HP Fansite

Why settle for Core2Duo when you can have Core i7 Quad?!

This week is turning out to be another “Apple week” again, with plenty of unrest on the internet about the recent announcement of Apple’s new MacBook Pro’s, refreshed for 2010, even more iPad hyping and plenty of iPhone gen 4 rumors. Let’s take a look at the new (2010) 13 inch MacBook Pro. It has a Core2Duo processor, compared to dual-core i5 and i7 on its 15 and 17 inch big brothers. And a mere 256 MB of graphics (Nvidia GeForce 320M). So far, the HP Elitebook 8440w is the smallest notebook (14 inch) with a Core i7 Quad-core processor. Do you think someone can push the envelope even further and put Quad core in something… smaller… as a little bird hinted recently?

HP Slate to be cheaper than Apple iPad equivalent

In a report today by the Wall Street Journal online, there’s news that HP plans to introduce their HP Slate at a price lower than the Apple iPad (3G connectivity version) of the same size (presumably built-in memory size, not physical size). Isn’t competition great?! Technically, the HP Slate (which I’d like to remind you, will run on full-fledge Windows 7) would still be a better deal than the iPad (which is just an oversized iPod Touch with iPhone OS plus a few additional features for the larger display), even if priced slightly higher, because of versatility of Windows 7 versus a mobile OS. But I suppose this move is even better, to prevent the dreaming ‘iSheep’ from just blindly buying the iPad because it’s “cheaper”…

Comparing the HP Slate and Apple iPad, of similar memory and price, the HP Slate is the obvious victor with Windows 7. Imagine all the things you could do with a full fledged OS (AKA the same things you currently do on your desktop/notebook, minus playing Crysis and running 3Ds MAX), compared to the mobile OS used by the iPad. Now imagine the HP Slate being even cheaper than the iPad, what a great deal that would be! For the record, the Apple iPad will sell for $629, $729 and $829 for 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB 3G-enabled versions. Oh remember to check out a comparison between the two slate form factor devices in the HP Slate vs Apple iPad article I posted last month!

Apple iPad vs HP Slate?! And my predictions

Somewhere in the middle of this week, Apple dropped the news on their iPad “tablet”, putting an end to almost a decade of rumors and speculation about their mythical tablet. Well, turns out the Apple iPad is not what people had expected it to be; in fact, far from it. While initial speculation and plenty of wishful thinking portrayed the “future” (then-vaporware) Apple iPad to be the best of both worlds – iPhone ease of use and fluid touch interface combined with full (or almost full) Mac OS X operating system functionality and features – the real deal turned out to be quite underwhelming. So, what is the Apple iPad exactly? Is it a revolutionary (or magical, as Apple puts it on their website) device? Is it the best thing since sliced bread, or at least, the best thing since the iPhone was announced? No, and no. The Apple iPad is nothing more than a “big” iPod Touch; as many people would put it, and I have to agree.

So far, the Apple iPad has invoked mostly negative responses from the public, while I’m seeing plenty of media publications still trying to hype up the product in an effort to cover up its shortcomings. Nope, I’m not trying to bash the Apple iPad here just because this site is called the “HP Fansite” – granted I have had a good experience with HP’s stuff, I have used/tested many other products of various brands before and I make an effort to provide unbiased, constructive views of other brands’ goods (and when needed, criticisms with concrete reasoning). I have a handful buddies who are big supporters of Apple, and yet, they agree and have been wondering “what was Apple thinking?!” when word first came out about the iPad and its features and functions. “Far off from what I had expected it to be” was everyone’s main response, Apple loyalist or not, when I asked them what they thought of the iPad at a dinner gathering + Left4Dead 2 LAN party on Thursday. In case anyone was wondering, YES, Apple fans who also own Windows PC’s (for gaming, non-Mac supported applications and such) and don’t act like the fanboys you see on the internet do indeed exist – and they’re nice people to talk to!

Conveniently, there was a short, little feature video about the HP Slate posted this very week, just less than two days before Apple’s official announcement of the iPad. In many ways, the HP Slate is similar to the Apple iPad – that touchscreen-only (no physical keyboard) form factor, similar size and design, ability to function as e-book readers and multimedia devices, and even identical starting price of $500! The main areas where the HP Slate pulls away, far ahead of the Apple iPad, is in terms of operating system, functionality and performance. Here’s how:

• The HP Slate will come with a full-fledged Windows 7 operating system, and knowing HP, probably enhanced for touchscreen input with an additional interface overlay (such as Bump Top 3D found on the HP Touchsmart tm2). On the other hand, the Apple iPad runs on a variation of the iPod Touch/iPhone OS, which we all know many appreciate but a mobile operating system just doesn’t cut it on a non-mobile phone device and pales in comparison to a full desktop experience OS.
• I remember clearly that just three years ago, Apple was boasting about the “widescreen” on its iPhone (well, not true widescreen anyway, since it has a 3:2 ratio, but that’s just Apple…) and now the iPad comes with a non-widescreen 4:3 touch display. Chances are you won’t be running AutoCAD with a slim and portable device under 10 inches, but would like to play some music or watch a movie or two on it. That’s just it – the HP Slate’s 16:10 widescreen display ensures that precious screen real estate is mostly dedicated to the video/movie you’re watching… instead of the thick black letterbox bars above/below your movie on the iPad’s 4:3 non-wide display
• Adobe Flash – if you’ve been keeping up (or managed to keep up) with the flood of Apple iPad news-hype by various media outlets, you would know on the sidelines, a certain big company called Adobe (you know, they guys who develop Photoshop and Illustrator) have been and are still busy complaining about Apple’s refusal to support Adobe Flash on their iPod Touch, iPhone and now, iPad devices. That means no Hulu TV playback, no Facebook or Flash games, no YouTube, no interactive websites, no this and no that on the Apple iPad. All those things that you take for granted on your computer (Facebook games and YouTube seem to be the most prominent, based on what I’ve seen), you can NOT do on the Apple iPad because it lacks Adobe Flash.
  All that happening while you can be happily skipping along, maintaining your Farmville farms on Facebook, watching your favorite TV shows on Hulu and Iron Man 2 trailer on YouTube using the HP Slate. As I mentioned, the HP Slate runs Windows 7, which will gladly support Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Sun Java and any other application you use on your ‘full-size’ notebook or desktop!
• High definition video playback – the HP Slate can play back high definition (720p) video and movies, and is likely to be able to play them on your huge living room TV via a built-in HDMI or DisplayPort output port. The Apple iPad, in comparison, can only playback ‘standard definition’ 576p video. And you gotta see it to believe it – watching HD movies and videos compared to ‘standard’ ones can make a whole world of difference in detail levels and entertainment immersion (sorta).

In short, the HP Slate is everything that people wanted the Apple iPad to be, but the iPad just isn’t that dream device everyone had expected – again, it’s just a big iPod Touch! The factor that plays a part in ‘who wins’ is when HP will make the HP Slate available to the masses. Apple has already set a release date for the iPad for March 2010, while HP has given a rather vague “available in 2010″ availability date for the HP Slate. If HP gets their act together in time and releases the Slate around the same time or perhaps slightly after the iPad, then it could deliver a potential blow to Apple’s ‘tablet’ sales.

With the same base price with far more features and functions, it’s a close-to brainless decision to pick the HP Slate over the Apple iPad (unless you’re that Apple kool-aid drinking guy/girl still wearing your pair of rose-tinted shades when you purchase the iPad)

Another factor that will determine the iPad’s success/failure is consumer awareness. The HP Slate made a big debut at CES 2010 (thanks to the announcement made together with Microsoft) but apparently not big enough, as I see it. There are still many people who don’t know about the HP Slate, but do know about the Apple iPad. Then there’s brainwashing by the media – I know consumers nowadays are slightly more informed and up to date with information than before, but that too, is not enough. The truth needs to get out there (preferably by March 2010) so that the Apple iPad isn’t as pretty or cool or useful as the media portray it to be. Really, I’m sounding like a broken tape recorder and you may have heard this on other sites as well – the Apple iPad is nothing more but a big iPod Touch, and it’s true.

I still foresee, however, that Apple will still sell at least a truckload of iPad’s because there are still people who want it (no matter how incapable and useless it is, especially if you already have an iPod Touch or iPhone or Zune HD) just to look uber cool in front of their friends.

Nevertheless, the final outcome of this battle will become apparent once both the HP Slate and Apple iPad start selling, and sales figures are posted. A very interesting battle indeed, and an exciting 2010 to come!

Mobile phones – Dual to quad microSD/microSDHC slots

You know, I’ve always wondered with today’s kind of technology, why nobody has come out with such an implementation yet… with the availability of high capacity microSD/microSDHC memory cards, why not have two to four individual slots for them in a single phone (I think just about all phones currently have only one memory card slot or just a big chunk of internal memory with no expansion slot). This way, consumers and users can decide how much memory they want for their phone and, at the same time, will be able to ‘upgrade’ memory in the future as they see fit. No more dilemmas whether to buy the 16 GB or 32 GB variant of X Phone from Company A, no more having to buy the highest capacity variant of a phone in case “# GB isn’t enough”. And best of all, no more worries whether the repair guy will take a sneak peak at your phone’s contents, or if you’re the paranoid type, having to empty out your entire phone before sending it in.

I have a friend who sent in her Apple iPhone 3G last weekend (for repair) because the speakers malfunctioned and couldn’t work. Besides ranting about how she can’t survive without her iPhone (facepalm), she’s also been worried for all her personal stuff and data she keeps in there. Sure, she has the phone password-protected (which makes me wonder how the Apple repair guy is gonna diagnose the problem and test if the replacement speakers function), but the thought of having all your data in a device in someone else’s hands, away from you, would make anyone shudder, no?

From the side of a manufacturer, having multiple memory card slots in a phone along with perhaps a measly 512 MB or 1 GB (by today’s standards) of built-in memory for the phone’s core; OS and applications, would eliminate the need to market and sell multiple memory variants of a single phone (not to bring them up again, but the biggest example is what Apple is doing with their 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB various iPhones). Essentially having a one phone fits all solution, no pun intended. First-time/casual users can “choose” to put just a single 4 GB microSDHC card in one slot, while power users can stuff in something like 16 GB microSDHCs into all available slots.

Sure, probably the most lucrative things about having phones with built-in memory and no expansion is that manufacturers can charge whatever they like for their 8 GB phone, 16 GB phone, etc. because THEY decide the capacity and price, you only get to choose which size you’d like to purchase. But not everyone can pull off such a trick and having big profit margins pouring in. By NOT having a large amount of built-in memory, a manufacturer can probably lower the price of a phone significantly and let consumers outfit their phones with whatever amount of memory (from microSD/SDHC) they feel that they need. Now, you’ll probably be wondering why, why would a company let go of something with high profit margins like overcharging for internal memory? Simple – Market share. By making a phone more affordable to the masses, you get more users. More users mean more chatter about your brand and product, even if it’s just “average”, and if they become satisfied with your product and the user experience it brings, you might just be getting an additional sale from a repeat customer during the next round of phone announcements.

I personally think this is one of many great ways Windows Mobile phone makers (especially HP with their so-so iPAQs lately) can pull up their sales and market share once Windows Mobile 6.6 or 7.0 hits the streets. Make a good mobile phone that offers an intuitive, hassle free user experience along with versatility and expandability… while bringing “memory wars” to a totally new level, among other things (imagine a phone with four microSDHC slots; users can outfit them with 16 GB cards far cheaper than a manufacturer who builds in their own 64 GB module). Not everyone would want or need so much memory, but sometimes the features that sell are those that people think they need but don’t really use in reality.

Voodoo phone mentioned by Rahul Sood

Arrgh me hearties, a year it has been since there was speculation about the possibility of Voodoo PC (a subsidiary of HP) coming out with a (luxury?) mobile phone. HP’s CTO of their HP/Voodoo Business Unit, Rahul Sood, has just mentioned in a Twitter tweet that it bugs him that he’s using an Apple iPhone instead of a “Voodoo phone”

The message seems pretty cryptic as nothing else, no other details, are mentioned. Is a new Voodoo Phone (vPhone?) in the works? Is there already one (or a few) prototype models in existance? What’s it gonna have, design and feature wise? Well only time will tell.

Oh, while we’re talking about phones and such, dear HP, while/if you’re probably hard at work developing a vPhone, can you please do something about the iPAQ line while you’re at it, and bring iPAQ devices back up to their former state of glory? Thanks – HP Fansite on the behalf of many iPAQ fans out there =)