Report: HP to introduce a $200 phablet-sized smartphone as soon as next week

Next week, we could see a new smartphone from one of the oldest names in technology. Sources inside HP have opened up to 9to5 Google and told them that as soon as next week, the Palo Alto based tech giant will be introducing a handset similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, for $200 unsubsidized. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 unsubsidized is close to $700.

HP plans on targeting the pre-paid and emerging markets with its device. While the phone might resemble the Galaxy Note 3, HP had to do quite a bit of cost-cutting to get the price down to $200. Last summer, talking about the smartphone market, HP senior director Yam Su Yin said that "HP has to be in the game." Ironically, the director said that the key to success is to offer a phone that is unique.

The last time we saw HP's name on a smartphone was when it had a limited European launch of the HP Pre 3. The phone was scheduled to be launched in the U.S., but was canceled and inventory ended up on eBay. HP had picked up the Pre, the Pixi and webOS when it purchased Palm in 2010.

In December, we passed along speculation that HP was going to release a 6 inch and 7 inch device for emerging markets, but we had these pegged as voice capable tablets. Just last week, we pointed out that HP had listed a device called the HP Slate 6 Voice Tab on the Bluetooth SIG. But at the time, this too was being thought of as a tablet with voice capabilities. Now, it seems that this is actually a phablet. The device also showed up at the GFX benchmark site in November.

Based on that visit, we expect HP's new phone to offer a 720 x 1280 resolution on its screen, a quad-core 1GHz Marvell processor under the hood, and Android 4.2.2. pre-installed. As far as the screen size is concerned, the possible name of the device, the HP Slate 6 Voice Tab suggests that HP's new phone will carry a 6 inch panel.

source: 9to5Google via AndroidAuthority