HP has been working on an 8.9 inch Windows slate PC since at least January, when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed one off on stage at CES. Since then, the tablet has run into a few speedbumps.
First, HP acquired Palm and a lot of attention got focused on the company’s upcoming Slate computers running WebOS. Then we discovered that HP was still working on Windows tablets, but would aim these devices at enterprise users rather than the general public.
Now a YouTube user has uploaded a hands-on video with a prototype of the HP Slate running Windows 7, and while it’s not entirely clear is this thing will be for business users or consumers, it has a few interesting design features.
First, there’s a nice big 3 megapixel camera on the back of the slate, along with a rubbery plastic backing which gives you something to grip.
There’s an SD card slot and a dedicated button to press in order to bring up an on-screen keyboard. There’s a mic integrated into the side of the case, as well as volume buttons and a USB port hidden away behind a door. There’s a dedicated Ctrl+Alt+Del button and a home button. The power button also serves as a lock to keep the power off (or on), while the tablet is in your bag or somewhere else you don’t want it accidentally turning on or off.
Speakers are integrated into the bottom of the tablet, along with a docking port.
There’s a second camera on the front for video chatting, and aside from the screen bezel and HP logo on the front, that’s about all you’ll see.
The tablet has a capacitive multitouch display, and while it isn’t shown in the video, the uploader says it also comes with a Wacom pen for more precise input.
You can check out the hands-on video after the break.
Update: Filed under unsurprising developments, the video is no longer available from YouTube.
via Gizmodo
The fact that you need a dedicated keyboard key (and thus it’s expected for you to manage the OSK yourself) and a ctrl-alt-del button really shows that Win 7 and the way it’s designed is just not meant for a device like this. Who wants to still have to manage a keyboard and cursor at all times on a tablet? And all those tiny targets for window controls? Ugh.
Also, while the uploader comments repeatedly that it’s quite fast, I thought Internet Explorer (flash aside and interesting swipe to go back gesture) was actually pretty clunky and slow in this video (look how long it took him to get it to scroll, and the mistaken link activation).
Remember that this is a enterprise product, and CAD is needed to log on to certain types of windows networks.
Also, mind that he had literally just turned the thing on when he opened, IE — i7 or Atom, any PC has that slowdown when it’s still starting up.
Seems to me that we have been here before with debut videos of the HP Slate to only have it pulled. It appears to me the keyboard button would be a pain in the a_ _. Push to open then push to close. However since I have not had the chance to play with a HP Slate I might be wrong. However I like the rest of the computer. Still excited about the HP Slate, it would make a nice companion to my HP notebook.