The HP TouchPad Review: webOS on the Big Screen
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTDisplay
With the exception of Samsung's forthcoming Galaxy Tab 8.9, most tablets these days seem to either fall in the 7-inch or 10-inch camp. The former offers portability while the latter is better suited for more productive environments. Given everything I've said about webOS thus far, it makes sense that HP would choose a 9.7-inch form factor for the TouchPad.
For a device whose primary method of interaction is its screen, having a good display is very important. Thankfully HP did a good job with the TouchPad's IPS panel. The TouchPad's 9.7-inch display is near identical to what Apple used in the iPad 2.
At its highest setting the TouchPad delivers 92% of the brightness of the iPad 2. The loss is noticeable but not the end of the world.
Black levels are also competitive with the iPad 2.
Color calibration of the panel is very good. My review sample had its white point set at 6600K. There are definitely multiple panel vendors used in TouchPads, which is to be expected. I had another TouchPad for a short while and it was even dimmer and had a different white point (~6000K). I would prefer it if tablet makers had tighter tolerances for variance in display panels, but I guess there are bigger problems to solve first.
Ignore the black brightness value at 0%, the colorimeter wouldn't read values that low
Brightness is pretty linear and the white level remains constant regardless of brightness setting. There is a toggle for auto dimming, which I assumed meant dimming based on ambient light but the toggle didn't seem to do much in my testing. I shined an LED flash light all over the TouchPad but couldn't get the display brightness to change at all. Looking around the bezel I don't see any evidence of an ambient light sensor so I'm not entirely sure the purpose of the toggle. Just to be safe I tested in a bright room and disabled the auto dimming toggle for both display and battery life tests.
The webOS UI is generally pretty light so outdoor use is a bit better than Honeycomb, but at max brightness the TouchPad is still not quite bright enough to comfortably deal with direct sunlight. The other problem is how easily the glass picks up grease from your hands. Once you've got a lot of finger prints on the surface it becomes even more difficult to read outside. These aren't TouchPad specific issues, nearly every tablet other than the PlayBook is tough to use in very bright conditions. Seeking shelter or being a hermit with your new tablet are the only present day solutions.
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Conner_36 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
to put it simply on the ipad there are apps for thatHrel - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
When did this become CellTech.com? Seriously at first I appreciated the coverage, but really when the OS and hardware is all basically the same you don't need to review EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT RELEASED!!!! Give us bench marks sure, so we can compare specs. Write maybe a page about your impressions on customizations and screen and what not; but that should be it. Why all the articles on this mostly the same crap? Why can't you be this devoted to laptops? There are still TONS of interesting laptops out there you haven't even talked about. I'm not just talking keyboards and screens here, but significant amounts of hardware you simply DO NOT have benchmarked.I almost feel like you need to move all this tablet/smartphone/blah blah blah crap to it's own site. I'm sick of seeing it. It's stupid and most people simply do not need it. It's not that interesting and you are focusing WAY too much on it.
Hrel - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
P.S. WHY would I buy a 500 dollar tablet when I can get a pretty good laptop for that same price?Seriously these things need to drop down to 200 bucks or less without a 8000 dollar contract; this shit is insane. Only handheld I care about at all are PSP Vita and everything made my Archos and you guys haven't touched on any of that AT ALL!!!!!!
Honestly, FUCK anything and everything that requires a contract!!!!
jebo - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I disagree, I'm really enjoying Anand's looks at the mobile industry.Re: a $200 tablet, there's always the Nook Color.
Speaking of which, I would like to see the Nook Color mentioned more in these reviews. IMHO, it's still one of the top 3 choices for prospective Tablet buyers due to its cost and the screen quality. I would love to know how it more directly compares with the newer tablets.
kmmatney - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I bought a Nook for $189 on E-bay - direct from Barnes and Noble. It has flash enabled, but is a it under-powered. It works OK for my purposes - browsing on the couch, and entertainment while traveling. Other than that, it doesn't get used a whole lot, which is why I didn't want to spend more than $200.dookiex - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
I don't understand the logic to this. You don't want to spend more than $200 so you ended up with a underpowered and under-supported nook and thus basing off your expectations of tablet devices off of your nook experience. Illogical.Mumrik - Monday, August 22, 2011 - link
And that's why so many of us just picked up HP Touchpads for 99 or 149 bucks.Impulses - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
First off, your rant is way off base... Every single tablet can be bought sans contract. Are they overpriced? IMO, yes, but for millions of people who don't need a laptop (or who have a heavy/big laptop) these tablets are a prefect complement... And AT puts out the best tablet/smartphone reviews on the web, bar none. I really hope they don't slow down anytime soon, even though I'm not even in the market for a tablet right more.My next upgrade will probably be an ultraportable to replace my netbook (as you said, a better way to spend $500-700), but there's other places on the web doing competent laptop reviews. Smartphone reviews in particular are awful almost anywhere else, completely devoid of facts or any empirical testing. I do agree that maybe they don't need to review as many mid-range models tho, the three different reviews of single core LTE VZW phones didn't really tell us anything different... But then again, those phones ARE VZW's high end models right now so others would disagree about the reviews' priority.
sledge333 - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I totally agree! Sick of all these so wanabee products! Give me a laptop any day. Give me a normal phone any day! Boys and their toys! More suitable for women who carry handbags, but for men, huh! Get a tailored made pair of jeans with a crunch proof pocket to protect it!Add the cost whilst sitting outside some fancy coffee shop playing with your toy , because some bastard runs past and nicks it!
And anyone that wants to watch a movie on a piddley little screen or play games - save up your money for the opticians, you're gonna need it!
P.S I signed up today just because of the boring reviews on crap I will never use! Get back to computers not bloody toys!
SongEmu - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Personally, I appreciate his attention to the rapidly changing scene of mobile technology... Granted, I'd love some PC hardware bench's... but what he's doing isn't a bad thing.