HP"s new TouchPad tablet armed with its in-house WebOS operating system shipped to stores last Friday, but it appears that the product will get some upgraded versions very soon. The web site PreCentral.com reports they have received some internal HP slides that show off the new upgrades to the TouchPad. Also due out before the end of the year is the Pre3, the next version of the mobile phone that also has WebOS installed.
The report claims that in August, HP will launch a new TouchPad that will have three differences from the current 16 GB and 32 GB models. One is that the new TouchPad will be in white versus the current black TouchPads. The other, and much more important differences, are a larger hard drive (64 GB) and a new processor. The report claims to have heard rumors that the new chip will be a dual core Snapdragon model running at 1.5 Ghz.
Also due out in August is the AT&T version of the TouchPad, which will add a cellular wireless connection to the product (the current versions are WiFi only). The wireless connection will be for AT&T"s HSPA+ network, but not apparently for the company"s upcoming LTE based network. AT&T has said in the past that it plans to launch the network in select cities sometime this summer.
The reviews for the first two TouchPad models have been middle of the road but an HP VP recently sent a note to employees stating that the company is aware of some of its issues, particularly the WebOS user interface, and plans to release updates to solve those issues.