The update that HP pushed out to its TouchPad customers is quite a change for the better, fixing some bugs, security issues and the overall TouchPad experience. The update is being sent “over-the-air” and is called update 3.0.2. The update to HP’s webOS will add faster scrolling for email, improved performance for scrolling on the web, auto-correction, better calendar features and options to set your own wallpaper. A couple bugs were fixed as well, including screen rotation and music playback issues. There is a nice one and even though it changes bunch of things, it should only take about 20 minutes to download.
The HP TouchPad was released back on July 1st and immediately reviewers hit up all the issues they could find in what seemed like a comparison to the Apple iPad. Reviewers were stuck on navigation issues, multi-tasking issues and the overall number of apps available for the TouchPad. With the new update and other features, HP is hoping that developers will come onboard and start creating more apps for the TouchPad. Right now there are less than 5,000 apps available for download. Maybe the bugs and poor reviews were part of the reason developers didn’t spend much time with the webOS.
EWeek.com also reviewed the TouchPad and easily described the tablet as a “work in progress”, but added that the TouchPad was a better competitor to the Apple iPad when compared to other tablets on the market right now. Their review was more focused on how long it would take each app on the interface took to load. When using an app, it “seemed to require a few seconds to load” before running 100 percent. The TouchPad comes with standard apps like email, calendar, photos, maps, chat and Adobe Reader.
Other add-on apps installed factory included the Facebook app and the Angry Birds game just to get you started. HP has been noted as calling the TouchPad an enterprise device and that is somewhat obvious with the installation of QuickOffice. Maybe the fact that most developers create game apps and aren’t exactly developing business related apps is the reason for the shortage of apps. That is one thing that is going to have to change if HP wants the TouchPad to make ground in the market. An HP executive made a comment that poor reviewers were looked at and that some improvements came directly from the reviews after the initial release.
