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HP Touchsmart featured in Black Eyed Peas video

The Black Eyed Peas recently featured the HP Touchsmart in their latest music video “Boom Boom Pow”. The HP Touchsmart appears three times in the music video – at the very beginning, the end and somewhere in the middle of the video. And not just ANY HP Touchsmart – it’s a HP Touchsmart with a super-sized HP logo!! (and a plus-size screen? Read on for speculation)

Compare that to this closeup taken of a ‘normal’ HP Touchsmart:

Check out the proportions of the logo and it sure makes a huge difference (no pun intended).

There are three plausible explanations:

• HP Touchsmart “product placement edition” with bigger HP logos for appearances in music videos, TV shows and movies
• HP is introducing a slight cosmetic change to normal, retail Touchsmarts this summer (because someone thought the logo was too small)… and the BEP were the first to get their hands on one
• A new HP Touchsmart all-in-one model is coming (See why below)

I put my arm/hand up to my friend’s HP Touchsmart in the same manner as in the video above and my upper arm covers almost 60-70% the length of a 25.5 inch Touchsmart. So it seems the arm/Touchsmart ratio from the Black Eyed Peas video screengrab above is larger than mine – which could either mean body part dimension variations between humans OR that Touchsmart in the video is HUGE (Possibly a 28 or 32 inch model?).

HP Pavilion dv7 featured in Microsoft’s latest ad

The HP Pavilion dv7 was recently featured in Microsoft’s latest “Lauren and the under-$1000 17 inch laptop ad“. As usual, many Apple/Mac fanboys are screaming and trying to enforce “Windows PCs are rubbish”, yet again. Is that not surprising? Somebody actually said the $699 HP Pavilion dv7 is a, quote, “crappy budget notebook”… excuse me? The HP Pavilion dv7 is a very capable notebook – you can watch videos, play games (intensive ones included) and do a whole lot of things on it; it’s nowhere CLOSE to being a “crappy budget notebook”. Did anyone read about a certain brand’s PC hard disks failing because of using the built-in speakers at a loud volume (hint: it’s not HP); now they are the real makers of really cheap notebooks, in all senses of the word.

Back to the point… people should just face the facts: ANY other notebook PC is priced much lower, with better specifications, than an “equivalent” Apple Mac/Macbook computer. True, even I would agree that the advertisement may be somewhat “stretched” in the sense most people won’t shop for their notebook based on screen size alone, but here’s a real life experience from me: A friend of mine, Steven, has been looking for a decent notebook PC priced around $900. He’s in college right now and wants something that he can use for documents, surfing the web and also for watching movies as well as some gaming (he wants to be able to run games like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty 4 and 5 at decent quality settings and frame rate).

He’s not asking for a massive screen (in fact he prefers a 14 to 15 inch LCD as a nice compromise between portability and screen viewability) but he’s quite particular about the graphics and gaming part there. Here’s a comparison of the HP Pavilion dv4 notebook PC versus the unibody Macbook (click for larger):

Upper left: HP Online Store, Lower left: Apple Online Store, Right: Excel comparison table (As of March 30, 2009)

A HP Pavilion dv4 with a 2.4 GHz processor, 3 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard disk, 512 MB Nvidia GeForce G105M graphics and 14 inch screen would run you roughly $925.
A Macbook (Unibody model) with a 2.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard disk, 256 MB Nvidia 9400M graphics and 13 inch screen would cost about $1600!!!

Turns out a *similar* Macbook would cost almost $700 extra while having inferior graphics, a smaller LCD and 1 GB RAM less than the HP. Hey, point proven. And the higher you go, the larger the price difference between a Windows computer and a *similar* Apple computer.

He’s already checked out other “Windows PC” options and likes the HP Pavilion dv4′s build quality and design better versus the others; and is currently waiting for any additional/potential “summer specials” before springing for the notebook.

UPDATE (April 2009): Steven finally bought a laptop after much comparison and shopping around; he got a good deal on a HP Pavilion dv3000 and went for that, instead of the dv4 he was planning for.

8GB SDHC works on HP iPAQ hw6915

HP iPAQ hw6915 owners and fans rejoice, I’ve just tested my 8 GB SanDisk microSDHC memory card with the HP iPAQ hw6915 (via a microSD to mini SD adapter, of course) and guess what? IT WORKS!! And with just ONE 3rd party driver I downloaded from the internet too! Fantastic.

Now I can go to the gym tomorrow with all my music and in-ear earphones! Here’s the story: I’ve been using a 2 GB microSD card with my HP hw6915 via a micro SD to mini SD adapter since the device can’t detect 4 GB and above cards. Problem is, all my songs can’t fit on a mere 2 GB card… and also, having a few MOVIES at hand is a plus, in case I get bored of just songs while working out. Meanwhile, I’ve got four 2 hour long movies and over 600 songs in the 8 GB micro SDHC card I use in my iPAQ 614c, but the hw6915 has never managed to detect the 8 GB card… until today when I installed the unofficial SDHC update.

Why not use the iPAQ 614c for music then? Well, the iPAQ 614c has a triple-duty mini USB port which handles charging, data transfer and headphones. But I want to use my own headphones (sometimes it’s in-ear, sometimes it’s the big over-the-head headphones that I use for gaming) and they all need 3.5 mm jacks, which is the standard. I prefer my own headphones because they have noise-isolation/cancellation and have VERY good bass and “thump” – the iPAQ 614c’s bundled “dangle from the ears” type of earphones (you know like those bundled iPod earbuds? same case) lack both. Also, the iPAQ 614c can NOT use HTC mini USB to 3.5 mm adapters because HTC’s mini USB ports are slightly squarish, making them sort-of proprietary and HTC exclusive, whereas the 614c’s port is more mini-B shaped.

But since my iPAQ hw6915 started developing the tendency to self-reboot randomly at times a few months ago, it became unreliable as a phone. So I use the iPAQ hw6915 now almost exclusively as a music player (plug in my own headphones via a 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm adapter, and made even better now with 8 GB SDHC compatibility) while using the iPAQ 614c as a phone and sometimes music/video player.

Until HP releases a nice large and wide touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard Pocket PC phone with a 3.5 mm headphone jack… umm which should be in the near future right? Hey EVERYONE has one now (HTC Touch HD, Nokia N97, iPhone 3G, etc all have 3.5 mm headphone jacks) so why not eh, HP?… then I guess I’ll have to switch between or sometimes carry both devices (oh, what a drag!) along with me.

Of course, it would appear that the Nokia N97 I talked about a few days ago sounds like it would fit the bill perfectly, I would rather use the Windows Mobile OS, and preferably a HP device (for many reasons).

By the way, to save you all that time searching the net, here’s where I downloaded the update for SDHC compatibility with the HP iPAQ hw6915. Do note it’s 3rd party (but what Windows Mobile add-on isn’t?) and I’ve personally tested my iPAQ hw6915 with cards up to 8 GB, all of them work. Just put it in your non-SDHC card (like 1 or 2 GB normal mini SD), put the card into your iPAQ hw6915, install the CAB file and restart. After that, the device should be able to detect memory cards up to 8 GB.

UPDATE (June 2009): Since the time of writing this article, I have since returned the iPAQ hw6915 and iPAQ 600 phones, and transitioned over to the HP iPAQ Data Messenger. So, sorry, I will not be able to test memory cards with the hw6915 as they come out with larger capacities (ie 16 or 32 GB) in the future.

Nokia N97; where is the iPAQ R&D team?

Is somebody in the driver’s seat asleep? Nokia just launched their N97 top-of-the-line mobile phone today – which blows away pretty much everything else on the market right now. And while I think the “multimedia computer” thing is still a bunch of marketing bull, everything else sounds solid, if not fantastic. A large 3.5 inch touchscreen – a widescreen one at that, 32 GB internal memory with a microSD slot for even more, 5 megapixel camera with VGA video recording, a 3.5 mm headphone jack plus the usual mobile phone goodies: WiFi, HSDPA, Bluetooth, A-GPS and all. And yea, a side slide-out QWERTY keyboard… this is what the HP iPAQ Data Messenger should have been!!

HP is the world’s largest computer manufacturer and sure they would have a good excuse to not put high emphasis on thigs like printers or calculators. But there are several good reasons to divert some resources (ahem, put in some effort in developing) the iPAQ line of Pocket PC/phones. These little devices are like micro computers too; they have processors, RAM, even have operating systems and offer expandability through software – though Nokia’s gimmicky marketing is taking things a little too far over the edge. And, unlike printers or calculators whose markets are already saturated and where there’s little product differentiation between competition (come on, claims of prints lasting up to 90, 99, 100 or 101 years are everywhere), the mobile device market is a lucrative one.

Though not at its infancy, the (mobile device) market is currently at a place where there’s still room for growth, people are rushing for them as every year there is a “leap” in one area or another (it was built-in cameras at one time, then WiFi, now it’s GPS and touchscreens) and so a sizeable profit can still be made here – somewhere I’d call its “teenage years”, where product makers still have some features they can experiment with, that they can stuff into this phone and that one, things that will gather “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowds and make them a ton of sales. Want good, recent examples? Look at the Nokia N95, look at the Apple iPhone.

The N95 wasn’t the first slider phone in the world, nor was the iPhone the first to feature a touchscreen. Hey, the HP iPAQ h6310 had a 3.5 inch touchscreen too waaay back in 2004! The N95 was marketed heavily as a multimedia device; it could play music, movies, had a 5 megapixel camera, and so was the iPhone (umm just replace the 5 megapixel camera part with a large touchscreen).

There hasn’t really been any exciting or revolutionary new iPAQ recently that the crowds would gush for, since the iPAQ hw6515 in 2005. The hw6915 was a mere refresh of the hw6515, the rw6828 and iPAQ 514 weren’t high-end powerful devices, and the rest of the line, iPAQ 600, 900 and Data Messenger really had nothing special to trump the competition, or at least spark some public hype.

Dear HP/Compaq, isn’t it time to wake up? What happened to being the number one Pocket PC manufacturer in the world? Even that title was snagged by HTC a while ago. With that kind of company size and especially a company being in the IT & computing industry itself, I’m sure HP could churn out some impressive Pocket PC/phones too, if only they’d work a little harder at it. Some impressive new iPAQs in the future would be nice, just like the good old days in pre-2005.

Put in better cameras into the iPAQs, stuff in bigger LCDs and more memory, have dual microSD/microSDHC slots (after all, they’re so small), ask the Touchsmart team to help with the user interface, heck add a SIM card slot to the current iPAQ 200! Anything to bring out a nice iPAQ Pocket PC phone that will sell like hot cakes.

I sure hope something’s brewing back there in the HP Labs. And if so, I hope we see the real deal coming out soon (READ: ASAP in 2009).

P.S. If some of this sounds familiar, then yes, it’s no mistake – I’ve posted some input on HP iPAQs in The Next Bench before as “mark” (as in “benchMARK”, not your neighbor Mark) when the article by Enderle brought up the discussion of the “Voodoo phone”.

Mercedes uses HP tablet pc’s and servers, and you know it!

Spot the HP logo!

In a not-so-recent promotional video of their S-Class Guard “everything-proof” luxury car, Mercedes used a lot of HP equipment – most noticeably a HP Tablet PC (I think it’s a black 2710p but I could be wrong), various large HP LCD display units and HP servers in the background.

The video itself is one of the most marvelous and one of the best product promotional videos by a company that I’ve seen to date. It’s sophisticated, it has some pretty ‘cool’ scenes in it (ie the high tech machinery and servers, firing several rounds and attempting to blow up the car) and the soundtrack (Bobblin Remix by DJ Riggy) accompanying the 5 minute long video clip is great. Most importantly, it conveys the message clearly and pushes the product features (run flat tires, traction stability control, bulletproof, bomb resistant, gas proof) to the crowd, all without telling them to buy anything.

Definitely something that companies from various industries could learn from. I’d love to see more of these kinda video ads around. Hint: Mercedes S-Class = Luxury, and Voodoo Envy 133 = Luxury

With Tony Stark using Dell and CSI using Apple (although I noticed a lot of HP stuff in their more recent seasons and episodes), it’s good to know that Mercedes uses HP!

Hit the link to check out another 5 screenshots. You can also view the video here.

More screenshots of Mercedes using HP in promo video