WebOS impressions part II...

[Powermoloch]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/how-to-improve-the-performance-of-your-new-hp-touchpad/3866

 

[Spoooon]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/how-to-improve-the-performance-of-your-new-hp-touchpad/3866

:thumbsup:

 

[finbarqs]

Played around with it for a little over an hour last night.

-it shut down and reboot once. Forgot what I was doing, probably just using the browser
-the first time I tried loading a video on Hulu it completely froze the browser after i paused it. I could scroll up and down in the browser, but the video wouldn't play, and hitting refresh or the back button did absolutely nothing (no visual indication that it was even attempting to do the actions I had clicked).
-Hulu at 480p is very choppy, pretty much unwatchable. At 360p there's still occasional choppiness, not nearly as much as 480p. It's bearable, but not good.
-on the plus side I left it on autoplay on Hulu and a few hours later it was still playing, so it didn't crash again.
-the difference in responsiveness compared to the ipad is really evident when scrolling on a webpage. That tiny bit of jerkiness is distracting.

Luckily at $100, these issues can be easily overlooked. If it had been over $300 I would probably be getting ready to take it back to the store today.

forgot what it was, but I remember there was this one preware app that blocks hulu ads. The ads are what makes hulu awful. (crash and unstable) otherwise, uberkernel! Damn now I want one back @ 100 bucks!

 

[Bacstar]

I have android and iOS and operating system-wise, webOS is pretty nice. My favorite of the 3. Installed all the patches and OC to 1.5ghz from Preware. Incredibly easy...you don't even have to root the device. Enter developer mode, and install the Preware package like any other piece of software, well almost...

The hardware isn't special, so last year, but I think webOS makes it bearable. I've already bought a ton of apps for it. The selection is pretty slim, but I got most of what I need. I got the Galaxy Tab 10.1 too to try out Android. Really nice hardware, but I'm really not liking android and thinking about selling it. If only I could install webOS on it.

 

[amdhunter]

Any way to differentiate betweeen Pre and Touchpad native apps in their market? It's really annoying to download something and it turns out that it's made for a Pre.

Also, anyone else notice that Pandora on the Touchpad has no time limit? I played music through it all night. This alone made it worth it for me.

 

[A5]

Any way to differentiate betweeen Pre and Touchpad native apps in their market? It's really annoying to download something and it turns out that it's made for a Pre.

Also, anyone else notice that Pandora on the Touchpad has no time limit? I played music through it all night. This alone made it worth it for me.

The stuff for the Touchpad is listed first in the app store and has a "For Touchpad" right over the download button. The selection of Touchpad-optimized apps is pretty dire, though.

 

[amdhunter]

The stuff for the Touchpad is listed first in the app store and has a "For Touchpad" right over the download button. The selection of Touchpad-optimized apps is pretty dire, though.

I'll take a look when I get home. Someone told me there were only like 20? That sucks...lol

 

[hanoverphist]

I'll take a look when I get home. Someone told me there were only like 20? That sucks...lol

they must have talked to the ms zuneHD store people for that bright idea... ()

 

[iahk]

the app catalog for webos for pre's was pretty lacking too, even though there were alot more apps. i only bought like 2 or 3 apps and downloaded 5 free ones through the 1yr usage life of my palm pre.

 

[Arkaign]

I have android and iOS and operating system-wise, webOS is pretty nice. My favorite of the 3. Installed all the patches and OC to 1.5ghz from Preware. Incredibly easy...you don't even have to root the device. Enter developer mode, and install the Preware package like any other piece of software, well almost...

The hardware isn't special, so last year, but I think webOS makes it bearable. I've already bought a ton of apps for it. The selection is pretty slim, but I got most of what I need. I got the Galaxy Tab 10.1 too to try out Android. Really nice hardware, but I'm really not liking android and thinking about selling it. If only I could install webOS on it.

I don't know tablet hardware that well, but from what I can tell :

HP TP = 1.2Ghz Dual-Core Snapdragon CPU, 1GB Ram
Samsung GT 10.1 = 1.0Ghz Dual-Core CPU (Type?)), 1GB Ram

Both have some kind of GPU chip as well.

Is the IPC too low on the Snapdragon compared to other tablets, or is there another reason to be critical on the primary hardware specs of the Touchpad?

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't know tablet hardware that well, but from what I can tell :

HP TP = 1.2Ghz Dual-Core Snapdragon CPU, 1GB Ram
Samsung GT 10.1 = 1.0Ghz Dual-Core CPU (Type?)), 1GB Ram

Both have some kind of GPU chip as well.

Is the IPC too low on the Snapdragon compared to other tablets, or is there another reason to be critical on the primary hardware specs of the Touchpad?

There's a recent article on AT that says that the qualcomm snapdragon processors have about 20% lower ipc than the Apple A5 processor. The 20% clock advantage should theoretically eliminate that gap. My understanding is that the TP has hardware that is on par with anything else out there, but HP didn't spend the time optimizing webOS that they should have. This is why I'm sort of excited about the prospect of an android port.

Maybe android would take better advantage of the hardware. If HP continues to develop webOS, that could turn into something special as well.

 

[Insomniator]

There's a recent article on AT that says that the qualcomm snapdragon processors have about 20% lower ipc than the Apple A5 processor. The 20% clock advantage should theoretically eliminate that gap. My understanding is that the TP has hardware that is on par with anything else out there, but HP didn't spend the time optimizing webOS that they should have. This is why I'm sort of excited about the prospect of an android port.

Maybe android would take better advantage of the hardware. If HP continues to develop webOS, that could turn into something special as well.

Yeah from what I've read eveyrone blames it on WebOS being unoptimized. Though I did read somewhere that the TP's Adreno 220 GPU is not as powerful as Tegra 2 or the Ipad 2's.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Yeah from what I've read eveyrone blames it on WebOS being unoptimized. Though I did read somewhere that the TP's Adreno 220 GPU is not as powerful as Tegra 2 or the Ipad 2's.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4243/...mance-1-5-ghz-msm8660-adreno-220-benchmarks/2

The pad has a stronger GPU but the Adreno 220 is no slouch.

 

[Spoooon]

Paired the touchpad with my wife's palm Pixi. Pretty cool taking calls on it. Hope someone manages to get that working with non-webos phones. Or the feature makes it to honeycomb.

I also hope someone manages to get wireless printing working with non-HP printers.

 

[Bacstar]

Overclock it to 1.5 ghz and disable all the logging, and the TP flies. Everything runs really smooth. On my Galaxy, there's something that makes things seem so laggy when flipping left/right on the Home screen.

The thing with the TP, from the front it looks like a clone of the iPad 1. It's thick and heavy, probably due to the hardware needed for wireless charging. I love this feature. If you get one, you really need to get a touchstone. Plastic and glossy back feels kinda cheap and a fingerprint magnet. The ports are plastic, so I can see cracks developing easily if you're not careful. I found a wifi-syncing app that pretty much alleviates me from ever needing to use the charge/sync cable.

At $599/499 price points were way to high for what you got. With the $100 price drop a couple weeks ago, I was finally able to stomach it. At $149/$99, it's a steal

 

[Sephire]

Thank you for the optimizing articles, 4tube loads faster and playback is now much, much smoother.

 

[Spoooon]

Custom icons is kind of a PITA and not really worth it IMO.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Wow overclocked it and it is noticeably faster.

 

[finbarqs]

i miss my webOS device

I don't know why, but I really really don't like android. Can't wait to get rid of my EVO 4G (spb shell is a waste of money!!!!!)

 

[Capt Caveman]

Is there a touchscreen gesture that one can use to get back to the top of a webpage?

 

[Darknite39]

I originally bought the tablet for reading comic books and browsing, with the hope that Android would eventually be ported over, but after using the tablet for a few days, I think I'll just leave WebOS on it or at least dual-boot if possible (I've done all of the optimizing listed here and elsewhere, short of OCing). I really hope some kind of development continues with WebOS. It has promise.

 

[mnewsham]

Why short of OCing the CPU is at stock a 1.5Ghz CPU HP clocked it at 1.2Ghz however. Feel free to go up to 1.5Ghz without worrying.

 

[Darknite39]

Oh, really? I had read that in a forum, but I wanted to do a little more digging to confirm that was true. Thank you for the info!

 

[mnewsham]

Oh, really? I had read that in a forum, but I wanted to do a little more digging to confirm that was true. Thank you for the info!

No problem, here is a quote from the qualcomm PDF on the APQ8060

Unrivaled system performance with new dual-core Scorpion CPU architecture offering industry first speeds up to
1.5GHz per core.

Dual Scorpion – up to 1.5GHz