HP’s TouchPad Go gets pictured, torn down in FCC filing
HP’s TouchPad Go was a 7-inch version of the company’s TouchPad tablet. The Go was expected to be released in late 2011 and even won FCC approval in October 2011. However, by that time HP had already announced plans to discontinue the production of webOS tablets and the TouchPad Go was never released to the public.
But HP’s FCC filing for the TouchPad Go was never pulled and today a host of internal and external photos of the device, as well as its user manual was released. Photos of the TouchPad Go’s mainboard show a what appears to be a Qualcomm APQ8060 1.2GHz dual core processor, Samsung SDRAM, SanDisk Flash memory and a host of other chips that are too blurry to recognize. Also visible is a WLAN card from AzureWave that features a Broadcom transceiver. External images of the TouchPad Go show the device’s rear-facing 5MP camera and 1.3MP front facing camera. You can also see the TouchPad Go’s home button that also functions as a notification indicator.
HP’s FCC internal and external photos of the TouchPad Go are likely some of the last images of the device that we’ll see. At this point it does not appear that HP will ever release the device for sale, even in limited firesale quantities.
FCC filings show new life for HP’s TouchPad Go
When HP killed off the TouchPad in August, it looked like the company’s upcoming TouchPad Go would never make its way to store shelves. But an FCC filing by HP today suggests that the TouchPad Go may not be completely dead after all. The filing, which you can see here, refers to the HSTNH-I31C, the model number for the TouchPad Go, and requests approval for the device’s Bluetooth and dual-band Wireless-N capabilities. And interestingly, according to FCC documents, HP’s TouchPad Go filing were submitted to the FCC today.
So why would HP request FCC approval for a device that is already dead? What’s even more confusing is a different version of the TouchPad Go already hit the FCC back in August. Why would HP need approval for a second TouchPad Go model when the device was killed off almost three months ago?
It’s possible that although the TouchPad Go was never released, HP has some inventory that it needs to get rid of and the company needs FCC approval to sell these units. Another explanation is that new HP CEO Meg Whitman has resuscitated the TouchPad and webOS…although this seems less likely. Finally, it’s possible that HP already had this FCC filing in its FCC filing queue, and no one bothered to take it out.
Images of the TouchPad Go have already leaked on the Internet, and the device’s 7-inch form factor seems decently attractive. We definitely wouldn’t mind picking up one of these, particularly if HP starts to dump them for $99 like it did with the 10-inch Touchpad. Hopefully HP will clear things up soon.
