HP thinks the TouchPad will be 'better than number one,' if that's even possible

HP's expectations for its new TouchPad tablet are running pretty high -- so high, in fact, that they can only be expressed with a make-believe number. During a recent press conference in Cannes, HP's Eric Cador boldly declared that his company's new slate won't just be the best on the market, it'll be the bestest. Cador explained:

"In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP's products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we're going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus."

A spokesman later confirmed that the device will launch in the UK with apps from the Guardian, Sky and Last.fm, but promised that "thousands" of other apps are on the way. The metrics might sound a bit optimistic, but the message is clear: HP thinks the TouchPad will annihilate the iPad and blow our minds to smithereens. We'll just have to wait and see whether it's as explosive as advertised.

The Daily Telegraph

Gartner: 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold in Q1, consumer interest remains tepid

Direct sales figures for Windows Phone 7 handsets have been remarkably difficult to come by since Microsoft's OS reboot at the end of last year, but here come the stat gurus at Gartner to provide us with their best estimate. 3.6 million of the world's smartphone sales in the past quarter were counted under the Microsoft mobile OS umbrella, of which 1.6 million featured the very latest WP7 software. That means Redmond partners sold more Windows Mobile devices in the first three months of 2011 than ones bearing the sparkling new operating system. Guess now we know what LG meant when it said the Windows Phone launch didn't meet expectations. Gartner sees these numbers as evidencing a failure "to grow in consumer preference" by WP7's launch devices, though it predicts better things ahead, with Nokia's participation helping to accelerate the platform's momentum. For more (much more!) stats relating to the global cellphone market in Q1 2011, click on the source link for Gartner's full disclosure.

WMPoweruser

Gartner

Hands-on with Netflix for Android

Netflix for Android is here... finally. It's been a long time coming and we're thrilled to be able to bring our instant queue with us wherever we go. Though technically only approved for a handful of HTC phones and the Samsung Nexus S, we were able to successfully get it up and running on at least one unsanctioned device -- the Droid X (sporting a leaked copy of Gingerbread). So what's Netflix like on Google's mobile OS? Well, it's a heck of a lot like the iPhone app. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart if it weren't for the tabs being moved from the bottom of the screen to the top. Still, we figured it was worth giving a solid once over and, as usual, you can find our impressions after the break.

Netflix for Android hands-on

Everything is more or less as you'd expect upon launching the app. The home screen shows your top picks (including those disturbingly specific genres like "visually-striking mind-bending comedies") and just below the tabs is a shortcut to resume the last video you watched. Along the top you'll also find tabs for genres, search, and your instant queue. Tapping on a title opens a more detailed view that shows a summary and similar videos, as well as offers you the chance to add it to your queue, rate it, or just start playing right away.

Streaming performance over WiFi is excellent -- videos load quickly and are crisp and clear. Over 3G quality is still respectable, but there is some noticeable pixelation and buffering can take quite a while. We are slightly frustrated that navigating away from Netflix to answer a text or simply locking the screen forces the videos to buffer again. Though the UI is responsive enough, the app itself is quite slow to launch and searches sometimes take quite a long time to complete, especially over 3G.

Pressing the search button quickly opens the search tab and the back button works exactly as it should but, oddly, the menu button does absolutely nothing, deviating from the expected Android experience. Another pair of complaints we have are the lack of landscape support while browsing through the app and the somewhat confounding absence of a scroll bar for indicating your position in a list. We also wish there were some more robust options for managing your queue. As it stands you can add things, remove them, or (if they aren't already in your queue) move them to the top, but rearranging is out of the question.

If you happen to own one of the few handsets that supports Netflix (the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, Evo 4G, G2, or the Samsung Nexus S) you can snatch it up in the Android Market now for free. If not, you'll just have make do with the video above.