The first one is a teaser ad from HP but make sure you watch the second video! Adobe’s Alan Tam shows the device in action! No CGI tricks here! Alan shows Adobe AIR and Flash in action on the device: Video playback from MTV.com; A Spongebob Squarepants game (most casual games on the Web run in Flash); photo editing at Photoshop.com and reading the digital version of the New York Times. Now that is the web experience I want on a slate device! I’m ordering this the minute it becomes available!
Number 1 on my wishlist: HP’s slate device
I already blogged about how excited I was about HP’s slate device a few weeks ago. These two new videos make me want it even more!
11 Responses to “Number 1 on my wishlist: HP’s slate device”
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09. Mar, 2010
Replied on @sjespers in: Number 1 on my wishlist: HP’s slate device http://bit.ly/aOdZ8O
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This looks good, there is just one thing that keeps coming back into my mind: has the user a choice for Windows vs Linux. One of the reasons people would want to use the iPad, is to avoid Windows. And although Windows 7 is much better than Vista, I still have my doubts. Do you know if HP is also going to offer Linux / Maemo support on their device? Those have Flash (and in the near future AIR) as well, and I guess that can help to attract even more users.
Having said that, I think this HP slate is worth following.
@Pieter: I hear what you’re saying… and I am a bit of a Machead myself… (Well… Actually that is dramatically changing these days. But let’s stay on topic.) I’ve actually tested Win7 when it was still in beta. I installed it on an Asus EEE PC netbook. The EEE PC is definitely not the most powerful computer out there but you know what? Win7 ran amazingly smooth on it! Just recently I bought an HP TouchSmart TX2 to demonstrate and experiment with AIR 2. It also runs Windows7 and it’s actually not that bad… You also have to give Microsoft some credit. The whole PC ecosystem is pretty huge. Just about anyone can put together a PC and add any peripherals they want. Windows has to support all these different configurations and add-ons where Apple’s ecosystem is closed and they only need to support the hardware they approve off… A very different situation. When it comes to multi-touch, there currently aren’t any real alternative OSs. I’m sure that will change in the future but for now… give Win7 a try! (I can’t believe I’m saying this… but I guess it’s a good demonstration of how my Machead state of mind is changing…)
Well, I have to agree that Windows 7 is actually quite pleasant to work with (I cheated on my Mac OS marriage several times ;-) ). And I think it is great that Adobe collaborates with HP to optimize Flash / AIR on a tablet. Provided that other manufacturers, like the ones making Android based tablets, also get a good chance to provide a good Flash enabled device.
Personally, my choice will be heavily influenced by the scientific journal e-reading capacities (PDF) that those devices have. That + Flash + lightweight + good color-screen + think = perfect. Although I think I have to settle with one step below perfect… we’ll see! :-)
I have to agree Pieter, though my reasoning is a bit more simple: I can’t stand those cheesy Redmond UI graphics. Witness those ugly Win95-style desktop icons, the bright blue menu bar, oversized tabs and buttons… Ugh! When is Microsoft going to pony up for a high-end graphic designer for their OS? (aside from looking over Apple’s shoulder, of course… ha)
But I like the idea of Flash on board. Would there be an option to turn off flash ads? I know some of the pages at those kids sites get loaded up with multiple hyper Flash ads at times. I really think Adobe needs to enable some sort of click-to-flash option to spare mobile users from bad flash usage.
Just as I believe Apple should give the users a choice of being able to turn on Flash plug-in content, for the case of poor Flash coding, Adobe should give people a means to turn it off.
I’m a Flash / Flex / Mac guy but this still looks like smoke and mirrors to me. I will admit no knowledge of multi-touch…that’s just something I have not looked at yet, but as this demo is bragging that the whole internet is available – including Flash will perform fine on a tablet…..it makes me cringe!
Who exactly is reworking all current online flash content listeners currently set to MouseEvents to magically respond to gestures? Am I missing something basic here?
I’ll leave my OS preferences out of the discussion…
@JP, Chuck Anderson is the one who designed Windows 7′s default background. http://gizmodo.com/5395720/ask-the-artist-how-windows-7s-iconic-home-screen-evolved
You may have seen his work on many high end design projects. However, Windows 7 can be personalized to a very high degree and includes some other very impressive themes as well. The over sized buttons are important for over sized fingers to press. And yes it is very easy to turn off Flash ads either with an add-on or simply by disabling the Flash plug-in… just like you would in any other computer.
@Pieter Of course the HP Tablet will have great PDF support. Just install Adobe Acrobat Pro or any other PDF viewer. You can also install the Kindle eBook reader if you want some other ebooks… or an ePub viewer for even more.
@Serge I have the TouchSmart TM2 on order, which has the capacitive multitouch of the TX2 except with a Wacom digitizer built in for great pressure sensitive drawing in Adobe CS. I heard Adobe pressure support never came to the N-Trig screen on the TX2. The TM2 I hope will be a good replacement to my old tx2000, which only had single touch plus the Wacom. I hope your TX2 came with the Windows 7 Touch Pack for showing off the multi-touch in the Surface Globe application!
@Tom: You should read Mike Chambers’ post on this subject: http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2010/02/22/flash-player-content-mouse-events-and-touch-input/
When you use your fingers to click on a button, that is also just a MouseEvent.
@Adam,
AFAICT, that is just the background graphic, which of course can be changed. It’s the overall Windows UI graphic elements/design I find that hurts my eyes (coming from mac, of course. See my earlier comment for specifics items of offensiveness).
re: optional Flash content. Yes, click-to-flash is great, maybe essential for battery conservation. I’d just like to see something more officially supported from Adobe. Taking it a step further, perhaps including advanced settings where the plug can disable remote swf files, or maybe shut down swf that exceed a CPU / framerate limit. Lee B. said he floated an idea for a customized placement graphic instead of the blue lego.
Thanks Serge,
Chambers article was very helpful – shows how my assumptions only get me into trouble – hehe I’m more educated now.
@JP, I agree… at least they should add a click2flash function as an advanced setting. It amazes me how much battery life I can actually save, just by disabling Flash content by default with click2flash. So it’s useful indeed. (note, Flash player on Win devices uses less resources, but it’s still useful).
Anyways, when can I buy this HP slate thing!