Coder claims logs show WebOS netbook in pipe

One WebOS developer has claimed to have found proof that HP is working on a WebOS-based tablet.

Coder Thomas Perraudin says he found the following in his developer logs:

{"ModelName" "(Device)", "modelNameAscii": "Device" "platformVersion": "Nova Dartfish," platformVersionMajor ": -1," platformVersionMinor ": -1," platformVersionDot ": -1, "carrierName": "Unknown", "serialNumber": "5CLED10930", "screenwidth" 1024, "screenheight" 768, "minimumCardWidth" 1024, "minimumCardHeight" 318, "maximumCardWidth" 1024, "maximumCardHeight" 740, "touchableRows": 14, "keyboardAvailable": true, "keyboardSlider": false, "KEYBOARDTYPE": "", "wifiAvailable": true, "bluetoothAvailable": true, "carrierAvailable": false, "coreNaviButton": false "swappableBattery": false, "dockModeEnabled": true}

He's been seeing the reference since 14 April, he said in a French-language Palm Pre forum, but has only now decided to post the snippet.

Bottom line: the code seemingly reveals a WebOS device with a 1024 x 600 display and a physical keyboard - a spit for a netbook.

Perraudin also found a reference to a touchscreen-only WebOS 3.0 smartphone:

{"ModelName" "(Device)", "modelNameAscii": "Device" "platformVersion": "3.0.0", "platformVersionMajor": 3, "platformVersionMinor": 0, "platformVersionDot": 0, "carrierName" "ATT", "serialNumber": "5CLFE40217", "screenwidth" 320, "screenheight" 480, "minimumCardWidth" 320, "minimumCardHeight" 30, "maximumCardWidth" 320, "maximumCardHeight" 452, " touchableRows ": 8," keyboardAvailable ": false," keyboardSlider ": false," KEYBOARDTYPE ":" Unknown "," wifiAvailable ": true," bluetoothAvailable ": true," carrierAvailable ": true," coreNaviButton ": false," swappableBattery ": false," dockModeEnabled ": true}

But that's no great surprise - we expect HP to be working on WebOS 3.0 with just such a form-factor.

HP has said in the past that WebOS won't go into netbooks, but that was a year ago, and a lot of water has flown under HP's bridge since then. It has since announced - but has yet to ship - WebOS tablets, and said it sees the operating system making it into PCs. Netbook PCs would be the obvious choice. ®