Deals
HP TouchPad Goes on Sale Once Again
The HP TouchPad, the webOS tablet that HP killed off back in 2011, has emerged again today in a sale.
Woot.com has a one day sale going for refurbished versions of the webOS tablet and it’s selling them for a mere $194.99. That price is for the model that has 32GB of storage space which makes this a fairly attractive offer for those that have no interest in the $199 Amazon Fire or don’t want to shell out the extra money for a new iPad or an iPad 2 from Apple.
For those that don’t recall, the HP TouchPad comes with a 9.7-inch display, same size as the iPad, which is LED-backlit and offers IPS wide viewing-angle technology. The resolution on the tablet, 1024 x 768, isn’t as good as the resolution found on Apple’s new iPad though.
Other specifications include a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual-Core APQ8060, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, a 6300 mAh battery, and 1GB of memory.
It runs the now defunct webOS 3.0 operating system which was essentially killed when HP killed both the TouchPad and its webOS line of smartphones back in the summer of 2011.
When HP first decided to end the life of the HP TouchPad, it and several other retail outlets started offering it up for a mere $99 which led to pretty widespread demand. That’s because it’s a decent enough tablet for the needs of many consumers.
It can browse the web, check email, play music and more.
Thing is, it doesn’t have the robust app store that tablets like the iPad and Kindle Fire do and it never will. That’s the downside of a dead tablet. Still, for those that can do without apps, this is a pretty good deal to look at and because this is Woot, there is a chance that it might sell out.
D Jarvis
05/18/2012 at 1:53 pm
It’s actually a pretty great tablet with a decent selection of basic apps and one huge advantage over Android tablets and devices – Apps Actually WORK and work well. On my Android phone, apps used for very long tend to Force Close right when I am needing them. Doesn’t happen on my TouchPad, which I am typing this on. Also, convenience is huge with these. Screen rotate is consistent, unlike my stupid Android phone, and charging couldn’t be better – just plop it on the charger, no plugging. This ability comes out of the box, not as a new attachment to add.
And for the big-name medical apps I need at work, installing Android 4.04 is a breeze, as is the dual-boot set-up. I run webOS 90% of the time, and Android when I need to for work.
as to a dead OS, I would say that it is more on loving life-support. HP open-sourced it, yet has released 5 OTA maintenance updates so far, and another is being worked on. That is 3 more than my Droid3 Android piece of junk phone that I got soon after the TouchPad, which will never get an OS upgrade to ICS, according to Motorola… Talk about deserted hardware!
maury
05/20/2012 at 6:14 am
Yeah – that is pretty right on….. I use my touchpad a lot. I have a BT keyboard, but tend to not use it a lot, as the on screen keyboard is probably one of the better ones (one of the things it was touted for, actually).
I surf the web and have 3 mail accounts on it (an exchange account from work, a google account, and my ISP). I love the “Touchstone” charger concept. It’s just an easel with an inductive charger, and you just lean the Touchpad on it (portrait of landscape), and it charges. It senses being charged, and if you have any “touchstone aware” apps, it will bring that up while charging. You can bring up a list and select the default you want to display.
I use that feature as a clock and weather station using accuweather or one of those apps, but you can use it as an active photo frame, or other choice with a simple touch.
My favorite app is TuneIn, so I use it as an internet radio with tons of presets, and the audio coming out of the touchpad is really solid! I bring it all over the house with me to keep me company when I am working on chores, such as working in the garage, etc., and although I have some local terrestrial stations on there, I have a lot of Old Time Radio and specialty music stations as my most listened to.
Sometimes I will fall asleep at night listening to the radio, and wake up the next morning with only 10-15% of the batter life used! (obviously, the screen will sleep on battery). I wish there was a slingbox app, but I have successfully used it with the splashtop appp, remote controlling a desktop with a slingplayer on it.
Paul
05/21/2012 at 9:25 am
I have to say I am very surprised how much I use WEBos over ICS. HP also gives a lot of information that they do not have to when it comes to installing Preware and unlocking. I would hope some of the former Palm employees would work on software for WEBos and bring more life into the software now HP is out of the picture.
blade
05/24/2012 at 1:39 am
Defunct means no longer being made, basically. Webos is most definitely still being made with several updates having happened to it and a huge one scheduled for September. Facts, check them.