HP's Back In the Smartphone Game Serving Up Phablets in India

The phablet—a portmanteau of “phone” and “tablet” that describes a hybrid device with phone functionality that's closer to a tablet in size—has been received with some skepticism by parts of the mobile device market. This intermediary device has some advantages, and some drawbacks, but it's also proving to be the perfect vehicle for Hewlett-Packard to get back into smartphones...particularly in India. To that end, HP has a couple of phablets on tap that will make an appearance in India's markets by the end of this year.

HP's plan is to release two devices, one a six-inch and the other a slightly larger seven-inch version which go by the rather reasonable names of the Slate 6 and the Slate 7 VoiceTab. Both devices are geared to run the Android operating system, and are set to arrive this February, though prices on the devices are as yet unknown. The Slate 6 and Slate 7 VoiceTab are set to offer up a quad-core processor of as yet undetermined make (current thinking is leaning toward MediaTek, Nvidia or Qualcomm, with Intel as an outside possibility), backed up by 16 gigabytes of onboard storage and support for MicroSD cards of up to 32 gigabytes. The IPS display will be slightly lower resolution on the Slate 6, with 1280 by 720 pixels, while the Slate 7 will boast 1280 by 800. Both, meanwhile, will have stereo speakers, a two megapixel front-facing camera for video conferencing and the like, and a five megapixel rear camera, complete with flash, for photo and exterior video. Perhaps the biggest draw here, though, are the devices' dimensions. The Slate 7 is just 9.5 millimeters thick, while the Slate 6 is thinner still at just under nine millimeters.

This isn't HP's first foray into phones; the company has had a long and complex involvement with the devices going back as far as Carly Fiorina's era with the iPaq, by some reports. It continues on through the acquisition of Palm under Mark Hurd, and carried on until Leo Apotheker shut down webOS. But back in September, new CEO Meg Whitman was heard to note that “HP has to do a smartphone,” and this appears to be the device that will carry HP back into the smartphone arena.

Some might wonder what's driving the move to start things off in India, but looking at the markets involved makes quite a bit of sense for HP.  Mobile devices are preferred in India, and the overall market for smartphones there is growing. That doesn't rule out future expansion to other markets like Europe, North America, and the remainder of Asia, but HP is instead looking to get its proverbial feet wet in the Indian market first. With some reports suggesting that more users in India are looking for long-form video format—complete television show episodes and even movies—a slightly larger device like a phablet might be particularly useful, and welcomed by users who want to watch full episodes and movies.

Only time will tell just how well HP's return to the smartphone market goes, but there's quite a bit of possibility here. The phablet market in general seems to have room to grow, perhaps more than some might expect. There's room for this to be huge, but there's also room for disaster, so HP starting small in a test bed like India may well prove if its phablets are viable, or could stand some retooling.