HP ’s TouchPad . I spent half an hour in a meeting , using HP ’s new TouchPad tablet , before someone realise I was n’t using an iPad . That says a lot about this product — due to be released Friday — and not just in superficial manner .
Physically , yes , the TouchPad is the most iPad - like tablet I ’ve seen . Like the iPad , it ’s a $ 499 10 - in tablet with a 4:3 panorama ratio . There ’s even a unmarried hardware button on the front ( it ’s a rounded rectangle , not a circle ) , a front - facing television camera , and a sopor / wake clit at the top . It ’s notquitean iPad 2 , though : the TouchPad is thicker , and heavier . But at a glimpse most mass would n’t be capable to tell them aside . Where the iPad has a metal back , the TouchPad is arc black charge plate . There ’s a mini - USB port wine instead of a dock connector . There are stereophonic verbaliser rather of a unmarried mono speaker , and there ’s no rear - facing camera .
HP’s playing Apple’s game
The TouchPad ’s physical show is n’t the only grounds that HP is playing a different game from most tablet competitors . HP ’s acquisition of Palma yr ago give the company accomplished control over a mobile program . Like Apple , HP controls the hardware design , the software design , and the app - development platform . While most other competitors craft hardware ( and sometimes computer software add - ons ) to house Google ’s Android operating system , HP has the same level of control over its product as Apple and RIM .
The mere quotation of those two companionship indicate you the different directions in which this sort of story can head . There ’s no telling where HP ’s going , but I have to say that I ’m affirmative . The TouchPad is a first - generation gimmick that ’s clearly behind the iPad in a bit of areas , but it ’s run a thoughtfully designed operating organisation ( webOS ) that has a lot of potential , both on smartphones and tab . I do n’t know if the TouchPad will take the universe by storm — after all , no other non - Apple tab has to this power point . But I ’m not sure that the TouchPad need to do all that . If it can just give HP and webOS some momentum , it has the potential to finally be the iPad ’s most serious rival to date .
What’s good about the TouchPad
From the beginning , many percipient of smartphones have considered webOS to be a promising operating organisation hamstrung by modified phone hardware . With the TouchPad , webOS gets a chance to shine — and a raft of it is up to the challenge .
In world-wide , I wish the webOS user interface . It ’s interchangeable to Io and Android , yes , but it has some personality of its own . It ’s a refined design , and it ’s easy to use — my daughter figured it out in about a minute , if that .
I ’m also intrigued by the fact that most webOS apps can be built using the standard entanglement engineering of HTML and JavaScript , stand for that HP wo n’t have to win over mass to get a line an intact new development plan of attack in decree to construct webOS apps . Still , the HP App Catalog store is n’t on the button full of apps ( there will be more than 300 tablet - optimized apps available at launch , according to HP ) , and the size of Apple ’s App Store gives it a major vantage over tab competitors such as the TouchPad .
HP’s TouchPad.
One clever thing HP is trying : It ’s create a digital magazine publisher , Pivot , and embedded it inside the HP App Catalog app . Think of an air hose powder magazine alone about webOS apps , and you ’ve got the theme . It ’s an away - the - box approach to encourage app find , and while I have no approximation if it ’ll work , it ’s sure worth a try by an upstart weapons platform looking for a fashion to show off its apps .
This is the first webOS twist to rely on a software program keyboard , and that on - screen keyboard is a good one . It ’s evocative of the iPad ’s , but with an extra dustup at top for act , so there ’s generally less need to press changer key fruit to keep typing . The height of the keyboard is user - adjustable , so if you ’re particularly practiced you may recoil down the keyboard and make headway more screen real acres . I do n’t think HP ’s got its autocorrect system working quite right , because I had to make a lot of corrections as I typed , but in general , I was further by the software keyboard . It would sure enough be nice to see a webOS smartphone without a slide - out hardware keyboard sometime before long . ( There ’s also an optional Bluetooth keyboard for the TouchPad that is , like all of HP ’s accessories , an telling , hearty part of ironware . )
webOS ’s Synergy feature , which stitches together data from disparate sources into your address script ( and really , throughout the intact operating arrangement ) is an musical theme that I wish Apple would appropriate . Apple made a big bargain at this month ’s Worldwide Developers Conference about Twitter being integrate into iOS 5 , but just about every service you may imagine of — AIM , Skype , Google Calendar , MobileMe , Facebook , Twitter , MySpace — is uncommitted in webOS , and developers of other services can add support via plug - IN . Then the system , as well as other apps , can use that information .
One of the accessories you could corrupt for a TouchPad is the Touchstone Charging Dock , which wirelessly institutionalise the TouchPad when it ’s put in the cradle . It ’s a nerveless and solid bit of computer hardware , but the software integration makes it even cooler . Once the TouchPad realize it ’s docked , it immediately found into “ Exhibition Mode . ” Any developer can spell apps that lick in this mode , which passively contrive information — clock , photos , calendar , Twitter stream , you name it — onto the gadget ’s silver screen while it ’s dock . Once you remove the TouchPad from the dock , the apps fell . And if you have one charge Dock at work and another at home , the machine knows they ’re different and can be configured to run different Exhibition apps in either situation .
relate to Touchstone are two other clever propinquity - based technologies build into HP ’s webOS devices . To pair the TouchPad with a webOS Phone , you may actually just lay the sound down on the bottom of the TouchPad next to the menage button . At least , that ’s how it ’s supposed to work — I had to do the Bluetooth pairing manually . There ’s also a “ touch to partake in ” feature that lets you quickly channelise data ( such as a internet page URL ) from one gimmick to the other via a tap , but I could n’t get that to work out either . Oh well .
I peculiarly appreciate webOS ’s app - switch port . Tap the hardware clitoris ( or run a finger from off concealment to on ) and the app you ’re using pulls back , becoming one card in a strip of cards arranged horizontally . Each circuit board represents a move app ( or a set of related app windows ) , and you may pinch backward and forrader to pick which app you desire to use . thumb a card upward causes it to fly off the screen , quit the app .
HPPlay for Mac syncs iTunes music (but not Smart Playlists) with the TouchPad.
It ’s a far more visceral organisation than Apple ’s , which requires a doubled - tap to invoke an image - only app whipper , and to drop out an app you have to exploit and hold , then press an X. ( I ’ll give you , Apple ’s approach to app closure is to make it for emergency use only , while webOS boost the substance abuser to open up and unaired apps directly . When a lot of apps were open on the TouchPad , matter could get poky , but like iOS , webOS is not unsure about put apps into a hibernation state when it ’s run short of memory . )
Game performance on the TouchPad seemed solid . I play a few games of that honest-to-god classic Angry Birds and was impressed with the super smooth animation and high-pitched flesh rates . Clearly the TouchPad computer hardware is capable of superior execution , when the veracious software is set to the task .
TouchPad odds and ends
The TouchPad comes with built - in media playing apps , but my limited review social unit did n’t admit any way to grease one’s palms medicine or corrupt or pull videos . This is one of the strongest parts of the iOS story , and a lieu where all other tab vendor are struggling to catch up . HP says that there will be an HP MovieStore app ( powered by RoxioNow and uncommitted in the U.S. only ) uncommitted on the twist “ shortly after launch , ” and that a third - political party music leverage service ( Amazon MP3 , perhaps ? ) will be available when the product launch . I was able to play music fromAmazon Cloud Playerin the TouchPad web web internet browser , and well out euphony from Pandora . ( The TouchPad ’s stereo speakers are definitely a cut above the iPad ’s , though I would n’t exactly use a TouchPad to provide euphony at a party . )
HPPlay for Mac syncs iTunes medicine ( but not Smart Playlists ) with the TouchPad . The good news program for Mac user : HP has build its own Mac app , HPplay , that will automatically synchronise your iTunes library to a TouchPad . ( It also model as a media player in its own right wing , but severely , do n’t even bother . ) I tried a beta version of the app and it worked , though it does n’t defend sync Smart Playlists .
Then there ’s Flash . Yes , the TouchPad come with Adobe Flash make in . you’re able to adjust Flash to load automatically in the internet browser , or load when you tap . I do n’t really have much to cover about Flash on the TouchPad that you have n’t read somewhere else in the context of an Android tablet : the execution is n’t very telling . When I connected to MLB.com ’s Flash - based television stream of a alive baseball game , the TouchPad carry off to trifle about four frames per minute , and it was unmanageable to get it to respond to my touches to break the flow . I seek to fiddle the Flash - based Lexulous game on Facebook , but was altogether ineffectual to move my tiles onto the board . A visit to ESPN.com load a Flash ad that play so slowly that it basically locked up the web web browser . So : I can sustain that Flash run on the TouchPad , but I ca n’t confirm that it runs well .
I did n’t have clock time to run comprehensive assault and battery test on the TouchPad , but it seems to have a honest barrage . It ’s not as long - experience as the iPad , so far as I can say , but neither is it going to die out after a duad of hours . HP claims eight hour of video - playback life with Wi - Fi turn off .
What’s bad about the TouchPad
The TouchPad ’s specs are state of the art , the right way down to the double - core Snapdragon processor that power it . Yet at times I found the TouchPad puzzlingly slow . ( I had the same complaint when I used the dual - coreMotorola Xoom Android pad of paper , to be fair . ) Sometimes I think one of the most important achievement of Apple ’s iOS development squad is completely overlooked by most reviewers : the fact that on iOS devices , when you move your finger , the on - screen objects under your finger move along with it . No lag , no judder of dropped frames , just a vestal illusion that you ’re physically rig an object . Almost every metre I have tried a new Android headphone or pad — and when I examine the TouchPad — I am surprised to find that the interface just is n’t as responsive as Apple ’s .
The TouchPad often seemed quite boring at launching new apps , allow for me staring at a pulsating , glow icon . When a heap of apps were run , everything could get specially laggy . Occasionally , everything would stop dead for a few second and then resume . The TouchPad also seemed to get baffled about its orientation regularly — every meter I position it down flat on a tabular array , it require to turn over into portraiture mode . More than once I experience in a state of affairs that would have been comedic if it were n’t so frustrating : I ’d be hold the TouchPad in landscape modal value , but its port would stay in portrait . When I turn the TouchPad back to portrait , it would rotate to landscape . A few time , the apps within the multitasking interface appeared splay correctly , but the overall UI was spread out incorrectly . do it to say , there are some bugs impress public presentation and usability .
I liked the fact that Skype and IM services were both incorporate at once with TouchPad ; however , that integration had some eldritch side effect . My TouchPad observe me logged in to IM even as I slept , and one night when I draw a blank to tone down the TouchPad ’s intensity , a atomic number 27 - worker on the East Coast sent me an IM ( “ Are you awake this ahead of time ? ” ) , thereby inflame me up . As for Skype , calls I made using it seemed to be oddly quiet and muffled , and I was ineffective to video chat with anyone who ’s still on thegood versionof Skype rather than the less - upright Skype 5 . Almost every Skype user I know has opted not to elevate to Skype 5 , so that was a bummer .
I tested a beta version of an Amazon Kindle app for TouchPad , and was surprised at the notched quality of the book text edition , which was present in both of the useable display fonts . The text is much crisper on the iPad variation of the Kindle app . textbook in the World Wide Web internet browser was better , though still not as readable as I ’d like , and I found the internet browser particularly slow when I prove to scroll many unlike pages . The browser app also displayed the Macworld.com home base Sir Frederick Handley Page incorrectly , something I ’ve never seen on any other browser app , mobile or desktop , on any weapons platform .
The TouchPad Es - mail app is reminiscent of the iPad ’s Mail app , and it ’s well designed . But it , too , could be slow and sometimes e - mail messages just would n’t expose when I tapped on them .
Though HP is kind enough to provide an app , called Quickoffice , that lets you browse rough-cut office papers types and even debase them from services such as Google Docs , I found the app a dashing hopes . It often fail to associate to my Google Docs and Dropbox accounts , and when it did connect , I found that it frequently did not display the document reliably . One Google Document full of textbook was cut to a single melody . ( HP acknowledged that there are issue with Quickoffice and Google Docs and that the caller is working on a fixing , with plans to add editing for Word and Excel files by mid - summertime . ) On the burnished side , Google Docs loaded just okay in the TouchPad ’s web internet browser , and I was able to view and even edit document from there .
Rooting interest
I have to hold , I ’m kind of rooting for HP , the TouchPad , and the webOS . Apple necessitate strong competitors in the pad market place to help campaign thing forrader , and I retrieve companies with control of both computer hardware and software are more potential to produce high - tone mathematical product . For years I ’ve wondered why nobody was taste to retroflex some of Apple ’s production - innovation succeeder , and that ’s exactly what HP is doing with its webOS strategy .
That said , the TouchPad is intelligibly a first effort . I do n’t really have any complaints about the ironware . It ’s bulky than the iPad 2 but not unpleasantly so , and I think Apple ’s proven the charm of a pad of paper with a 10 - inch screen and a 4:3 view proportion . HP ’s accessory are solidly built , its Touchstone wireless - charge engineering is clever , and even the production promotional material is elegant .
HP has gotten a lot right here , but on the software system side , it ’s just not all there yet . The interface is n’t antiphonal enough , app introduction is tedious , and there are too many other quirks that scream that this is a 1.0 vent of a tablet operating system . ( Even HP seems to acknowledge this : The company aver it is already set an over - the - atmosphere update to webOS that will fix bug and meliorate performance . ) Some aspects of what HP is doing with the webOS are really interesting , include the Synergy feature that brings all online - service data point together into a unified interface and the higher-ranking app - switch interface .
Is there any reason for a prospective iPad drug user to buy a TouchPad today ? I ca n’t see it . In a head - to - head comparison with the original iPad on launch day , the TouchPad might pull ahead out due to its two-fold - core processor and multitasking support . But today ’s iPad 2 has both , along with tens of thousands of tablet - optimized apps and almost none of the quirks that the TouchPad presently exhibit .
So what I ’m allege is , I ’m happy that HP last shipped the TouchPad . If it can get developers engaged in its platform and iron out all the hemipteran while also growing webOS as a smartphone operating system , it might really have something here . But that ’s a story about the hereafter , and about potential drop . For now , the TouchPad is just another iPad contender that ca n’t value up .
