Assessing HP's Cloudy Tablet Future

Read between the lines and you'll find that that's basically what I was saying. They (HP) *barely* have an Android-based product now. To quietly euthanize it (ala MS' Kin) wouldn't cause any ripples or fussing at all.

As I have mentioned before, the only implemtnations even close to impressive for Android right now are 3.7", 4", and 4.3" smartphones. Everything else--eBook readers, PMPs, tablets, smartbooks etc.--doesn't scale well or would be better suited running something else.

I think that WebOS 1.x doesn't even factor into HP's overall plans. Just for starters it's missing SO much---no virtual keyboard, weak landscape screen orientation support, no support for external storage volumes, no support for high resolution screens/aspect ratios, no voice dialing (Bluetooth or otherwise), probably no cannot handle BT 3.0 or 802.11n either. I am sure much of that was in the works for WebOS 1.5 or beyond but HP will probably get the Pre/Pixi line to 1.5 then let 'em die. WebOS 2.x+ is where the action is. Look an Android: Utter shit at 1.5 and below. A few glimmers of hope at 1.6, the first truly usable implementation at 2.0, widespread adoption at 2.1, and performance boosts at 2.2, with 3.0 promising an overhauled UI and, presumably, much better scalability.

I basicallly agree with your statement with more being wrong with Android than WebOS. However, Android is like the Wintel market--it has so much marketshare, compelling hardware and momentum that it just cannot be stopped. But IMHO WebOS beats Android for PIM, UI, and multitasking (and memory management!)

The largest I'd ever go with Android would be a 4.3" smartphone. Anything larger and I'd go either iPad (unlikely) or wait for something like a Core i ULV Windows 7-based convertible 11.6" or 12" machine.

HP's netbooks are decent, especially the Mini 311 series, but I still give the nod to Samsung, Acer or Asus, though I have admittedly never played with a higher-end HP Atom machine likr the 5102, just the cheap plasticky ones they have at Costco, BB, Staples etc.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro

What I meant was that WebOS 1.x was essentially a non-starter. Sluggish, feature-deficient OS, little developer support, and very underwhelming hardware. I will consider WebOS 2.0+, just like Android 2.0+, the first release worthy of any real attention.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro

Touchscreen PC monitors have existed for years, HP was just the first to try and take it to the masses via B&M reail chains. And I would not at all think they've made a massive sales success of it. In fact, other than BB, I cannot think of a retail chain where I've recently seen any HP Touchsmart products.

Have you actually played with one of the HP Touchsmart all-in-one PCs or notebooks? Even with massive hardware behind them, they are horribly sluggish and unresponsive. Think iTunes on Wintel but WORSE! And I don't mean on netbook specs; we're talking 4GB + RAM, 7200rpm HDDs and fast Core 2 Duo (or even Core i) CPUs and dedicated GPUs. A stock, stripped-down Win 7 install isn't anywhere close to such a slow performer.

HP has never had a history of being a software company. They just did software as something that came along for the ride as a necessity for their hardware to operate. Their PCs are slow, bloatware-laden abominations and even their printer driver packages are huge, flaky, and clunkier than the competition. A shame, as the company has produced some superb hardware over the years. But if I had a new HP anything right here, the first thing I'd do is a clean install or some kind of de-crapification process. I sincerely hope that the "new" post-Palm HP gets it and goes back to a leaner & meaner philosophy.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro

But just as the frikkin iPhone is wonderful, there are still people who won't buy it, for whatever reason. Some of those same people might harbor similar stupid prejudices against the iPad (I peer at Gekko). Android won't cut it -- at least this year -- in tablet form. So instead of saving up for one, go for a webOS tablet.

Gekko, android and webos ARE the past, they aren't the present and sure as hell won't be the future (a lot of wishful thinking won't change that).

Developers won't flock to an os that's obsolete or fragmented. It's cool that you're happy with evo and you are able to watch Mel Gibson's rants (whatever turns you on;) but Apple has the bucks and the talent to continue building the best mobile devices on the planet and the foresight to lead the industry.
Why fight it? The more bucks we dump into Apple the more advancements we will see, supporting want-to-be companies seems not the wisest decision.

Gary
Tech Center Labs
www.talestuff.com
www.iTalentProductions.com

>>So what? MS never had a history of being a hardware company and cleaned up with mice, keyboards, and some other crap. HP doesn't have to do the software, they just have to STFU and let Palm do that.

HP has some great software people. However they are in the enterprise space and not the consumer space. Given that WebOS is Linux based, I'm sure that they can leverage some of their UNIX expertise from the enterprise side.