Our teardown of the HP TouchPad was in the works before Hewlett-Packard's recent decision to exit the tablet business. We bring it to you because it illustrates advanced packaging and assembly technologies of interest to the Design News audience.
The TouchPad is actually HP's second stab at a tablet. It had previously dipped its toe in the tablet waters with its HP Slate. The slate ran Windows 7, had an 8.9-inch screen, and was powered by an Intel Atom processor. However, it met with a lukewarm response. Not ready then to give up on the market, HP went back to the drawing board.
Click the image below to view a slideshow of the HP TouchPad in various stages of disassembly:
Opening the HP TouchPad enclosure reveals the display on top and the main board and battery on the bottom.
The result was the HP TouchPad. It has a 9.7-inch screen (identical in size to the iPad) and a dual-core processor manufactured by Qualcomm. The TouchPad is also the first tablet from HP to use the proprietary webOS 3.0 operating system initially developed by Palm. Many reviewers have commented how the clean interface of webOS is reminiscent of Apple’s iOS.
Deconstructing the TouchPad in our teardown revealed a rather tightly packed device, starting with the display and touchscreen being connected to the glass of the tablet. Samsung provides the LCD display module.
The rear cover of the TouchPad reveals the bulk of the electronic components as well as the resting place of the speakers, headphone jack, connectors, the SD card assembly, the WiFi antennae, and the battery pack, which is a 3.7 volt lithium polymer battery.
A closer look inside the TouchPad reveals three circuit boards. The main board houses the primary components of the TouchPad, namely the processor and tablet memory. Two smaller boards exist to control the I/O of the tablet and the touchscreen.
The primary design winners in the TouchPad include Qualcomm with its APQ8060 processor and power management ICs scoring spots on the main board. The HP TouchPad marks the first time we've seen Qualcomm’s tablet-ready dual-core processor in a tablet. (Most companies have previously used offerings from Samsung, NVidia, or Texas Instruments.) This 1.2GHz device is a third-generation Snapdragon processor. It features Qualcomm’s Adreno 220 GPU core.
Qualcomm also gets the benefits of its recent Atheros acquisition; an Atheros AR6003X provides the TouchPad's wireless connectivity. Texas Instruments is also a big design winner, providing many of the power management and MOSFET ICs inside the tablet.
Finally, Invensense gets another major design win for its MPU-3050 digital gyroscope, matching the win it received in the RIM Playbook.
For further reading
UBM TechInsights' complete teardown report on the HP TouchPad tablet can be purchased here.
Information on UBM TechInsights' subscription service for tablet product teardowns can be accessed here.
UBM TechInsights' teardown report on the RIM Playbook tablet can be accessed for free here.
Samsung Galaxy Teardown from DesignCon is posted here.
I had an experience HP tech support for a printer/scanner a few years ago. Long story short, after several frustrating hours on the phone, the unit was in the dumpster. I haven't even considered buying any HP device since.
Several years ago, I purchased an HP plasma TV which was new technology for them at the time. Two warranty factory replacements and one additional service call later, the TV has been functioning without issue for the last few years. HP dropped out of the plasma TV market shortly after my purchase. With this lesson, I steer clear of new HP products until there is a lot of good data behind it.
I was at a local Sam's Club last week, where they had a representative there to demonstrate (and hopefully sell)the tablets.
Unfortunately, the demo unit was locked-up with an error message on the otherwise blank screen. The unit wouldn't even power down, and had been in this state most of the day. The rep. hadn't been able to clear the fault, and his calls to the support center hadn't been able to provide an answer either.
Locking up was bad enough, but not getting an answer from HP's support center, for a representative in the field trying to show this in a very public location... This looks VERY bad for their support capabilities in general!
Fortunately for the sales rep. I was able to fix the problem for him. Unplugging the cable that was connected, and holding all three buttons down together for about 30-seconds while we chatted, forcing a hard reboot. It took several minutes to reinitialize everything, but after that it was working fine. (I didn't "know" that this might work, I simply took my best guess.)
I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Apotheker wants to take HP away from hardware and move to software development/support, but what do you expect from a former software company guy? (Not very good software either, from my experience...)From both a technology and business perspective I feel that this is a huge mistake. If he wants to do software and support, spin that part of the company off and name it something else... Leave the PC unit to someone who actually knows what they're doing, since he very obviously doesn't. He's just trying to justify his recent acquisitions, and will wreck the company in doing this. (Board of Directors and stockholders take note!)
Darn-it! I'll have my newly minted MBA to add to my BSEE in a couple of months, and I could already do a better job of running the company than this joker! I've revived one of their catatonic machines for them already, maybe I could do the same for the rest of the company. ;)
They still support PalmOS, but not webOS. It would be pretty much a complete rewrite from what I understand porting applications between the two. I'd guess that RIM was already in talks with DataViz when webOS debuted, so rewriting for a whole new platform was not resources they wanted to spend.
In any case, if you've not checked out the forums/news at PreCentral .net, you should. There's some good info for all things Palm/webOS, and especially for new TP owners -- as well as tear downs and other things of interest to DesignNews readers. Specifically for you though, I just read an article there about a VP at HP saying QuickOffice will be releasing their document editing version within a week. If the link comes through, it's on PreCentral's website at:
I talked with the folks at documents to go. They still support several palm applications. So it looks like a couple of lines of code would allow touchpad uses to use it today. But I guess HP pride stopped it. Yet iPad supports dos to go. BTW Sprint will get new iPhones in Oct. So I'm definently switching.
Jamit: I have also been a long-time Palm fan, with my Palm IIIx back in the 90s. I currently have a Palm Pre+ and was excited when HP bought Palm and for the TouchPad. Unlike you, though, I did not buy one because it seemed too close to the iPad hardware, but at the price of an iPad2. I was really hoping for the TouchPad 2 in another year.
Anyhow, I wanted to point out that the reason Palm/HP ditched Documents to Go, which I also liked, is because RIM bought DataViz, the company responsible for Docs to Go. As such, RIM turned off all support and development for any OS besides their own (QNX). In a scramble, QuickOffice stepped forward to fill the void. While I think HP could have done more to help out QuickOffice by TP release time, I also think they did the best they could in the very short time they had since the RIM/DataViz announcement.
I'm not quite willing to give up on whatever the Palm spinoff becomes, as Palm has done this sort of thing in the past. (Remember when they threw off PalmOS to ACCESS, which seemed horrible. But we got webOS instead -- a MUCH better product!)
I also agree that the OS is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, the one thing webOS had going for it was the hardware -- in the form of the "gesture area". Software and OSes can be copied relatively easily (just take a look at the Playbook or the various Android themes that look like webOS), but the gesture area would have required a hardware change -- much more difficult. When they gave that up on the TouchPad, I was disappointed. And I think many webOS fans were, too, which is one (small) reason it didn't sell so well, IMO.
clearly Apple is a better chice however for such a low price, ie: $99.00, I think that every student should get one and use it in school. it is still a very good tablet with lotcs of apps.
Truthfully, when we first took a look at the TouchPad when it was launched, we had a feeling it was DOA. Our first impressions were the units were extremely bulky in comparison to recent releases like the Motorola Xoom or the iPad 2. Secondly, it's price point wasn't competitive. It came it at $499 and $599, the same price as the iPad 2. In a spec-to-spec comparison, they were essentially the same type of product. Why would the average consumer pay what they can pay for an iPad 2 - with its vaunted Apple support and massive, well-developed library of applications, for a tablet with a unproven operating system in webOS.
Unrelated to the previous thread, I just wanted to express how much I love the concept of this "Tear Down" section! If it were not for the watches, toasters, TV's around the house that I dissassembled as a kid, I would never have been the engineer I am today. Just as physicians begin their training in the "Cadaver Lab" I believe, as an educator, designers need to take things apart. And this series in Design News is the next-best thing. In fact, its even better in some respects.
Keep it up, Design News! (One day, you'll be able to put those devices back together! With only a few parts left over :-)
Back in the mid 1990's I got hooked on Palm and have stayed loyal since then. When HP bought Palm I was delighted. By early 2010 my Palm Treo was starting to fail and I started looking for a replacement. For the first time I started looking at the I-phone. Then the first HP announcement back in December 2010 about new smart phones and tablets. So, I waited and waited and waited. Finally, the day came when I could call HP and order the Touchpad (at full price) So I order it with all the accessories.
When it came I found much of the important software I wanted really didn't work. It came with Quickoffice. But only viewing and not editing or creating Word, Excell or Power Point Files. BTW: "Documents to go" software that I purchased back in 2005 for my Palm smart phone does this very well. Yet HP choose to re-invent the wheel by installing Quickoffice. Next HP Movies is a real joke because you can't set up an account due to software issues and activate the service. However, since July 5, I've been assured they will fix the issue and I will be able to down load and watch movies within 24-48 hours. I'm still waiting.
Bottomline: I've given up on the Plam dream and headed for the local Apple Store. I'm never going back to Palm/HP or the next guy that talks OS. I do think OS is a powerful tool when compared to what's out there even today. But HP is now headed out to re-invent itself to look like big blue. I will not follow them off the clift.
P.S. I will also make sure my company runs away from any future product HP sales because HP dropped the Touchpad and PC business shows me they are not a reliable supplier.
Just as mobile computing has transformed the lives of consumers, machine-to-machine telemetry is revolutionizing business operations in every field, from healthcare to manufacturing to transportation.
As the trend toward compact, high-functioning devices evolves, electrically conductive adhesives are proving key components in the manufacturing process.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
