HPs TouchPad im Review-Roundup

In der vergangenen Nacht endete die Geheimhaltungserklärung der TouchPad-Rezensionsmuster von HP für die US-Presse. Die Testurteile zum morgen erscheinenden Tablet lesen sich sehr einheitlich: Tolles Betriebssystem, keine Zusatz-Software, schlechte Hardware und insgesamt kein nennenswerter Grund, das HP dem iPad 2 vorzuziehen.

Um ein Mitbewerber-Gespür zu bekommen, hier einige (vor mir) ausgewählte Zitate und viel wichtiger: die Links zu den vollständigen Reviews.

So what should HP do next? Fix the TouchPad’s bugs. Round up some big-name apps. Move quickly to release a next-generation TouchPad. Put WebOS on more devices. Be patient. Repeat.

HP didn’t mess with a good thing: the TouchPad sports a magazine-like 9.7″ screen with 1024-by-768 resolution, just like the iPad.

In the LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous surfing over Wi-Fi), the TouchPad lasted 6 hours and 56 minutes. By comparison, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ran for 8:23 and the iPad 2 lasted over 11 hours.

The market is in its infancy and so are the products that occupy it, and tablets must crawl before they can walk. The TouchPad is indeed crawling in its current state, but so is its competition.

Its back is black plastic, glossy with a piano-like finish. It’s reminiscent of the early, similarly sheen PS3 consoles — cool to touch and nice to look at, but an astonishingly effective fingerprint magnet.

Video playback is more than acceptable and a special desktop app allows for music syncing with iTunes libraries. Oddly, videos and photos appear in the same app, which makes things confusing.

The TouchPad often seemed quite slow at launching new apps, leaving me staring at a pulsating, glowing icon. When a lot of apps were running, everything could get especially laggy. Occasionally, everything would freeze for a few seconds and then resume.

But, at least for now, I can’t recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2.

Sadly, the TouchPad is more blah than brilliant. The software is great, though, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that HP can come up with a stronger tablet next time around.

The TouchPad is far from perfect — really, not even close right now. Still, there is DNA here that is amazing, and deserves to be given a second look. What HP has done in just a year with webOS is commendable, and if the fixes for some of these big, ugly bugs come as fast as the company is promising, the TouchPad could be the contender everyone over there thinks it is.

You’re stepping on my dreams, HP. The TouchPad is so close, closer than anything else, to being good. But it’s also very, very far from it. Look, give this thing six months. It could be amazing. If it’s not by then, well, I guess that says everything that needs to be said.

But there are signs of greatness here. H.P. is coming to this battle very late, but it says it intends to stay the course. True, it’s tilting at windmills — but at least it’s riding an impressive steed.