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Reviews of HP’s WebOS-powered TouchPad tablet have appeared, describing a high quality user interface but poor performance, software bugs and a disappointingly heavy design.
HP have much riding on the TouchPad, the firm’s first tablet effort based on the Palm-acquired WebOS. Others too had hoped that the tablet PC market might gain another credible platform to compete with the Apple juggernaut, or at least on a par with Android.
However reviews emerging on the web have been decidedly mixed. Most were impressed with a slick user interface of WebOS but less enamoured with slugging performance and a variety of software bugs. Worse still, when it comes to pure hardware alone, the TouchPad has been broadly criticised for being thicker and heavier than the competition.
CNET said the TouchPad "would have made a great competitor for the original iPad, but its design, features, and speed put it behind today’s crop of tablet heavyweights."
Engadget said that consumers faced with alternatives such as the iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be left with few reasons to choose the HP TouchPad over the thinner and lighter alternatives with better performance.
Thisismynext.com lamented the "stability and smoothness of the user experience" compared to tablet rivals, adding that the TouchPad was plagued by "Sluggish and unfinished software throughout the OS."
Yet most reviews expressed optimism that the WebOS tablet had room to improve where it might become a contender. Poor quality software has so far been the hallmark of every iPad-rival launched, but as Google has shown with the recent improvements in Android 3.1, it’s never too late to pick your socks up.
