Microsoft is banking on multitouch support as one selling point for Windows 7, and HP--traditionally a loyal supporter of Microsoft's consumer strategy--is helping the push by releasing an update to its TouchScreen PCs.
The touch-enabled version of Rhapsody for HP's TouchSmart PCs lets you search by writing an artist's name on the screen.
HP has worked with several partners to create touch-enabled versions of various consumer entertainment apps, including Hulu, Netflix, and Pandora Internet Radio, but hard-core music fans will probably be most interested in the touch-enabled version of Rhapsody.
Among the cool features: you'll be able to write the name of an artist directly on the screen, and Rhapsody will take you to that artist's page so you can begin listening to their songs. (Check out the video demo on RealNetworks' blog.)
More generally, Rhapsody remains one of my favorite subscription-based services, with a great selection and strong editorial content. While my other favorite, Microsoft's Zune Pass, offers a slightly better deal with 10 free downloads per month in addition to unlimited streaming, Rhapsody works with Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. The Zune Pass does not.
Unfortunately, the TouchScreen only comes with a 14-day free trial, which seems a bit paltry: earlier this month Dell announced it would ship some new consumer laptops with a one-year free subscription to Napster, which includes the right to download 60 permanent files over the course of the year.
HP Touchsmart 600
(Credit: HP.com)HP just announced the third upgrade to of its line of TouchSmart PCs, and the first model we've laid hands on, the TouchSmart 600 (full review here), was good enough to earn an Editor's Choice award. The new TouchSmart 300 and TouchSmart 600 feature 20-inch and 23-inch screens, respectively, and both offer the same multitouch screen with either a 16:9 1080P HD or HD-ready display.
To coincide with this announcement, HP is also rolling out exclusive applications for the TouchSmart PCs that take advantage of its multitouch enabled screen and Windows 7, including, but not limited to:
- Hulu Desktop: browse and watch your favorite TV shows
- Netflix: Instantly watch movies or browse and add films to your online queue
- Pandora Internet Radio: Discover new music based on your personalized taste
- TouchSmart Live TV: Watch and record your favorite television shows
- TouchSmart Canvas: organize your photos on a virtual canvas and use your fingers to make edits
- TouchSmart RecipeBox: Enjoy a hands-free cooking experience with recipes that respond to voice commands
Of those apps, the Recipe Box is the most impressive. Smart software lets you scrap and catalog recipes from a variety of popular recipe Web sites (Epicurious, Food Network, and Martha Stewart among them), and via voice recognition and text-to-speech you can navigate the recipes hands-free. It's the best kitchen-oriented PC solution we've seen.
The new 300 and 600 models also include a new swivel stand, a built-in wall mount support, in addition to a new tiltable web cam for group conferences and video chats. Both models are available in a variety of retail configurations with customizable configurations available at HP.com.
More photos after the jump.
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HP)
We've been hearing a lot of hype surrounding HP's new touch screen printer, the Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web, and finally got a unit into the CNET Labs for a full set of tests. It's HP's flagship printer and the first of its kind to allow wireless Web connectivity directly from the printer itself, courtesy of a large 4.33-inch LCD display. To kick off the launch, HP also debuted an App Studio for users to browse and download custom shortcuts and widgets for the printer.
Now that we've had a week to thoroughly review the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web, we're feeling underwhelmed by the lack of overall features and usability. We ran into several snags during the testing process, on top of our disappointment at the lack of an autodocument feeder and the letter-size scanner bay. For example, the display feels dull to the touch and lacks the responsiveness that we've come to expect out of an interactive screen. We found ourselves struggling to firmly select an icon, which often resulted in misguided navigation. On top of that, many of the applications had a tendency to freeze up during our tests, requiring a sluggish restart time.
Our main issue with the printer is that the touch screen and app studio just don't offset the $400 price tag, especially when you can purchase a perfectly capable HP multifunction Photosmart for $270 that actually has physical buttons--as long as you're willing to sacrifice the gimmicky touch screen and app store. As it stands, the App Studio doesn't quite offer the functionality and ease of use that we expected. Each app, like Google Maps or USA Today, has its own submenu...with sub-submenus...with sub-sub-submenus, to the point where we started wondering why anyone would bother tapping 15 times on a 4-inch screen when an actual computer (with novel hardware like a keyboard, mouse, and large monitor) can't be too far away.
We even performed an anecdotal timed test to further prove how the app store and a touch screen without any hard buttons can overcomplicate an otherwise easy-to-use machine, but you'll have to read the review for the unsurprising results. One final note: HP has informed us that an SDK will soon be available for developers to make their own apps for the printer, which we hope will add more exciting and useful apps to the line-up, but judging from the poor reception to its desktop TouchSmart SDK, we're not holding our breath.
Check out our full review and video for the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web.
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HP App Studio
(Credit: HP)HP just opened up its new Printer Application Studio to coincide with the release of the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web slated for the end of this month. The site will offer visitors the chance to browse apps that extend the usability of the Web-connected printer, all available as free downloads directly to the device.
In a similar fashion to Apple's iPhone App store, HP's version can also be accessed using the "Get More" button on the large 4.33-inch touch screen. I had a chance to preview the store in a live demo with HP and the layout is very simple, with small icons and a place to submit user ratings, reviews, and suggestions for future applications. The marketplace is already populated with several applications from HP's partner companies. Some examples include:
- Snapfish: View, edit (lightly), and print your snapshot photos
- Google Maps: Print maps and directions
- Fandango: Buy and print movie tickets
- DreamWorks Animation: Print coloring pages and movie-themed games for the kids
- Weathernews Inc: Print up-to-date weather information
- Web Sudoku: Print out puzzles and games
HP also has the last piece of the puzzle in the form of the HP Software Developers Kit that will eventually give consumers and developers the tools to create their own Apps for submission to the App Studio. In the meantime, HP will continue to update the store with new apps throughout the year.
More pictures after the break.
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Lexmark Platinum Pro905
(Credit: Lexmark)Not to be outdone by HP's Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web, Lexmark on Tuesday rolled out a new line of printers, three of which will will feature a touch screen to access the Web. Although both companies claim to have the rights to the "world's first Web-connected printer," Lexmark's new product line is aimed at the business market rather than the consumer.
The Lexmark Solution Center already has several existing applications that users can easily download onto the machine with a touch of a virtual button. Some additions including a photo viewer, application shortcuts, RSS headline aggregators, and Google Calendar. Lexmark tells us that more applications are on their way and will roll out as they're developed.
Lexmark Interact S605
(Credit: Lexmark)Although only three of the new releases will include the SmartSolutions Web connectivity, five of the eight will feature 802.11n wireless as well as a new eco-friendly mode that automatically changes the driver settings to two-sided printing to save on the cost of consumables.
The final addition is a convenient business card scan feature that automatically inputs contact info to commonly-used personal information management applications like Microsoft Outlook and Palm OSTM. I had the opportunity to see all of the new features in action and was impressed with its accuracy. Unfortunately, the Mac OS Address Book is not supported at this time.
The offering is also labeled with Lexmark's new, simplified nomenclature to make it easier for consumers to distinguish between products and features, which break down into two lines: the Professional Series (including the Platinum, Prestiage, Prevail, and Prospect) and the Home Office Series (Interact, Intuition, Interpret, and Impact). Prices start at $99 for the Impact and scale up to $399 for the Platinum, which includes dual paper trays and the SmartSolutions touch screen.
We already have a Lexmark Platinum Pro905 on the way, so keep your eyes peeled for an in-depth review coming soon.
This is a conversation I had with myself while watching episode four of "Dollhouse," in which one of the main characters is involved in the break-in and robbery of a vault filled with valuable works of art:
Me: Hey, I think that's the HP tx2z that guy's using.
Me: Yeah, it totally is.
Me: Wonder if he's using the multitouch to rotate his plans every time he changes direction?
Me: Doubtful. The multitouch is slow and inefficient on that thing.
Me: You wanna talk about inefficient, how 'bout that AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core ZM-86 processor it's running on?
Me: Hey now, it performed on par with a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400.
Me: All right, but what about the battery life? He's clearly using the extended eight-cell pack on that thing and it only gets about three hours work time. Would you want to be in the middle of a heist with all your plans or whatever on a laptop and have it die on you?
Me: Yeah, totally impractical...but for non-heist-related computing it's pretty fun.
Me: Oh sure, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars overall.
Read the full review of the HP TouchSmart tx2z convertible Tablet PC.
Storefront.com uses HP TouchSmart PCs to demonstrate its own photo kiosk software.
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)LAS VEGAS--Yes, this is a camera show, but as the PCs reporter, I couldn't help but notice that Hewlett-Packard had a distinct presence outside its own booth here.
Several companies were using HP's touch-screen desktop PC, the TouchSmart, loaded with their own software to let PMA attendees try out photo-printing solutions, and retail store kiosk software.
Digilabs, which makes free software for printing photo books and calendars, was using the touch-screen desktop to demonstrate its software. DNP Photo also had TouchSmarts in its booth to show how its Tomo software works. Tomo lets users upload photos online at home and then print them at a retail location.
Also spied was Storefront.com, which had a half-dozen TouchSmarts available for use. Storefront.com makes software for retail store printing kiosks as well, and is hardware-neutral, according to a representative for the company. It's the first time Storefront.com has used the TouchSmart to demo its product, but the employee said they're likely to use it again since it's "relatively cheap" compared with commercial kiosks.
A Digilabs employee shows his company's software on the TouchSmart PC.
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)It's certainly not "relatively cheap" for a desktop PC. HP has heavily promoted the TouchSmart as a family PC, for use in rooms like the kitchen by suburban moms. Desktops in general are a dying form factor for PC makers, so maybe this consumer-oriented computer has a chance at a second career as a commercial PC.
Lenny Engelhardt, N-trig's VP of Business Development
(Credit: N-trig)Wanting to know more about N-trig's multitouch technology, now that it has reached the consumer market with the HP TouchSmart tx2 tablet, I spoke with N-trig's VP of Business Development, Lenny Engelhardt, earlier today. Here's what I learned.
The HP TouchSmart tx2 tablet features similar multitouch functionality as the enterprise-focused Dell Latitude XT with a few differences. Both tablets provide multitouch gestures such as dragging and dropping, flicking, and pinching. If you make an M gesture with your finger on the TouchSmart's screen, however, you'll launch HP's MediaSmart application. For its part, the Dell Latitude XT includes two gestures not found on the HP: two-finger scrolling and a double-tap gesture that turns off the display and touch sensitivity. The scenario for the double-tap is this: you have the tablet in slate mode and want to pick up it up and move to another room. You can carry it with your palm or fingers gripping part of the screen without worrying about moving the cursor. Simply tap the touch pad, mouse button, a key, or remove the stylus from its garage, and the screen and touch sensitivity return.
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Update: I updated the title of this post to include the word "consumer" because the Dell Latitude XT was released last year with N-trig's multitouch functionality. The Latitude XT is an enterprise tablet, which basically means it costs more and provides inferior specs. The baseline Latitude XT costs $1,829 (and that's after a large discount) for a Core Solo processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. So, one might say the HP TouchSmart tx2 is the first multitouch tablet you would actually buy with your own money.
HP on Wednesday released the TouchSmart tx2, the first consumer laptop to feature multitouch functionality.
This 12.1-inch convertible tablet provides the iPhone-like ability to scroll, zoom, flick, and drag and drop by using your fingers on the screen. For example, you can scroll up and down by using two fingers on the screen or zoom in and out by using a pinching motion.
How did HP accomplish this feat, when Microsoft won't add multitouch functionality until it releases Windows 7? By partnering with an Israeli company called N-trig. See N-trig's multitouch technology (on a tablet that is not the TouchSmart tx2) in this video:
Aside from its multitouchness, the tx2 looks like a standard convertible tablet with a center hinge that lets you twist the display to switch between notebook mode and slate tablet mode. Pricing starts at a reasonable $1,149. For that price, the TouchSmart tx2 features a 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU, 3GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, integrated ATI HD3200 graphics, and 32-bit Vista Home Premium. Unfortunately, Core 2 Duo processors and discrete graphics are not offered.
... Read moreHoping to spur innovation on its touch-sensitive TouchSmart all-in-one desktops, HP will announce guidelines today explaining to third-party developers how they can create their own TouchSmart-compatible programs. HP informs us that it will post the guidelines to its TouchSmart Community Web site later today. The site will also host applications for TouchSmart owners to download, with the existing discussion forum providing a means for users to comment and give feedback.
HP says the programming guidelines are meant for "experienced, professional developers with WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and C# language proficiency," so you'll need to know your stuff before you get coding. You may also want to consider that HP is not following the iPhone/iTunes Store model, and any applications hosted on the TouchSmart Community site will be free to download. HP says that it won't block developers from hosting and charging for applications themselves, which is good news for those who may need a financial incentive to start programming.
Potential TouchSmart developers should also consider the impending (give or take a year) launch of and its reported multitouch capability. Windows Vista, and by extension TouchSmart, currently only support single-contact touch input. We have no guarantees that TouchSmart programs developed today will be forward compatible with the next version of Windows 7 and its multitouch support, but we'd argue that HP is doing touch-based computing in general a favor by releasing an experimentation platform so early.
For current and future TouchSmart users, you have only to be excited by the influx of new TouchSmart applications. HP's own TouchSmart programs are fine (we like the PostIt Note simulator in particular), but limited and HP hasn't added to them.
Following the development guidelines, HP will have two new, third-party programs available for download tomorrow. Proxure will have a touch-based version of its KeepSync program for syncing media files across multiple systems on a network. The other, FreeHand Systems' Solero Music Viewer displays digital sheet music, whose pages you can turn automatically or by hand.
