Hewlett Packard is facing a tough battle to get their new Web OS Touch Pad tablet established in Australia, after several overseas reviewers described the device as a “work in progress”.
Hewlett Packard is facing a tough battle to get their new Web OS Touch Pad tablet established in Australia, after several overseas reviewers described the device as a “work in progress”.
The device that has drawn praise for its design copped a lot of criticism as reviewers dug beneath the surface, with one journalist calling the device a “mediocre tablet.”
The TouchPad, which will be launched at a studio in Moore Park, Sydney next Tuesday has a 9.7-inch touchscreen with a 1,024 x 768 pixel display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core 1.2GHz processor. The device is Wi-Fi only for now with 16GB and 32GB models.
Australian pricing is not known.
The problem HP faces is a lack of applications due to the Web OS being brand new. They are also facing tough competition from Apple with their new iPad and a host of new Android Honeycomb tablets from the likes of Lenovo, Toshiba, Asus and Acer, brands that compete with HP in the notebook and PC market.
What is not known is whether any carrier has agreed to carry to range the new HP offering
A 3G version of the device is scheduled to be launched later this year.
HP’s WebOS has been much-anticipated for its potential to break up Apple’s lock on the tablet market. The world’s largest PC maker acquired the mobile operating system when it bought Palm last year for $1.2 billion, promising to “double down” on WebOS.
Early reviewers such as the Wall Street Journal and Engadget, see the TouchPad as arriving late to the tablet party. In general, they were enthusiastic about the device’s impressive looks, but took issue with the weight, bugs and lack of applications.
