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I came across a blog post from Rob Bushway on his experience with the webOS powered HP Touchpad and it has been surprisingly positive.

He finds that this is a better experience then the Android tablets when it comes to productivity:

  • Full Browser support – I’m typing this in the web-based WordPress tool and have full access to the editing toolbar. The same experience is available via Google Docs. For me, this is a huge improvement over Safari in iOS and Android’s browser. I can’t upload photos using the wp-admin image uploader which wasn’t too surprising – disappointing, but not surprising. The experience isn’t perfect, but much better than Safari on iOS.
  • Application switching using Card View feels faster and more natural than iOS and Android Honeycomb.
  • Photos has a seamless hook in to my Facebook photo library.
  • Just Type allows me to begin creating a Memo, tweet, facebook status, calendar event, or Email without launching the application first.
  • Bluetooth keyboard is very, very nice with built-in keys to launch the Card View, notifications, and spacebar to instantly wake the TouchPad from sleep. There is a slight lag from typing before the text appears on the screen, but am hopeful that this will get addressed in future updates
  • The on-screen keyboard is also nice, with a row dedicated to numbers, as well as an option to make the keyboard different sizes. I have found the large size works best for me. While I’m getting used to the on-screen keyboard, I am noticing more accidental spelling errors due to pressing the wrong key.
  • There is a little bit of lag in application loading and a general sluggishness to the OS that doesn’t quite line up with the expectations of the processor. HP needs to fix this on their next system software update.
  • I like the ability to make panes within an application full-screen. For example, I can view an email with a list of other emails on the left, or type the slider icon and make the email full-screen, and then easiliy switch back. The Facebook application makes full use of this capability and is a great UI improvement over iOS and Android Honeycomb.
  • The definite downfall right now is the lack of TouchPad specific applications. I installed Evernote, but  running that in a Pre-type screen is not even worth it.

This is very promising for consumers as I feel what we need are 3-4 very competitive operating system that is always improving.

The key to webOS’s growth is to embrace the third party development community. The one reason I will not switch over to Android or webOS is that iPad universe have all the applications I need.

As of now what you will need for productivity on a 7-10 inch tablet is found in iOS not anywhere else.