HP TouchPad: 5 signs it's a better buy than first thought

by Jenneth Orantia  |  Thursday 1 September 2011
HP TouchPad: 5 signs it's a better buy than first thought

From new apps to an over the air update, new HP TouchPad owners have these things to look forward to.

If you bought an HP TouchPad one on the assumption that it wouldn’t get any more support from HP and the developer community, we’ve got five bits of good news that demonstrate the radically marked-down TouchPad was an even better buy than anyone initially thought.

1.      HP will continue to support it

HP will continue to support TouchPad and the webOS platform for at least a year. HP Australia’s TouchPad product manager, Eric Chou, told the Gadget Guy website that their engineering team would continue to support the TouchPad and deliver at least one over-the-air update to add functionality. HP will also honour the TouchPad’s twelve-month warranty.

 

2.      Paid apps now available

The App Catalog may not have had paid apps available at launch, but HP has quietly flicked the switch to enable developers to sell their apps in Australia. Developers haven’t exactly been storming the gate to add their apps, but as of writing this article, there were 60 TouchPad-specific paid apps available.

 

3.      HP will be doing one last run of TouchPads

HP announced yesterday one last batch of TouchPads. Unfortunately these will be limited to the US, but this extended interest in the TouchPad is good news for existing users, as it increases the likelihood that the webOS developer community will continue supporting the existing apps and hopefully push out new ones too.

 

4.      Ubuntu and Android builds are available for the TouchPad

The TouchPad enthusiast community is alive and well, with ports available for running UbuntuChroot (a raw Ubuntu terminal without the GNOME graphical user interface) and an experimental Alpha build of Cyanogenmod Android on the TouchPad. The latter is still very much a work in progress, with vital functions like touch input not  yet working, but the ultimate goal of the project is to create a multi-boot environment that enables users to boot into webOS, Android, and other operating systems. Read our Top 5 tips for tweaking, tuning and speeding up your HP Touchpad

 

5.      The TouchPad may live again

The most bizarre twist of events yet is that HP itself may end up reviving the TouchPad. HP executive vice president of the personal systems group, Todd Bradley, told Reuters that HP itself could possibly bring the TouchPad back to life after it spins the PC unit into a stand-alone company. 


Also read our Top 5 tips for tweaking, tuning and speeding up your HP Touchpad

Own a TouchPad? Tell us what you think of it below.

 


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See more about:  hp  |  touchpad  |  tablet  |  mobilecomputing  |  homeoffice
 
 

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Comments: 7
Knight
1 September 2011
 AAll "5 SIGNS" are good news and quite accurate. On another level, there is even greater news for those who bought the discounted Touchpad and either knew nothing about it or had heard that it was an inferior product.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The HP Touchpad's WebOS is vastly superior to Android and iOS.
These would be but words, if there was no evidence to back it up, so here it is.
The constant cons/complaints from alleged professional reviewers go as follows.
It is thicker and heavier than an iPad. Although that is true, it is not so heavy or thicker as to be an inconvenience and more importantly, part of the reason it is bigger is because of the superior hardware inside, notably the audio system/speakers. The stereo sound from a Touchpad is at least twice the volume and quality of the single speaker in an iPad, not to mention the added ambiance by having stereo over mono.
Good hifi speakers are bigger and heavier than cheap tin can models, so if you want better sound like the Touchpad has, then the size will not matter to you one bit.
Next complaint from the "pros" is that WebOS does not have as many apps as Apple. Again that is true but is it truly a problem? No, it is not. There are ample already available, and now with the news of more to come, there are and will be more than any one person might ever want to use. It is a non issue.
Lastly comes the big one. The "pros" said it was slow, that it might jam up, that it could take too long to switch from horizontal to portrait mode. Those comments are only a semi truth. The fact is that if you operate it one app at a time like an iPad, then it not only isn't slow, it is faster than an iPad, specially after you have applied all the tweaks that are freely available on the internet. As an iPad is incapable of multitasking, there are no slowdowns in general, as the internal hardware is more than capable of handling any one single task at a time, whereas the Touchpad is a completely different type of device that multitasks, and just like a home computer, will eventually slow down if there are too many apps open at the same time. The "pros" reviews about slowing down are so unfair when they compare it to an iPad that the question becomes, were they paid by Apple to say that or are they all that ignorant. Even a child knows that too many applications open at the same time, spells slowdowns and maybe even a crash. To spell it out by citing an example, it would be like saying that Joe Blow never has problems eating one hotdog at a time, but he slows down when he eats 8 at a time. The scenario is ridiculous and the comparison is unjust.
If it is justifiable to bad mouth a computer type product that slows down from too many open windows, then it would apply to every single computer in the world, except an iPad, that can't do more than one thing at a time. Now that the three main complaints have been addressed and proven to be non-issues, it is time to talk about why a Touchpad is such a superior machine. Any knowledgeable techie knows that the WebOS interface is the best of the group of multitasking tablet operating systems. iOS has a very nice interface too and some might argue that it is as good as that of the Touchpad, but it is not included in these comparisons, as it is not a multitasking system, therefore doesn't have to deal with many open apps at the same time. How could anyone discuss the various ways that Android and WebOS deal with multiple apps being open and include the iPad in that conversation, when the iPad can't even have multiple apps open?
I fully recognise the value of an iPad and I perceive it as it is, a wonderful machine, well built, with an ultra simple interface that can be easily operated by young children and even IQ challenged individuals.
The more sophisticated tablets that operate like computers, have common advantages and even common problems, that simply don't apply to a machine that does only one thing at a time.
In short, the iPad is a type of toy that is also capable of surfing the internet, although not completely like the Touchpad, and it can use chat services like MSN Messenger and Skype, although it does not fully integrate Skype like the Touchpad does.
Apple products have become a status symbol to own and they are generally high quality products, and the ipad fits perfectly into that category. Where it does not belong is in comparisons to computer like tablets, as the iPad is a type of toy and not a utilitarian device like the Touchpad.
I own both an iPad and a Touchpad and can tell you that my Touchpad is a bit faster than my iPad, and 10 times more useful.



Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
HP TouchPad: 5 signs it's a better buy than first thought?
From new apps to an over the air update, new HP TouchPad owners have these things to look forward to.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
amcmo
2 September 2011
 Interesting comment.

The comment from within HP is that it runs even faster on an iPad.

There's an interesting combo..

I've always liked the look of WebOS and hope that it does survive, either through the spin-off wiht the PC division, or through licensing.
jenneth
2 September 2011
 I'm a big fan of webOS fan too. Would love to see it running on some faster hardware and with 3G. I'm really hoping that the TouchPad isn't the last we see of this great platform!
photohounds
2 September 2011
 Thanks, K, makes me even greener that I missed out.

My boys were foaming at the mouth (a new 'toy'), but it may be waaaaay too good for them :)

Interesting to the impact see if/when HP resurrects it ...
Drifter
2 September 2011
 I hope they do resurrect it> I for one was going to check it out but was too late to do so.Hopefully WebOS will get a kick start on
another tablet if not on the Touchpad.
Knight
3 September 2011
 To Photohound,
You may be correct that the Touchpad is too good/complex for the kids.
I think that most kids would be happier with an iPad for a variety of reasons, whereas an adult who wants a highly useful and functional device, will much prefer the Touchpad.
Once the special tweaks are applied to this machine, it is way way beyond what I had hoped for.
The power is phenomenal.
I got up to 21 open apps yesterday before I started to feel a slowdown.
The sound quality is so surprising that it is difficult to believe it all comes out from such a small device.
I have it playing internet radio stations almost 24 hours a day.
When I put it on the Touchstone charging dock, it goes to exhibition mode and displays a big handsome clock (my choice, as there are other display options) at the same time as it plays music, and in the background, it is updating my 3 email accounts.
What a machine.
This beats most Windows computers for usefulness.
Madaz
3 September 2011
 Knight rub it in ;)
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