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HP has at last revealed its long-awaited Slate, an 8.9-inch tablet with capacitive multi-touch and running Windows 7. The Slate, you will remember, was proudly touted by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer as an iPad killer, back before the iPad even existed. So is this an iPad competitor? No freakin’ way.

The HP Slate 500 Tablet PC is just that, a PC. It runs on a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, has 2GB RAM and a 64GB SSD, along with a Broadcom accelerator for 1080p video, a USB port, HDMI-out, a hardware Ctrl-Alt-Delete switch, a button to activate the on-screen keyboard and a pair of cameras, one on the back for photos and one on the front for Skyping. It also has, somewhat unbelievably, a slide-out Windows license. That’s right. Apparently any machine with Windows pre-installed needs to show the license info and HP, in order to keep the rear design clean, opted to add a slide-out plastic bar to display it. Oh, it is also Wi-Fi only: There’s no 3G radio.

There is one nice touch: the screen includes a Wacom digitizer so you can use a stylus to take notes on screen. There is nowhere to store the stylus, though, so you’ll lose it soon enough.

Clearly, the Slate is to full-featured tablet PCs as a netbook is to a proper notebook: a scaled back, underpowered portable with a too-small screen, running an OS designed for the desktop, not a touch-operated device. HP has tried to justify the ridiculous price with a disclaimer in its press release, which says it is “designed specifically for business.” The problem is, businesses are already buying the iPad, which is designed just to be good.

We’re certainly looking forward to seeing some proper rivals to the iPad, with ten-inch screens running an OS designed for touch. The HP Slate, a netbook with the keyboard missing, ain’t it.

HP Slate placeholder page [HP]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Cross your fingers and then hope and pray that this isn’t actually HP’s finished design for its Slate. The video purportedly shows the upcoming HP tablet, and it’s running Windows 7.

From what we can see, the hardware seems very capable. It has two cameras, a pair of speakers, a USB port and a capacitive touch-screen. From the front, it has the same wide, grab-able bezel and bright screen of the iPad. The problems start when the video’s maker x313xkillax boots the machine.

Windows 7 may be a great OS, but it is a desktop OS. See how x313xkillax tries to scroll the page but instead opens a new tab (or something – even he’s not sure)? That’s because his finger isn’t a tiny, sharp mouse-pointer (look closely and you’ll see the actual pointer appear on screen after boot). Also notice that there is a hardware key to switch the keyboard on and off. Without this, you’re screwed: the Windows 7 tablet I reviewed back in March had the same problem, only without the switch to rescue you. Switch into full-screen view in the web-browser, for example, and you had to plug in an external keyboard to escape.

Best of all, though, is the hardware Ctrl-Alt-Delete switch. The three-fingered salute is an essential part of corporate life (you need to press the combo to log-in to servers) but it is also the emergency life-raft when things go awry. Putting this on an iPad competitor is a big signal that HP has spent the months since the iPad launch sleeping.

It’s a shame, as the hardware looks great. I have a feeling that this is the actual, real, ready to go Slate, though, which will be a disaster. HP should just wait until it has a proper WebOS slate ready to go, instead of playing catchup with this half-assed solution.

HP Slate review [x313xkillax / YouTube via ]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Palm CEO John Rubinstein will continue to head up his webOS team under new boss HP, and will be working on smartphones, “future slate PCs and netbooks,” according to a statement from HP

The computer giant completed its acquisition of Palm yesterday, and announced that Palm will continue to develop both hardware and software, headed up by former Apple employee Rubinstein.

This will include new phones (the Pre and Pixi lines are now also owned by HP), but most exciting is the confirmation that there will be webOS tablets. After all, apart from iOS, name another operating system that is as suited to a tablet as the webOS (sure, Android is close, but still a little too clunky).

Better still, HP has the deep pockets to go up against Apple, and if Rubinstein and team are left to work on great machines their combined experience (many of them are also Apple alumni) should finally provide an iPad competitor. And even if you are a total, unashamed iPad fanboy, this should still excite you. Competition is good for us buyers. Take a look at the iPhone 4: Do you think it would be this good if Android and Palm weren’t chasing so close behind?

HP Completes Palm Acquisition [Yahoo]

Photo: Lisa Brewster/Flickr

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews