In the midst of all the news about the TouchPad fire sale, some people might feel left out in the lurch with their pre-downfall tablets. You’re covered; HP will reportedly refund you your money or pay back the difference on the sale prices. More »
Tempted by the promise of a $99 TouchPad, in spite of its imminent demise? Well, it looks like American Best Buys won’t be enjoying the same liquidation sale as our neighbors to the north. A couple of tipsters have reported that the big box electronics retailer has pulled the webOS tablets from its shelves and is shipping them back to HP. The slates have also disappeared from Best Buy’s website, though you can buy $30 screen protectors for one. You can still try to score one on the cheap straight from HP, but both the 16GB and 32GB models are currently listed as out of stock. Don’t get upset if you already plunked down $400 for 10-inches of webOS goodness — HP will refund you the difference. Call up the company or the retail partner you purchased it from, and ask. Just be prepared to sit on hold with all the rest of the folks trying to get their cash back.
[Thanks, Alex and David]
Best Buy stops selling the TouchPad, HP offers refunds to owners originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, that didn’t take long. It’s only been a day since HP announced its intention to discontinue production of webOS devices, and it looks like the outfit’s already throwing its flagship tablet in the bargain bin. PreCentral reports that HP sent out a memo to its affiliates asking them to cut the price of the ill-fated TouchPad to $99 and $149 for the 16GB and 32GB editions, respectively. The date apparently put forward by HP is August 20th, but at least two Canadian retailers (Best Buy and Future Shop) have already made the cut — though both outlets show the sale ending August 22nd. As proof that being fashionably late isn’t always a good thing, the white 64GB edition has surfaced on HP’s US site, sporting a $600 asking price, leaving us to wonder, well: why now? If all of that isn’t enough to turn your smile upside down, webOSroundup is playing the bearer of bad rumors, with what they say is an internal memo from AT&T stating that the carrier’s launch of the Pre 3 has been “completely cancelled.”
Update: Looks like the SlickDeals forums folks have discovered a way to bring those Canadian prices down south, and are reporting that they will be official in the US on Saturday morning. Hit up the link below for details.
Let the liquidation begin — HP’s 16GB TouchPad on sale for $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The last time we spoke with Stephen DeWitt, the head of HP’s webOS global business unit was on the defensive about the TouchPad. In spite of — or perhaps because of — the anticipation of the device, the first webOS tablet received a lukewarm reception at hands of reviewers. DeWitt vigorously defended the slate against the critics, suggesting that technology writers had been approaching the product the wrong way. A lot has happened since that conversation, of course, including reports of unmoved stock and, more significantly, yesterday’s news that HP would effectively be discontinuing production on its webOS devices, the TouchPad included.
There’s been a good deal of confusion around precisely what yesterday’s announcement means for both the company and the mobile operating system that it picked up with its purchase of Palm back in April of last year. In spite of his understandably packed schedule, DeWitt sat down with us to set the record straight and shed some light on the future of webOS — a future both he and the company remain rather optimistic about.
Read on for the full interview.
Continue reading The Engadget Interview: HP’s Stephen DeWitt discusses the state of webOS
The Engadget Interview: HP’s Stephen DeWitt discusses the state of webOS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What does it mean when the world’s largest PC manufacturer quits? Some say it’s the death knell for PCs. That may be the case, but only because companies, like HP, are turning tail and running rather than fighting back. Don’t. More »
HP introduced the TouchPad tablet in February. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
It certainly wasn’t poorly performing software that killed the TouchPad.
Sources at The Next Web reports that HP’s webOS team hacked an iPad 2 to run the software — and it ended up running more than twice as fast on Apple’s tablet as on the TouchPad.
Even before the TouchPad tablet or Pre smartphone were officially released, the webOS developer team was so fed up with HP’s lackluster hardware that they “wanted them gone.”
HP rocked the tech world yesterday when it announced the company would no longer be producing webOS hardware, including the TouchPad tablet and Pre smartphones, after acquiring Palm last year for $1.2 billion. The webOS software could still be licensed to third-party manufacturers. HP CEO Leo Apotheker cited lack of traction in the marketplace as a major reason for abandoning the mobile operation.
The team of developers also deployed webOS within the iPad’s Mobile Safari browser and got similarly speedy results. The TouchPad features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with A8 architecture, while the iPad 2 houses a dual-core A5 chip based on the faster Cortex-A9 architecture.
According to The Next Web:
The hardware reportedly stopped the team from innovating beyond certain points because it was slow and imposed constraints, which was highlighted when webOS was loaded on to Apple’s iPad device and found to run the platform significantly faster than the device for which it was originally developed.
I personally checked out the HP Veer when it debuted, and I found webOS to be really refreshing and intuitive. My main issues with the device were definitely hardware-based: not enough memory, and not a powerful enough processor.
This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, the crew talks about big news for Google, big news for Motorola and a tablet company attempting to reinvent itself with two new device offerings.
Product reviews editor Michael Calore and staff writer Mike Isaac kick off the show with the week’s biggest news; Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings. What are the implications for other hardware companies? Will the FTC allow the deal to go through? What will Android look now that Google has control of hardware, unlike before? It’s a huge development in the world of mobile, and the two Mikes attempt to cover some of the angles.
Next up on the show, staff writer Christina Bonnington drops by to talk about her experience with the new Android tablet from Fusion Garage, the Grid 10. It’s the the company’s hopeful follow up to its first huge failure of an Android slate, the Joo Joo tablet. Christina’s first take was generally positive, but Fusion Garage has a lot to prove after the Joo Joo.
You might note the conspicuous absence of any talk of HP’s bombshell news of discontinuing its TouchPad and smartphone products. Don’t worry, we didn’t miss it. We filmed the podcast the day before HP’s announcement, so we’ll likely get to webOS discussion. For follow-up coverage, check out staff writer Tim Carmody’s take on what the news means for HP in the future.
Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.
Or listen to the audio below:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #122
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0122.mp3
Sometimes, you just can’t handle it all. There is so much to learn about consumer electronics every week that you simply can’t handle the stress. Don’t despair: we, The Engadget Podcasters, are here to help. Let us do the tough work of digesting acquisitions, spinoffs, Grids, Xiaomiphones, and a pocketful of BlackBerrys while you lay on the chaise and have grapes fed to you by your loved ones…or whatever it is you people do to relax these days. Just make sure to listen, let the news wash over you, and feel the knots in your neck and back go the way of the TouchPad.
Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guests: Dana Wollman, Josh Fruhlinger
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: S&M
00:02:30 – Editorial: Engadget on the death of HP’s webOS devices
00:03:38 – HP may spin off PC business, shift focus to software and services
00:05:10 – HP will ‘discontinue operations for webOS devices’, may spin off Personal Systems Group
00:22:55 – Google acquiring Motorola Mobility
00:28:45 – Verizon embraces Google’s Moto Mobility deal, hopes for an end to patent disputes
00:38:30 – TabCo reveals itself as Fusion Garage, unveils Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone (update)
00:41:25 – Fusion Garage Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone hands-on
00:46:48 – The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage’s Chandra Rathakrishnan
00:53:11 – BlackBerry Bold 9930 review
00:55:25 – BlackBerry Torch 9850 review
00:56:30 – BlackBerry Torch 9810 review
00:58:14 – Xiaomi Phone hands-on (updated with video)
01:02:07 – Motorola Photon 4G review
01:02:58 – The NYC Engadget Reader Meetup is less than two weeks away!
01:04:43 – The Engadget Show returns Friday, August 19th — win a ticket to the taping!
01:09:28 – Listener questions
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Engadget Podcast 253 – 08.19.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re still trying to wrap our heads around yesterday’s sounding of what will most likely be the death knell for webOS. The fine folks over at The Next Web have offered some insight, and it seems that hardware was the problem. It’s no secret that the TouchPad was released with a single-core chip in an age of dual-core tablets and super phones. As we noted in our review, the device simply couldn’t keep up with the competition. According to TNW’s sources, developers actually managed to port webOS over to the iPad 2 for testing purposes, and it ran “over twice as fast.” It’s not terribly surprising that Apple’s dual-core A5 chip was able to outpace the single 1.2GHz core found inside the TouchPad, but It may seem strange that the 1.2GHz chip inside the TouchPad was so easily outclassed by the slower clocked A5, but Apple’s chip is sporting faster Cortex-A9 architecture, while HP relied on Qualcomm’s slower A8-based Snapdragon. It seems that the hardware constraints were ultimately what did in the Linux-based mobile OS.
Update: This article incorrectly stated that the TouchPad shipped with a single-core processor. It was in fact a dual-core Snapdragon APQ8060.
Was webOS tested on an iPad, HP done in by its slower hardware? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WebOS, where did things go wrong? One moment you’re worth a “double-down” investment by HP valued at $1.2 billion, and the OS of choice for future tablets, computers and even printers; the next, you’re discarded like yesterday’s crusty old oatmeal. Today, HP announced — among other things — that it’s chosen to discontinue operations for its webOS lineup, and that the company “will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.” So what does this all mean for the future of webOS? Have we seen the last of webOS? Join us past the break for our thoughts.
Continue reading Editorial: Engadget on the death of HP’s webOS devices
Editorial: Engadget on the death of HP’s webOS devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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