Glimpse for HP TouchPad: Multi-tasking within a single app

The HP TouchPad has only been out for a couple of weeks but useful apps are already appearing for the tablet. The webOS platform is great at multi-tasking, and a new app takes that to a whole new level. Glimpse for the TouchPad brings the ability to run multiple tasks within a single app, and I am only just discovering the many uses that brings.

Glimpse allows running up to three tasks at the same time, each residing in a pane on the display. There is one big pane on the right, and up to two smaller panes on the left. The panes can be turned on and off with a simple check box that is always accessible.

Each pane can run an assortment of tasks provided by widgets in Glimpse. These run the gamut from simple calendars to a full-blown YouTube app. These widgets can be set to run in any pane with a simple check box. It is easy to run the Twitter widget in a pane on the left and the full web browser on the right, making it easy to do two things at once. That is the beauty of Glimpse, the ability to check multiple apps at the same time is quite powerful.

Glimpse comes with 13 widgets currently, and the developers intend to make other widgets available in the future. These widgets may come at additional cost, a brilliant move to create a Glimpse ecosystem by adding desired functionality. This opens up a potential benefit to the enterprise by having widgets tailored to worker's needs.

The app is available in the HP App Catalog for $5.00, a reasonable price for the functionality it provides. I am finding the ability to copy and paste snippets of information from one pane to another without leaving Glimpse is particularly useful. Twitter and YouTube addicts will go crazy at the ability to watch YouTube videos while keeping the Twitter timeline open at the same time.

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