the Palm Pre 2 and Windows 7 tablets

HP on Tuesday introduced the Palm Pre 2 and its refreshed operating VGP-BPS8 Battery system webOS 2.0. Unlike Microsoft, which just had its Windows Phone 7 launch event last week, or Apple, who has a launch event for each new VGP-BPS8A Battery iPhone, HP has decided to go low-key with its Palm Pre 2 announcement, perhaps because the phone doesn’t look much different from its predecessor.

The Palm Pre 2 looks almost identical to the first Palm Pre, but this time around it will include the revamped webOS 2.0, a 1-GHz processor, VGP-BPS9 Battery and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and video recording. The phone has the same 320 x 480 HVGA screen VGP-BPS9/S Battery and 16GB of memory as the Palm Pre Plus. The Palm Pre 2 will first debut in France on Friday and then launch on Verizon Wireless in the U.S. VGP-BPS9/B Battery in “the coming months,” according to HP. Fans can sign up for more info about the Pre 2 at www.palm.com/pre2.

Unlike the incremental nature of the Palm Pre 2 hardware upgrade, webOS 2.0 looks like a major re-working of the OS. It will offer Adobe Flash VGP-BPS9A/B Battery content in the browser, enhanced multitasking with a new Stacks feature that groups open apps together, a better VGP-BPS13 Battery version of Just Type that makes it easier to start e-mails and texts, and Skype Mobile for Skype-to-Skype calls.

We’re disappointed that the Palm Pre 2 doesn’t look VGP-BPS13A/B Battery like a major upgrade, especially when compared to the latest offerings from the iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7 platforms, but we do like the power of webOS and can’t wait to try 2.0. We’ll just have to keep waiting for our dream Palm phone—a VGP-BPS2 Battery Pre HD running webOS 2.0 with a bigger, high-resolution screen, an 8-megapixel camera with high-def recording, and an enhanced VGP-BPS2A Battery keyboard

Windows 7 tablets have been a troubled bunch from the VGP-BPS2B Battery Archos 9 PCTablet to the Netbook Navigator Nav 9. Now, TegaTech’s new Windows 7-powered Tega V2 slate has come into the fray with another lackluster performance according to GottaBeMobile‘s Warner VGP-BPS2C Battery Crocker.

The Tega V2 sounds like a great tablet on paper. It’s got a 1.66GHz processor, VGP-BPS13A/S Battery up to 2GB of RAM, an SSD drive of 16GB to 64GB, and 200MHz GPU with 1080p video support. The tablet also features a webcam VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery (0.3mp or 1.3mp), two USB ports, mini VGA, micro SD slot, an audio jack for headphones and a microphone.

Although the Tega V2′s main OS is Windows 7, it also dual boots Android 1.6, just like the ViewSonic ViewPad 10. TegaTech promises VGP-BPS13A/B Battery that the tablet will also be able to run later versions of Android 2.1 and 2.2. The Tega V2 is VGP-BPS13/B Battery pricey: $799.

Crocker found that using Windows 7 as the tablet’s OS proved to be too taxing. The tablet faltered VGP-BPS13B/B Battery in basic tasks like screen rotation and there was “tearing of the image when the screen re-lights up.” He also VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery thought the user experience could have been better; he was disappointed to find that the finicky capacitive touchscreen would work with only certain styluses and also side buttons that could be easily pressed accidentally, sending the tablet to sleep. Read the whole VGP-BPS13/Q Battery review here.