“H.P. has some nerve coming out with a tablet now — especially because the biggest distinguishing component is its operating system. It’s WebOS, a variation of the software that runs the Palm cellphones (the Pre, Pixi and so on) — but it’s new to tablets,” David Pogue reports for The New York Times.
“Which means, of course, that there aren’t many apps for it yet. How many is ‘not many?’ Well, 300,” Pogue reports. “(H.P. points out, however, that there are even fewer for Android tablets, even after several months: only 232.)”
MacDailyNews Take: Two wrongs do not make an iPad.
“Now, from a hardware-checklist perspective, the TouchPad doesn’t get off to a good start,” Pogue writes. “It’s the same size as the iPad, but it’s 40 percent thicker (.75 inches thick) and 20 percent heavier (1.6 pounds) — a bitter spec to swallow in a gadget you hold upright all day long.”
“It supposedly has a blazing-fast chip inside, but you wouldn’t know it,” Pogue writes. “When you rotate the screen, it takes the screen two seconds to match — an eternity in tablet time. Apps can take a long time to open; the built-in chat app, for example, takes seven seconds to appear. Animations are sometimes jerky, reactions to your finger swipes sometimes uncertain.”
Pogue reports, “WebOS also plays Flash videos on the Web, though sometimes jerkily. Android tablets can do that but, the iPad can’t. (‘We’re not afraid of the Web,’ cracks a TouchPad product manager.)”
MacDailyNews Take: You will be after you get done reading TouchPad reviews, moron.
Hey, you shoved Adobe’s antiquated Flash in there (even though your fake iPad can’t deal with it reliably), so where’s the floppy drive, Luddite?
Pogue reports, “In this 1.0 incarnation, the TouchPad doesn’t come close to being as complete or mature as the iPad or the best Android tablets; you’d be shortchanging yourself by buying one right now…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, people don’t want half-assed prototypes, they want iPads.
“In the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus.” – Eric Cador, HP Senior Vice President, Personal Systems Group – Europe, Middle East and Africa, May 23, 2011
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Another one bites the dust!
Which is why Bezos will never release the number of Kindles sold. Nor will amazon release a tablet. It will be vaporware to manage the stock price and prevent it from falling while some folks can maximize the amount they can make as they exercise their options (of course sales were all pre-determined by a schedule).
Right. The Kindle has to remain a lower-end, limited function tablet or it will get killed by the iPad.
Another number one plus bites the dust….
Just tried it out at Best Buy. Seems like a nice unit with lots of good features. Ipad works great too. I like the mini usb port so I can hook it up to the BB. I’ve always had good experiences with HP and it’s support staff over the years. I also like the “card” method of controling applications and the ability to “flick” the app away when it’s no longer needed.
I just sit here and keep chuckling. It’s amazing, really.
iPhone 4:Palm Pre as IPad:?
a) HP DoucheBag
b) any tablet not starting with an “i”
c) the answer is obvious to everybody but HP
d) all of the above
Because of the raging success of WebOS on the Palm Pre, HP wanted to duplicate the its success on a tablet? People are out of work and morons continue to run multi-billion dollar tech cos.? No justice.
Sorry, TouchPad got autocorrected to DoucheBag.
Smartest damn autocorrect substitution I’ve ever seen…
1
At the risk of offending a really good band, it sounds like the HP tablet is “bad plus.”
What happened to all the feminite hygiene jokes when referring to things called “pad”? Isn’t HP afraid of the media backlash?
“the iPad can’t.” more like the iPad won’t.
Yeah, I seem to recall even the wsj made a crack about the whole “pad” thing. Where has that gone?
Also, what about that big ugly belzel?
Those jokes left when the tools realized the iPad was a hit, not a miss
This is good for ipad 2 as there is basis for comparison ! The GOOD and the BAD !!!
The principle of contrast in favor of Apple …
Running Flash is barely a selling feature, but it’s definitely not if it can’t do it properly, in fact it just lessens the device across the board. I don’t understand why these other companies think that poor flash performance will somehow help them compete with Apple.
IF their devices were as good in terms of hardware, had similar apps, battery life, price etc, PLUS ran flash then yes it would be a bonus, but none of them do they just seem willing to sacrifice themselves for no reason at all.
CNN had a great review of WebOS & touchpad –
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/06/28/bst_hp_tablet_review.fortune/?source=cnn_bin&hpt=hp_bn3
I like the freudian slip in this clip –
“HP introduced its iPad.. I mean touchpad”…Copycats
MDN, thanks foR the unbiased review once again! You sure aren’t a 1 trick pony. Webos is a competitor to watch for especially because they are in talks regarding licensing out the os. Webos is actually a great os , better than android and would dilute the market even more. Apple needs to be careful in moving there attention away from the pro market and trying to be the biggest player ie: making cheaper iPhones etc….. Don’t compete with china or you’ll get squashed focus on the pro market and the people who want quality and can afford it…. But then again that would lower MDN’s viewing audience!
What kind of name is Steves? Conjoined twins?
If I could spell I wouldnt be his Butler……..
What in the world?!? Apple has no need to focus on the pro market. In fact, Apple’s strategy is EXACTLY opposite the pro market: sell great solutions to consumers (which, BTW, are far more potential sales than the pro market), but make products which can also be used in the pro market. Consumers like their iPhones, iPads, MacBook Airs, etc., and demand they be permitted to use them at work, etc.
Apple was never a pro market company and therefore can’t move away from that market.
BTW, concentrating on “pro” markets sure helped RIM, Adobe, etc. in the past few years, didn’t it?
what are you 4?? Years before you trend whores jump on apple pro focus did if fact exsist. Most graphic artists and video production houses ran Mac. Adobe did very well from these user and so did apple and the high prices. A few years from now apple will be exactly where they were 5 years ago selling iPods to 14 year olds and the pro market which you say never existed will be elsewhere. By watering down things like final cut the may happen sooner. You can’t be blamed when all you’ve seen is the rise don’t become a investment advisor with small breadth of insight.
this is the version 1.0 tablet, so we did not expect much from HP,
HP sell crapyware, did not understand why the company still around..
Your statement would be valid IF HP had released version 1.0 before or around when the iPad 1 was released. However, HP is 15+ months late to the tablet game, and this is the best they have? You’re telling me the couldn’t produce at least a thinner, lighter tablet in 12 months of design time?
This thing was already in the can before the iPad 2 came out. They were designing in the shadows of the iPad 1 and from what it sounds failed to even measure up since it’s heavier and thicker than the iPad 1.
iPad — The multitouch device that’s untouchable.
Number 1 + toilet = first one down the toilet. Crappy product from the ink-ripoff company, no surprise here.
Actually, TouchPad’s SoC is not supposed to be “blazingly fast” at all: it is dramatically slower both in FP and graphics performance.
(wipes tear)
This thread is overloaded with “plus one” – well done, gang!
some people naturally assume that apple staffers like Jon rubinstein moving somewhere like HP can ALWAYS work miracles. Look at the excitement of Ron Johnson’s move to JC Penney.
But perhaps it’s Apple’s environment (under S. Jobs) that allows great talent to flourish. Remember Jony Ive couldn’t even sell a design for a flush toilet to a client (the guy – supposedly an a*s ripped the design to impress his managers) before Apple and Jobs.
Could Picasso have become an icon if he was born and stuck in a cod fishing village in the artic instead of living in thriving art world of Paris where he had rich patrons and friends like Matisse? Sure Picasso would have become the best whale bone carver on the island but would he have become P-I-C-A-S-S-O and make art history? (what I’m saying is that environment , in our case Apple, counts)
I have a stinky suspicion that the entrenched corporate minded HP managers with turf to protect probably didn’t exactly welcome Rubinstein the ‘guy from the fruit company’ with open arms. Look at Microsoft where the powerful Office and Windows desktop managers crippled Windows mobile for years (win ce, Kin, Zune, Danger, Pink etc didn’t have full support) — now Windows DESKTOP instead of Win Mobile is going into tablets…
HP is a company with resources. I know they must have felt compelled to release their 1.0 tablet product as soon as possible, but they should have waited until it was ready (and taken the hit), because what they released was their 0.9 product.
It is Wi-Fi only (the majority of iPads sold are WiFi+3G). It has a lot more interior volume, yet it’s battery life is significantly worse than iPad. The OS and hardware still seems to need further optimization; even the original iPad is far superior.
Of course, if they wait, their current design will become obsolete. And THAT is the dilemma of the iPad copycats. Release before the product is ready and meet with media ridicule. OR, wait until Apple raises the bar again and obsoletes your product even before it is released. In this case, HP seems to have done BOTH.
(‘We’re not afraid of the Web,’ cracks a TouchPad product manager.)
And you’re clearly not afraid of having Adobe’s crappy Flash Player deep-six the reputation of your product, either.
We now have three tablet OS’s – Google’s, RIM’s and now HP’s – proving that Flash has no place on a mobile device. Pretty sure all three of them will drop it the moment Adobe stops paying them to push it.
Do you know what is wrong with the HP TouchPad? It’s not the TouchPad weakness per see, but it’s HP loss of its creative juice. HP was once a great company; in fact, it was one of the grandest of granddaddies of tech? But it decided that taking the shortcut route is best for its bottom line. It decided to fawn over Microsoft in order to get a leg-up on the competition. It wanted to be the most favored concubine in the Microsoft harem. In fact HP and Dell were the favorite concubines of Microsoft because they often got the best treatment from Microsoft. In the end HP became too servile to Microsoft’ featherbedding that it gave up its independence to do its own thing.
Lately, HP tries to wean itself off Microsoft’s largesse. It’s a bold act but it will take time to regain its vitality.
keep paying 1000.00 for your I-whatever… LOL. Like you really just have to have some stupid app? Get a life, buy a laptop.
Is this guy a apple fan or what?
My hp touchpad overclocked at 1.9Ghz with FLASH support kicks Ipad’s ass in speed or playable content anytime.