Flooded with a deluge of tips about the HP Zeen anytime aback we acquaint those aboriginal FCC images of the book accessory this morning, and it's absolutely a little hasty at how altogether aggregate aligns. We've now had assorted tipsters affirm that the Zeen is an e-reading-focused Android book with the different adeptness to affix anon to an HP printer and action as its interface after the charge for a computer. But that's not all -- here's aggregate abroad we know:
The Zeen is a capacitive book active a HP bark on top of Android 2.1 -- it won't get confused to webOS, and it's not bright if it'll get upped to Froyo afore barrage accustomed the development time required. It has capacitive blow buttons, a SD agenda slot, video support, and at atomic some prototypes accept cameras with a appropriate webcam app installed.
The ambition is for the HP home awning and bark to be the alone home awning available, but that hasn't been absolutely implemented yet.
E-reading is a above focus, and the Zeen has "significant" affiliation with the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore and ecosystem. Makes sense, as the Nook itself is based on Android, and actuality able to book e-books from the Zeen would be a huge differentiator -- and a abundant way for HP to advertise added ink.
The Zeen will appear in two configurations: a $399 array with a new printer alleged Zeus and as a standalone assemblage for an alien price. The Zeus has its own "basic" ascendancy setup, but aback the Zeen is docked it provides a affluent interface to the press functions -- apparently a web-connected interface like the one HP's been affective appear with added printers.
Despite the CQ archetypal number, the Zeen is a beeline HP product, with a laser-etched logo on the back.
So that's what we apperceive about this ambiguous product. It absolutely adds up -- HP has continued said one of the affidavit it bought Palm was to use webOS as a constant interface to added affiliated accessories like printers, and it alone makes faculty that the aggregation was alive on active that action with an OS like Android continued afore Jon Rubinstein and aggregation abutting the team. Besides, how bigger to advertise added ink than by authoritative it accessible for consumers to hit Facebook and book pictures after accepting to use a computer at all? It's absolutely absorbing -- we're cat-and-mouse patiently to see aback and area the Zeen abutting appears.
