Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) on Wednesday released TouchPad, its first tablet computer.
The black device, with a 9.7 inch touch screen, runs webOS operating system, a mobile platform developed by Palm, a smartphone maker acquired by HP last April.


Palm chief executive officer Jon Rubinstein introduced the new tablet at a media event held in San Francisco.


The tablet version of webOS adds features such as system notifications that drop down unobtrusively from the top of the screen, a stackable "deck" of multitasking applications, a resizable on-screen QWERTY keypad, and a new "touch-to-share" feature that enable users to quickly share Web pages with nearby webOS smartphones.


The 740-grams, 13.7-mm thick TouchPad boasts a 1.2 GHz dual- core Qualcomm "Snapdragon" processor, optional embedded 3G networking, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 16GB or 32GB of storage.


It also includes a front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling, enhanced audio through "Beats Audio" system, motion sensors and a microUSB port.


TouchPad will go on sale this summer, but the price details are not released yet.


On April 28, 2010, HP announced that it had agreed to buy Palm for 1.2 billion U.S. dollars. The Palm unit under HP is responsible for webOS software development and webOS-based hardware products, from smartphones to tablet computers.


VietNamNet/Xinhuanet