Rod continues to pepper me with references to the HP Slate and today was no different, especially with the Engadget leak of a page from an internal HP presentation. As you may be aware, a couple of weeks ago I posted the reasons why I did not consider the HP Slate a viable solution for a tablet, mostly based around how unsuitable Windows 7 is as just a touch interface. In my opinion, it just relies too much on a virtual mouse, which is really totally at odds with touch, as your finger obscures everything.
More Details
Here is a copy of the page leaked by Engadget comparing the HP Slate and the Apple iPad (note that this shows the HP “advantages” in green vs. the iPad “advantages” in red):
As I reviewed this chart, 3 things quickly leapt to my attention. I think they are all major negatives:
- The HP Slate is just too small: 9.2″ x 5.7″. HP’s best previous slate was the HP TC1100 (I owned two) and it was 10.5″ x 8.5″ and it was barely enough screen real-estate to really get stuff done. I keep hearing “one-handed operation”. Now I can understand that with a phone. This is NOT a phone, so one-handed should not have anything to do with this.
- Look at the HP Slate screen resolution: 1024×600! Once again, this is going in the wrong direction. In my opinion, especially on a Windows 7 machine, 1024×768 is the minimum resolution to do any real work. This is NOT just a guess on my part. I already have my Lenovo S10-3t convertible tablet. Screen resolution? 1024 x600 and for me it just sucks. The minute I try to read a PDF, or view a magazine with Zinio, or even watch a movie, that 600 pixel limit makes things too tiny to really work. It’s the part I like the least about the Lenovo.
- Memory available on the HP Slate? 1 GB. “Non-customer upgradable”. I have had at least 6 machines running various editions of the Intel Atom processor and every single one has been essentially unusable until I boosted them to the maximum allowed 2 GB. The only ray of hope here is the “Non-customer upgradable” part. That is tech-speak for “you have to unscrew and remove the keyboard (without damaging the ribbon cable!) in order to swap the 1GB module with a 2GB module. Don’t try this at home!” Sorry, I do it all the time, so that one I guess I can let slide.
- Sorry, this one just occurred to me: half the battery life of the iPad. That’s not going to cut it, especially since it is ALSO “non-customer replaceable”.
However, lest I be too negative, there are also positives:
- “HP touch-optimized UI”. At least they are planning on covering up raw Windows 7 with an interface actually made for Touch. This could make or break this device.
- SD card up to 64 GB and a USB slot. This is nice to have built-in. Hear that Apple? Oh and ditto on the camera!
An Alternative View
Here is yet another leak of a chart snagged today by Engadget, showing the just announced ICD Gemini Android tablet, the iPad, and the recently shipped JooJoo:
There were a few things that really caught my attention on the Gemini:
- NVidia Tegra 2 1GHz processor. This should really fly and have great graphics.
- The screen: Multi-touch resistive OR capacitive. That means a stylus for inking, if that is important to you. Yes, indeed, that is a high priority for me. I have literally years of digital ink notes, and I really miss the ability on my current devices.
- More screen: 11.2″ at 1366×768 16:9 aspect screen. Wow! That would be wonderful.
- SD Card up to 32GB, so I am guess it’s probably microSD, but that sweet too.
Concerns:
- Android. This is also a positive, but I wonder how they will support the large screen and what about apps? I really do NOT want to have apps just “scale-up” like the iPad does. On the other hand, I would love to be able to have multiple screens open simultaneously showing 2 or 3 Droid sized apps at once on the screen. That would work for me. But then I also have to ask: Would this device support the Market? I certainly hope so, but fear perhaps not.
- It has the same memory limitation we are faced with on Android right now: too little! If we can get the A2SD (Apps to SD Card) working by the time this device is released and have the ability to format part of the SD Card as if it were memory, that would do the trick and I would jump all over this one.
- I don’t want to be forced to get another 3G account to use this. Let me choose not to enable it. Wi-Fi is more than sufficient for me, especially with Connectify or Wi_Fi Tether.
So, what do you think? Am I being too hard on the HP Slate? Do you think this is really going to knock your socks off? Let me know how you would go with this.