The folks at eCost have a product page for the HP tm2 (whether accidentally or otherwise, I don’t know), HP’s upcoming consumer tablet PC. The tm2 will most likely go under HP’s Touchsmart branding, if not, their Pavilion line. Specifications wise, it looks like the Touchsmart tm2 will be a small step back versus the existing Touchsmart tx2 tablet in terms of processor speed and graphics, but makes up for that with DDR3 memory and probably much improved battery life due to the new power sipping processor (the current tx2 uses an AMD processor with higher clock speed).
Things that seem to remain the same compared to the previous model include the inclusion of a 12 inch multi-touch display that can be ‘rotated’ into tablet form/notebook, fingerprint sensor and connectivity options. The big question here is whether the new Touchsmart tm2 is a direct replacement for the 1+ year old Touchsmart tx2, or is there something more powerful on its way a few months down the road?
I remember that it was just last year that I was using a HP iPAQ 600 and I installed like a gazillion apps into it and modded the heck out of its user interface. I’ve been using the iPAQ Data Messenger for about 6 months now and have been doing about the same. Today, I just tried to update my ancient v0.94 Throttle Launcher to the latest v1.0 RC3 version, at first rather unsuccessfully. But after a few reboots and file transfers later, things were working again. Sadly, the new Touch FLO 3D interface for Throttle Launcher displayed the fonts and formatting in a messed up manner… and frustrated, I uninstalled the whole package all together. Maybe I’ll put back the old v0.94 again one day (but I remember it wasn’t easy to set that one up either).
Over the last couple of weeks, my iPAQ Data Messenger hasn’t been too healthy – half of its storage memory disappeared for no reason (and I can’t seem to get it back), battery life isn’t as great anymore compared to when I first received it, using my own 3.5 mm headphones with an adapter is a hit or miss affair (sometimes the phone detects it, sometimes not) and the entire slide-out keyboard is feeling unresponsive – I now have to literally mash down at each key when typing out an SMS, it’s both frustrating and painful. I don’t know if I’m just fed up with Windows Mobile 6.1, the Data Messenger or both, but I’ve been using the iPAQ as ‘just a regular phone’ to make calls and text (painfully) these few days. I haven’t been typing anything, articles, reports, blog posts, etc except text messages and brief One Note files for the last few weeks thanks to the keyboard issue – strange, because every key is unresponsive, including those like the Symbol and Windows Start menu keys which I have almost never used.
Right now, I am impatiently waiting for iPAQ Season in October/November and having high hopes that HP will release some revolutionary iPAQ models (or at least models that are up-to-date with the competition) for 2010. I’m also looking forward to the day someone (Microsoft or not) comes out with a unified App Store for Windows Mobile to encourage developers to make more apps once again for the REAL business smartphone OS. I’m starting to find Windows Mobile apps rather stale as everyone gushes over to develop apps for Android and iPhone – isn’t that sad?
I’m feeling less enthusiastic using the Data Messengers these days but I guess I’m forced to hold out… until a better iPAQ comes along, whenever that may be.
On a more positive note, I managed to install the latest S2U2 AKA Slide to Unlock app for Windows Mobile, recommended by Luke, and it works flawlessly (See my home screen above!)
Well, they’re official now – HP just announced their Envy 13 and Envy 15 ultra-thin, stylish notebooks. The Envy 13 looks extremely appealing and looks like a good replacement for my Pavilion dv4 notebook… in a year’s time, and if I can afford it by then.
HP Envy 13:
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 13.1 inch LED-backlit widescreen display (16:9 aspect ratio; 1366 x 768 pixels)
- 2 DDR3 RAM slots
- Chiclet style keyboard
- 512 MB ATI graphics card
- Intelligent switching between dedicated ATI HD 4330 and Intel integrated graphics for battery life/performance priority
- 2 USB ports, 1 combined audio in/out jack, HDMI port
- Optional battery slice extends battery life up to 18 hours (think of the super-thin extended battery of the Elitebook 2730p)
- Less than 1 inch thick
- $1699 introduction price
HP Envy 15:
- Intel Core i7 processor
- 15.6 inch LED-backlit full HD widescreen display (16:9 aspect ratio; 1920 x 1080 pixels)
- Chiclet style keyboard
- 1 GB ATI HD 4830 graphics card
- Night vision/Infra red equipped VGA webcam
- 4 DDR3 RAM slots
- Dual drive bays
- Optional battery slice extends battery life up to 7 hours
- About 1 inch thick
- $1799 introduction price
Both HP Envy models also have ‘HP Clickpad’, which is a fancy name for a button-less trackpad ala Apple’s MacBook computers. There’s also an optional optical drive attachment which doubles as a ‘dock’ of sorts with two external USB ports.
Two main things that I really, really, really, absolutely need to find out include:
- Do these two HP Envy notebooks have backlit keyboards?
UPDATE: Nope, sadly
- Any matte screen option for the display?
UPDATE: No, again =(
Here’s something I forgot to add to my Gaming with the Elitebook article I wrote this morning. The HP Elitebook 8730w chews through 2 batteries (the primary battery and an extended one) in 2 hours when gaming – brightness maxed, high performance mode on Windows Vista.
Yeah man! Compare that to 5 hours of Photoshop with music or 7 hours of Office 2007, web surfing and music using the same battery setup!
Here we go again, sitting on the Elitebook 8730w’s lap. On Saturday it was the Elitebook 8730w and the Mini Note 2133. This time it’s the HP Mini 1000, pretty much the same as the comparison last week except the 2133 looked like a “mini-me” of the Elitebook 8730w in that picture – the aluminum design of the Mini Note is a whole lot like the 8730w’s magnesium alloy construction. The HP Mini 1000 isn’t switched on in the picture above; the battery was out of juice after roughly 2.5 hours of usage.
