14 DAY TRIAL // HP has introduced an ARM-based Android tablet today, although that's not what it calls it. Instead, the corporation has chosen to dub it a detachable PC, thanks to its ability to unclasp from the keyboard lower half.
The main reason for that is how HP launched two products, not just one, but the second, HP Split x2, is an actual x86-based Windows 8 notebook, only with the same detaching ability.
But we digress. The HP Split x2 will be covered separately. Here we will only look at the SlateBook x2.
First off, the SlateBook x2 is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 4 SoC (system-on-chip), with 4+1 ARM CPU cores (four Cortex-A15 at 1.9 GHz, a fifth low-power core), 72-core GPU, and 4 GB memory
The screen size is 10.1 inches, the resolution is said to be HD (so 1366 x 768 pixels) and the storage capacity will probably be of 64 GB. The press release says 64 MB, but we suppose it's just a typo.
Then again, since the price is supposed to be of $479.99 / €479.99, we suspect that the storage space could be lower (16 GB / 32 GB), unless HP cuts some other corners.
It's hard to say really, since the corporation did not provide all the technical info we would have liked.
While it did mention Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and access to various Google services (Google Now, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and Google+ Hangouts), the hardware list was rather nebulous.
What's more, the mystery will persist for a few months, as sales will only begin in August.
Finally, through HP's exclusive native printing capability, the SlateBook x2 allows users to print directly from most applications.
"Customers want to access and share content anywhere, anytime, on any internet connected device – and they expect those connections to be seamless," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, consumer PCs, HP.