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HP’s TouchPad tablet didn’t sell very many units at $499, but became the must-have tablet of 2011 when the company launched a fire sale and liquidated the tablet for prices as low as $99. So it’s not a huge surprise that HP’s decided to re-enter the tablet space this year with a budget model that’s supposed to be cheap.
Unfortunately according to one of the first reviews of the HP Slate 7, it looks and feels cheap, and there’s not much reason to buy one when you can get a Nexus 7 for $30 more (or a Chinese tablet for even less). Maybe HP will drop the price even lower soon in order to move units?
Here are some of the day’s top stories from around the web.
- HP Slate 7 $170 tablet reviewed by @reverendkjr… found very disappointing (video)
The HP Slate 7 is HP’s first Android tablet that was designed to sell for a dirt cheap price. But according to at least one early reviewer, it might not be cheap enough. [reverendkjr on YouTube] - IDC: Apple still dominates PC shipments, Microsoft not so much
Research firm IDC released new tablet shipment estimates. According to the firm Apple tablets still make up nearly 40 percent of the market, with Samsung and Asus in second and third place. Microsoft is in fifth place with its Surface tablets, putting it behind Amazon. [IDC] - Unofficial Amazon video plugin for XBMC no longer works, thanks DRM
Right about the same time Amazon launched pilot episodes for a bunch of original programs, the company also started implementing new DRM for its Flash-based video playback. That means it no longer works on Linux, Android, or even in the XBMC media player running on Linux, Android, or Windows. [Slashdot] - MiiPC Android mini PC now available with twice the RAM, storage, for $15 more
The MiiPC is a cheap mini-computer project that’s raising funds on Kickstarter as we speak. While the team has already surpassed its original $50,000 goal, there are now new options available for backers. Kick in an extra $15 and you can get a model with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage instead of a model with 1GB/4GB. [Engadget] - T-Mobile and Metro PCS… two become one
The merger is complete. But since these are two of the smaller carriers in the US, you probably won’t be affected at all. [T-Mobile] - Google adds section for Chrome Packaged Apps to Chrome Web Store
Google now makes it easier to find Chrome Packaged Apps in the Chrome web store. If you’re on the dev channel you can now find these apps which are designed to run like native apps. They’ll show up in the Apps section, while web apps are listed under Websites. [Chromium Blog] - Early builds of LibreOffice now available for Android
The installer files are still way too big to be distributed on the Google Play Store, and the app crashed every time I tried to open a document on my Nexus 7. But if you want to give LibreOffice for Android a try, the APK files are now available for download. [Muktware]
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With all of the damage that HP did to it’s image with the failure of the HP Touchpad and declining sales of traditional PCs it’s amazing that they would release a new tablet that comes across as being so cheap. I purchased at Touchpad during the fire sale and use it daily (running Android under the CyanogenMod) but I doubt I would buy another HP product considering how little commitment they seem to have to their devices.
I would probably go with a Nexus 7 (or ASUS 7″ – 10″ tablet) as prices drop down to the point that they’re reasonable devices for consuming data (tablets are NOT creation devices…)