To fully appreciate the TouchSmart IQ770, it must be used for what it is. A touch screen enabled kiosk, rather than a desktop PC. The appeal of this type of device is that it lowers the barriers people have with computers. HP envisions the TouchSmart finding a home for itself in your kitchen or entertaining room. There is a reason people why shy away from computers in these areas (other than home theater PCs (HTPCs)), and that is partly because using a computer is typically an individual and involved experience. With the TouchSmart and its SmartCenter software, everyone is able to interact with the PC easily, to do the sorts of things people want to do in kitchens and entertaining rooms. Tasks such as playing music or television while cooking, enabling guests to view pictures during a dinner party, or quickly checking a few web sites are where the TouchSmart excels.
The TouchSmart IQ770 is essentially a laptop in a fancy case, with a great touch screen. As such, it is not a particularly fast system. During use, it actually seems a tad under powered. Actually, it may not be the hardware’s fault, but the software. There are essentially three user interfaces found on the system. The primary one is SmartCenter, an HP tool that really takes advantage of what the computer has to offer. Secondly, there is Windows Media Center, and lastly the normal Windows Vista desktop.
Using any of the three UI’s in isolation is a pleasant enough experience. Switching between them, on the other hand, is where the trouble starts. It just takes too long. Not only that, but when switching, numerous bugs surface, from weird screen flashing, to crashing of Media Center. Whether this is common, or just a result of a defective system is hard to tell.
The SmartCenter software essentially is just a launching point to other programs. It has a very pleasing design to it, including little ripple effects when you touch the screen. SmartCenter also includes the ability to leave hand written or voice notes for family members, and some basic photo editing and printing abilities. The novelty of these tools wears thin quickly, and this is one of the downfalls of this device. The touch screen works brilliantly, it just needs good software to make the most of it. HP has just touched the surface of touch enabled software design. Hopefully they build from this point for future products.
SmartCenter is really a touch focused plug in for Media Center. And it is in Media Center where you will find features like TV recording, video viewing, photo slide shows and music. Media Center is well designed by Microsoft for ease of use… with a remote. However, when using it via touch, it falls short of the high bar HP set with SmartCenter. The buttons are just a touch too small to ensure accurate presses, and the little water ripple effect signifying a touch is missing. It is certainly still usable, but you may find yourself reaching for the remote for most tasks.
Using the Windows Vista desktop and general applications via touch is a disappointing experience actually quite decent, but only if you take the time in SmartCenter to modify Vista to be more touch friendly. This will then enlarge scroll bars and the application title bar. While it is certainly possible, and a relatively pleasing experience, it again suffers from not being as touch friendly as SmartCenter is. As stated earlier, TouchSmart is not meant to be where you edit Excel documents. It is better suited to tasks like web browsing. In fact, using shortcuts you can define in SmartCenter, web browsing is an ideal use for this computer. It would be made a fantastic experience if only there was touch enabled web browsing software. By default, web browsing is done in Internet Explorer 7, which does not support actions like scrolling by dragging the page up or down. Instead, you need to use the scroll bar, which can be hard to do via touch which is alright if the system is running under the touch optimized settings. Of course, using the included mouse and keyboard is possible, but that starts to defeat the reason for the TouchSmart’s existence.
There are some obvious signs that this is a first generation product. By default, SmartCenter is not running when the PC starts, and it should be. Also, while there is an on screen touch keyboard in parts of SmartCenter, it does not follow the QWERTY layout, and there are a few spots in SmartCenter where text editing is needed, but the keyboard is not available. Moving outside of SmartCenter means no more readily available on screen keyboard at all. And this is just a glaring oversight on HP’s part, given that Vista comes with such a feature for use on Tablet PC’s. While you can manually open it, or set it to launch on startup, it should have been something HP included from the start. Even with the Tablet on screen keyboard, there are deficiencies. The touch screen does not actually require touch to activate, mearly having your finger/stylus very close to the screen is enough. And this ability causes some unintended selections with the Tablet on screen keyboard. All of this leads users towards using the keyboard, which itself is a problem. The keyboard suffers from an issue that causes it to miss letters or repeat letters if typed on quickly. This is been reported by other uses, and is a significantly annoying issue. HP has an updated keyboard driver, but at this time, it is unknown whether it addresses this specific issue.
The HP TouchSmart IQ770 is definitely a unique computing experience. It is bound to appeal to a wide cross section of the population, but its cost may limit it from many budgets, especially given its niche use. Then again, some households may find it a great buy even as their sole PC. When put on a desk in a kitchen, it can do its kiosk role when applicable, but still be used for homework and finances at other times.
Comments(1)
Let me begin by saying this is not your typical PC. It is not meant to be used in typical PC fashion. If you plan on doing primarily office type work (letters, emails, finances), this is not the PC for you. 
