Touch Screen Gadget

HP usher touchscreen technology for masses

Posted by sawaru | Category: Desktop, LCD Monitor, Laptop & Notebook, Tablet PC & UMPC, Trend Watch & News

Hewlett-Packard Co. is hot on the prospects of touchscreen technology.

H-P says it’s working on an array of products, including notebooks, that use the same type of finger-tapping interface popularized by Apple Inc.’s iPhone. H-P’s so keen on the idea that it says it’s trying to get touch-enabled notebook computers on the market within the next 18 months.

H-P’s plans illustrate how the iPhone has whetted the world’s appetite for touchscreens, which have become increasingly available on handheld devices and are now making their way into the personal-computer sector. Several competitors already have touchscreen desktops, but few have laptops with touchscreens.

Market research suggests H-P is making a smart bet. The number of touchscreen devices, including PCs, should more than double to 800 million by 2013, according to industry tracker iSuppli. Spending on touchscreen components likely will reach $6.4 billion, up 33% from $4.8 billion, over the same period, iSuppli said.

Read the rest of this entry »

HP TouchSmart PC Review

Posted by sawaru | Category: Desktop

The TouchSmart is an all-in-one desktop computer that, as with an iMac, packs the motherboard, DVD burner, hard drive and other key components behind a large flat screen that is supported by a metallic stand, plus has a web cam hidden above the screen. Unlike an iMac, or most PCs, the TouchSmart also has a built-in antennae socket and TV tuner, allowing you to watch TV programs as well as record them onto its 500GB hard drive.

Perhaps the TouchSmart’s oddest feature is Ambient Light, which lets light be projected from the bottom of the monitor. Yet the only real advantage is that you can see the keyboard in the dark.

Design-wise, the TouchSmart seems impressive but it’s not as sleek as the iMac. It’s thicker on the side, despite having an external power adaptor the size of a brick; it has so many stickers that it reminded us of a NASCAR vehicle (there’s even an ergonomic warning on the keyboard); and the 55.9cm screen sits just above the table and isn’t height adjustable.

Read the rest of this entry »

IQ-506 HP TouchSmart more than a PC

Posted by sawaru | Category: Desktop, Trend Watch & News

The HP TouchSmart  IQ-506 comes with the standard array of features you’d expect in an all-in-one PC—22-inch widescreen, 2.16 Core 2 Duo Processor, ATSC tuner, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, 5 USB ports and an SDHC reader. These are all solid features, though it is over than average PC but not mindblowing.

As what Gizmodo reveals that the real hook here is whether or not the touchscreen features are as good as advertised. The short answer is that they’re satisfactory within the custom interface, and not so great in the normal Vista environment.

The touch interface has a homescreen with a row of giant, oversized tiles up top, and smaller ones underneath that display various widget-like apps. Examples of these apps include a music player, photo browser, movie player, RSS feed, calendar, weather, chess, solitaire, notes, etc… Both rows can scroll fromside to side, similar to that of the iPhone, and tiles can also be exchanged between the top and bottom rows freely.

Once inside individual apps, they take advantage of using pan and scroll features for lists and thumbnails. The movie player even has a record feature that lets you create a short movie with the webcam that you can email out when finished. The photo browser lets you perform basic adjustments, or even use the touchscreen to crop your photo.

Read the rest of this entry »

HP Touch-Screens for a stylish trend

Posted by sawaru | Category: Desktop, Tablet PC & UMPC, Trend Watch & News

HP TouchSmart All-in-One allows users to work with photos, music, video, the Internet and television by tapping or swiping the screen, and will be priced at $1,299, HP said at the launch in Berlin on Tuesday.

HP’s Personal Systems group of PCs, notebooks, workstations and handheld devices has transformed itself over the past few years from a largely commoditized volume business to a far more successful one that emphasizes product design.

The group’s executive vice president, Todd Bradley, told Reuters he aimed to set a trend and create a new market.

"We don’t think about this as a niche. We think about it as a global product that will inspire demand and drive desirability," Bradley said in a telephone interview.

"Our ability to lead is very important," he added, declining to speculate on what size the market for such PCs might reach.

HP’s announcement came a day after Apple announced a new version of its ground-breaking iPhone, the original version of which brought touchscreens to public attention and sparked a host of imitators.

Read the rest of this entry »

IQ775 All-In-One TouchSmart Desktop PC

Posted by admin | Category: Desktop

One of the lesser known features of the Vista operating system is the touch screen interface. This is designed into the OS for items such as tablet style notebooks. HP instead has added a touch screen display to the TouchSmart all-in-one desktop as an extra means of navigation and it works extremely well. Users can either touch the screen with their finger or an included stylus to navigate around on the OS and launch applications quickly. This makes it great for a system sitting in a small room such as a kitchen or den.

Read the rest of this entry »

HP VGA big-screen PDA

Posted by admin | Category: GPS Navigation & Guidance System, PDA, Windows Mobile

PDAs aren’t dead yet. Nor is Intel’s XScale chip technology. Hewlett-Packard’s new, attractive big-screen handheld packs an application processor that still includes plenty of Intel’s XScale DNA.

HP is now shipping production units of the long-awaited iPaq 210 (originally slated to ship last year) that features a 4.0-inch, 640×480 (VGA) resolution screen. The 210 (which is rebranded internationally as the 211, 212, and 214), comes with a Marvell PXA310 processor running at 624MHz, 128MB of memory, and 256MB of flash ROM.

Though Intel sold the business that made XScale processors to Marvell more than a year and a half ago (June 2006), Marvell is still making processors based on Intel technologies. Marvell states that the PXA3xx processor family “is the third generation of applications processors based on Intel’s XScale technology.” The PXA310, made on a 90-nanometer process, includes Intel SpeedStep technology, Intel Wireless Trusted Module encryption technology, and an Intel Wireless MMX 2 co-processor. Read the rest of this entry »