Reviews Of HP webOS TouchPad Are Out...And They're Not Good

HP's high-hopes of producing a rival to the iPad - the 10" TouchPad - goes on sale in the US on Friday, July 1, and the pre-release reviews are out.  They're not good. While its webOS operating system gets praise, the hardware is described as "bulbous and heavy" with a poor battery life.

The guru of all things gadget, Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD says:

I’ve been testing the TouchPad for about a week and, in my view, despite its attractive and different user interface, this first version is simply no match for the iPad. It suffers from poor battery life, a paucity of apps and other deficits.

H-P stresses that webOS is a platform and that the TouchPad is just one iteration of it. The company plans to add the operating system to numerous devices, including laptops, and hopes that this scale will attract many more apps. And it pledges continuous updates to fix the current shortcomings.

But, at least for now, I can’t recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2.

And it's much the same conclusion from a lengthy review at engadget:

The shortage of apps is a problem, no doubt, but that will change with time. What won't change is the hardware, and there we're left a little disappointed. Holding this in one hand and either an iPad 2 or a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the other leaves you wondering why you'd ever be compelled to buy the HP when you could have the thinner, lighter alternative for the same money. Meanwhile, the performance left us occasionally wanting and, well, what is there to say.

So, it seems a fairly resounding thumbs-down for HP's first venture into the iPad-dominated tablet market. The one saving grace is that webOS may survive by HP licensing it to other manufacturers.

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