HP Dream Screen Glorified Digital Picture Frame?

Hewlett-Packard announced their new wireless tablet device yesterday. Surprising many and beating Apple's rumored iPad to market, the new DreamScreen, which HP is calling a "smart screen", is more of a streaming media entertainment center than tablet device. Although it does feature a small remote control, there is no browser, keyboard or touch-screen ability.

What the DreamScreen does do is stream digital media such as videos, music and pictures, either from the Internet, other computers in the home, or online radio channels. That puts the device closer to an internet-enabled flat screen TV than a tablet PC. Well, glorified digital picture frame, more like. OK, maybe that is a bit harsh and simplistic.

The slim flat screen device is available in two sizes, a 10.2 inch model on sale now for $249 and a 13.3 inch model to go on sale later this fall for $299. Both ship with 2 GB of built-in memory to store music, videos and digital photos. One feature that looks cool is the ability to get realtime Facebook updates simply by clicking an icon on the screen. In fact, this seems to be a major thrust of the product.

"Constant, always-on aceess to freinds, information and entertainment is a common expectation today," says Satjiv Chahil of HP Personal Systems Group. "With HP DreamScreen, social media, Web services and digital entertainment can be enjoyed in more areas of the home."

Just as the iPhone and other smart phones and morphing into all-in-one mobile devices, it could be that home smart screens become the at-home version. But it is more likely that the PC will retain that role for most.

OK, then, pluses of this as a digital picture frame? Well, it boots up quick, and you can listen to music through Pandora stations while you are looking at the pictures. You can use it as an alarm clock, again, using Pandora stations. The 10.2" screen is bigger than many other digital picture frames and since the Dreamscreen can store 2 GB worth of pictures, you'll have a lot of different ones to look at.

If you want more information about the HP Dream Screen, get details, customer comments and latest special price go to this page at Amazon.