[kyleoXD]

HP TouchPad Review - Watch CNET's Video Review

CNET actually gave it decent reviews!

[FetusSoup]

Thanks a bunch. Disappointing to see a 7.

Don't see where they get the 'could be faster' and 'hardware isn't up to par' bit.

I haven't read that anywhere but Engadget.

Yeah, that seems odd. Did they get a store version?

But they obviously have been talking to HP about their concerns, that being one of them. The other document editing. I assume since the former said "soon" for an update, and the latter said "mid-summer", they'll probably both be 3.1 in the next month or two.

What I found interesting is they had a Pre 3. I don't know if they actually *had* it, or were just quoting the future features and had old stock photos, but would it give any indication this thing is on the horizon? (Not to take us off topic, just thinking out loud.)

[clevin]

crunchgear review is out:
Review: The HP Palm TouchPad

[bluenote]

Topolsky seemed to have an easier than Derek did in getting his music onto the player. Still, Derek's issues are bound to show up for others.

From the Q&A on Topolsky review site:
"HP actually is making an application for PCs and Macs available called HP Play, which is a variation of Songbird. It's essentially iTunes that plays nice with your TouchPad. It scans your library and will sync whatever it can (aka, stuff that isn't DRM'd). It worked well for music — but video and pics need to be dragged and dropped still.
by Joshua Topolsky at 7:53 PM"

[shingi_70]

From engadget

As we said earlier, it's a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 IPS panel up front that matches the iPad 2 pixel-for-pixel and doesn't disappoint when it comes to other important aspects of viewing. Contrast, viewing angles, and brightness all impress, delivering plenty of light for bright or dark rooms and angles wide enough to make sharing with a friend a cinch.

The speakers likewise impress -- as you'd hope given the cavernous cut-outs they receive on the side. HP stopped short of slapping a Beats logo on the device but makes no qualms about talking up its branded inclusion in marketing materials. In most ways the speakers deliver, offering (relatively) full sound compared to the tinny mess we're used to. That said, we were surprised to find maximum volume to actually be lower than what the stereo slivers on either side of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can manage.

[kyleoXD]

The Touchpad looks like a HIT or MISS. Nothing in between.

[barkerja]

Crunchgear's is up: Review: The HP Palm TouchPad

WebOS is a capable third (or fourth) entrant into the mobile OS race. As with Duckie, however, I worry that the average Molly Ringwald will go with the popular Blaine rather than the loyal and arguably better school nerd. I don’t agree that the TouchPad will knock WebOS out of the park but HP had to do something with its intellectual property and there’s no reason they won’t support this going forward.

[samab]

That said, we were surprised to find maximum volume to actually be lower than what the stereo slivers on either side of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can manage.

Wired.com review actually preferred the Playbook speakers over the TouchPad --- because Playbook's speakers are front-facing.

[nappy]

The Touchpad looks like a HIT or MISS. Nothing in between.

Funny, I was actually thinking the TouchPad reviews all make it sound like a very average product. Most reviewers seem to be saying it's not very bad but it's certainly not very good either.

[clevin]

"HP actually is making an application for PCs and Macs available called HP Play, which is a variation of Songbird.

I hate the iTMS dependence of all iDevices, can't believe HP is doing these type of things.

But again, I love songbird, so I can forgive this, as long as HP doesn't convert songbird into a monster with its bloats. Or better yet, just let me manage my music through my songbird.

The Touchpad looks like a HIT or MISS. Nothing in between.

Not really, most reviews, near the end, give a suggestion of buy or not, read that.

[kyleoXD]

Funny, I was actually thinking the TouchPad reviews all make it sound like a very average product. Most reviewers seem to be saying it's not very bad but it's certainly not very good either.

That is true.

They all LOVE the OS. And I think we all do as well.

But sadly everything that HP or the other companies make is always going to be compared to the Ipad 2

[Crackbone]

Welp, I hate to say I told you so, so I won't.

Hardware is passable.

There's zero excuse for webOS 3.0 to come out in the state that's it's in. Zero.

I have a feeling that many people WANT this to be great, and that it COULD be great, but for whatever reason, here we are, 2 years from a Pre Launch, and we are still dealing with the same BS issues, same lag, same performance problems.

Quite frankly, it's a disgrace.

[bluenote]

1 Comments
Macworld reviewer is rooting for webOS and likes the tablet, but still sees it as first gen with all the bugs mentioned by the other reviewers holding him back from recommending it as a purchase.

HP REALLY HAS TO UPDATE SOFTWARE QUICKLY AND IRON OUT THE BUGS.
I noticed HP has hired a few people on the dev team, good for them!


Hands on with the HP TouchPad | Tablets | Macworld

Hands on with the HP TouchPad

by Jason Snell, Macworld.com Jun 29, 2011 7:22 pm


HP's TouchPad.
I spent half an hour in a meeting, using HP’s new TouchPad tablet, before someone realized I wasn’t using an iPad. That says a lot about this product—due to be released Friday—and not just in superficial ways.

[clevin]

But sadly everything that HP or the other companies make is always going to be compared to the Ipad 2

thats to be expected. It should not be a surprise to anyone. fair amount of reviews also mentioned some android tablets, and they are NOT saying touchpad is better than those neither.

[shingi_70]

I hate the iTMS dependence of all iDevices, can't believe HP is doing these type of things.

But again, I love songbird, so I can forgive this, as long as HP doesn't convert songbird into a monster with its bloats. Or better yet, just let me manage my music through my songbird.


Not really, most reviews, near the end, give a suggestion of buy or not, read that.

The HP play is for people like me who uses his itunes library to feed zune and google music.

All the reviews seem to indicate that its a good tablet but its nothing that makes it better than honeycomb or ios.

[dgdonovan]

Jon sure knows how to assure reviewers. If HP doesn't want to release an imperfect product, and the fix will be out "very soon", why even push this release date?

My guess is that fix won't come in a month or two, and will not be a magic potion.

Agreed. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

HP needed this to be a flawless launch. Now, an OTA update must be made available immediately. No sleep this, long weekend in Sunnyvale.

Amazon pre-orders start being delivered on Tuesday. If the most glaring issues aren't resolved quickly, many units are going to be returned. Thankfully, the TP is a WiFi device that is not dependent on a carrier for update approval.

[Riboflavin]

Topolsky is doing a live chat now about his review. I asked him to comment on his Pre3, but he said it was a pre-production build, but the hardware looks and feels very solid.

[bobsentell]

Another way to look at it. In seven months HP was able to duplicate what took Apple years to do. The TouchPad wasn't even in existence when HP bough Palm. HP not only managed to integrate Palm into the company, but also managed to design and ship a tablet with its own OS in a year.

Imagine what they can do going forward.

[shingi_70]

They have the best dock. I love how beautiful this looks.

[kjb86]

after reviewing a few of the videos/reviews, here is my personal opinion:

First, kudos to HP for pulling this off this soon. On July 1, HP has owned Palm for one year exactly. I congratulate the team at Palm/HP for putting the time and resources into making this happen on such short notice. It's no easy task especially with a merger. If you compare this to Palm in 2007 developing for webOS it took 2 years. HP has pulled this off in 1 year.

Second, I watched the engadget video a couple of times. I don't see an extreme amount of "sluggishness'.. some applications yes.. for example quick office, don't know what was going on there, don't know why the guy just didn't close it and try it again... calendar, angry birds, photo's, the web, email, kindle.. all opened quite quickly. I thought the web experience was pretty darn good. I thought the email was pretty snappy from what we have seen before.

Third, kudos to Josh for reaching out to Palm and asking the necessary questions. I'm glad HP is aware of what's going on, and I have no doubt that software updates are going to be launched shortly after it's initial launch in the US. Keep in mind, this tablet is going extremely global by the middle of July, and more country being added in a couple of months. Palm has to line up it's software for all necessary countries at once.

Overall, I'm not blown away, but impressed with what they have accomplished. HP had to get a product on the shelf. They didn't have the luxury to take 2+ years developing like the ipad did so it didn't have any bugs. The community put immense pressure on HP to get a product through the door since most did not realize it takes time. Reviewers are going to score favourably low because a) the touchpad is semi-deemed as the 'ipad killer' like the Pre was the Iphone killer, people focus way too much attention on applications, and lastly, people do not focus on the 'bigger picture'