HP device appears in benchmark details with Android under the hood

In no time after we see HP’s CEO Meg Whitman talk to Fox Business about plans to re-enter the smartphone market, we see an HP smartphone appear in a GLBenchmark list of test results.

Codenamed Bender, the device is running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. It is also packing a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a screen resolution of 1366 x 720.

It is possible that HP is simply testing the platform for other applications, and this information is not enough to draw a complete conclusion. It may also be an indication that HP intends to join the Android platform and have that OS pick up where webOS was handed its hat and kicked to the curb. The latter seems more likely now that webOS is open-source and being spun off as a separate company called Gram.

HP has never enjoyed wide commercial success with its mobile handsets, although some have been capable devices during their era, such as the iPAQ 600  and iPAQ Glisten. Their half-hearted attempt to leverage the wonderful webOS platform was cut short before it even got off the ground. No doubt, there are some webOS purists that would be disappointed to learn that it looks like the breakup is forever.

What do you think?  Is there room in the market for another player?  Does HP have what it will take to compete in this segment?

source: Slashgear