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."

Comments

"No ecosystem"

[EponymousCustard]

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

Re:"No ecosystem"

[jawtheshark]

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.

Re:"No ecosystem"

[Lumpy]

And being a guy who paid ipad prices for a real android tablet with the horsepower to run the apps smoothly, I still bought an iPad.

Why?

it's the apps man.

I can't get an app that will show me where the satellites are in the sky in a Augmented reality like I can on the iPad.
I can't get an integration app for Microsoft One Note on android.
I can't get a PDF annotation app that is as smooth and simple as the one for the iPad.
Only recently was I able to get an autocad viewer for android. but not an andriod honeycomb native, it's a phone app that scales.
And on and on.

Android falls on it's face with tablet specific apps simply because it has been around a short time compared to the iPad. Maybe in 2 years when the application base builds up I'll look at what android tablets are doing once more, but then I'll have to abandon all the software I bought for the iPad and re-buy all my software again.

the XOOM tablet is a nice piece of hardware and snappy... but it failed on the app front. I was lucky enough to have bought it early and chose to sell it early to get most of my money back on ebay.

I use a tablet for work. both my day job and my side photography business... and the iPad kicks android hard in the photography apps arena.

Re:"No ecosystem"

[auLucifer]

I use an iPad at work and have since it was first released in .au. The best thing it does that a notebook (this is assuming pen and paper notebook) can't is get my notes on my computer. I write once in evernote/awesome note/whatever note application and it's then everywhere I will need it. Same for using dropbox and scibbling apps. I don't have to later scan or rewrite, it's all there on my desktop/phone/laptop for whenever I need access to it.

If you're talking about a laptop, I use the iPad for the same reasons above. Plus my macbook pro is heavy and my air is too big to easily carry or use in small areas like behind the sink when I work with recipes. I also can't use my finger to simply scribble diagrams or have others scribble notes from across the table. Also having the iPad gets rid of the 'wall' between me and my clients so it's useful for body language too, something I never underestimate.

As for everyone YMMV but those are the reasons I use an iPad. Next year I'll likely change to Android as I've had enough of the walled garden.

Re:"No ecosystem"

[Dog-Cow]

You really don't get it, do you? I am posting this from an iPad. I and my wife use our 'pads for browsing, email, gps navigation, reference books, games, note taking, calendar, and address book. Lack of Flash is a minor annoyance, but to claim people don't use their iPads sounds like the wishful thinking of a bigot. Why the iPad instead of a netbook? Convenience. Larger screen. A battery that lasts through a day Netflix (wife was on bed rest until last night due to pregancy). Windows on a small screen sucks and Linux is too painful for me as a desktop.

Re:Best Android Tablet ever?

[neokushan]

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).

Terrible article. Terrible summary.

[HumanEmulator]

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?

Re:Terrible article. Terrible summary.

[netsharc]

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.

Re:Logical contradiction

[geminidomino]

isn't their spirit what made america great in the first place?

They're spamming scumbags, but yeah... their spirit has certainly played a part in making America what it is today...

A different point of view.

[MachineShedFred]

Can you expand the storage by 128GB with an SD card on the IPad[2]? No
Do most people in the target market care? No.
Are you in the target market? No.

Can you plug HDMI and USB into the IPad[2]? No
Can you plug HDMI into the iPad[2] with an available dongle? Yes.
Was the previous quoted question a half-truth? Yes.

Does the IPad[2] have a user replaceable battery if yours dies, and you don't want the downtime of a standard replacement/fix? No
I've got no argument with that.
Does the IPad[2] have a 1280x800 or better screen? No
Or that.

Can you get an IPad2 for $550, with 16GB of storage? No
You're right.
Can you get an iPad2 for $499, with 16GB of storage? Yes.

Does the IPad[2] have more apps? Yes
-- Does it's apps contain a wider range of functionality? No
Are subjective statements subjective? Yes.
Can you get a large range of apps to give you most of the fun/functionality you need on an IPad[2], for free? No
Are subjective statements still subjective? Still yes.
Have either of us tried every single app available for the iPad in order to make an objective statement regarding app availability, pricing, and functionality? No.

Does the IPad[2] have flash? No
Might this be regarded by some people as a feature, rather than a missing feature? Yes.

Re:Logical contradiction

[sootman]

Can you name one 10" tablet currently on the market that has the same battery life (or better) than the iPad 2? Is it also as thin (or thinner), as light (or lighter), and the same price (or cheaper) than the iPad 2?

"Pretentious prick", indeed.