My TouchPad Today: Quickoffice HD on the TouchPad

I installed the editable version of Quickoffice (Quickoffice HD) on my TouchPad a couple of nights ago, but haven't had an opportunity to take it out for a ride on the "highway" yet. (I've only ventured just a bit outside of the driveway.)

First impressions...

• With the brief spin I took "around the block", I think I will ultimately be ok, though not overjoyed, with Qo HD.  
• A pain point I see for me is the TP's dreadful Copy/Paste functionality when working with spreadsheets. My brief test drive showed it to be a real productivity killer, just like it has been with anything else thus far on the TP that has needed Copy/Paste.
• Overall (and stating the totally obvious), the TP is now much closer to what it should have been for the July 1 / July 17 launch.

Maybe this upcoming weekend I'll get to report more fully on life with the TP and Quickoffice HD.


Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: Preware on My TouchPad

Over the weekend I finally dipped my toe into the world of Preware on my TouchPad.

I installed the following patches/applications...

• Increase Touch Sensitivity and Smoothness 10
• Muffle System Logging
• Remove Dropped Packet Logging
• Unthrottle Download Manager
• Increase TouchPad Volume (Lite)

First impressions..

• No adverse effects seen on my TP thus far
• TP seems "stabler"
• My TP does not seem "faster" now, as compared to my wife's TP which does not have Preware installed.

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My TouchPad Today: HP - Fire, Ready, Aim?

The New York Times reviews HP's uncanny ability in recent times to shoot itself in the foot...

For Seamless Transitions, Don't Look to Hewlett


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My TouchPad Today: The Firesale TouchPad

The firesale TouchPad I ordered on Sunday morning from Best Buy arrived yesterday.

Between last night and this morning, I set it up for my wife by downloading the webOS OTA update and adding some apps from the HP catalog...

• Gemini File Manager
• DigiCamera Lite
• Audubon Birds

I also went into the phone app and minimized logging as per James Kendrick's recent ZDNet Mobile News blog post about how to speed up the TouchPad.

The only difficulty I ran into was that it took NUMEROUS attempts to download and install the OTA update, DigiCamera and Audubon Birds. HP's servers must be swamped with all of the download requests from the firesale brigade of new users.


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My TouchPad Today: TouchPad Firesale - Reveals That No One is in Charge

The TouchPad firesale fiasco this past weekend exposed a dirty little secret of the computer and Internet worlds... No one is in charge (and no one's been in charge for a long time).

Like many others, I had a TouchPad firesale purchase ($99/16GB) cancelled by the wonderful, upstanding merchants at Amazon and onSale.  I include Amazon as a full-fledged co-conspirator since they host the onSale storefront.

Here's my take on the firesale weekend...

Good Outcomes

The TouchPad (severely overpriced at the original $499 for the 16GB model, still overpriced at $399) was a super bargain at the $99 firesale price.

HP inadvertently changed the future pricing structure of the tablet PC market. Apple may be able to maintain their pricing structure, but every other tablet manufacturer is faced with selling their tablets at a loss, in hopes of somehow finding a profit in the long run.

Revelation of the Dirty Little Secret

Commerce on the Internet is built on sand. The underpinnings -- both human and electronic -- are sand and washed away rapidly by unanticipated forces.

What most of us saw and experienced were the crashing waves of the TouchPad weekend washing out the sandy electronic  foundation beneath the websites selling the TouchPad, exposing them to the open air.

The waves also exposed a lack of business integrity that has been hidden behind the gloss of the Internet for a generation now.

Merchants took TP orders that they couldn't possibly fill. Where were the businesspersons with the integrity to say "Shut it down. If we don't have 'em, we can't sell 'em."?

Merchants were clueless -- and continue to be clueless -- in regard to matching the firesale price of the TP for all purchasers, regardless of the date of purchase. Some have matched. Some won't match. Some will match, for some dates purchased.  Some will match for some people, regardless of when purchased.

Where's the integrity? HP has asked TP merchants to match the firesale price for all purchases.

No one is in charge here.  No one has been in charge for a long time.


Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: Shame on Amazon...

Shame on Amazon and the other merchants/vendors who are not matching HP's weekend's liquidation price ($99 - 16GB / $149 - 32GB) for TouchPad customers who purchased their units prior to August 12.

I'm one of those early adopters who pre-ordered on June 20 and received it on July 8.

Amazon, through their various customer service channels (e-mail, online chat and telephone), has refused to make the adjustment/match to the HP's liquidation price. Their only offer is to return the TP for a full refund.

I can understand their position, up to a point, but what makes it particularly frustrating/aggravating is...

• HP has asked their sellers to match the liquidation price for all purchasers
• Amazon, despite citing a policy of not matching the price for purchases before August 12, is giving a liquidation match to some customers who bought before August 12.  They refuse to comment on those cases.

Readers, please let Amazon and other merchants know of your displeasure with inconsistent price matches for the TouchPad and ignoring HP's request to give the match to all purchasers, regardless of date.


Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: TouchPad Sound - Tommy, Can You Hear Me?

Last night, I finally had the opportunity to download HP Play on my PC and sync some music to my TouchPad. Then, for a bit last night and this morning for a period while doing laundry, I listened to some of my favorite tunes of decades past, as well as some newer stuff.

I listened in a several ways... with earbuds, with closed-ear headphones and just via the built-in Beats speakers

First impression...

The sound is good, but something seems to be "missing". Though I kept pushing the volume all the way up to max or one notch just below, it wasn't volume that seemed to be missing.

After pondering it for awhile, I think the sound from my TouchPad is missing some degree of presence or power.

Thinking back to my audiophile wannabe days, it seems something akin to listening to high-end speakers playing music coming out of an underpowered amplifier. The music is in the room with you (not "coming at you", because of the good speakers), but it doesn't have enough power behind it to keep you from reaching for the volume control in a futile attempt to make up for it.

I wonder... Is this something that can be boosted/fixed by a software update, or is it something we'll have to live with on the TP?


Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087