When HP acquired Palm in April last year for $1.2 Billion, the reasoning was that HP was trying to diversify its business. The computer industry is moving at great speed towards tablets and smartphones, being the dominant market for manufacturers. I guess no business wants to be left behind as it could be fatal in the long run.
Yesterday HP unveiled their second tablet, the HP TouchPad. The significant statement of the announcement is that the tablet will feature the webOS operating system as developed by Palm. I sense that Palm, the brand is no longer relevant and will be replaced entirely by HP.
This tablet is yet another “iPad killer” but on first sight looks more like a clone. The webOS software is what will make or break this tablet in my opinion. Flash based content will be viewable as a beta version of Adobe Reader, comes standard with the device.
The TouchPad Features:
- HP webOS
- High-speed connectivity
- Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2-GHz processor
- 9.7″ diagonal XGA capacitive, multi-touch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit colour, 1,024 x 768 resolution display
- The option of either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage
- High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta for access to rich, Flash-based web content
- Wireless connectivity:
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
- A-GPS (3G only)
- Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
- Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, and a 3.5 mm headset/headphone/microphone jack
- Internal stereo speakers and Beats Audio
- Front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling
- Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
- Light sensor, accelerometer, compass (magnetometer) and gyroscope
- Rechargeable 6,300 mAh (typical) battery
- Micro-USB (Charging and PC Connect) with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
- Built-in HP Touchstone technology for easy charging (HP Touchstone for TouchPad sold separately) and HP touch-to-share to share web addresses between TouchPad and compatible webOS phones
- Dimensions: 190 mm x 242 mm x 13.7 mm (7.48 inches x 9.53 inches x .54 inches)
- Weight: approximately 740 g
I sense that HP has some problems on the way for the TouchPad. The size of storage is only 16GB / 32GB. If you carry around a lot of music, images and email on your notebook, you will have firsthand experience that the size of the hard drive is too small.
Secondly, unlike the iPad which have a battery life of 10 hours, the TouchPad has an unnamed battery life. My observation for that is simple, the battery life is considerably shorter and they don’t want to scare away interest from potential buyers.
The other big question mark is how deep the developer support will be for the HP TouchPad. The Apps are a big reason why Apple dominates the tablet space. HP mentions that various functionality will be available from the start on the TouchPad.
“Buy and sell on Amazon.com, do your banking, buy movie tickets from Fandango or check the news. Whether your thing is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, IM, video calling or email, TouchPad brings it all together with thousands of available webOS applications and the convenience and power of HP Synergy for integrated contacts and calendar to keep your busy life on track”
The one cool thing is the fact that owners will be able to charge their TouchPad wirelessly. The timing of the announcement is peculiar. It is just before Mobile World Congress which is in the coming week and also a few weeks ahead of the rumoured iPad2 announcement from Apple. HP needs to get this device as soon as possible. No announcement has been made about the price of the TouchPad or whether it will be launched in South Africa.
