HP slate coming to counter the iPad big-time

The two video previews released by HP look awesome, and supports Flash

The iPad, as of now, is held as the standard of Tablets. But things might turn for better for folks who want a little more out of the internet – the upcoming HP Slate supports Flash full-time!

HP has released a promotional video that shows the Slate in action, and takes off where HP left in CES 2010. The USP of this gadget is what the iPad most crucially lacks – full Flash support. So you can play videos of YourTube and Hulu right out of your browser, and also will be able to play online Flash games. Not only that – the Slate runs Air also, which is a cross-platform application creating tool from Adobe. These two features have the potential to open up the Slate to a whole new world of rich browsing and application normally won’t be available on the iPad.

The Slate runs an Intel x86 processor and so can come with virtually any version of Windows OS, but I put my money on Windows 7. The videos show the very smooth touchscreen features of Windows 7 and supports multi-touch. Flipping through the pages look very natural, as well as the zooming in and out feature with the fingers. It can also be used as an eBook reader. In one of the videos, Adobe’s Adam Tam of Flash Platform team demonstrated Flash and Air in action, along with photo editing in Photoshop and reading the New York Times. Flash playback looked very smooth on MTv.com as well as on the New York Times, and I like the Photoshop.com experience too. Only the virtual keyboard looks really small and awkward, I just wish there is a keyboard spanning at least half of the screen.

The device has not been authorized yet by FCC, and once that is done, HP should be able to bring it to the market by later this year.