As I finish this article I learned that Hewlett-Packard, Inc. has decided to discontinue operations for webOS devices specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. What this means for current owners has yet to be announced. It’s a shame that yet another nice operating system is going to end up in the tech graveyard, but while the timing of death is a bit of a shock the event isn’t. Yes, there’s some talk of HP licensing webOS to another company, but I don’t see that happening. All that being said…here’s what I was working on prior to the announcement. It’s possible that HP will try to sell out its existing inventory at very low prices and for some it may not be a bad purchase. I’m going to attempt to give you my thoughts on the TouchPad’s chance of success and a bit of a review along the way. I’ll probably not get anywhere close to the detail provided by the team of great reviewers that grace the-gadgeteer.com. At the very least, reading this may save you your nightly dose of Ambien. When Palm, Inc. belatedly realized that their PalmOS operating system was long past due for an overhaul they created a team to build the next generation of mobile operating system. They were looking for something that would vault them back ahead of RIM’s Blackberry in the enterprise marketplace and also compete on the consumer side with Apple’s iOS powered iPhone. In mid-2009, amid much fanfare, the Palm “Pre” smartphone was launched on Sprint and we all got our first look at webOS. Unfortunately, the hardware wrapped around webOS 1.x was underpowered and flawed, the OS also had more than a few bugs and the consumer experience wasn’t great. By the time the financially strained Palm released a hardware upgrade (Pre Plus) the phone had lost momentum and their new partner Verizon was focusing on Google’s Android OS-based Motorola Droid. While webOS generally got positive reviews the Pre/Pre Plus faded to the background of the smartphone market. Palm continued to struggle and was purchased by HP for $1.2 billion in mid-2010. A few announcements, press releases and rumors later and in HP released a tiny webOS 2.1-based smartphone named “Veer” and a few months later a webOS 3.0 powered TouchPad. Priced and sized to compete with the market-leading Apple iPad 2 that had been released a few months earlier. webOS fans rejoiced, but thus far the Veer and TouchPad have met with so-so 3rd party developer support, sales and mediocre reviews. The TouchPad is roughly the same length and width as the iPad 2, but it’s thicker, and weighs more. The back is a plastic or polymer of some sort, gently curved. It has a solid feel (doesn’t creak) and is easier and more comfortable than the original iPad and much more comfortable to hold than the Asus eee Transformer. It is noticeably heavier and thicker than the iPad 2. Tablets seem to be coming with two screen types lately, the leading Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom, Asus Eee Pad Transformer and Acer’s Iconia use the HD-style aspect ratio, 16:10, while the TouchPad has a 4:3 aspect ratio the same as the iPad. While, at first glance, you wouldn’t think that it would make that much of a difference it really does. The 16:10 tablets are much better used in landscape mode while the 4:3 aspect devices are better in portrait. I find it easier to hold a tablet in portrait mode for most functions…and tend to shift to holding it in landscape for watching videos or websites that are very wide. The TouchPad is also much like the iPad when it comes to expansion ports…there are none other than the power/sync micro-USB port on the bottom. While, like the iPad, it won’t really charge when plugged into a computer I will give HP credit for using a standard USB 2.0 cable rather than forcing their customers to carry a proprietary cable. The rest of the device has a power button, volume rocker, headphone jack and a microphone. There’s also a rear facing camera for use during video calls or staring at oneself. In my case, I’ve found it best to cover the camera with masking or electrical tape to prevent a nasty scare.
sx-907 2.6 inch E8 Analog TV FM Dual Cards QWERTY Keyboard Touch Screen Cell Phone(Black) Tri cards E71 TV Quad Band Tri sim Cards with Analog TV Java FM Cell Phone(Black with Silver) Mini N8i Quad Band Tri Cards with Analog TV FM Touch Screen Cell Phone(Orange) gpad g10 world of warcraft cosplay costumes ROKEA C3 Dual Band Dual sim Cards with FM Bluetooth Touch Screen Cell Phone 2010 new wireless diamond m-99000g 24db 2000mw usb adapter troop clothing line Fazhan W006 Quad Band Dual Cards Wifi Analog TV Java Touch Screen Cell Phone Adapter Rings M900 Quad Band Dual Cards With Wifi Analog TV Java QWERTY keyboard Cell Phone(White) china wholesale electronic bluedio av x6 Special Car DVD Player For Honda-City (new) With GPS /Bluetooth/iPod HDD Media Players F183 Dual Band Tri Cards with FM Bluetooth External Luxury Leather Case Cell Phone(Red) 8910 Dual Band Single Card with FM Bluetooth Cell Phone(Black) diy nail art printing stamp machine set monsten energy silicone bracelet 5 pcs free shipping JX C6000 Quad Band Dual Cards with Wifi Analog TV External Luxury QWERTY Keyboard Leather case Cell Phone(Black) TV 8000 Dual Card Quad Band Analog TV FM Bluetooth Touch Screen Cell Phone zelda gauges diesel time china W200i Quad Band Tri Cards Dual cameras Analog TV Java Cell Phone(Pink) The processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2 ghz dual core) seems adequate, but it’s not lightning fast. It’s more like the original iPad speed wise. Battery life is good, but not quite up to that of the iPad. Still recent tests provided at tomshardware.com have shown that you’ll get at least 5 ? hours when continuously playing full-screen video at max brightness. The iPad 2 is the category leader clocking in with close to 9 hours. Our personal results with normal to heavy usage including video playback, music playback, browsing the internet, email, facebook, twitter, etc. with brightness set to “auto” showed no problem in making it a full day on a charge with plenty to spare. Watching video on the TouchPad is a pleasure as like its competitors the screen, an IPS display, is quite nice. While there is nothing in the TouchPad’s hardware to really differentiate it (positively or negatively) from its competitors the interface and operating system are a different story. WebOS is the nicest mobile operating system I’ve used since Apple’s NewtonOS. The user interface is very easy to learn and just makes sense. There are a few gestures, but none that will require some of the cartilage and ligament stretching exercises that are becoming the norm for Apple devices. Basically, if you can touch, tap, pinch, and swipe up and to the side you’re good to go. When you touch the screen and lift your finger you’ll also see an effect similar to what would occur if you gently touched a placid pool of water…although the “ripple” is contained to about the size of your fingertip. When you start the device you’re faced with a pretty standard lock-screen. WebOS allows you to opt to have calendar alerts, current song, and other notifications to appear on this screen. You open the lock by sliding a “padlock” icon a short distance in any direction away from its’ home point. You may also apply a numeric pin or more complex alpha-numeric password if you wish. The desktop is clean with a digital clock and various notification icons in the top-right section of the menu bar. Tapping a small arrow next to the clock drops down a menu with many of the basic settings available like brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, VPN, airplane mode, rotation lock and muting. This is similar to Android’s 3.x interface, and far less annoying than Apple’s iOS that requires the user to find and launch the General Settings app and then find the proper setting menu to make a change. The top middle of the screen has a single line text entry field that’s labeled “Just type…” . This feature is very similar to iOS’ Spotlight search allowing the user to search apps and data on the device and throughout a number of internet-based services. You may select the default search engine and then add other areas to search very easily as you come across them while browsing or installing apps. Along the bottom of the screen sits an App Dock with five-user selectable apps and a fixed arrow which works similarly to Android’s “App Drawer” button taking you to a “launcher” screen with a tabbed interface. The tabs are All, Downloads, Favorites and Settings. All is all of your apps, Settings is the control panel, Downloads is all of the Apps that have been installed by the user through the HP App Catalog (App Store) or a home brew app store called “Preware”. Favorites are just that. The icons may be moved around with the now-standard hold, wait and drag method. Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a way to easily set up additional tabs or folders within each tab. I really don’t like having to scroll or page through what can become hundreds of icons to find the program I want. Of course, I could put my favorites on the Favorites page and use “Just Type” which is the HP version of Spotlight Search, but I guess I’m just a folder-liking kind of guy. So, what makes webOS special? To me it’s the way it handles multitasking. Working with multiple apps is easy and natural. You don’t close one app and then have to fish through a bar filled with icons to find the other app you want to re-launch. Rather, a simple swipe up from just off the bottom of the screen or a press of the physical home button shrinks your current app to a smaller, but actual, version of the app’s screen. You can then swipe left and right through your other running applications, simply tapping the card you want brings it to the front and full screen. Apps like Pandora continue to play while in the background. If you want to close an app you just swipe it up and off the screen. During my use I’ve had a fairly large number of apps open at once without noticing any performance problems, but if I was playing a video and had a lot of apps open it would trigger a warning that directed me to close some cards before initiating a new app. If an app has related items, say a picture in an email, those cards will be grouped together.
