Mapping out the fourth corner of the tablet atlas, HP unveiled today its TouchPad tablet due for Australian release on August 15 from $599. But for HP, webOS is the bigger picture.
Some 14 months after the Australian release of Apple's world-conquering iPad (and nearly five months after the iPad 2 hit), HP will finally make available its TouchPad tablet in Australia from August 15, with a 16GB version costing $599 and a 32GB model for $699, both on sale exclusively at launch through Harvey Norman (and HP online).
The TouchPad will vie for consumers' attention in an already congested tablet marketplace: Apple leads the space with its iPad and iPad 2 (both running iOS); a number of manufacturers including Samsung, Motorola, Toshiba, Acer and ASUS offer tablets running Google's Android operating system; and RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, running its QNX OS, launched in Australia last month.
The TouchPad shows running apps as "cards", which can be bunched together or viewed separately.
Against this background, the challenge for HP is to differentiate the TouchPad from its already established competitors. Hardware specs-wise, this is a tough ask. The TouchPad comes in 16GB or 32GB versions (both Wi-Fi only at this stage) and is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm dual-core CPU with 1GB RAM. The device features a 9.7-inch 1,024 x 768 multi-touch display, front-facing 1.3MP camera and Bluetooth 2.1. These are pretty much the stock specifications you'd find on any 2011 tablet released so far this year.
The TouchPad looks good in its sleek black casing but feels a little on the hefty side at approximately 740 grams (and with its 13.7mm depth). Some of the bulk may be attributable to its inbuilt inductive charging ability (if the TouchPad is connected to a nifty, optional $89.95 Touchstone stand, it can charge wirelessly and display content in "Exhibition mode" while doing so). Some of the more notable omissions of the device as compared against the rest of the tablet field include no 3G version, no memory card expansion, no rear-facing camera and no video out.
But what truly separates HP's offering from the rest of the pack is the operating system which powers the TouchPad. webOS, the roots of which lie in Palm OS (Palm was acquired by HP in April last year), has been available on devices overseas since 2009 but will make its Australian debut next month on the TouchPad. Designed from the ground up as a web-centric, multi-tasking operating system, webOS is a unique software asset for HP, and one which particularly differentiates the TouchPad from the hordes of similar-spec Android tablets on the market.
HP Australia's TouchPad product manager, Eric Chou, gives a quick demo of how multitasking works in the device
Some of the standout webOS 3.0 features on the TouchPad include "true" multi-tasking (app instances are displayed as "cards" and can be bunched together in stacks), HP Synergy (integrated and synced messaging, contacts and social networking accounts) and Just Type (a universal text field which can be used as a springboard for messaging, search, notes, status updates etc.).
HP is also touting the benefits of webOS's Flash support and the TouchPad's Beats Audio system (optimised audio, devised in collaboration with Dr Dre's Beats brand).
In the long-term view then, perhaps the most significant aspect of today's unveiling wasn't the TouchPad at all, but the in-the-background premiere of the OS behind it. HP has big plans for webOS and is acknowledging as much. As Anthony McMahon, VP of HP webOS, Asia Pacific and Japan said at today's launch: "We believe that the [tablet] market is growing rapidly and there's still a lot of opportunities for another [OS] player in the market... We ship about 100 million devices a year, and we are looking to bring the webOS experience across our notebooks, netbooks, PCs [and printer interfaces]... There's nothing stopping having webOS as a UI translate across many of our offerings."
The Touchstone stand, sold separately, wirelessly charges the TouchPad by induction, while enabling "Exhibition" mode.
