HP Opal Coming This Summer?

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Do you remember the HP Opal? That was the rumored 7-inch webOS tablet that HP was said to be planning. We haven’t heard anything about the 7-inch tablet (which would compete against the Samsung Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry PlayBook amongst others) since it was first rumored earlier this year, but now, reports are coming out that HP could be planning to release the 7-inch monster in August.

The rumor in question comes from Taiwan Economic News, reporting that Inventec Corp, a Taiwanese manufacturer, has been contracted by HP to produce the 7-inch HP Opal. It’s been reported that the Opal’s screen resolution will be 1024×768 and should be similar in size and spec to the Samsung Galaxy Tab. You can expect the Opal to drop in August, according to this rumor.

The original HP Opal rumor was attached to the TouchPad rumor, so considering that device turned out to be real, that give the Opal rumor considerable credibility. As for if its name will be Opal when it launches, who knows.

HP made no bones about the fact that they bought Palm for webOS and they have plans to release all sorts of mobile devices from every size and genre running webOS. A 7-inch webOS somewhere down the line is an inevitability, so why not believe the HP Opal is the real deal?

The HP TouchPad, the world’s first webOS tablet, is coming on July 1^st, though it’ll be a 10-inch widescreen tablet in the same size as the Motorola Xoom and iPad. We like the 10-inch tablets here at TFTS, but (yes, Apple fans) the 7-inch tablets are a nice compromise between screen real estate and portability.