The Real iPad Killer: HP Shows Off the TouchPad
This is the major tablet from one of the biggest computer makers in the world.
The iPad owns the tablet market right now, but there's still plenty of room for competition. As we saw at CES, there will be many entries running Android, and many of them look very good.
Today HP has thrown in its best yet. Forget the Windows 7 and the Android versions of its HP Slate – the HP TouchPad is the real tablet offering from the company, and we got to see it today.
The HP TouchPad takes a lot of cues from the Apple camp – which isn't a bad thing considering Apple's done all the market testing since the launch 10 months ago. The HP TouchPad has a 9.7-inch capacitive multitouch display, virtual keyboard, instant-on access, support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta in the browser and access the current selection of webOS applications.
What the TouchPad does that the iPad and iPhone can't do is work together. The Android system allows for syncing between the phone and tablet, but WebOS 3.0 takes it to the next level.
Those with a Pre phone can simply leave the device charging on their desk, while all SMS and calls are routed to and from the TouchPad. If you don't feel like dealing with your phone when you're sitting at home and relaxing, the TouchPad can take over those cell-related tasks.
If you're in the middle of reading something, but it's time to head about out again, all one needs to do is touch the phone against the tablet and the webpage URL will be sent to the other device. It looks much easier than mailing yourself the link.
It's got a 1.3-megapixel front-facing webcam, and HP demonstrated the video chat functionality on it. It's also compatible with HP's printers, so you can wirelessly print documents, photos and emails to compatible wireless and networked HP printers.
The HP TouchPad is scheduled to be available in the summer. Exact pricing and availability will be announced at a later date.
There's going to be an onslaught of new tablets this year, including a refresh from Apple, but this one from HP is definitely one to watch.
HP TouchPad features and specs
* HP webOS
* High-speed connectivity(1)
* Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2-GHz processor
* 9.7-inch diagonal XGA capacitive, multitouch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit color, 1,024 x 768 resolution display
* The option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage(14)
* 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(1)
* Wireless connectivity:
o Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication(1)
o A-GPS (3G only)(10)
o 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
o Internal stereo speakers and Beats Audio
o Front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling(11)
* Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)(6)
* Robust messaging support(4)
* 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(5)
* Dimensions: 190 mm x 242 mm x 13.7 mm (7.48 inches x 9.53 inches x .54 inches)
* Weight: approximately 740 g (1.6 pounds)
Check out all the coverage of the new HP WebOS products below:
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Battery life?
See, THIS is how the iPad should have started.
18-bit color?? That's a TN panel. Unless it has a really good contrast and better-than-average viewing angles, this display will be noticeably worse than the iPad's IPS panel.
Holy crap! Wow! That is impressive, for considering I didn't expect this at all! All they need to do is price the 32 GB model at about $500-$600, and we see the iPad market share take a hit. Was expecting another failure with the title of "iPad killer", because honestly, so far, I think I can speak for a lot of people that we have been disappointed. The Xoom is decent, but an $800 price tag is extremely steep. Hopefully they can get a lot of developers on that platform, so that they can make the add-on software relatively comparable to the iTunes App Store. Keep it up!
I am guessing touchpad might lack behind Ipad on two important aspects: screen and battery life.
Touchpad has "18-bit color, 1,024 x 768 resolution display." I guess that's 6bit TN pannel? while Ipad's H-IPS pannel is much better.
according to Engadget. touchpad has a similar battery as Ipad..but I am afraid it would not last that long.
Surpporting is a big advantages though. Let's see how it eats battery life
Yeah I've been scouring the internet trying to find any info on the battery life. Although I did come across this interesting tidbit.
"Another missing specification at the HP TouchPad event was any indication of battery life. The hallmark of great mobile devices, especially those used for reading and entertaining, is battery life and with not a word about how long the 6300Whr battery will last it could be a bad sign."
http://notebooks.com/2011/02/09/hp [...] dio-flash/
The specs look great but the release time is concerning.By then,iPad 2 is released along with numerous tablets from other companies so it may make things a little tough for Touch Pad.
What I really want to see is a fully decomposable netbook. Basically, it starts as a smartphone. Then you can attach it to the back of a 10" touch screen monitor and have yourself a tablet. Then you can attach a keyboard and fold it to have it become a netbook. Then it would have a dock then I could connect to my PC so I can easily shift the work I've done for the day to my desktop with full processing powers. It's not easy to make something like that, I understand. But that would basically be the only thing I would find worth buying in the tablet/smartphone market right now.
I am not a fan of Apple products. However, when has anyone ever said the statement, "[Insert gimmick here] will be an [insert successful Apple product here] killer!" and been completely right?
Make a deal with Sony to play their Xperia Play games, set the price low with 24 month chains, & die iPad die!
Until sony starts slowly taking games away...
I can't wait for these sub-par computers with phone OSs to die off like netbooks...
When will anyone understand that it's not about product superiority? The ipad is not a super hi-tech device with quantum electronics. The problem is that it got to the tablet market first (for real) and grabbed it in a choke hold then other companies try to supersede it with better hardware, the Galaxy Tab is already better than the ipad in terms of specs....It's about getting the users attention, which is pretty tough since most of them are always wearing all black or white clothing and a little cock-eyed. It's like giving a hyena ice cream while he's eating a zebra....but he'll take the ice cream for dessert.
Yeah I've been scouring the internet trying to find any info on the battery life. Although I did come across this interesting tidbit."Another missing specification at the HP TouchPad event was any indication of battery life. The hallmark of great mobile devices, especially those used for reading and entertaining, is battery life and with not a word about how long the 6300Whr battery will last it could be a bad sign."http://notebooks.com/2011/02/09/hp [...] dio-flash/
I'm amused by the article...6.3KWhr battery pack? Really????? Sounds to me like someone didn't bother to use common sense when they were proofreading the article.
Im a bit sketchy about the TN Panel as well. For that kind of money why is it not at least a TFT?
This sounds more like an advertisement, than a news article.
With words like "ROBUST", "HIGH-SPEED" and "RICH CONTENT", one can only be skeptical. Oh yeah, and this looks ridiculously close to the iPad.
I'm amused by the article...6.3KWhr battery pack? Really????? Sounds to me like someone didn't bother to use common sense when they were proofreading the article.
lol. DAMN that's a big battery!
love the facebook font on "feedback" --------------------->
@xantek -- in a way you are right, it's not about "superiority"-- especially in terms of hardware specs, as you seem to suggest should be important. Here's what's wrong with the Galaxy tab-- it's not superior in overall user experience. The average user doesn't know what mhz or ghz their device is, or how many pixels it has, etc etc... they just know how the product "feels".
No official declaration of battery life.....
Thank God HP has this huge library of applications. Oh wait... you mean there is more to the iPad than just hardware? Everyone leaves out that one very important detail. I would too if I was not able to beat it.
it's not android. i want android versions.
wow, what a f**king biased article title
i didn't even bother reading the rest of the article. it's probably just a bunch of opinionated garbage. i thought this was supposed to be a tech site. this is not professional journalism marcus. this is a blog
and this tablet will fail. most of the support is on android and on IOS. i would be surprised if this could get off on it's feet, even with it's amazing features
I will never buy anything HP again for as long as I live thanks to their DV series laptops and horrible customer support I would rather buy a Ipad what is very unlikely and 18-bit color really how is this a ipad killer?
Yeah I've been scouring the internet trying to find any info on the battery life. Although I did come across this interesting tidbit."Another missing specification at the HP TouchPad event was any indication of battery life. The hallmark of great mobile devices, especially those used for reading and entertaining, is battery life and with not a word about how long the 6300Whr battery will last it could be a bad sign."http://notebooks.com/2011/02/09/hp [...] dio-flash/
6300Whr battery! Holy crap!
I'm gonna buy one of these to run my oven on!
Stop calling everything an iPhone or iPad killer. Nothing is going ton kill those two products. They might be better but they won't put them out of business.
6300mah is a massive battery life
need a healthy ecosystem to make it a ipad killer.
Hearing HP is going to expand WebOS to netbook/laptop and even desktop would certainly help solidify the platform instead of being pure mobile platform
yeh but it's still a suky HP. I don't buy their stinkin crap
Put Android on it and you may sell a few to people that don't work at HP.