Photos of HP/Palm's webOS Tablets Emerge, Specs Included

HP/Palm's webOS mobile operating system has been long rumored to be on its way to the market on a new series of devices, including tablet PCs, and some more info on these devices started to emerge into the wild. The company is expected to bring to shelves at least two such devices in the near future, most probably being set to make an official announcement during a February 9th press event.

While other manufacturers chose to release either 7-inch tablet PCs, or 10-inch ones that would better compete with Apple's iPad, HP/Palm is said to planning on making steps on both roads at the same time.

Two tablet PCs from the company have just surfaced, one packing a 9-inch touchscreen display, supposedly called Topaz, while the other sporting a 7-inch screen, codenamed Opal.

When brought to the market, these devices might sport some features new to the tablet PC segment, and Engadget notes that they do not come with buttons, which means that there would be a gesture area that would change orientation along with the display.

The specifications list of these devices would also include 1.2GHz processors, front-facing cameras, micro USB ports, or a three speaker arrangement for stereo audio regardless the orientation.

Unveiled officially in February, these devices might not start shipping until later this year. They are expected to arrive at Palm HQ in June, it seems.

According to Engadget, there will be more than one flavor of the Opal, for example, including a WiFi-only flavor, one that supports AT&T's 3G network, and another one that would Verizon's LTE airwaves, all of which should be released in September this year.

An AT&T LTE version of the tablet PC is expected to be released in June next year. Opal is also said to come with an e-reading focus.

No specific info on the price tag these devices might sport emerged for the time being, nor on the rest of the specifications they would feature. Hopefully, more would be unveiled in early February, and we won't have to wait until September to see them put on shelves.