HP is introducing a new line of tablet computers. It’s a souped-up netbook, basically, and it looks good.
The new HP DreamScreen is a tablet with a remote control that can used throughout the house to stream content from your home network, removable storage cards, or internal storage.
The DreamScreen will come in two size. One model will have a 10.2 inch display and sell for around $249, while a larger version will have a 13.3 inch display and $299 price tag.
Both models will include WiFi, Ethernet, 2GB of built in storage and a media card reader. They feature software for watching videos and visiting web destinations including Pandora, Snapfish, and Facebook. There’s also a new HP SmartRadio feature that lets you connect to about 15,000 internet radio stations from across the globe. They can be sorted by genre or location.
While the DreamScreen 100 has a 10.2 inch display and the DreamScreen 130 has a 13.3 inch screen, both models have 800 x 480 pixel display resolutions, which seems a bit low to me. Both devices also include Ethernet, 8021.11b/g WiFi, and support for MPEG 1,2, 4, and H.264 video as well as JPG, PNG, and BMP images and MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV audio. They can handle a number of flash card formats including CF, SDHC, Memory Stick, and xD.