HP Touchpad: WebOS Review

[mcs328]

I got a chance to play with the HP Touchpad with WebOS at Best Buy yesterday. They had an HP rep there too. Here's my review which echoes what other blogs have been saying and some other things.

The thing definitely has some heft to it. Lighter than a laptop for sure but the heaviest tablet I've handled so far. The Just Type feature is great. Videos looked just as good as my laptop. Internet is fast using the HP reps Clearwire Hotspot. I like the notifications. The Facebook app is weird to me. I couldn't get any of the ebook readers apps to work since I have to register and there weren't any ebooks pre-installed to test out. The e-book reader apps ask you for what device you're using but WebOS is not an option. Other than that, the software is just plain fantastic. A very natural gesture based system. The software keyboard is great. You can control the key size and the number/symbol row on top is better than the iOS implementation.

The hardware of course is just ugh. Speaker cut out digs into your hand. The oval like slit button at the bottom either needs to be bigger or changed to a touchpad like button on the Palm Pre for Verizon (not the click button for the Pre on Sprint). However you get the same functionality if you swipe from bezel upwards which is great in any orientation. Speaking of orientation, it sucks. When you switch between portrait or landscape, it gets confused. It'll work itself out eventually but my goodness that's a bug that needs to get killed. I liked the curved sides but it doesn't feel grippy enough. No SD card reader so you can't expand the storage space.

Later my wife dropped by. She shares the same thoughts as me. She could watch her youtube videos. She could watch her Chinese drama in whatever video format they play in. They have a Citrix app so she can remotely log in. The big plus was she can actually log in to her online classes she's taking. She can't do that with Apple and the android tablet had jerky internet scrolling and failed to load. The issue she had with the WebOS was she can log in perfectly but she couldn't log out. The navigation bar had the log out button but when you pushed it the entire bar disappeared. She did get some message about some issue with java before the site loaded but it looked like it loaded fine. We had to clear all the cookies and cache to log her out of the site.

That said, she had pre-ordered it through costco which gives you a free case. 90 day return policy and no restocking fee. She's going to use it when she goes to Georgia and see if it's a good laptop replacement.

[mcs328]

Day 1: Waited for my wife to come back before we opened it. This is the 32gb HP Touchpad from Costco that comes with a free sleeve case. In the box is the leather-like sleeve case, the wall adapter and usb to micro usb cable, the touchpad, a microfiber cloth and instructions on the gestures. All neatly packed.

You have to hold the power button for about 5 seconds before it powers on. It took like 1-2 minutes to boot up. That's a problem if you completely power down and power up. However just hitting the power button to make it sleep is good enough for me. The set up seems irksome. You have to create a new or use an existing WebOS profile. I remember I had to do that when I test drove the Pre. It then asks to connect to a network. Not a problem. There's some standard privacy agreement/EULA but I think that's pretty standard. After that you can start using the touchpad...almost.

The email icon asks you to login to your email accounts like google. My wife can't get that to work either she forgot her gmail password or the app is borked. The HP app store is nicely laid out but I have some issues with it. When you get in there you get 4 big buttons for something like top apps, paid apps, free apps and something else. Along the bottom, there's a status bar strip that includes a Search button. Well when you click on any of the 4 big buttons, you get this very nice well layed out app listing which is way better than iOS. However there's no search button. Where did it go? I can filter different categories of apps and pay or free but I can't search. I have to go back a page by hitting the back button. How about swiping back? Nope. Of course I downloaded all the free Angry Bird Apps.

The screen is kind of disappointing. It's not crisp but it's not bad either. I'm not sure if it's the screen or they just low res icons. Using the browser is great and better than the android and the iPad. Just the graphics seem low res or just could be sharper. Videos play smoothly and the audio is better than the iPad. The down firing speakers held in landscape more is annoying because of the way I hold it muffles the sound. I didn't have the screen orientation problem like before at Best Buy but I think it can be improved. Seems overly sensitive. I do like that I can lock the orientation pretty easily compared to the iPad.

The card/stack view multitasking thing is great. Superior to anything out there. No contest. Other companies should buy the license or steal it. If any company says they have a better way to do multitasking, they are delusional and effin liars.

Other things I didn't like. It's heavier and after an hour or even less it's noticeable. I like the curves but I don't like the glossy plastic. I'm afraid I'll scratch it up plugging the cable or headphone jack. The oval slit button is annoyingly small. Make it an optical or touch button. Better yet, use the gesture area all around the screen and swipe up. Does the exact same thing. There's no native calculator app!?! I downloaded a free one but the calculator apps are terrible.

My wife should be doing a more realistic review since she bought it and intends to use it to replace her laptop for here everyday computing like watching videos, checking email, blogging, reading and school work. As I am more geeky, she can give a more straight forward potty-mouth laced tirade or an equally shrieking kawaii type praised review. She has no qualms sending it back ASAP if she doesn't like it. No iPad for her. Her view is why does she want to spend money on a jumbo size version of her iPhone that still doesn't play Flash.

Later review to come later.

[cruelpupet]

Reading this saddens me, as Sprint will not be getting the Pre3, and for the time being I will have to go the Android route.

[mcs328]

I only played with it for about an hour or two. I think once we get the email and social media accounts set up, the thing might really shine. Even more so if you have a Pre so the power of the notifications can be experienced. As a tablet, I can't think of an event that might make the notifications useful or productive. Sending text messages is a smartphone capability and not really a tablet feature without a SIM card or other call phone identifier unless you install some IM app (I haven't searched for one but I should). Maybe the calendar events if I can get the accounts set up and "synergize". App notification might be useful but the lack of apps is the hurdle HP has to jump to make this notification system as great as it claims to be.

The WebOS is certainly capable of great things but it seems to be in less capable hands. Maybe HP was a bad choice of savior.

[cruelpupet]

I only played with it for about an hour or two. I think once we get the email and social media accounts set up, the thing might really shine. Even more so if you have a Pre so the power of the notifications can be experienced. As a tablet, I can't think of an event that might make the notifications useful or productive. Sending text messages is a smartphone capability and not really a tablet feature without a SIM card or other call phone identifier unless you install some IM app (I haven't searched for one but I should). Maybe the calendar events if I can get the accounts set up and "synergize". App notification might be useful but the lack of apps is the hurdle HP has to jump to make this notification system as great as it claims to be.

The WebOS is certainly capable of great things but it seems to be in less capable hands. Maybe HP was a bad choice of savior.

I dont think HP was a bad choice, it was better than the other choices who I think only wanted a patent portfolio.

I have the Pre minus, so I dont think notifications get sent from the phone to tablet. And so far it looks like Sprint (who always subsidized development and had exclusives prior to takeover) has given up on WebOS.

WebOS is the best in design so far, but as much as i like it, I might have to give up permanently. I need to switch over to a new phone as mine is dieing, I wont leave sprint due to the great prices, and I will already be somewhat invested in Android by the time another WebOS device comes to sprint.

[mcs328]

My wife has decided to return it. She's not going to get the iPad either. If anything a small netbook would be a better choice. We took it NYC this past weekend and never used it. Wired internet was free but wifi was not at the Marriott. You can only play Angry birds so much and reading a book off a Nook is lighter and more enjoyable. We could load music and videos but there's only so much space. We would have had the same issue with any tablet that didn't have some sort of 3g card. The 3G signal was horrible in NYC even on our iPhones.

If you need a tablet that doesn't have a 3g card or whatever, I'd look into some kinds of wireless router or ethernet to micro usb/dock connector adapter. Not even sure that's possible.

In summary...best mobile/tablet/desktop OS on an average/crappy hardware device. Wonderful email interface for multiple email accounts. Great user experience on all native applications. Lack of apps and no internet on travel makes this DOA. Even with WiFi at home I feel it's heavy-ish to pick up and the glossy finish makes it even harder to hold in the long run.

Loser - All tablets not connected to the internet.
Winner - Netbook/Laptop with a DVD player.

[cruelpupet]

I havnt bought it yet, but Ive also noticed when traveling the need to have a travel router. Linksys makes a small one with just 1 wan and 1 lan port.

[mcs328]

I found what you're talking about.
http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WTR54GS-Wireless-Travel-Speedbooster/dp/B000A1AQOO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1311189368&sr=8-3

Small update - In the HP App store, they replaced the first tab I mentioned with the four boxes to just a tab called Featured. It a page called Pivot that discusses the latest app and some other info in a magazine format. Any app mentioned in this format can be downloaded. However this "download" is a "layer" on top of the page so it covers the words and not placed next to the app. So you get a floating list of prices that are not next to the app it's for. How confusing. There is a permanent search bar at the bottom now. When you reach the "end" of this Pivot magazine there's no way to go to the first page. I have to flip the pages one by one. That's like a few dozen flips.

[Winston]

in a barrage of news that stunned Wall Street and triggered an early announcement of its third-quarter earnings, HP also announced it would kill a plethora of WebOS devices, including a TouchPad tablet that failed to excite consumers.

http://news.yahoo.com/hps-ceo-needs-convince-wary-wall-street-041211229.html

[cruelpupet]

in a barrage of news that stunned Wall Street and triggered an early announcement of its third-quarter earnings, HP also announced it would kill a plethora of WebOS devices, including a TouchPad tablet that failed to excite consumers.

http://news.yahoo.com/hps-ceo-needs-convince-wary-wall-street-041211229.html


Apparently HP was the only company that could screw up what was the best mobile OS worse than Palm did.

They released the touchpad without a phone to attach to it (one of the best features they had) and at a price that's too high. Then on top of that they still didnt release the phone that was announced in february

[cruelpupet]

Wow. HP just shot themselves in the foot. They announced that they're killing off their device line without already having a buyer or someone to license the OS lined up.

They've lost over 50% in their share price from their 52week high.

I havnt seen a F up like this since Carly Fiorina ran the company.

[mcs328]

WTF? I've been on business travel for two weeks and now just catching up on all the news. Chinese BBall players beating up the Hoyas, stock market crashing, and HP decided to get out of the computer hardware game. What else do they do? At least IBM spun off their business to lenovo but they had tons of other revenue streams.

I hope whatever company picks up WebOS or its patents fully utilize the potential that was there. The whole interface gesture thing was the greatest. Swipe, flick, toss, etc.

[Prngr44]

I picked up one of the 32GB tablets over the weekend in the price slash craze.

I bet that's ticking you off pretty bad.

[Jeffbx]

I had an order in on one but it got cancelled... would have been nice to have in case they get Android working on it.

[Prngr44]

I've already seen articles popping up where they've installed Froyo on it. I'll try to dig one up.

[Prngr44]

MCS may want to check this out:

http://www.webosroundup.com/2011/08/breaking-hp-crediting-fire-sale-difference-to-current-touchpad-owners/

[Doom5]

Perhaps after the new product run more of us will have a chance to obtain one

[Prngr44]

Yeah, I failed to mention that my order for a 32GB was canceled about a week after I placed it. :(

I know HP has a bunch of 64GB sitting on the shelves. They're probably trying to figure out how much to charge and when to release them given how fast the 16/32s went.