HP's TouchPad Tablet vs Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model 100

The new HP TouchPad Tablet is a modern model of a mobile device.

Its place in gadget history falls between the Star Trek "Tri-coder", the sci-fi mobile device that could sense life forms on alien planets, and Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model 100, the father of all tablet devices, created in the 1980's. The former sci-fi device has a touch screen and the model 100 device has a keyboard.

Is the physical keyboard obsolete starting with the tablet?

To be fair, the HP TouchPad was designed to compete against the Apple iPad mobile device by using its own mobile operating system called the webOS, the former mobile OS it acquired from purchasing Palm for a $1 billion last year. It hopes to attract enough developers from the Apple iPad camp to develop software for the TouchPad, as well.

If the iPad represents the market leader, shouldn't the HP first TouchPad follow the leader?

( I guess so..)

Meanwhile.... here are the (Feb 9, 2011) specifications:

Hewlett Packard TouchPad Tablet features:

• 9.7-inch multitouch screen with a 1,024 x 768 resolution
• Virtual keyboard
• Instant on
• 16 GB or 32 GB on internal storage
• front-facing camera for video conferencing
• dual-core 1.2GHX processor
• stereo speakers
• gyrocope and accelerometer sensors
• Wireless connectivity:
• • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
  • A-GPS (3G only)
  • Bluetooth® wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support

• and support of Adobe Flash Player
• webOS
• Rechargeable 6,300 mAh (typical) battery

.... but somehow looking at the virtual keyboard on the HP TouchPad reminds me of the look and feel of the Radio Shack TSR-80 Model 100, when the tablet design was very popular. So I had to review this video on YouTube to recall how far technology has changed. (See below).

Should a tablet have a real keyboard? At the time, during the 1980's, the TSR-80 Model 100 was one of the most popular and practical mobile computers around. Journalists, business personnel, and students had to have one to take digital notes. Everyone liked it. The design was based on what technology Tandy could deliver for around $300 dollars, at the time. But look closely at the basic design-- A small tablet computer with a simple operating system, a keyboard and a screen.

Somehow, the system worked well enough to take notes and run simple programs, just like some smart phones do today.

The lesson here is not how powerful the new system is, its how useful it is to the user at the time.

Successful products have to match features of their competitors but maybe that's overkill. I think the secret of winning customers is to manage their expectations.

If the purpose of the device is a phone, then it should best work as a phone; other features are extra. If the device is a note taking device then it should be the best device for this purpose.

Today's devices are more powerful and can handle many features but the purpose of the device is blurred. Somethings got to give.

The multi-purpose device of today promises all things to all people. It makes the user less productive as they jump around from feature to feature, without concentrating on a single task. Multi-tasking is the rule and not the exception. The purpose is to be "connected all the time" to your email, text alerts, Twitter, Facebook, phone, and internet blogs. "You are always on" ... multi-tasking, even while walking, eating and driving. Like a sci-fi game player, "you are in a connected world" except it is for real. It's scary. But that's another subject.

Meanwhile, back at the HP TouchPad tablet, the old keyboard disappears from the computer device, much like the floppy disc and the CD and DVD player. These items have been replaced with digital versions. Some features will never return again.

Watch the video below to see how much has changed from the first tablet computer until now.