![\"Kindle](\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/PADD.jpg\" "\\"Kindle")
<\/a>![\"Picard!\"](\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Picard-with-iPad-PADD.png\" "\\"Picard!\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Sarah_Sisko_reconstruction.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"A](\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/st-padd.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/a><\/p>\nand going back a bit further this: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Anyone remember this? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not a massive surprise there was such fuss about Microsoft\u2019s rumoured Courier project!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So the years went by and we had laptops that were called tablets with \u201ctouch\u201d screens that needed a stylus to work with and it was no different to carrying a heavy laptop around with you (and a wallet that was as empty as the tablet was heavy!) <\/p>\n Until finally Apple released a massive iPod\/iPhone and called it the iPad and redefined what we call a tablet. <\/p>\n Unfortunately, the iPad isn\u2019t for me and I\u2019ve been waiting for a viable alternative ever since. (I do have a unfair personal bias towards Apple products, , but that\u2019s for another time \u2013 or shared over a pint if you\u2019re buying!)<\/p>\n But for my mind there hasn\u2019t been a viable alternative. Lots of different manufacturers tried to get in on the act but they aren\u2019t quite there. <\/p>\n So when HP announced they were going to acquire Palm in 2010 this got my attention. An operating system that was showing some promise with the giant that is HP behind it \u2013 what could go wrong? <\/p>\n Quite a lot actually. Before we get on to the device itself, when it was released as soon as I saw the price my heart sank.<\/p>\n Approx. \u00a3399 for the 16Gb model and \u00a3479 for the 32Gb model.<\/p>\n HP aren\u2019t the only ones guilty of this. The manufacturers seem to think that because people are willing to pay a premium for the iPad they should price their devices to get near that price. The thing is one<\/u> of the reasons I wasn\u2019t interested in an iPad was<\/u> the price. As I write this you can pick up the wi-fi only, 16Gb iPad 2 from the Apple store for \u00a3399.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a tablet if you\u2019re going to match the iPad for price surely you need something software\/hardware wise that makes you stand out. The TouchPad and lots of other doesn\u2019t specifically have anything that makes it standout from the iPad (an exception to this would be the Asus Transformer<\/a> for example)<\/p>\n One of my concerns is that while it\u2019s certainly a clever piece of kit and runs tons of useful apps one thing that it isn\u2019t is a computer. As a result if I got one would it fit in with my lifestyle (personally and professionally) or would I be throwing at least<\/strong> \u00a3400 on something I\u2019d end up not using as I\u2019d find myself reaching for my laptop or my netbook?<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t really know until I had one but I wasn\u2019t willing to spend that sort of money to find out. <\/p>\n I also didn\u2019t really know exactly what I wanted one for. Yes, the touch screen is nice, as is the portability but I have a netbook that while it\u2019s a little underpowered it does everything that I need to do when out and about. <\/p>\n So back to the TouchPad.<\/p>\n You\u2019re probably aware HP decided they didn\u2019t want to be in the tablet market any longer and to get rid of the existing stock they slashed the prices in big way. First in America, and finally over here. Take-up was massive and various retailers saw their online stores fall over as they struggled to cope with the demand which also left a lot of disappointed people who either couldn\u2019t get onto the websites to actually place an order or battled through to place an order only to be told later the order couldn\u2019t be fulfilled. I was one of the lucky few (with a massive thank you to @SpritesBites<\/a> for helping me out). <\/p>\n I\u2019m still trying to decide whether this proves HP got the original pricing wrong for the Touchpad or will people buy anything when it\u2019s so drastically reduced in price as it\u2019s a bargain. <\/p>\n Nearly a month on I\u2019m not regretting the purchase and I can report I do use it everyday. I\u2019m certainly glad I didn\u2019t pay the original price for it though. <\/p>\n At home it\u2019s been really useful as an instant-on device for browsing, checking email, twitter, Facebook and playing music while doing bits and pieces around the house.<\/p>\n At work it\u2019s become my third screen. I push all my social media onto it which has actually helped increase my productivity as moving away from my keyboard and mouse is more of an explicit action than switching to another tab in the browser on my desktop. It\u2019s also where I keep various to-do lists and notes which is helping me get a bit more organised. <\/p>\n webOS is actually pretty neat. Treating applications like cards is an interesting abstraction and the upward swiping gesture to close a card is nice. The application notifications are certainly not intrusive and having the home button flicker when you receive a notification while the device is in standby is a very nice touch. The look and feel is on the whole pretty attractive and some applications such as Guardian Zeitgeist, Sky News, iGizmo and rad.io are a joy to use. <\/p>\n The built-in applications are pretty decent. Contacts, calendar and email are simple enough to use and Exchange integration is obviously massively important.<\/p>\n The app catalogue is nice to use as well. I really appreciate the fact it recognises when you have an app already installed and instead of a \u201cdownload\u201d option you get a \u201claunch\u201d option. Featured applications are displayed in a magazine style which is a joy to browse through when you have a spare five minutes. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not without it\u2019s faults though. <\/p>\n When I first started using it the whole experience was very sluggish. I\u2019d certainly recommend reading this great piece by Gareth Halfacree<\/a> which has various different tweaks that can help improve your experience. I\u2019ve switched logging level to a minimum which has made a massive difference. (it appears to have broken Angry Birds though!) I haven\u2019t quite been brave enough to install PreWare<\/a> yet though but it\u2019s something I\u2019ll be doing soon. <\/p>\n Flash in the browser is both a help and a hindrance. It\u2019s been great that sites such as YouTube just work but there have been some sites which have been a pain. When browsing the BBC news site if a page has an embedded video I\u2019ve had the page constantly refresh. I\u2019ve actually switched to the mobile version of that site just to make it usable. <\/p>\n When it\u2019s the hardware is getting a little bit stressed you don\u2019t always receive feedback. It\u2019s very frustrating when you\u2019re using an app and your on-screen touches suddenly stop doing anything. After jabbing the same spot two or three times it comes back to life and those extra screen presses are then processed causing mayhem in your current app. <\/p>\n Finally you have to accept that going forward the future is uncertain for webOS. HP still haven\u2019t fully indicated what their plans are and other than the homebrew community you can\u2019t see many developers wanting to put together apps for the platform. <\/p>\n In summary, I\u2019m glad I was lucky enough to get one at the price I did. With more usage I can see it being a gateway to me being more open about spending a bit more next time around. <\/p>\n So what exactly will next time be? <\/p>\n At the moment it\u2019ll probably be a straight fight between the iPad 3 and Windows 8.<\/p>\n The rumoured Amazon device may have an impact but at the moment there is no concrete information to go on.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not entirely sure what to make of Windows 8 yet. Is it a desktop operating system or is a tablet operating system? The Metro interface does look very nice but how practical is it going to be on a traditional system (i.e with a keyboard and mouse).<\/p>\n The move to an ARM version is on the face of it interesting but since it looks like existing x86 applications will need to be re-written for the ARM version why are Microsoft bothering? We\u2019ll effectively end up with two different operating systems and they\u2019ll be confusion over which applications will run on which device. Wouldn\u2019t the Windows Phone operating system have been a better fit? <\/p>\n All just thoughts at the moment \u2013 Windows 8 has a long way to go until release and Apple are being their usual tight lipped selves on any plans they may have for the next iPad You\u2019re notice I\u2019ve not said an awful lot about Android. I\u2019ve not seen many devices that seem to for for me from a price\/hardware spec perspective and the multitude of different operating system versions and whether the next one would be available for your chosen device was frustrating. It is something I\u2019ll revisit though. <\/p>\n As I suspected I\u2019ve jumped around a bit here and this post is long enough so it\u2019s a good place to stop. <\/p>\n Just like every other area of IT everyone has their own reasons as to why their chosen bit of kit is better than the others so please leave a comment \u2013 I\u2019d love to hear what you think!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s overdue as I\u2019ve been in possession of a HP TouchPad for almost a month now but also I\u2019ve wanted to write about tablets\/slates\/whatever for a while but I had so many different things to talk about the post jumped all over the place and I scrapped just about everything I\u2019d written! So here\u2019s my<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n