Photos taken today, Friday, April 22, 2011:
Events pushed me into lower Manhattan this morning, where I made a point of stopping in at Staples to see if they had a fondle-able Blackberry Playbook.
They did:
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I don’t think this notice will entice people to buy it, though:
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Their hardware designer must be shot for burdening it with a power button that is small and absolutely flush with the top. It is very difficult to press. I nearly had to use my fingernail!
I looked at photos. Pinch-in/out worked mostly smoothly. iPad still murders everyone on this point.
Since I was familiar with the Palm Gesture Area — and didn’t forget it! — I knew how to do proper swipes from the frame to the screen to do various things. I think the general public will be confounded without that specific gesture knowledge — as they were with the original Palm Pre! — and avoid buying this (repeat for Palm Pre!). (I am soooo glad HP removed the Gesture Area from the upcoming TouchPad!)
I popped up Adobe Reader. There was nothing to see. There were tabs for file categories, though. I had to tap them twice to get a frikkin response. That should never happen. One tap should always work — and with zero delay.
I popped up Kobo Books. It refused to work, complaining there wasn’t a WiFi connection.
I was surprised at how thin it is. It really makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab look like an obese tablet pig. Nice grippy back but the feel of it isn’t lush like the back of the NookColor.
I didn’t try the camera or much of anything else. The overall look of it is too reminiscent of a photo frame. It does look somewhat better than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but I’m not the market for this. It will be interesting to see if even Blackberry owners wind up being the market for it!
Everyone who wants an HP TouchPad must run out to Staples to fondle this. That’s the only good thing to come out of a fondle of it: To give you an ersatz sneak peek of what real webOS will be like on a better tablet.
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
I can’t keep up…HP Touchpad = good or bad?
Glad you reviewed the blackberry. I was waiting and I won’t recommend it.
HP TouchPad will be bloody brilliant if they can woo devs to it. The only serious competitor to the iPad and I want one!
Should be interesting. Those WebOS guys know their stuff. Here’s hoping it won’t be like Amiga Briliant yet unsupported.