Design
The TouchPad boasts a glossy black casing (fingerprint smudges show really easily) with curved edges, meaning it's easy to hold.
Dimension-wise, and the TouchPad is 9.45'³ high, 7.48'³ wide and 0.54'³ deep. For comparisons sake, one of the more popular Australian tablets, Apple's iPad 2 is 9.5'³ high, 7.31'³ wide, 0.34'³ deep.
Down one side HP have chosen to carefully place speakers for the device, while the other has the volume controls. At the bottom of the device is a MicroUSB connection, and at the top sits a power button and headphone jack.
On the front of the device a webcam is situated above the screen, the display and then one menu button at the bottom of the display.
It's noticeably thicker and heavier than the iPad 2 '” it weighs roughly 140 grams more.
Intriguingly, the ambient light sensor on the TouchPad is situated on the top, right-hand corner of the device near the power button. This led to some rather annoying screen light changes depending on the way you hold it.
You can remove the rear backing of the device, but not easily like most Android tablets. While we were unable to take the backing off our review device for obvious reasons, according to some who have opened it up, the innards of the TouchPad are built 'like a PC' meaning you can potentially change batteries.
Hardware & Performance
You'd think the TouchPad would be lightening fast, given the past performance of Palm's mobile operating system, webOS, and the 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core, 1GB of RAM and Qualcomm Adreno core graphics card.
However it doesn't seem to be the case, and whether it's the software's fault (like HP claims it is) or hardware remains to be seen.
Our review unit came with the latest update to the webOS software which HP says is supposed to resolve the issues, but we still experienced sluggishness through-out the review period.
One of the main problems is how long it takes for apps to open. You're stuck watching the apps icon glow away until finally the device chooses to open the app. Once you're in most apps run smoothly, but the waiting isn't fun.
Apps also quit randomly at times, and the startup time is also way too long '” ridiculously, consistently it was over a minute before it became ready for use.
That said, the old Angry Birds test performed well, with the game running smoothly. However there's no tablet edition of the game available yet '” there's only two editions made with webOS phones in mind '” so it's zoomed in and blurred.
Network-wise, and while there's no 3G TouchPad in Australia yet, the Wi-Fi model supports the normal dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g and n. Bluetooth version 2.1 is also in-built.
The front-facing webcam is a poor 1.3 megapixels in quality. HP says its partnership with Beats Audio provides TouchPad users with a 'superior' audio experience, and in our tests its audio was the best we've heard from a tablet device.
Features
webOS is an amazing tablet operating system '” used correctly, it truly does rival the likes of Apple's iOS behometh and Google's open source Android OS.
It's evident HP and the former Palm team have worked as hard as possible on the platform, and even taken note of the little things such such as a nice ripple animation which shows where you touch the screen.
The on-screen keyboard is also nicely spaced out '” typing wasn't as much of a chore as on some other tablets, and it was slightly better than Android's tablet keyboard.
There's a feature HP call Synergy, that combines work and social lives together. It allows for easy integration with social networking accounts including Facebook and Twitter with calendars and contacts, although it doesn't appear to work across al HP's TouchPad apps.
Apps that ship on the TouchPad include Web, Email, Calendar, Messaging, Memos, Quickoffice (for working with all types of office documents), Adobe Reader, Maps, Contacts, Phone & Video Calls, Music, Photos & Videos, Calculator, Clock, Facebook and YouTube.
All the apps are well designed, and make the most of the webOS user interface.
However talking about apps, and there's one big flaw at the time we reviewed the TouchPad. No paid apps were available in Australia. A spokesperson confirmed they're on the agenda and will be made available soon after launch, but for now you're limited to the 650+ free apps, many of which are designed for webOS smartphones rather than the TouchPad, so they're zoomed in and noticeably blurry.
HP being a company which provides most of the world's printers, printing in webOS was always going to be well integrated in the TouchPad. In fact, it's once again it's amongst the best we've seen on a tablet.
Tap the printer icon, choose a printer (it'll find most recent wireless printers automagically without the need for drivers to be installed) and away it goes. We were unable to test how well it works with other printer manufacturers, but you can manually add a printer via IP address.
The TouchPad can also be used as a phone via a Bluetooth connection to another webOS phone, although unfortunately it's not yet possible in Australia given the lack of local webOS smartphones.
Final Word
When using the TouchPad you get a real sense of 'what could have been'. Had HP made it available last year or even earlier this year, it truly would have been a tough competitor with other tablets on the market today.
But unfortunately, while the device itself is solid, sturdy and well designed, its performance lets it down, and the low-res webcam mean it's not ideal for high quality video chats.
That said, the new, low price thanks to the price cuts made last week across the world by HP mean the TouchPad will be one of the cheapest tablets available in the Australian market potentially opening it up to a whole range of consumers otherwise out-priced from the market.
All in all the TouchPad is worth a look if you're after a casual use tablet rather than a work or productivity-based device. It's also a good change from the range of Android 'Honeycomb' tablets currently swamping the local market, and a welcome competitor to Apple's iPad device.
The TouchPad is available today from Harvey Norman stores or HP's online store, with the 16GB model $499 and 32GB $599.
