The following review is written by my husband-a computer engineer. We love the HP Touch, and I wanted you to get a more complete view of the pros and cons, so I asked him to give his input.

HP recently sent us a HP TouchPad to review and one to giveaway!!  I decided to compare it to the iPad since that is the market in which it is competing.

The TouchPad in a side by side comparison with the iPad looks similar to an iPhone 3G.  The corners are rounded for a sleek, smooth feel versus the iPad’s sharp corners.  The case is made of a sturdy plastic much like the HP laptops are made of.  The screen also resembles the glossy screen of an HP laptop.  I think it feels just as durable as the Apple iPad even though the materials are different.

The TouchPad uses HP’s operating system used in the HP/Palm Pre phones.  The OS is built on multitasking application swyping, with the important applications on the bottom in a row, and the other apps in the drawer accessed by pressing the arrow keys. The built-in applications tie into the big name services such as Google, Skype, and Facebook.  We found a Facebook application, news readers, Amazon Kindle app, and an Epicurious app, to name a few. I was a little disappointed by the app selection. This may be because the product was only released on July 1 to the general public.  Most development is done by companies that view the product or operating system as a serious contender or view a market worth pursuing so I will let the market be the judge.  Nevertheless, I hope to see more apps available soon.

I found the user interface different than what I’m used to seeing (in Apple and Android touchscreen products).  Some things function no differently and some things are going to take a while for me to get used to.  One downside is the touchscreen selection isn’t as responsive as I would like when things slow down.  Rather than acknowledging a selection or “click” and making you wait, you have to wait to be able to make your selection.

In video tests, we found the TouchPad to be speedy, not even blinking at playing YouTube videos.  A big triumph for the TouchPad is it supports Flash very well, unlike Apple products meaning web surfing is unhampered by graphics intended to enhance your experience.

Sound is much better than the iPad.  In landscape mode, the TouchPad has two speakers.  This allows for stereo sound to sound a bit more like it was intended.

To charge the TouchPad, there are two ways.  You can charge it using the industry standard MicroUSB cable or by investing in a HP Touchstone wireless charger.

Overall, I was very pleased with the web browsing experience.  The fact that WebOS supports flash is a deciding factor in choosing the HP TouchPad over the Apple iPad.  Sometimes the TouchPad is a bit sluggish, but just do what you do on the PC, close a program or two.

Price comparison:
We compared the TouchPad to an original iPad but you can’t get those new any longer.  Pricing below is just for comparison purposes.
HP TouchPad 16GB $499, 32GB $599 MSRP
Apple iPad 2 (not used in comparison) 16GB $499, 32GB $599, 64GB $699, add $130 for 3G

The Giveaway:

HP is giving away one brand new HP TouchPad to a Southern Savers reader.

Winners will be chosen this Friday, August 5th.

To Enter:

Head over to HP’s website and dream window-shop.  If there was one thing you would want, what would it be?

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night there will be a Twitter party at 9:00 PM.  Hop over to Savings.com to RSVP for the party.  It isn’t mandatory, but it would be a big help.

This giveaway is sponsored by HP and Savings.com, but all opinions are 100% my own.