Computers keep getting smaller and smaller. That's no surprise as the trend towards smaller devices has been going on for years. However, Hewlett-Packard has now announced an even smaller device that might be questionable as to how useful it will be. This thing will display your family tree but I am not sure my aging eyes can see the information.
The new HP smartphone has a 2.8-inch display screen. That's smaller than a credit card. It will display 320×400 pixels, roughly the same as several other cell phones that are not full computers.
The 3.63 ounce cell phone/computer also includes:
- Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- 5 megapixel camera
- 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
- GPS receiver
- Bluetooth 2.1
- 910 mAh battery
- 8GB integrated memory (6.5 GB user accessible) with no memory expansion capability
It is 3.31 by 2.15 by 0.59 inches, about the size of a credit card although much thicker. Compare it to four credit cards stacked together.
I want to see this thing in operation, especially when it is running a genealogy application. The device will run HP's WebOS operating system. I doubt if any genealogy programs will run on it when the device is first released later this year. However, if it becomes popular, I suspect that genealogy applications will follow as third party programmers become interested in the operating system. Pricing is unannounced at this time.
