HP has officially launched the new 8 and 12 inch Android tablets we first heard about in October.
The HP Pro Slate 8 and HP Pro Slate 12 tablets are both powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors, feature displays with 4:3 aspect rations, and HP says they offer enough battery life to last a full business day.
Both tablets will also support the HP Duet Pen for writing or drawing — but not only can you draw on the tablet itself, but you can also take notes on a piece of paper while your scribbles are stored on the tablet.
The Duet Pen uses Qualcomm’s Ultra Sound technology, and it’s one of the first devices to ship with a pen based on that technology.
HP says there’s another first involved in this launch: the Pro Slate 8 is one of the first tablets with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protecting the screen.
The Pro Slate 12 has a 12.3 inch, 1600 x 1200 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, 802.11ac WiFi, an 8MP rear camera and 2MP front camera, and a starting price of $569.
HP’s Pro Slate 8 has a 7.9 inch, 2048 x 1536 pixel display and similar specs to the larger model. The Pro Slate 8 will sell for $449 and up.
The prices make these tablets significantly pricier than many other Android devices, but the Duet Pen, sturdy design, and focus on business and enterprise customers could help set them apart. Or at least that’s what HP seems to be hoping.
via PC World, The Verge, and HP
I wonder what sets apart a business Android tablet to a consumer one. I mean besides the build quality and maybe TMP and fingerprint reader I can’t really think of a ‘business’ feature for Android. And most of those are available for ‘consumer’ tablets too (Sony? The new Nexus?)…
terrific looking devices, but too spendy. people will buy a Surface Pro instead. also, the pen looks huge compared to the tablet, no way to store it in the body of the tablet. that’s a deal killer.
but still loving my HP Touchpads, thanks, Leo
Will be interested to see some reviews on these – particularly the pen technology. I’m an avid note taker, or was in school anyway. I never understood how people take notes on laptops. There are so many diagrams. How do people make note of the diagrams on a straight laptop?
When I was still teaching, I put a pdf of my lecture notes online for my students after the lecture. When I was in grad school back in the mid 2000’s, that was already common practice.