Computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Thursday announced the official release date for its WebOS-empowered tablet- the HP TouchPad.

The Palo Alto-based company said that the TouchPad will be available in the US stores starting July 1. Britain, Ireland, Germany and France will get the tablet a few days later, while people in Canada will be able to purchase the device by mid-July.

Other markets, including Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, Spain, Singapore and New Zealand, will not get the TouchPad until later this year.

The 1.6 pounds HP TouchPad features a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 resolution capacitive touchscreen, a dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon processor, a front-facing 1.3MP camera, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. In addition, the device has a gyro, accelerometer, compass, Flash support and Beats Audio technology.

The device also offers virtual keyboard, QuickOffice, Google Docs support, Dropbox, Box. net, and support for wireless printing.

The 16GB HP TouchPad will be available for $499.99, while the 32GB model will cost $599.99.