HP TouchPad webOS tablet

HP TouchPad review: The HP TouchPad has plenty of potential, but suffers from a bulky, uninspiring design, a lack of third-party apps and questionable performance

PC World Australia (online)

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  • User Reviews (11)
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  • Expert Rating

    3.00 / 5

  • User Rating

    3.00 / 5 (of 2 Reviews)

  • Price

    TBA (AUD)

User Reviews:

Sharyn Polce

1.0

1

Pros
loved it while it workd
Cons
wont turn on anymore
• • •

Only had it 5 days and i put it on charge left it came back to turn it on and it wont turn on anymore at all ???? Now i have to go back tomoro and take it back and be without it i assume while it gets fixed - i am just asking for my money back ....

Grant

4.0

2

Pros
great screen, does everything I want
Cons
nothing really
• • •

I bought this today for $148. I have to say it only took an hour or two of exploring to decided that really this is a very nice unit. Sure I probably wouldn't pay the retail $699 for it, the original retail price but it is a damned nice unit to use. It might be slightly slow opening some apps but not so much so it is a problem. I'm just loading up Kindle now and I might try a book tonight. I even downloaded photos from my computer and was watching some as a slide show. Very nice. It is a shame that really this quite wonderful tablet was a case of just too little too late. It really is almost there but you can't make mistakes in this ultra competitive market, there is no room for error and even if they had done everything perfectly, I doubt if they would have been successful long term without spending a lot of money. I'm happy though and I would rather be able to download my own music and photos and not have to use itunes, described by one person as a 'hideous binary turd'.

Seth Cecil

5.0

3

Pros
Webos,
Cons
all the bad review for this wonderful tab!
• • •

This is by far the best tablet I have ever used; the extra bulk that everybody hates on is so that it can use the inductive charging doc, something that no other tab can do! I have had no lag; this thing is fast and fun to sue even for everyday activities!

Ross Catanzariti

3.0

4

Pros
---
Cons
---
• • •

Appreciate all the feedback, but I have to laugh everytime at comments that accuse reviewers of being Apple fanboys etc. I don't even own an iPad.

As I've said, the TouchPad has plenty to like about it, but there is also plenty that needs work and I have detailed that.

The software update which will arrive before this is officially launched in Australia on 15 August is supposed to correct some of these issues, especially around performance. Let's hope it does, and I will be updating this review when we get our hands on that version.

Marc

5.0

5

Pros
HP Touchpad
Cons
ipad fanboys
• • •

I don't know what Touchpad you are using but mine is fast, responsive, good on battery life and there are new apps arriving everyday. It is a bit heavier than an Ipad but BFD. I think HP did a decent job on the first models and WEBOS works quite well. Lets revisit this in a year when the TPad 2 is out with thousands of apps and a lighter model. But more than likely you will be giving a bad critique on some other vendors new Pad device. The apple fanboys just can never seem to think any other vendors products could ever be valid.

Sean Taylor

5.0

6

Pros
webOS, induction charging, multitasking, Flash, beats audio, touch to share, preware homebrew
Cons
the number of apps perhaps? The main stuff is there though.
• • •

I love the TouchPad. Spend a few weeks with it and then try going back to an iPad. Not in a million years. The apps will, come and HP is showing quite evidently that they are fully behind the OS. The multitasking ability alone is enough once you start actually using on a day to day basis. It is refreshing to see some truly innovative ideas in a tablet. I have to say that webOS was great on a phone but it is even better on a tablet. They haven't just ported it they have improved it. The new panel UI used in a lot of apps is so simple yet practical that you will be amazed that nobody did it before. If you can accept a new paradigm and not just balk because it isn't an iPad, you might be in for a revolution. Be a leader not a follower.

NCgeek

5.0

7

Pros
WebOS, Touch to share, 50gigs Box.net free, Just type, HP synergy, Beautiful design, on and on
Cons
Weight, no rear camera (i dont care)
• • •

I have looked a lot of tablets and read a lot of reviews. After careful consideration my choice was the HP Touchpad and I am so happy i didn't settle for anything less. Once you play with WebOS and see what it can do and Android and IOS cant do, you cant go back. WebOS is amazing! HP just added the HP movie store where you can rent movies, which is awesome. Honestly it has the most advanced hardware out there and with the plans HP has for phones and printers running WebOS this could be the beginning of a revolution in the wireless market. The HP touch-pad is a GREAT TABLET, don't let some apple snob writing the article on a mac book air tell you whats good or bad. Go play with one! You'll see.

Jeff Peterson

5.0

8

Pros
HP Touchpad
Cons
No EQ2 app.
• • •

On Launch day, (July 1st), I purchased my unit. Now, 22 days into my experience on this device and I am enjoying the exploring new features I find in the HP app store daily, (Pivot magazine is a good read). The now active Amazon Kindle app is easy to use and I have three free books loaded. The HP Movie store app is now up and I’ve added three movies on my wish list. The music app, (need to load HPplay from www.hpplay.com to your PC to sync with iTunes), is easy to use and will sync up with HPplay automatically on your PC, when you connect the USB cable. Sound quality is great. Of course, no tablet is complete without the Angry Bird app. I've spent so much time on my new Touchpad, exploring and enjoying the experience, my laptop is getting dusty on the coffee table.
The touchpad cleans up nicely with the soft cloth provided with the unit. I cracked up reading how the unit is a magnet for finger prints, (hint: it’s a TOUCH pad).
Yes, HP does need to address some of the issues the Touchpad has,(I hear an update is soon on it’s way), but those issues have not dampened the overall experience.

mark obrien

4.5

9

Pros
hp touchpad
Cons
ipad II
• • •

what would a comparison with the iPad 1 look like compared to the hptouchpad? we are comparing a first generation product with a second generation product. let's see what the HPTouchpad II looks like. hardware and webOS.

El Geek

5.0

10

Pros
UI, Multitasking, keyboard
Cons
back cover...
• • •

After using the original iPad since the day it came out and then the iPad2 also since it was launched, I have to say I am very, very impressed with the TouchPad. I can read books, newspapers and magazines online with the Kindle app, watch movies on the HP MovieStore, listen to true high quality sound... If more reviewers would actually truly use the TouchPad for about a week, only then you start realizing how irrelevant it is to compare weight and thickness when you should be comparing overall experience based on multitasking, productivity, cloud support, account synchronization and integration with the OS, notification system, etc.

John Destacamento

4.5

11

Pros
Has good features you wouldn't expect.
Cons
Inconsistent performance
• • •

I've been reading so many reviews on the Touchpad and they are all becoming redundant. I've used the Touchpad vigorously for three weeks and that's probably the duration needed to for a user to be convinced that this is actually a very good device. I even sold my iPad2 because I wasn't picking it up since I purchased the Touchpad.

It does have performance problems at the moment, but what I would like to emphasize is the product can easily get much better with a few updates. Palm (now HP) has done this in the past during the release of the original WebOS phone Palm Pre. As I could recall, the calendar became snappier, video recording and editing was added, search was added to email and so forth. Let's not forget that there is a strong Homebrew community that can contribute a great deal in performance improvements as well.

I do miss a few features of the iPad 2 such as the rear camera, snappier interface and the variety of apps. However, the Touchpad surprised me on what it can do that the iPad2 couldn't. I can go on-on with a list of over 20 features that outshine any other tablet on the market but I don't want to blow up this comment. The tablet thickness seems to be emphasized a lot as a big issue however I do not agree. If you look at the big picture the majority of tablet user will purchase a case. My iPad2 case happens to add a lot of bulk and when compared to the Touchpad's thin ergonomic case they are not much different.

The bottom line is: I like the Touchpad and I would rather have a slightly sluggish device, thicker and heavier device loaded with many useful features to make business and life more efficient RATHER than a device that has limited web browsing capabilities (no Flash), poor multi-tasking, confusing mail integration and a very closed platform.

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