First look at the HP Slate 500, it's here! (updated w/ video)

[galingula]

Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.

[heatlesssun]

Ginger or Mary Ann? (Most definitely the pigtails!)

How about Ginger AND Mary Ann? Should be no problem when they see my Slate!

[lovelaptops]

How about Ginger AND Mary Ann? Should be no problem when they see my Slate!

Heatless, you need to get out more.

[lovelaptops]

Normally I would apoligize for the diversion from the thread topic but given the fact that the slate is not shipping, the entertainment helps break the tension.

Bronsky

No apologies needed Bronsky; I started it, not you. And it not only broke the tension, it cured the depression.

[thierryb]

In fact we have one main question to Rick:
will you deliver one day all the purchased Slate 500?
please, answer Rick.

[heatlesssun]

Heatless, you need to get out more.

No doubt.

[Rick]

In fact we have one main question to Rick:
will you deliver one day all the purchased Slate 500?
please, answer Rick.

All slates purchased will be delivered, however they will not all ship on the same day.

[thierryb]

Thank you, I will wait with my TM2.

[TheWerewolf]

My HP Slate 500 Review (Part the First - Hardware and Accessories)

Well, I finally have one in my hands and even though I'm not the first out the gate, I think I'd like to give it a quick review.

The Slate is very solid - like a slab of mahogany solid - and beautifully balanced. The designers clearly went to lengths to make sure all the weight is evenly distributed throughout the device. It's hefty - but not heavy. As I point out to people - it's exactly the same weight as the iPad. In terms of size, you can JUST hold it in one hand and if it's in portrait mode, you can thumbtype with it.

The rubbery back does make it very easy to hold, even at strange angles.

The buttons are clean and easy to push. They're spread around the frame so you don't have to aim carefully to hit the right one. I do have ONE complaint here though - the button on the top right is the 'Home' button which takes you to the desktop (and acts as Enter in BIOS mode). The power button is on the side and is a slider. Almost all my other devices follow the i* devices and put the power at the top right - so I keep hitting that button without thinking and then wondering why it's not turning on. One nice, but not obvious feature (which is also confusing because it's more a power feature) if you hold down the Home button, it will turn off the display and pressing it again will turn the display back on. That actually IS like the i* devices.

The screen is bright and clear - easy to read. The touchscreen glass is odd - it's definitely glass, but it has almost a plasticky sound when you use the pen on it and there's a bit of friction when you slide your finger over it. Not a big deal - just throws you off the first few times you use it. The touch sensor can handle four points, which is really more than you'll likely ever need. Most touch gestures use one or two fingers. The pen is indeed pressure sensitive. It's a little touchy to use though and the sensor is kind of non-linear, so you have to push to get it responding, then you get a shorter throw from 'seeing the pen' to 'full on'... but a little practice and I got the hang of it. Some people have been talking about 'ghost clicks'.. I think I know what's causing this. It looks like the active touch area is actually a bit larger than the screen - so if you're touching the bezel close enough to the screen and lift up the pen, it causes what looks like a click. I found that if I held the Slate close to the edge, the problem pretty much went away. My gut says this is on purpose - most touch screen systems tend to lose accuracy at the edges and by extending slightly past the actual screen - they ensure maximum linearity.

There's an accelerometer that's used to reorient the display as you turn it. The accelerator is VERY sensitive and if you find it flipping orientation and driving you crazy. EDIT:I didn't realise this, but as several people here have noted, the lock position of the power switch will lock it into the current orientation. While we're on this - is this integrated into the Location and Sensors system? If not, is there documentation on the driver or access library? I would love to take advantage of this sensor in some software I'm writing.

Sound quality is "ok" - not great, but clear and usable for most things. The audio jack is a four pin that allows for stereo out and mono in (use an iPod multimedia cable, for example). If you want to use it with most headsets with mics, you'll need to get an adapter. HP might consider selling these as accessories. I really like having the volume rocker as a physical control (a suggestion for a future model? - a mute button).

The USB port at the top, as has been noted, is a little tight. When I plugged in my camera's charge cable, I was afraid I'd stripped the pins on the USB socket in the Slate. Part of the trick is to get the plug lined up right with the socket before trying to push it in. I suspect with time, it'll loosen up. One signficant issue with the USB port though - it's very limited in terms of source power. I suspect it's providing EXACTLY 500ma as per the USB 2.0 standard. This isn't actually a flaw (it IS a standard after all)... but it means that some devices - larger 2.5" pocket drives for example - aren't going to work. The good news is that the two USB ports on the dock have power that exceeds the standard and the pocket drives work fine with it. Considering that the Slate has such tiny batteries, I can live with this. It's not an unreasonable compromise and I can use the dock or a powered USB hub to deal with the problem.

There are two cameras on this device: the front facing VGA camera and the rear facing 3MP camera. One thing no one's commented on... if you hold the Slate right up in front of your face, the way you'd use it for a video chat... the camera is actually to the far upper left corner of the slate - and yet the image looks like the camera is right in the center of the screen. This is actually really quite a clever bit of engineering... dare I say 'magical'? The image is actually corrected on the fly. You can see the effect if you move the Slate very close to your face - the image distorts very oddly.

One negative - the back camera can't handle close up shots well - which makes it useless for barcode reading. Ironically, the FRONT camera is actually stunningly good at close up, but since it's on the front, it's clumsy to use for barcoding. I think both cameras are fixed focus so what you get is what you get. The picture quality is good - upper end for 'webcameras' but really, not what anyone would consider to be 'great' for serious photography. In all fairness, almost no one else is any better. I recommend carrying a small digital camera like the Samsung ST61 for that (the ST61 also charges by USB - I think Samsung is the only camera company that's figured out how to charge in-camera using USB).

The dock is compact, light and effective. I suspect most Slate owners will end up getting one for each place they're likely to leave the Slate parked. I would still like to see a smaller "dongle" with the ports hanging off a connector to allow for a small 'minidock' you can throw in your carry bag. One thing that's missing? A wired ethernet port. Logically just hanging a USB -> ethernet dongle off one of the ports would be fine - but apparently these are becoming rather scarce, especially very compact ones.

I'm of mixed feelings on the folio. First off - I'm mildly allergic to leather - but that's not a common issue. The design just seems... off. I can't quite put my finger on why. I like the cut outs for the cameras and the buttons and straps all line up very nicely. I think the problem is that I unconsciously want to hold the Slate 'right side up' which is upside down in the folio.

As I feared, the power brick has become my nemesis. It TASKS me. Besides the problem of a proprietary 30 pin plug that prevents me from using third party power supplies or outboard batteries (so I HAVE to bring the HP one with me rather than just having one for all my devices with a small assortment of tips), the actual power cord is a three prong plug. Almost everyone has gone to two prongs. It's very hard to find these now - and my usual approach is to put on at each place I tend to be at for a long time so I don't have to remember bringing one with me.

As soon as I can get a spare power supply from HP, I'm going to dismantle one and if it's just providing ground and 19V, I'm going to hack the cable into the dongle I mentioned earlier - and hang a more standard power socket off it that matches the one on my Gigabyte 1028X so I can stick to just one power brick. I really, really recommend to our friends at HP that they rethink this component and make it two prong - and either offer the dongle as an accessory (I'll buy one right now) or at least make a small dongle just for power. This is what Fujitsu did with their PocketLoox 720.

Overall, I'd give the HP Slate 500 a 9 out of 10.

Next up - a review of the Slate as a drawing tablet featuring ArtRage, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, Corel Painter and of course, Photoshop.

[thadwald]

Doesn't the lock switch on the power button lock screen orientation?
If done right, the slate's orientation should be available theough the microsoft sensor APIs.
Edit: thank you for the review.