HP TouchPad Hits Oz August 15: $599 (16GB); $699 (32GB)

That’s about 6 weeks behind the US (which isn’t too bad), though we’ll be paying $100 more for each model, despite the high Australian dollar. Both 9.7-inch tablets are also Wi-Fi only — which won’t help matters considering the 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 costs $580 and $690, respectively. Still, the TouchPad is about presenting a tablet alternative, and we’re fans of its WebOS interface.

Specs
HP TouchPad
Price: $US500-$US600 16GB-32GB Wi-Fi
Screen: 9.7-inch, 1024×768
Processor and RAM: Dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, 1GB RAM
Storage: 16GB, 32GB or 64GB
Camera: Front: 1.3-megapixel webcam
Weight: 0.7kg
Battery: 6300mAh

As we said in our full HP Touchpad Review, WebOS’ card interface and its “Synergy” feature — email/calendar/social network aggregation (see video) — definitely help the TouchPad stand out from the tablet pack. It’s definitely a well built tablet, too — not overly light, but it feels smooth in the hand. Also of note: we’re not geting the faster model (1.5GHz processor) just yet, though HP hasn’t ruled it out at some point.

On the software front, HP will need more than roughly 300 tablet WebOS apps to really create gain traction. And hopefully the HP movie store may still come to Australia (you play your own files easily enough via HP Play in the meantime).

Many of you were waiting for local TouchPad pricing. Now we know — do you think you’ll pick one up (exclusively from Harvey Norman), or are you holding out for one of those upcoming tablets rumoured to be just around the corner?


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