Say it out loud — HP TouchPad is the best tablet, at $99

Say it out loud — HP TouchPad is the best tablet, at $99:

When HP dropped the price of the TouchPad to $99, most online retail stores saw huge number of orders putting them out of stock in less than 24 hours. The HP TouchPad became a huge hit overnight as an internet device at $99.

For a 9.7″ IPS screen with dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and 1GB RAM, the HP TouchPad is a great surfing device for $99. The abandoned OS and the lack of apps isn’t an issue when you have the internet/browser as the killer app.

When we heard the news last Thursday that HP is discontinuing production of webOS devices, our excitement over the purchase of the HP tablet somewhat fizzled (I also got word that my TouchPad arrived that same day).

So when I un-boxed it yesterday, I had mixed emotions — this is going to be a rare tablet very soon, a collector’s item but with no or little prospects for support or updates. However, since this is a pretty capable device, I’m very sure folks will have a way to port Android Honeycomb into it very soon.

Nobody was buying the TouchPad when it was released in July. Best Buy had over 200,000 stuck in their inventory that wasn’t moving. Then HP dropped the price to just $99. We saw it being put up in Amazon first, then Target, Office Depot and even the HP Online Store itself. In a matter of hours, all the stocks were sold with the remaining ones still selling for the un-adjusted $399 price.

Buyer’s remorse? Well, yeah. So what I did was buy another 32GB model for $125. That’s $399 for the 16GB and $125 for the 32GB for 2 TouchPads at $525 or $260+ each. Not bad, right? Will keep the 16GB in my little gadget museum at home (along with the other legacy devices) and use the 32GB for a possible Honeycomb port later on.

Fortunately, for those who bought the device earlier, they will still have the chance to get it at the discounted price. Details of the rebate is said to be put up very soon.

My first impression of the HP TouchPad is actually good — great OS, good specs, awesome sounds by Beats (best in any tablet I’ve used), a bit lacking in apps and a little bulky.

My problem now is that the price points will definitely affect the conclusion of my final review — it’s an okay tablet at $399 (16GB) but becomes the best tablet ever — for $99.

Watch out for our full review of the HP TouchPad next week.