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Android On HP TouchPad

NicknamesAreStupid writes "As fast as you can say '$99 blowout sale,' PC World reports on an Android port to the now defunct HP TouchPad. 'Of course, it will turn out to be the best Android pad ever, making the iPad stink by comparison,' reports Muphy's Law Reports."

6 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. "No ecosystem" by EponymousCustard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    HP have inadvertently discovered how to create huge demand and massive customer base overnight: find the right price point and lots of publicity

    1. Re:"No ecosystem" by jawtheshark · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know you are right, but the problem is as following:

      • You either have to be significantly cheaper than the iPad to compete on similar capabilities. When I mean "cheaper", I don't mean $50 cheaper, I mean really much cheaper. If it's only 50€ difference, get an iPad, then you get something "known to work". This is the "perceived" value, you talk about. Capabilities includes quality hardware, so the cheaper ones you talk about are not competition.
      • Offer something that that the iPad doesn't have and beat it on capabilities while matching the iPads price. That is very hard as the iPad has so much going for it: large installed base, great "walled garden" app store (Which is a "pro" for most people, I assure you) , quality hardware. You simply know what you get... It cannot something that only few people care about, as that will not give you a great install base.

      The iPad has become the "Windows of Tablets". The two arguments above are exactly why Windows still rules on the desktop.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  2. Re:Best Android Tablet ever? by neokushan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, it's obviously much simpler than that: Price.
    When it comes to android tablets, there's a lot of high-end offerings that can compete with the iPad in terms on performance, the problem is that they cost as much as (if not more) than the iPad.
    Then there's the other end of the spectrum - the "cheap" android tablets. They're cheap in every regard: resistive screens, slow processors and minimal memory, they're mere toys. The fact that the touchpad is flying off the shelves shows that people are waiting for decent tablets to come down in price and don't care if it's not an iPad.

    Android's tablet offerings could learn from this (And yes, I know it would be impossible to produce this tablet at this price and make a profit).

    --
    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  3. Terrible article. Terrible summary. by HumanEmulator · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "summary" makes it sound like a port is available now, and then throws in an iPad comparison that's nowhere in the original article. From TFA:

    "Figure this will take a good long while. Keep your expectations very low and for now enjoy WebOS..."

    and my favorite...

    "Further complicating the initiative, some of the developers don't yet have TouchPads."

    So this is 3 guys planning a porting effort of an older version of Android. (Google hasn't released the source code to Honeycomb yet.) Also from TFA:

    "Still, people who bought it took a risk, since it's not clear if HP will continue to develop the operating system."

    Really, that's not clear? You think HP might be planning major OS updates for a tablet they just fire-saled?

    1. Re:Terrible article. Terrible summary. by netsharc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed...

      Hey PCWorld, I'm planning on porting Android to the iPad, no I don't have an iPad yet, I have no time and I have no idea how to do it, but I have a wiki. Why don't you write an article about me?

      Well, it was fucking PCWorld. Should've expected that shit from them.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  4. Re:Logical contradiction by Dracos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mods, please irrevocably suspend user account MyCleanAss (#2444274) as an obvious spammer. Also, please pursue legal action against this person who is clearly violating the Geeknet terms of use.