
Meh..
If I'm paying iPad prices I'll get an iPad where I have the known quantities of the App Store (good and bad) or Cydia, not a WebOS device where ongoing support and development is a unknown.
HP's WebOS-based tablet - the TouchPad, as it's officially known - hits Blighty's shores early next month following its 1 July arrival in the US. Punters in France and Germany get it on the same day we do - delivers in Canada commence mid-July, HP said today. Australians will have to wait until "later this year". HP TouchPad …
That this tablet doesn't seem to have any other connections other than USB sync and charge.
No HDMI, no VGA, nothing, not even with accessories. Isn't this a business tablet? How are users supposed to plug it into things like projectors?
The it has no SD card (again not even with adapter) and not even a basic rear camera either?
Seems UK price has been announced at £399 for the 16GB, £479 for 32GB - exactly same as the iPad 2.
Hope HP is planning on discounting them soon. Maybe buy a server get 5 Touchpads deal. Can't see it making it otherwise.
I had a Pre2 and I agree that WebOS is great but the rest is just crap. Apps are crap and lots of developers are leaving the community not because of money but HP's attitude toward small developers is not great. Worst thing is touch screen, it's simply not designed well, iOS is great not because there are so many apps but the touch screen is designed to work with even fuzzy inaccurate taps. Also once pre2's screen is bit wet, it's unusable, iOS is fine.
I believe that any new entrant on the tablet market should have to realize they have to make it either cheaper or better than the iPad. Better is quite difficult considering the quantity of apps for the iPad, and that its design is mostly satisfactory. So make it CHEAPER. Remember that Toyota made a loss on every Prius sold for the first few years.
I had an iPaq for quite sometime and the thing that really, really let it down was the awful software HP stuck on top of Windows Mobile. (yes I know Windows mobile was not that great either). It made some functions counter intuitive if not impossible. The documentation was not up to much either.
I'm going to give this a miss and see what the reviews are like.
There's absolutely no benefit in someone investing their hard earned cash on a device which has so little support and where WebOS market share is falling at such a massive rate month on month.
In the 3 months between Jan 2011 and April 2011, Palm/WebOS lost 19% of its marketshare (http://technology-headlines.com/2011/06/03/us-smartphone-ownership-up-13-percent-in-first-quarter-according-to-latest-comscore-report/). While Android and Apple showing the only signs of growth, I can't see WebOS lasting much more than a few more months. By Summer, HP will need to pay people to take these tablets off their hands.