The HP TouchPad Review: webOS on the Big Screen
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 17, 2011 11:11 PM ESTMessaging
A killer feature of the original Palm Pre was its integrated messaging client - something still not duplicated today by any first party. The idea is really nothing revolutionary, we have had unified messaging clients on the desktop for over a decade now, but that doesn't make its impact here any less special.
The TouchPad's Messaging app currently supports AIM, Google, Skype and Yahoo accounts. I would like to see HP make Messaging truly universal on the TouchPad and add support for MSN and Facebook Messenger here as well. The absence of Facebook chat here is a bit of a shame considering the high quality of the Facebook app itself and the integration of Facebook contacts into the OS.
The UI is a pretty standard two column layout - contacts on the left, conversations on the right. Like many other multi-paned UIs in webOS 3, you can make the conversation window full screen if you'd like by swiping to the left.
Messaging leverages Synergy and allows you to quickly switch between IM protocols mid conversation without losing your history.
On the Pre this was most useful for having a conversation over AIM and then continuing it over SMS if your contact left their desk and went mobile. I don't know many use cases where you'd switch between IM services in the middle of a conversation, but thankfully HP included support for sending/receiving SMSes on the TouchPad.
The feature only works with phones running webOS 2.2 or later, which already eliminates a large portion of the population. But I'm hoping that HP either opens it up to other devices or puts out more competitive smartphones so more users can begin to take advantage of this feature.
All you need to do is pair your webOS phone to the TouchPad via Bluetooth and you can use the tablet to send/receive text messages. The SMSes actually go through your phone but you'd be able to manage all of your conversations on the TouchPad. I can see this being very useful if you're working and someone is trying to have an SMS conversation with you at the same time. I find that I can either have a SMS conversation or use a computer, I can't do both. The constant switching of devices inevitably hurts productivity - the TouchPad's approach fixes this problem.
There's just one small issue: SMS functionality on the TouchPad is broken. The Veer is the only phone that'll work with the TouchPad in this capacity and it needs a software update to properly support SMS via the TouchPad. The phone will pair with the TouchPad but any SMSes you send will fail, and none will be received on the tablet:
Being able to send text messages from a tablet is a huge feature. HP clearly understands the vision that devices need to work together and in a broader sense than just getting data from the same cloud. My biggest concern here is that there is no flagship webOS phone available today that you can use alongside the TouchPad to enable this functionality. The Pre 3 needs to be here now, and to be honest, its successor probably needs to show up shortly thereafter to really convince people to buy two webOS devices.
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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?