The HP TouchPad Review: webOS on the Big Screen
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTDespite the similarities to the PlayBook (or the PlayBook's similarities to a webOS tablet), the TouchPad does ship with a full blown email client. The Email app supports multiple accounts, Exchange and a unified inbox, although you can browse individual inboxes independently.
The UI is a traditional three column view that appears in both portrait and landscape modes. I should add that this is traditional for a desktop, not for a tablet. Both Google and Apple opt for a two column layout by default. To be fair, the webOS 3 Email app can quickly switch between one, two and three column views using the slider widgets at the bottom of the app:
The Accounts column is customizable. By default it shows you the inboxes for all associated accounts but you can add other folders to your favorites list (e.g. Sent Items, Trash, or custom server side folders) by simply starring them.
Email synchronized with our IMAP server instantaneously, faster than on any other smartphone or tablet platform. This applied to both receiving and deleting emails. I use our IMAP server to ensure synchronization across all of my computing devices and thus it's very helpful when a device makes sure that something I've deleted is immediately propagated to the server.
The one thing that isn't so instantaneous is how webOS updates the unread messages count. For whatever reason the number of unread messages lags considerably behind any changes you make to your inbox. The screenshot below shows you what I'm talking about:
At one point there were four unread messages in my inbox. I've since read and/or deleted them all, however this number will remain until I wait a long time, manually refresh the inbox or restart the Email app. The problem doesn't always surface, but it is fairly regular. It's a bug.
The bigger problem with the Email app is that sometimes this will happen:
You'll try to read an email but the actual body of the email won't appear. Even worse, sometimes the contents of your inbox won't appear although this is a far more rare occurrence. Again, restarting the Email app fixes this. As a consolation, at least in webOS it's pretty easy to close/restart apps.
There's no support for message threading and although you can search emails downloaded locally to the TouchPad, you can't search emails stored server side.
You can delete individual emails by swiping across the message in your Inbox and selecting delete. Multiple selections are possible if you hit the folder icon to the right of the synchronization button.
Attachments are handled very well. You get an expandable list of attachments under the subject in message view. Images can be viewed without leaving the Email app, while documents will spawn an instance of Quick Office in a new card on the Email app stack.
Performance is an issue in the Email app. Scrolling through emails is clearly animated at less than 30 fps. The bigger performance complaint is when you actually go to reply to an email. Replies aren't handled within the Email app card, instead a new card is spawned for the new message. The same is true for forwarding an email as well. The process of spawning a new card takes a couple of seconds, whereas I believe most people are used to more instantaneous response when they go to reply to an email.
On a positive note however, using a new card for replies makes it very easy to just throw away a reply if you decide you don't like it.
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Saraandy - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I loved the Comparison table, the most comfortable way to select the best! Thanks for the wonderful write-up on HP touch pad.Inspiring Designs; Creative Excellence!!!Oscarcharliezulu - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Thx Anand, great review I live the extent and depth compared to even print magazines.Web-OS looks good, but I have to say it's a damn shame that really it's missed the market share and Apps boat. HP should use it's expertise to produce great hardware and merge it's webos features with android and become the premier blue-chip tablet maker that way. There is some evidence that developers are even favoring iOS over android as iOS users actually buy apps. What hope does webos have - wouldnt you develop for iOS, android or win8 tablet first way before this or playbook?
We've seen this type of wishful thinking before in the tech world. Perhaps IBM will bring out a tablet with os2 warp on it?
audemars02 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
wow,just like your veer review, this was a very fair and complete review. You clearly get what HP is going for and how great this tablet can be. A few quick comments for you on the review:Keyboard - are you that you can resize the keyboard? just hold down the keyboard key on the bottom right and you get 4 size options. Also, you can press-and-hold on most keys to get additional symbols/characters
SMS forwarding - the Pre2 will be able to forward text messages as well once it gets a future software update as well. So the pre2, pre3 and veer will be able to do that
call forwarding - you can actually register the touchpad as a Bluetooth headset for any phone, not just webOS phones...this can be cool for people who dont have a webOS phone yet
app loading times - while it may be slower to load up apps at first, it really needs to be said that once loaded up as a card, app loading times become instantaneous due to webOS's awesome multitasking
touchstone - you may want to mention that you can still charge the touchpad on the touchstone, even when it is in the HP touchpad case. Its so convienent!
again, great job with your review. I cant wait to see how things get better after the OTA update we will be getting at the end of the month. Should fix a lot of the issues you mentioned
adam
@audemars02
jamawass - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Great review as usual. However call logs for cell phones and skype are logged in the phone application.Also a mention about printing to hp printers ( I have printed succesfully to my network connected mfc-6310, touchpad autodiscovered it effortlessly) would've rounded up your review. Thanks
bobharp - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
The review content and method was clear concise and informative.Great work. I wish I felt I needed a tablet.
Will take a serious look at the Pre3.
Thanks!
randinspace - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
When I read this sentence: "There's tons of room for innovation and we're seeing its competitors offer clear examples of that innovation," I started to wonder how long it would be before Apple sued HP if the TouchPad actually managed to take off.Conner_36 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
i think they wont, because surprise surprise... Palm has patents! Most of these killer features are probably protected by patents and some of the obvious UI holes might be there to avoid law suites.Apple isn't an 'evil' entity, its a business. They got pissed at google when they blatantly changed their andriod os from looking like rims to looking like ios. Android innovation is a step forward two steps backwards. Notice how apple tore the phone away from the carrier and googles fine with handing the market back?
StormyParis - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Thanks for a very complete and informative review. Which casts this tablet under a better light than other reviews, and nicely highlights some strengths (speakers ! yes, watching movies requires good speakers !) and weaknesses.dagamer34 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
The UI for the TouchPad is there, the performance expected of it is not.steven75 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Why buy this over an iPad 2?