A video purporting to be a review of the upcoming HP Slate hit YouTube this week, with an unidentified man showing off a prototype version of the tablet.
"I have one here in my hands," says the man, who is known as x313xkillazx on YouTube. "It's not actually out yet … but I have my hands on one early."
The back of the slate includes a sticker that says "Property of HP – Prototype – Not for Sale."
He then walks through a demo of the device. It includes the HP logo on the back, which also features a rubbery, plastic texture and a 3-megapixel camera. The right side features an SD card slot and a "keyboard button" for the on-screen keyboard. On the top, there is a volume button, a USB port, a "control-alt-delete" key, and a home key. On the other side, there is a power and lock button, headphone jack, and logo stickers that show it is running Windows 7 and using an Intel chip. The bottom includes 2 speakers and a power button in the middle. There is also a front-facing camera.
He boots up the device, which comes to a Windows home screen in several seconds. He then launches the Internet browser. It comes up pretty quickly, but scrolling appears to be slightly wonky, sometimes directing him to another Web site rather than scrolling down. To type, he hits the keyboard button on the left, which brings up a touch-screen keyboard on the screen.
The video has garnered more than 300 comments, some of which doubt the authenticity of the tablet. An HP spokesman said in an e-mail that the company "has a policy of not commenting on unannounced products."
Other commenters were skeptical about the "control-alt-delete" button, but some people pointed out that this would be useful for enterprise users who need it to log-on to their networks.
The reviewer does not have any other videos on YouTube; he was been a member since November 2007. In the only reply to the various comments on his post, x313xkillazx insists that "this is the real deal."
"I have the nice box it came in too with specs on back. Yes it has a pen. I will make another video soon of all things people want to see as soon as more people post. Thanks for watchin!" he writes.
He did not provide details on how he obtained the device.
The HP Slate was first unveiled during the Microsoft keynote at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
In April, some leaked specs said the device would be priced between $549-$599, and that it would include a 1,024-by-600 capacitative touch panel, hiding an accelerometer and a light sensor. Inside was an Intel 1.6-GHz Intel "Menlow" Atom processor, 1 Gbyte of RAM and either 32- or 64Gbytes of Flash memory to be used as memory and storage, respectively.
After some rumors that the Slate was dead, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer insisted in July that it was still alive. The device later appeared on the HP Web site. On its August earnings call, HP executives said that a "Microsoft product" would appear in the "near future," with a "WebOS product in early 2011."