HP today announced that it is re-entering the smartphone market and debuted two new devices that are headed to India. The HP Slate6 VoiceTab and HP Slate7 VoiceTab are large-screened phones that are meant to consolidate the smartphone and tablet experience into a single device. The Slate6 has a 6-inch 720p HD LCD screen and the Slate7 has a 7-inch 1280 x 800 LCD screen. Both offer quad-core processors, voice-calling capabilities, and user-facing stereo speakers. They each include a 2-megapixel user-facing camera and 5-megapixel main camera with flash and 720p HD video capture. The Slates include 16GB of built-in storage and support microSD cards up to 32GB for additional storage. The Slates are equipped with dual SIM card slots, and support 3G networks. They run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Pricing and availability were not immediately disclosed. HP has been in and out of the smartphone market over the years. A decade ago it sold Compaq-branded Windows Mobile smartphones. It eventually abandoned those and purchased Palm and webOS. It failed to develop new Palm and webOS devices, however, and eventually shuttered Palm and sold webOS to LG. HP hasn't said if it will offer smartphones to U.S. buyers.


More...