About one year following Hewlett-Packard Co. buying out the dwindling Palm, HP is launching the inaugural tablet to use Palm’s webOS operating system scheduled for tomorrow.
The TouchPad is similar in design to other tablets, sporting a 9.7-inch screen at the diagonals, equaling the size (4:3) and resolution of the Apple iPad, although slightly thicker and heavier and has a dual-core processor. The HP model will retail at $500 for a 16GB version and $600 for a 32GB, placing the TouchPad in similar company in terms of price as the iPad. The device is Wi-Fi enabled for Internet usage and HP claims a version will work on the wireless network for AT&T Inc. by the end of summer.
The interface appears like one on a smartphone and the software and navigation are positive, with applications showing up on the screen as icons that can be scrolled from side-to-side and be enlarged or closed through a finger tap. A universal search bar on the center of the home screen and a few apps on the lower section of the screen keeps the home page uncluttered. The latest version of webOS is installed and contains features such as integrating photos from Facebook and other online photo websites into TouchPad’s photo library with a “touch to share” option that allows sharing of content with select webOS smarphones. HP claims a battery life up to eight hours of Internet usage on Wi-Fi or nine hours of time viewing video.
The video display has high specs and supports Flash but sites such as Hulu have reportedly not functioned correctly. HP is proud that the Pre 3 smartphone (launching later this summer) can connect to the tablet to share content, and send and receive texts from the TouchPad, but the function may not be terribly useful.
The TouchPad contains a video camera above the home screen and connects to Skype for video calls with varying degrees of success, according to several critics.
Included is access to HP’s App Catalog with more than 300 TouchPad apps at launch and around 70% of 6,200 webOS phone apps able to run on the tablet. This is compared to 90,000 iPad apps from Apple’s App Store and Google Inc.’s Android-based tablets that can run more than 200,000 apps from the Android Market.
Several reviews are out from across the Internet and it appears the TouchPad lacks the maturity to compete in the tablet marketplace, at least while charging the same price as an iPad. Combined with the price are the bugs inherent in the launch of most inaugural models, leaving the TouchPad as another device that falls as an incomplete alternative to the iPad.
