# Should I Buy...?



## David333 (Nov 25, 2011)

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask but I've been skimming a million forums and this seems to be one of the most active. I would like a tablet for under £200 and am very tempted by the HP Touchpad from ebay. Obviously I have no particular need for one but Christmas is coming and I'd quite enjoy getting myself one!

I currently have a San Francisco phone which was incredibly cheap but has been flashed with Froyo (Swedish Spring) so now works incredibly well for the price. That is probably my main concern: getting a good product for the money. I don't want to spend pennies on something which is useless but equally I don't have millions to spend on an ipad. The Touchpad seems to fit in quite well in that for less than £200 it seems to be a really good tablet (dual core, 1.20Ghz, 1GB RAM and 9.7" screen) and there seem to be opportunities for it to be modded with Android (hopefully ICS in the future).

I would mainly use it for e-mailing using wifi in coffee shops, reading articles, general browsing, BBC Iplayer and watching films.

I suppose that asking on a HP Touchpad forum means there will be a slight bias but can anybody put on an objective hat?! The Kindle Fire looks like another good option (when it finally gets to the UK) but it seems to be smaller with a worse processor and a smaller screen...

Any thoughts...?


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## atomics (Oct 7, 2011)

after getting the touchpad, i've realized I don't really use it all that much. that being said, I have an iphone, a laptop, and a desktop. i usually have my phone to connect me to the world for quick news and email when away from home, my laptop's used at school for killing time/ taking notes and my desktop finds use in editing work/gaming.

the one area i find the touchpad to excel in is reading rss feeds. i kick back on the couch and just swipe from article to article until I'm satisfied. The truth is I could easily do this on my laptop, its just more convenient to do so on the touchpad for me.

if you see yourself using a tablet in place of a laptop then maybe it's a good purchase decision. if you intend for it to be used for internet browsing pick something with strong specs than the fire or nook tablet; even the touchpad isn't blazing fast for internet use. perhaps wait for newer generation hardware, or don't. it's hard to decide what's best for you.

would I recommend the touchpad for the $100 i paid? yes. although its use is limited in my particular lifestyle. to each his own


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## mdhuang (Oct 14, 2011)

touchpad with android has replaced my laptop for 90% of the time. it can definitely handle all the tasks you have listed.


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## David333 (Nov 25, 2011)

Thank you both for the replies. I have a laptop at home and an Android phone for when I'm out. I end up reading newspapers and RSS feeds on my phone more than my computer and I'm expecting to transfer this to a tablet. It would also be nice to watch films in bed or on the train, places where my laptop rarely ventures.

I suppose my main question is whether the Touchpad (especially with Android) is the best specification-wise of the 'budget' tablets... Personally I can't think of anything else for less than £200 apart from possibly the Archos tablets... Spending more (or waiting longer) would obviously get better specifications but as things stand could I do better for the same amount of money...?


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## uwndrd (Oct 13, 2011)

My advice - don't buy it. You have a San Francisco phone, right? Do you need a BIG San Francisco phone? Because with Android 2.3 Hp Touchpad is just a big Android phone, you see. And ICS won't be ready at least for two months. The device is not a best choice for watching movies either (4:3 screen), and you'll soon find it to be too bulky to take it with you to caffes for emails, etc.


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## David333 (Nov 25, 2011)

Thanks for your comment! I _would_ quite like a big San Francisco for reading articles, watching TV, etc!However I take your point that my phone automatically comes out with me and it would become an effort to take a tablet out. I suppose it's about having a fun bit of technology rather than trying to particularly optimise my life... Does the Touchpad work as the best specification fun bit of technology for the money?!


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## atomics (Oct 7, 2011)

android today (alpha 3 or 2.1) on the touchpad is full of bugs and lacks proper optimization. webOS albeit much more polished lacks apps and has some annoying quirks to it.

it's a "fun" piece of technology but whether it's worth it comes down to you. tablets like the fire or nook have a UI that are much more polished/refined and work without hitch.

one can only hope that when and if the touchpad receives ICS, it gets optimized and keeps bugs to a minimal. but how long till we reach that point is anyone's guess.

so the question is. do you take a risk with the touchpad and it's potentially great ICS experience or settle with tablets already done where you know what to expect, like the fire or nook,or potentially settle with the stock touchpad and learn to love webOS?


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## Redflea (Jun 7, 2011)

"I would mainly use it for e-mailing using wifi in coffee shops, reading articles, general browsing, BBC Iplayer and watching films"

Email - check
Reading articles - check
Browsing - check
BBC Iplayer - no reason to suspect it wouldn't work
Films - depends, some aren't completely happy with the quality at this point...I steam Netflix and there has definitely been some quality degradation in the most recent CM7 release for the TP. I assume the devs will work on that...

I use my TP daily as a laptop replacement for everything but heavy text input. I haven't used webOS since the first CM7 TP release. For me it just works.


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## ironman (Oct 17, 2011)

I was able to get the Toshiba Thrive for $199.99 from Newegg on Friday for my brother. Tablet prices will definitely drop.


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## androideric (Oct 6, 2011)

I love my touchpad, I use it at work to read over documents outside when the weather permits or to play games. However it's not like you were getting the touchpad at an awesome 99/150 US price tag, so my advice after looking over what you want to use your device for is to look into tablets are native to Android. The touchpad/kindle fire/new nook have helped to push other tablets down in price, with that being said I'd recommend going out and handling and actually using a few different ones before making a purchase.

Sitting around reading in a coffee shop your rss feeds - you could get away with just about any tablet out there.


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## tezray (Aug 24, 2011)

The BlackBerry playbook is good spec and cheap my colleague just picked one up for 150 pound the person got it with a contract and didn't like it. They are on gumtree for around 180. With the new update you can run android apps. It's 7 inch lovely screen but only down side is web browsing in portrait the text is too small and you need to zoom in then scroll about although landscape is perfect. I'm not sure how well it works with Android phones in bridge to share Internet etc because he has a BlackBerry and it can share everything and works well. Check it out as the specs are close to touchpad and similar price.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk


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## sikfrk (Nov 25, 2011)

My touchpad is the best $99 I've ever spent, hands-down.

Sent from my Touchpad using Tapatalk


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## plemen (Nov 26, 2011)

I have a 32gb Touchpad and I have to say it is now an amazing piece of technology with Android. I use it as the family calendar, for reading forums/blogs, kids play their games, etc. Great piece of technology for under $150. However, having said that, I think 7" is a much better size for tablets than 10" - 10 is kind of bulky and not as natural for one handed use. Also, CM7 Alpha3 is very very usable but it still needs some work; if you can get one for under $150 I would fully recommend it - it would be worth more if stable CM7 was available.

For more than that, I would go with a Blackberry Playbook ($199 in Canada for 16GB! Price should start falling globally) - 7" and it should have a lot more apps soon because it is selling like crazy at this price (seeding the market). It will run Android apps natively soon and their are ways to convert apk's to run on bberry right now.

BTW, would love to see CM for Playbook


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## ijeff (Nov 25, 2011)

plemen said:


> For more than that, I would go with a Blackberry Playbook ($199 in Canada for 16GB! Price should start falling globally) - 7" and it should have a lot more apps soon because it is selling like crazy at this price (seeding the market). It will run Android apps natively soon and their are ways to convert apk's to run on bberry right now.
> 
> BTW, would love to see CM for Playbook


I played around with a PlayBook the other day, at the new price it's a great device. The OS itself is superb and with the new Android compatibility it's probably the best tablet for its size.


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## xSLUGx (Aug 24, 2011)

I would say that the HP touchpad is an amazing piece of hardware. I might not use it everyday but I also have 3 desktops, a laptop, a windows phone 7 an xbox and a wii...so I have a lot of options. But I do love using it, even when it had WebOs on it. 200 isnt bad if it has never been opened in my opinion and I work as a tech at a retail store.


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## escoe (Oct 29, 2011)

I would not buy a touchpad unless its selling for the firesale prices. You are better off getting a honeycomb or ICS tablet that is fully funcitional


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## jackychan (Nov 2, 2011)

my advice, get an asus transformer tablet


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## David333 (Nov 25, 2011)

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I've been away for a couple of days so haven't been able to respond.

With regards to the other options, in the UK very few tablets come in under £200, and some like the Kindle Fire and Nook we don't yet have available. Although I missed the firesale for the HP (I tried so hard but just can't find any stock nearby), £150 from ebay for a new one seems like a decent price to me. I suppose I could wait and therefore get better hardware but if the Touchpad does what I want it to do (play films, read articles) then I don't see what benefit there is in waiting.

With regards to what I would do with it. I can't watch films on my San Francisco (too small) so it might be nice to have a media consumption device I could use around the house to watch them. I would actually quite like to use webOS if it works well which is why the dual boot Android thing is quite tempting...

One question about the Touchpad itself: can I plug in an external hard drive to the USB (with no separate power source) to save transferring films over to it?


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## sikfrk (Nov 25, 2011)

David333 said:


> One question about the Touchpad itself: can I plug in an external hard drive to the USB (with no separate power source) to save transferring films over to it?


Nope, but I think I read something about using a powered one.


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## Redflea (Jun 7, 2011)

sikfrk said:


> Nope, but I think I read something about using a powered one.


Yup, must have external power, battery works fine according to those who have posted about it.


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