HP TouchPad competes well, but is no ‘iPad killer’

Having now used HP’s TouchPad for almost two weeks, I can honestly say that one of the smartest moves HP made was to snag webOS, a mobile operating system that fits perfectly on a tablet. It’s a fairly impressive device, with a slick, user-friendly interface that looks and plays well. A pretty good package indeed, but this is no “iPad killer.”

After starting up the TouchPad, it doesn’t take long to realize that a different approach went into some of the basic fundamentals here. Look at an iPad, Android tablet and even the PlayBook, and you tend to find app-heavy and customizable home screens, widgets, integrated social networking platforms and more. The TouchPad under webOS has next to none of that going on.

The reason why is because webOS is focused more on apps and windows that are actually running. Open windows line up across the middle, with a preset lineup of apps at the bottom of the screen. Tap a window to bring it to the front, press the home button to bring it back. Flick it up, and it’s gone. Have relevant web pages, documents and other windows that you want to keep together? Just stack them on top of each other as cards for better organization.

All of this isn’t new, considering webOS was doing this as far back as the Palm Pre’s debut in 2009. In my opinion, this is the best multitasking setup I’ve seen on a tablet because it relies on window shopping and toggling instead of app switching, like Apple’s iOS and Android do. The PlayBook does well as a multitasking tablet too, but it arguably borrowed the idea of discarding an open window by flicking it up from webOS… Read More [via futureshop]