According to Fox News, HP/Palm will be showing off three new tablet devices at CES in January. Fox states that the PalmPads will run webOS 2.5.1, and sport similar hardware to the iPad. The device will feature USB 3.0, possible multi-format card reader and a mini-HDMI port, as well front and rear-facing cameras (at 1.3 and 3 megapixels) — and interestingly enough, Fox believes both cameras will have an LED flash. In addition to the three models shown there, Palm will also reportedly offer a fourth version designed for student use — which HP hopes will be on campus for the Fall 2011 semester.

I’m taking this “exclusive” with a grain of salt. After all, the post even refers to HP’s “never-released Slate” — which was actually released a couple of months ago. Both Engadget and Precentral seem leery of this one as well, feeling instead that it’s more likely that HP may have simply re-used an existing diagram. It’s also possible that Fox News was stuck for an image and grabbed something from and existing HP doc that looked like a tablet.

For the diagram to be accurate — and the PalmPad to truly be a re-purposed Slate — the x86 internals would have to be gutted and replace with something more like what’s found in the Pre 2. It would also mean that HP/Palm decided not to re-jig the device’s exterior at all, which would again be a very odd decision.

It also seems a bit odd that they’re planning to unveil the devices at CES 2011. Both HP and Palm have stated that their presence at the event will be diminished this year, and that’s not really what you’d expect if they really intended to launch something as highly-anticipated as a series of webOS tablets.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

Lee Mathews

Computer tech, blogger, husband, father, and avid MSI U100 user.