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It was supposed to be this wondertablet, a breakthrough device with iPhone-like capacitative touch screen, plus innovative software like its TouchSmart all-in-one siblings. But Laptop's testing shows the touch features aren't nearly good enough.
HP's Touchsmart tx2 is awesome because its the first consumer-oriented convertible notebook to feature a multitouch technology built into the display. The 12.1-inch screen uses a capacitive touchpanel that can track two points simultaneously, operates with fingers or a stylus, and comes with the Mediasmart 2.0 interface customised for the notebook. While Dell's oft-mentioned Latitude XT came out last year with the multitouch power to simultaneously track all five fingers, the feature was kept dormant until the middle of 2008 and lacks any really mainstream software to take advantage of the tech.
HP does pretty well for itself nowadays, consistently leading the market in notebook sales. According to the Wall Street Journal, though, they want to diversify. A lot. In a scattershot semi-announcement, the company said it is working in three new directions. Long-rumoured touchscreen notebooks, likely to feature HP's second-gen TouchSmart interface, are due before the holidays. In addition, HP is planning to build it's own 10-inch netbook this year, joining the ranks of just about every other company that has made a computer, ever. Buried at the bottom of the article, though, is a potential bombshell: a new touchscreen phone.
HPs Touchsmart all-in-one, launched earlier this summer, was a pretty good all-in-one PC, and now it got a few more features that sweeten the deal. The key updates for the Touchsmart IQ816 are that it now comes with a 25.5-inch LCD, Blu-ray drive and VESA wall mount capability.
We liked the HP Touchsmart IQ506, the touch-controlled all-in-one PC, not just because it worked well (which it did), but because it was trying something different—not merely copying other products on the market. Now HP has revealed to the Wall Street Journal that they are aiming "to get touch-enabled notebook computers on the market within the next 18 months." Unfortunately, doing some quick calendar math in our heads, we realise that 18 months means 2010. And while we know we'll probably live to see the day, life is but "a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more." (HP didn't tell the WSJ that last part.) [WSJ via Electronista]
The Gadget: The Touchsmart IQ506 is HPs second gen, touch-sensitive computer. In addition to its all-in-one design, built-in webcam, TV tuner and wireless keyboard and mouse, the selling point here is the custom touch interface created by Frog Designs.
HP turned the Touchsmart line on its head and designed an entire new touch interface for its IQ506 PC. The touch UI focuses around "lifestyle apps" such as calendars, weather, news and multimedia, and is supposed to offer a more intuitive experience. It also has 22-inch screen (up from 19-inches), 500 GB HDD and a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (previously 1.9 GHz AMD x64). And despite not being multi-touch, the gestures and animations of the UI are quite similar.
The Gadget: The Touchsmart IQ506 is HPs second gen, touch-sensitive computer. In addition to its all-in-one design, built-in webcam, TV tuner and wireless keyboard and mouse, the selling point here is the custom touch interface created by Frog Designs.
HP turned the Touchsmart line on its head and designed an entire new touch interface for its IQ506 PC. The touch UI focuses around "lifestyle apps" such as calendars, weather, news and multimedia, and is supposed to offer a more intuitive experience. It also has 22-inch screen (up from 19-inches), 500 GB HDD and a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (previously 1.9 GHz AMD x64). And despite not being multi-touch, the gestures and animations of the UI are quite similar.