It’s no secret that HP is working to load webOS on as many different devices as possible. The operating system was designed initially for smartphones, but it will also power the upcoming HP TouchPad tablet and even internet-connected printers eventually. HP also plans to bring a version of webOS to Windows computers, allowing you to run webOS apps on a notebook or desktop. But now evidence has popped up that HP could be working on a laptop desigined specifically to run webOS.
A set of developer logs show two previously unannounced webOS devices. One is a device with a 320 x 480 pixel display and no keyboard, which suggests it may be a touchscreen smartphone. Up until now all webOS phones have had physical keyboards, but the HP TouchPad uses only an on-screen keyboard, so it makes sense that the company could use a software keyboard for a next-gen phone.
The other log describes a device with a 1024 x 768 pixel display and a physical keyboard. While this could be some sort of variation on the HP TouchPad, the keyboard isn’t a slider, which means it’s always present. That makes it more likely that we’re looking at the first evidence of a webOS notebook. This device is codenamed the Nova Dartfish.