HP is entering the phablet-tablet race with two Android devices with voice calling. Incidentally, six-inch HP Slate6 VoiceTab and the seven-inch HP Slate7 Voice Tab have been designed in Asia and will be launched from India early next week.
Rajiv Srivastava, President, PPS, HP India said the India launch demonstrates their recognition of changing market preferences and commitment to India as a consumer market. “People have been consuming a variety of devices and we thought it was only right for us extend our portfolio to this segment as well.”
Srivastava said it would not be right to call the device a phone as it will be clearly smarter than any smartphone. “It will have the full productivity features of a tablet.” However, he is very clear that HP does not want to classify these as phablets. “Our view is that we will call it a voice tablet.”
The company said the 3G dual SIM devices will be full-feature tablets powered by a quad-core processor, “enabling users to multi-task at everything from email to web surfing to gaming to streaming”. The devices will have IPS panels and HD cameras.
“Our belief is that the six-inch device is small enough for people to carry around and make voice calls with. The screen sizes are right for apps and calling too,” he added.
The devices will be available in India next month.
