Which Should I Keep, an HP TouchPad or a RIM Playbook?

As a tech author, blogger and reviewer I get technology sent to me periodically or I pick up bits and pieces myself.  This does mean that I can occasionally find something being replaced when its not too old.  This is about to happen with two tablets, an HP TouchPad 32Gb and a RIM Playbook 16Gb.  Now I’ll start by saying that the actual ‘Gb’ storage volume on each tablet is probably irrelevant as I only store files either on my desktop PC, my laptop or in the cloud.  There’s no point in having two tablets though so I need to choose which one to keep.

This isn’t as easy a decision as you might think.  The HP TouchPad has a very useful 10 inch screen, but there’s a weight that comes with this.  The RIM Playbook is much ligahter as it’s smaller, but the 7 inch screen isn’t quite as capacious.  Then there’s the fact that the HP TouchPad has been discontinued (I picked mine up in the fire sale late last year) which does affect both the number and quality of available apps, and updates to the operating system itself.  That said, the RIM Playbook’s future is also in some doubt and the prices of these tablets are now falling too.

There some fundamental differences between the two machines.  Cameras are one good example where the TouchPad has just a 1.3MP webcam on the front while the Playbook sports both front and rear cameras, with the rear one being a healthy 5MP resolution.  The Playbook also has an HDMI output, which the touchpad lacks.  The Touchpad is a far sleeker-looking device however with an operating system that’s simplicity itself not just to use, but to completely master.  The TouchPad also has a slightly faster processor, running at 1.2Ghz when compared to the 1GHz of the Playbook and the GPS and route-planning on the tablet are lightning fast.

In short though, there are huge numbers of reasons why you might want or prefer one type of tablet over another.  For example the iPad 2 is extremely light and has a big 10 inch screen, while some Android tablets are just as light and come in a wide variety of form-factors and weights.

In short then I thought this might be a great opportunity to kick off a discussion over which of these two tablets is better, and which one you think I should keep.  WebOS is a very effective and highly polished operating system.  Currently QNX on the Playbook isn’t quite there if you don’t have a Blackberry smartphone (I use a Windows Phone) and will continue to miss out some critical apps until the next operating system update eventually arrives.  It’s due this month but has been pushed back many times since last fall.

So which tablet do you think I should keep and why?  Which is the better tablet, the best hardware, the most accessible operating system and the most expandable system?  Which works best with cloud services and has the bext software support?  It will be interesting to hear your views on these two machines.

What might a post-Windows world look like?

We take for granted these days that Microsoft will always provide new versions of Windows and Windows Server, that Google will always provide world-leading search and that many other companies will just be there for us in perpetuity.  After all, look at the big names like Coca Cola, Ford and and more that have been with us for a hundred years or more.  Only when it comes to specific websites such as Facebook do we accept that their candle may burn out quickly.

But the technology market is different, and in the last three years we’ve seen it take on a whole new dimension where Windows is no longer the obvious operating system choice, and where comparisons are increasingly being made with IBM.  On tablets, a market that Microsoft invented back around 2003 they’re going to have a real fight on their hands, and in computing generally it’s no longer clear what devices and form factors we’ll be using in even five or ten years time.  What is obvious however is that the traditional desktop PC is well and truly on its way out.  Lastly new operating systems such as iOS, Android and WebOS have blown away the notion that people will resist a learning curve on new devices.  So what would the world be like if Microsoft stopped making Windows desktop and server products?

First of all it’s not very likely, Microsoft would probably drop Windows products last of all with their expensive research and development centres and other products such as Xbox falling by the wayside first, so there’s no need to worry in the short term.  Windows 8 is a big gamble though and if it fails then Microsoft will either have to backtrack with Windows 9, pull an immensely impressive rabbit out of their hat or face the consequences of poor decision-making.

There has already been talk that Google would like to bring Android to the desktop.  HP said the same of WebOS, which they are still developing or at least maintaining, and could put extra resources back into quickly.  Ubuntu Linux is now at least as friendly as Windows XP was, only the lack of big name software for the platform is holding it back now and Apple’s OS X is becoming more like iOS with every release.  So it’s already clear that there’s plenty of choice.

We might also expect an open-source upstart operating system to appear too and it might even be a reinvigorated WebOS.  Companies such as the Mozilla Foundation might see an opportunity as their Firefox browser begins to fade in popularity, and this is just one of several places where a new operating system might emerge.

In the business space, some of the GNU/Linux companies including Red Hat, might jump in with versions that will run Windows programs on the desktop.  This isn’t new and has already been done with operating systems such as Lindows (later renamed Linspire).  This product still exists today and could prove popular with businesses if Windows 8 and Windows 9 fail to deliver the working experience that they need.

Again it’s very unlikely that Microsoft will cease development of Windows in the next twenty years at least.  If they’d have done it even five years ago there would have been almost no alternatives to choose from.  Should they do it now though businesses and consumers would probably just shrug their shoulders and quietly move on to the next big thing.

HP May Shut Down WebOS After All. What Does it Mean?

2011 has not been a good year for HP’s WebOS tablet operating system.  The year began with the company praising the product they had acquired when they bought Palm but there then followed the sudden announcement of the dropping of the TouchPad, the first WebOS tablet only seven weeks after it went on sale.  Now there’s talk that the company may shut down their WebOS division for good.

According to a report by NeoWin an unnamed HP employee has been quoted as saying “There’s a 95 (percent) chance we all get laid off between now and November, and I for one am thinking it’s for the best.”

In the last couple of months several companies have expressed an interest in buying WebOS, and as a TouchPad owner I can say it’s a remarkably capable and usable tablet OS.  So far nothing has come of it and HP haven’t given any indications that they would wish to sell it.

But could the company just kill it without selling it?  While unlikely this is a possibility and it begs the question where does this leave existing TouchPad owners?

Some people will install Android on it, and I suppose this is always the nuclear option for some.  Many people however will have no idea how to perform such an operation and will be left with a device that will no longer be supported.  In it’s simplest form this just means that the operating system won’t be refined and developed over time.  At it’s worst it means that any bugs and flaws in the system that could be exploited by others won’t be fixed.

Even if WebOS is sold it will be a very significant amount of time before the new owners can begin rolling out updates.  In short this is very bad news for TouchPad owners generally if the rumour turns out to be true.

To add weight to this, HP announced this week that they will be producing Windows 8 tablets for 2012, and we can assume they are already testing prototype hardware now.  It’s even been rumoured the TouchPad hardware might live on with Windows 8 on board, though this is unlikely.

Of equal concern is what will happen to owners of the HP smartphones that are also running WebOS.  These people will need security updates and patches more than tablet owners, because of the direct billing capabilities built into phones.  These people will need firm answers from HP, and pretty soon.

HP has previously said it was committed to WebOS, though the company has changed its mind so much in recent months that nobody would really believe them now whatever they said.  Only a couple of months ago they were talking about offloading their entire PC division, but now they’ve decided that they would really rather hang on to it.  This is company with serious decision-making issues!

For now we’ve just had another update to WebOS rolled out.  I love my TouchPad and wouldn’t want it to be the last.  WebOS is extremely capable and has huge amounts of potential.  In my view it is quite simply the finest tablet operating system available currently.

It’s such a shame then that it’s been so poorly managed.  Do you have a WebOS phone or tablet?  What do you think about this rumour?

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© Mike Halsey (MVP) for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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