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HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review

Badbonji

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HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« on: September 16, 2011, 03:25:59 pm »
During the fire sale, like many other people, I managed to pick up one of these tablets for a fairly small amount of money. Compared to other tablets of a similar cost of £100 it also vastly out-specs them.

Armed with a dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU and 1GB of RAM, it feels quite snappy to use. It is also fairly simple to overclock the processor to 1.5GHz or even higher by acquiring a kernel which does it for you. Overall it has very similar specs to the iPad 2, albeit slightly larger and heavier with a shorter battery life. So at its RRP it was easily bested by the iPad 2 in almost every way, but at the low price of £99 it was a clear choice.

My first impression of the touchpad was good. It was easy to hold and felt light, and the interface is very easy to get used to and navigate around. I particularly like flicking a “card” to close the window. Applications open fairly quickly, although compared to my SSD it could have been a little faster. The screen is nice and bright and I will definitely be using it for reading books. Whilst the kindle App isn’t readily available to UK users – I was able to find a small workaround to get hold of the US Beta version which works fine. The glossy screen easily picks up fingerprints like my Desire HD, but the included cloth does a good job of removing them!


Pressing the main button will display all windows at the home bar at the bottom for launching more Apps. Flicking one of the current windows or "cards" up will close them instantly


After pressing the App button this screen will pop up, and displays apps like most other tablets and smartphones. Sliding right or left will change to show your recently downloaded, favourite applications and a list of settings

The on screen keyboard feels very responsive and not awkward like I had imagined. Whilst I cannot get close to my usual speed on a physical keyboard it works fine for surfing the web and small amounts of typing, but I wouldn’t consider using it to type up full documents with the Quick Office app.
You can sync up many different accounts effortlessly with the touchpad, ranging from Facebook (including images which will be found in the gallery) to Dropbox and Photobucket with the possibility of more through downloading apps. The Facebook application is the best I have ever seen on any device. It doesn’t feel clunky or annoying to use. The main buttons are on the left and then you are presented with a 2-pane view; news feed on the right and then a pane located in the middle displaying messages and similar. Flip the device on its side and then the entire screen will fill up with the news feed in a creative way which reminds me of the home screen for Windows 8.


The facebook application is very easy to navigate and is the best I have used

On the main screen you will find a “type to search” box near the top, which is useful for skipping to an app or another option by beginning to type it.

My main disappointment so far is the power adapter. The one in the box is the only one that will reliably charge the touchpad. Using any other adapter or plugging into the USB port of a computer (I believe even if it is a USB 3.0 which can supply more power) will result in a pop-up message saying to use the correct charger. However, I have noticed it charges very slowly whilst plugged in.

The other one is the screen, although it acts the same way as any other except for the kindle's. It is very reflective so not ideal for outside use even with the brightness on high and it picks up fingerpints fast.


This screen is not ideal for when the sun is overhead, and a kindle would be a much better choice for reading outside!


Fingerprints picked up after being used for a couple of hours, now it is all shiny again.

Media plays very well on the pad, and it handles 720P videos on YouTube perfectly. The in-built speakers are pretty much what you would expect from a small laptop, ok for a quick video but terrible for a movie or music. This doesn’t bother me as I will be using headphones whenever it comes to that.
I was also surprised that there was no preinstalled application for the camera, but a quick search on the app store lead me to a very basic one. I have yet to use it for a skype call, but the image quality of the camera is just like any other 1.3MP webcam so it should work fine.

Overall my experience with the touchpad has been pretty good so far even though I have only had it for a couple of days. I couldn’t resist buying it for the fire sale price, but I don’t think I would have paid full price otherwise (for any tablet for that matter) as it will not completely replace the use of my laptop.

Did any of you also pick one up in the sale?
« Last Edit: September 16, 2011, 03:29:15 pm by Badbonji »
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Aussie Allan

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Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2011, 04:15:29 pm »

    Yup!....... The misses works for HP sub-sid........where did you find the Kernel .. as in the download ?

  Aussie Allan
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Badbonji

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Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2011, 04:25:05 pm »
Step by step guide here: http://www.webosbuzz.com/hp-touchpad/694-how-overclock-hp-touchpad-1-5ghz.html (The kernal is obtained from within preware)

I will probably try it out at somepoint. Also says about the other kernal for 1.7GHz if you want to try that one instead! Let me know how it goes :)
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

Aussie Allan

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Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2011, 04:35:04 pm »


  Very cool!....thanks for that!... did you actually clock it and how where the temps like....as in still  .........."still comfortable" ?
 
  Aussie Allan
i7-4790K @4.8GHz 24/7 water clock
MSI XPower AC
32GB corsair  2666Mhz
 GTX-1070Ti full cover
Lange DDC elite pump
G changer360 Rad x2
Phobya 450 balancer
W10 Pro-64
Zigor 2000 UPS
1x500GB for clone
6x2tb- raid5-Storage
C: Evo 970 Pro 512gb
Scratch:Evo 970 Plus 512gb

Badbonji

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Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2011, 05:05:06 pm »
I haven't yet, but in that threat many people have done it without much consequence (reading from that thread). I will probably do it tomorrow and will see if I can notice anything different. Seeing as there are smartphones with dual core CPUs at 1.5GHz I would think it would be perfectly fine, especially because the voltage is still kept stock.
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

Aussie Allan

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  • A yoyo uses all three fundermental laws of phisics
Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2011, 05:35:06 pm »
 
     Badbonji
   
   Had a little conversation with a ..... all I can say is "Someone" a fair way back  (as My Partner works for XX) and the  original spec was for 1.5 but cost of overcoming the thermal load in the then present case ... they went with 1.2 ... but another conversation with the same person some months later he let slip that the thermal shielding was upgraded across both models....... ;)

  Aussie Allan
i7-4790K @4.8GHz 24/7 water clock
MSI XPower AC
32GB corsair  2666Mhz
 GTX-1070Ti full cover
Lange DDC elite pump
G changer360 Rad x2
Phobya 450 balancer
W10 Pro-64
Zigor 2000 UPS
1x500GB for clone
6x2tb- raid5-Storage
C: Evo 970 Pro 512gb
Scratch:Evo 970 Plus 512gb

Badbonji

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Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2011, 09:10:04 am »
Good to know! Many thanks! I think I heard about a 64GB model being released (before HP decided to stop selling them) with a 1.5GHz clock.
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

Aussie Allan

  • 1964
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  • A yoyo uses all three fundermental laws of phisics
Re: HP Touchpad 16GB Small Review
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2011, 09:19:05 am »


  It was a total marketing fluk-up.......blabbing that a 3G+wi-fi version would be released as the NEXT model before the first model was even released signed the death warrant for sales

  Aussie Allan
i7-4790K @4.8GHz 24/7 water clock
MSI XPower AC
32GB corsair  2666Mhz
 GTX-1070Ti full cover
Lange DDC elite pump
G changer360 Rad x2
Phobya 450 balancer
W10 Pro-64
Zigor 2000 UPS
1x500GB for clone
6x2tb- raid5-Storage
C: Evo 970 Pro 512gb
Scratch:Evo 970 Plus 512gb