The HP TouchPad vs. Apple’s iPad: Can HP’s WebOS Beat Apple’s IOS?

In direct competition with Apple?

The TouchPad is the first tablet offered by HP to run on its highly touted webOS platform designed by Palm, the company HP acquired last year. This is the tablet that HP expects to be a strong competitor in the tablet war of 2011. In the fall of 2010, HP introduced an Android-based tablet with a printer. Previously, HP introduced the HP Slate 500, a Windows 7 tablet. Of course, it would seem obvious that naming the new device “pad” rather than a variation of “tablet” would give the impression that this new TouchPad is destined to compete directly. with the Apple iPad.

TouchPad similarities to the Apple iPad:

The HP TouchPad is 13.7mm thick (iPad is 13.4mm) and weighs 1.6 pounds. It shares the specs of Apple’s iPad with its 9.7 “capacitive multi-touch screen with a resolution of 1024×768. Since neither the TouchPad nor the iPad have the preferred 16: 9 aspect ratio of most Android tablets, experiment HD widescreen movies can be disappointing, however the screen resolution of the TouchPad and iPad are much better suited for reading digital documents and publications.

There is also a similarity between the TouchPad and the iPad when it comes to wireless connectivity and internal stereo speakers. HP (Beats by Dre) speakers have already been used in HP Envy laptops and produce a superior audio output experience. The TouchPad also comes with a choice of 16GB or 32GB and also has a Wi-Fi-only or 3G-enabled option that includes a GPS and mobile broadband radio. 4G is expected to arrive at a later time. At this time there is no memory card reader available to expand memory.

Differences between TouchPad and iPad:

The big differences between the HP and Apple device are, of course, the operating systems and CPU of the Touchpad, the microUSB charging port, the LED alert light and the gyroscope, as well as its wireless charging system, called the Touchstone. Of course, unlike the iPad, the HP device supports Adobe Flash.

The TouchPad also bypasses Apple’s multi-layered on-screen keyboard, includes a row of numbers with its touch keys for easy text entry, and can be resized on the fly. And, which Apple and its iPad accessories can’t undo, there are several available for the TouchPad as well, including a specially designed HP case, the TouchStone cradle and charger system, and an “ultra-slim wireless keyboard” for easier text input.

The HP TouchPad has a 1.3 megapixel webcam on the front that supports video calling. It won’t have a camera on the back, a feature that HP finds that tablet users don’t usually fully utilize anyway, as most have their smartphones on hand for that purpose. The TouchPad will include an accelerometer and a compass. It will run Qualcomm’s extremely fast processor, the 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon APQ8060. It belongs to the third-generation Snapdragon processors and enables high-definition 3D video and multitasking capabilities.

Users will also be able to access and edit Microsoft Office documents and the platform also supports VPN (virtual private network for secure remote access). Applications such as email and Internet browsing programs have been optimized for the larger screen using collapsible panels and menus. The way that multiple apps will be active on the screen at the same time will also be unique. These will be “cards”, not icons, and can be slid off the home screen or stacked on top of one another for related tasks.

Probably the biggest difference that distinguishes Apple and HP when it comes to Tablet PC manufacturing is that Apple sees the iPad as the all-in-one portable device that can meet most customer needs and HP sees the Tablet as having more than a complementary function that sits somewhere between the smartphone and the PC. It will be very interesting to track how consumers react to this new device with its webOS operating system, as it competes with Apple’s iPad, as well as all other tablet entries that are introduced this year.

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