Microsoft said yesterday when it announced its Lumias and Surfaces that many of its partners would be releasing fresh Windows 10 devices of their own. First up is HP, which has a pair of interesting tablets: the Spectre X2 and the Envy-Note.
The Spectre X2 is a convertible tablet with a kickstand and a backlit keyboard. If that sounds like the Surface Pro 4, that's because the two seem to share a lot of DNA. Like the base model of Microsoft's tablet, the Spectre X2 is powered by a Skylake-based Core M processor fed by 4GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage.
The 12" 1080p IPS display is compatible with HP's smart pen for drawing or taking notes on the screen. For taking pictures, the Spectre X2 is equipped with an eight-megapixel RealSense camera.
The kickstand seems interesting—rather than being a full fold-out panel like the Surface Pro, the Spectre X2's kickstand is just an open metal frame. HP says the stand folds out 150 degrees and that it can hold its position at any angle. Unlike Microsoft's tablet, the Spectre X2 ships with the keyboard dock. The HP is cheaper, too—it'll start at $799 when it starts shipping in November.
Also on the menu today is the Envy-Note, an 8" tablet powered by Intel's Atom X5-Z8300 and equipped with 32GB of storage. HP hasn't skimped on the screen just because it's small—the 1080p display uses an IPS panel. The tablet also has a five-megapixel rear camera and a two-megapixel selfie shooter.
The most distinctive part of the Envy-Note isn't the tablet at all—it's the optional 10" keyboard dock. The dock can hold the tablet in either portrait or landscape mode, and serves as a travel case when the tablet isn't in use. When the Envy-Note starts shipping November 8, it'll come alone for $329 or with the dock and a pen for $429.
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Ben Funk
