HP Shows Off Android 'Printer' Tablet

angry tapir writes "Hewlett-Packard showed off a tablet computer that serves as a control panel for its new printer. The tablet browses the Web and can be used as an e-reader. It has a 7-inch screen and can be easily connected to HP's PhotoSmart eStation all-in-one printer. The tablet can be used to move and print documents and images from multiple media devices and can also be used to exchange content between the devices. The display is a larger version of the 3.5-inch control panel screens on HP's earlier Web-connected printers. The device is focused on providing access to content that can be printed, such as photos, articles, e-mail, recipes or e-books."

Comments

Keep it simple, stupids!

[Anonymous Coward]

This reminds me of those atrocious oscilloscopes that run Windows.

Or one of the many software projects that have inexplicable dependencies or balloon way past their original purpose. (Emacs, I'm looking at you!)

Keep it simple. Or as Einstein more precisely put it, as simple as possible but no simpler.

Re:And android is... where?

[symbolset]

It's reported elsewhere. HP is a big company. They don't need everything to run the same OS.

what a surprise

[alizard]

I think it's fairly obvious that one of the places where a tablet can shine is specifically for device controller UI applications. It's compact and all one has to do to make it control a device is to stick a mini-webserver on it, after which your UI can be simple static webpages plus hardware control/monitor scripts. That's why I bought one (MID-006) directly from China a couple of months ago, to enable me to experiment in this area. Other places where it makes sense is as an e-reader and casual websurfing.

That said, I prefer a netbook for multimedia on the basis that one doesn't have to hold it to view it in place to view it and it has a lot more CPU and GPU horsepower than one can stuff into a tablet with acceptable battery life and size.

People and companies are still trying to figure out where tablets make the most sense, the idea that it will magically replace every other form of computer in the next few years is a non-starter no matter how many IT pundits tell us that It Must Happen.

Re:what a surprise

[pspahn]

I think it's fairly obvious that one of the places where a tablet can shine is specifically for device controller UI applications. It's compact and all one has to do to make it control a device is to stick a mini-webserver on it, after which your UI can be simple static webpages plus hardware control/monitor scripts. That's why I bought one (MID-006) directly from China a couple of months ago, to enable me to experiment in this area. Other places where it makes sense is as an e-reader and casual websurfing.

The first thing I thought was the fact that it brings a simple UI to printers with web access and all that jazz. Maybe this means in a few years I won't have to listen to people complain about not being able to print something. The way we print stuff is still pretty archaic, well, in the sense that it often requires further reading to do it right.

Re:what a surprise

[adolf]

The way we print stuff is still pretty archaic, well, in the sense that it often requires further reading to do it right.

The way we do almost everything is still is still pretty archaic, well, in the sense that they often require further reading for us to do them right.

Just to be clear...

[tooyoung]

...I should buy an HP tablet so that I can use a printer?

Re:Just to be clear...

[davester666]

No, you need to buy the HP printer so you can use the tablet. Obviously, to reduce costs and to help sell consumables, HP doesn't include a screen on the tablet, it just prints out a page with the new contents of the screen whenever the display buffer changes.

And yes, they acknowledge that it is difficult to play games or watch video on the tablet, as the printer may not be able to keep up the frame rate necessary for smooth playback. And the printer also prints image side down.

No 3G

[SuperKendall]

but they're still denied the goodness of the Android Market... why?

Speculation has it that an Android device must have cell network connectivity in order to be approved to use the Android Market.

Also Google has said they are worried some of the 80k apps on the Android Market will not run properly on a tablet, but that doesn't explain how the Samsung tablet gets Market...

I agree it doesn't make any sense. But never mind the iPad, there's also nothing really like the Touch!

So...

[vegiVamp]

Basically, this is a tablet that has a printer queue running ? Impressive. *cough*

Well, that's their business model

[Kupfernigk]

HP makes money out of ink. That's basically it. So giving you an almost-free tablet that integrates seamlessly with an HP printer encourages you to print stuff when before you would have just made a note, or read it on-screen. A lot of home printing is done by (mostly) women printing out recipes, knitting patterns, things like that (I'm not being sexist, this is the result of a pop survey of my own). Getting them to print them out without thinking on a color printer = $$$.

Canon have a different approach to the same end - they have a print driver for Android that prints photos to their pixma printers. Another way to encourage ink usage.