HP reveals iPad-sized webOS TouchPad tablet running Polarbit's Armageddon Squadron 2

The tablet explosion is how well underway with HP - which bought smartphone maker Palm last year - the latest computer maker to reveal its wares.

It's just announced a range called the HP TouchPad.

The first example is an iPad-sized 9.7-inch 1024x768 touchscreen device, weighing 730 grammes, and 13 mm thick.

Running a dual-core Snapdragon processor rated at 1.2 GHz and including a Adreno 220 GPU, the TouchPad has a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, a 1.3 MP camera for video calls, comes with wi-fi and Bluetooth, and in 16 GB or 32 GB options.

Games weren't a particular focus during the press conference, but HP did demo one. Swedish developer Polarbit has been supporting webOS for some time, and it's been working on a version of its Armageddon Squadron 2 combat flight sim for the tablet.

Of course, the TouchPad also supports Flash - something iPad doesn't - so there will no doubt be plenty of opportunities for Flash web games, and HP said there would be support from magazine publishers. Amazon has already announced a version of the Kindle software.

Price wasn't revealed but the TouchPad should be available sometime in the summer.

You can check out more details at HP's website.

In addition, HP announced two new webOS smartphones.

The first to be announced was the HP Veer, which is a tiny 2.6-inch slider/touchscreen device, with a QWERTY keyboard and 5 MP camera. It runs a Snapdragon processor and will be available in the spring.

The other smartphone announced was the Pre 3. It uses the same physical slider/touchscreen form factor as the Veer and the previous Palm Pre range,.

With a 3.6-inch 480x800 WVGA screen, it has the largest QWERTY keyboard of a Palm device. Running a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm processor, it has two cameras, with the rear-facing 5 MP camera shooting HD video. It will be available in the summer.