Tablet buffs sift HP site for traces of lost Slate
Post mortem remains - or sign of revival?
Claims that HP may have killed of its Windows 7-based 9in tablet, the Slate 500, may have been wrong.
PCWorld is lauding the device's apparent return to the HP website. It has found half a dozen entries for the machine - listed as the 500-1001tu, 500-1002tu, 500-1003tu, 500-1004tu, 500-1005tu and the 500-1006tu - in HP's e-catalogue.
HP's website, today
The mag found the references in a Google cache of the page, though the page itself exists and is easy to access.
The links from it to the six Slate SKUs reveal what seems to be boilerplate copy for the device, touting its 8.9in screen, Windows 7 Premium OS, HP media presentation software and two cameras: one for photography, one for video chats.
All of which, the mag suggests, is a sign that the machine is a runner once more.
Except, of course, there's no evidence it ever went away. It was assumed it might when HP acquired Palm, and the company's attempt to register the term 'PalmPad' as a trademark suggests that its sees its purchase - Palm's WebOS, essentially - as the basis for future iPad-style offerings.
But while its was speculated that this would mark the demise of the Slate 500, HP certainly never admitted as much, and its various other Slate 500-related website pages - from 'keep me informed' offers to blog posts - never went away.
Now, that's not evidence that the Slate 500 is still on, either - and neither is the PCWorld discovery. That page shows products associated with a mouse - not a peripheral you expect to use with a tablet - and also lists hundreds of PCs, many of them long since obsolete, such as Windows XP-based home boxes.
Clearly this is not a list HP updates regularly, and the Slate references may just be placeholders that the company forgot to remove. ®
COMMENTS
It will never happen
If they did that, then they wouldn't be able to bang on about "the familiarity of Windows" now would they? After all, that is hoe Microsoft was able to "win" the netbook market back right?
If they let their users become accustomed to using something other than their tired old "Start Menu" interface then customers may be emboldened to try another Operating Systems altogether.
If that happened it would be a complete and utter CATASTROPHE!
Therefore, MS will retain the clunky Start Menu and wonder why they continue to FAIL in the tablet market.
I for one think that this is a good thing.
win 7 tablets
I have a HP rotational tablet running Windows 7 and while touch is better there is no customisation for when it is in tablet mode, it still works the same as laptop mode, just gives you a pop-up keyboard/wirting input.
Trying to launch an app through the start menu with touch isn't easy and I still use the stylus a lot of the time. What is interesting is that it is bundled with some applications from the surface computing project and you can see the difference in something designed for touch as opposed to using touch as an extra input option on an existing app.
What they need is tablet edition which uses a different interface to desktop windows, try hitting a systray icon accurately with your finger every time, and that doesn't even take into account trying to use a right click to access options..
What do you expect from the HP website?
Ive been trying to keep track of the HP Envy 17 for the last 2 weeks - it appeared 2 weeks ago, was gone a week later and has now reappeared today, but without specs...
The HP website seems to enjoy doing this sort of thing, so its no surprise that the Slate 500 has had an on-again off-again relationship with the website...
PS Any chance of getting a review of the Envy 17 when it finally arrives for real?
I hope it shows up...
At first I followed that link (before finishing the article) and saw...a mouse?! Of course, when I finished the article, I knew that I hadn't been led astray. Those on lesser computers may wish to plan their visits accordingly...loading a list of 100+ computers doesn't exactly happen instantly.
Anyway.
I'm not really very interested in Windows 7, but this device looks really sharp to me. I hope it does manage to emerge, because I would at least like to see one.
Yes, but...
Windows has been on, "tablet," laptops with rotational screens for a while. It was the usability that let it down, IMHO.
Unless WIndows 7 changes that experience, they'll just go the way that the XP/Vista versions went. Downhill.
I, for one, will be watching the reviews of these units with interest.
