MWC 2011: HP Booth Tour – So Long Palm, Long Live WebOS
Well, the company may have changed hands to HP, but Palm is as difficult as ever when it comes to playing with their toys at Mobile World Congress. When they brought the Palm Pre in 2008, the stewards were so strict that they had to be touching the device at all times, even whilst we had a go.
This year, the HP was decked out in all manner of wireless printers and PCs, but sprinked around like diamond dust were stewards hands-off demoing a single HP Pre 3, HP Veer and the new HP TouchPad tablet. You read right, it’s the HP Pre 3, all memory of the Palm name has been consigned to the history books. A bit of a shame, but hopefully some brand synergy (sorry) can improve the fortunes for this clever but oft overlooked range.
All devices were running what is now called HP WebOS, and all were being watched over like hawks. It made for more than a few paparazzi scrums, but we jostled our way to the front so we can give you the rundown on these hot new gadgets.
HP Pre 3 - If you’ve seen the Palm Pre or its sequel, then you’ll be largely familiar with this entry. The display is just shy of 3.6-inches and is still remarkably vivid and bright at first glance. A 1.4Ghz Qualcomm processor does the work behind the curtain, whilst a 5-megapixel rear and VGA front-facing camera make the Pre 3 capable for any photo op.
The Pre 3 is very ergonomically designed to fit in the hand, the curved sliding mechanism still intact although the device is somewhat larger than before at 111mm x 64mm x 16 mm.
WebOS is still incredibly pretty and intuitive, and the ‘deck of cards’ multitasking allows you to simply flick unwanted programs off the top of the screen.
Universal search has now broadened out to a cool ‘Just Type’ feature that predicts the application or function you wish to do based upon whatever you tap into the now much more comfy – if shiny and a bit clicky – keyboard. So begin a phone number and it’ll ask to save it as one, write something melancholy and it’ll know that it is a status update.
Earlier iterations were amazing features when they were demoed at MWC ’09, and still give a novel feeling to a distinct user experience in WebOS. The browser is still fully-featured, with support for Flash and the like, as well as being lightning fast when loading up heavy sites.
A great little handset, and with increased connectivity between itself and the TouchPad, perhaps it will make itself a little more indispensable than its predecessors.
HP Veer – How small is too small? We don’t know, but the Veer strays worryingly close! Measuring a minuscule 84mm x 54.5mmx 15.1mm, it is really a backlash against the massive multi-core monsters that have dominated the landscape at MWC.
Nevertheless, the Veer’s teeny 2.6-inch display shows the scaling power of WebOS confidently, emulating the same multi-tasking experience of the Pre 3, but proving a lot more difficult for bigger fingers when it came to the comically small keyboard. At only 103g, it will doubtlessly find a home in those that want to travel super-light, but retain full smartphone functionality in their mobile.
A great idea, but definitely not one for us and our oversized digits.
HP TouchPad – Proof that WebOS can scale in the other direction, the platform is a surprisingly natural fit in a tablet form factor, the ‘deck of cards’ making short work of multiple applications and the messaging functionality being given more room to breathe and interact with the space of a 9.7-inch capacitive display.
Available in a 3G flavour as well as a wi-fi only model, the HP TouchPad seemed relatively weighty for the few moments it wasn’t nailed to the table (seriously), but had a nice rounded ergonomic design that lent itself well to cradling in one’s hands.
It seemed slick in terms of loading webpages as well as running multiple programs, with only the occasional stutter during video playback being chalked up to pre-production hardware.
The expansion of HP’s magnetic ‘Touchstone’ technology enabling the Pre 3 and TouchPad to not only charge wirelessly but ‘talk’ to each other, sharing data just by tapping the devices together, was also a nice touch. Although HP were only restricting this to an exchange of web addresses between the two in the demo, we don’t doubt that more syncing opportunities are in the pipeline…
Watch the following video for a more in-depth explanation of the TouchPad’s tablet prowess…
All in all, HP seems to be harnessing the right parts of WebOS to make for an impressive line up of portable devices. Not straying too far from the path set out by Palm, but with enough changes in direction and leveraging of other departments (wireless printing from Pre to HP devices) are cool. It remains to be seen whether a change of badge will cause a change of heart in consumers, but the WebOS platform – as demonstrated by these three devices – is certainly worthy of another shot.
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