smartphone (Standard) devices for years – 176×220. The device is also limited to the much slower EDGE network. That means there’s no enjoyment for fast 3G network when browsing the web or downloading emails. Surely there has to be another device that ranks better than this? Where’s HTC on this list too?