HP TouchPad On Pre-Order From Carphone Warehouse

The HP TouchPad tablet is now available for pre-order from the Carphone Warehouse for delivery in ‘mid-July’.

Prices for the 16GB and 32GB models are £399 and £479 respectively.

HP has high hopes for the Wi-Fi only TouchPad, its first tablet computer and the first to run webOS, developed by Palm, the company acquired by HP last year.

Features include the striking Touchstone technology which enables wireless transfer of data with other webOS devices, such as the Pre 3, simply by touching the two together. The same technology also allows for wireless charging and it is compatible with HP’s wireless printing devices.

Welcome competition

After getting a first look at the nifty tablet back in February, eWEEK Europe concluded it has potentially strong enterprise appeal and should provide some welcome competition in the iPad dominated tablet market.

HP is integrating it with WebOS based phones as part of a concerted effort to develop a broad ecosystem based on webOS, competing head-on with Apple, Google and Microsoft.

In light of the competition, HP has given the TouchPad a suitably high spec, powering games and applications with a 1.2GHz dual core snapdragon processor with 1GB RAM to further support multi-tasking. The device also features a 9.7 inch ‘multi-touch’ display and 1024×768 XGA resolution.

Its dimensions, 240mm x 190mm x 13.7mm, make it roughly the same size as an iPad although at 740g it weighs nearly 150g more.

HP has been reported to be working with QuickOffice to include the QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for viewing and editing documents, including Microsoft Excel and Word. However, unconfirmed rumours and leaks from HP began circulating last week that users will only be able to view documents until an update becomes available soon after launch.

Online retailer Clove has also begun taking pre-orders for the TouchPad for delivery on the 15 July. No rpice is quoted but customers can register interest.