I tried out the HP TouchPad during the launch weekend and was not impressed with the chunky hardware and performance. I was then asked to be a tech editor on a book for the TouchPad so I bought my own from Craigslist, but even then found there was a lot of work to be done on webOS and the TouchPad hardware. As Larry just posted, HP is killing off webOS and the TouchPad line in a shocking revelation.
HP took a year to get the TouchPad ready and I was unimpressed with the final product as it was too chunky for a modern tablet. Yes, I understand the back was designed for the wireless charging stand so that is why it was thicker. I still think it could have been done better. They also released it with buggy software so it was slammed in reviews and it wasn’t until after the 2nd release that they updated the firmware to something more acceptable. All of that means nothing now though as the TouchPads are now all obsolete.
The major price cuts were kind of a cheap shot to consumers to go out and buy a device that HP knew it was killing off soon and if you bought it within the last few weeks I hope you can get your money back. I bought mine on Craigslist so I am stuck with it, but I am returning the charging stand and case to Best Buy to get my $100+ back.
Like Palm OS of old, there may be an enthusiastic user community around the TouchPad for a couple of years that hacks the OS and makes it a useful tablet. I probably can’t get rid of it now and will likely just keep it around as a tablet for my kids to play with. RIM might be pleased with the news as their PlayBook, that actually does a webOS-like interface better than HP, now has one less competitor in the mobile space. As James wrote, consumers won’t buy tablets unless they are iPads and now there is one less choice they have to make.
