Tablet war heats up: HP Slate details leaked, Windows Phone 7 Series slate

Spanish technology blog Clipset.net is claiming to have tested HP's iPad competitor, the HP Slate, revealing that it is set to be launched in June and will be priced at approximately €400.

The device, which shares many characteristics with the iPad is said to be in a price bracket that is just above netbooks and may end up being less than the iPad's $499 (€368) entry level price (taking into account that Apple rarely follows straight currency conversions when pricing its products outside of the US).

Clipset writes that the HP tablet should arrive in Europe before September.

Clipset also mentions that the Windows 7-powered device has an integrated camera on the back, a USB port, a memory card reader and will also support Adobe Flash.

Apple's iPad is set to start shipping in the USA on April 3. WiFi and 3G versions of the device are also expected to become available in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland in late April, with iPads going on sale in additional countries later during the year.

A German company by the name of Neofonie announced they were releasing a slate in direct competition with Apple's iPad, even going as far as to name their creation the WePad. The tablet actually looks quite impressive with an 11.6 inch display, a 1,66 GHz Intel Atom processor, a 1.3MP webcam, 2 USB ports, a card reader, support for both Flash and Adobe AIR, apps available through both the Android Market and a WePad AppStore, and multitasking support.

Neofonie says the tablet will be sold at a price that undercuts Apple's iPad and the device is also set to be available before Apple's April 3 shipping date.

Meanwhile, a London-based designer by the name of Umang Dokey has come up with a concept prototype for a tablet based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series. The 3D model comes with an inbuilt stand that converts into a physical keyboard as it rotates around to the front of the device.

Photos and a video of the Windows Phone 7 Series slate concept can be seen here:  http://umangdokey.com/documents/tabletconcept.html

Additional photos of HP's slate and further details about the device (in Spanish) can be found here: http://www.clipset.net/hp-slate-primer-contacto/

Information about Neofonie's WePad can be found on their Facebook page (mostly in German): http://www.facebook.com/WePad