#245 Now the new HP slate

The SlateBook X2 is the first device in India to be powered by the new Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, and HP's new Android flagship at Rs. 38,990. The tablet part (with a 10.1-inch FullHD 1920x1200 pixels IPS touchscreen) houses the processor as well as other machinery, such as the 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory (10.4 GB available to the user), as well as the chipset for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. There's room to expand the memory via a microSD card on the tablet or a regular SD card on the detachable keyboard unit. There are also separate batteries in both parts, which lets you extend the life of your tablet since the keyboard acts as a recharging dock. And of course, all of this runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

There's one very clear reason why I see the HP SlateBook X2 as Android trying to be a full-fledged operating system -- there is no way to connect the device to a PC. Normally, you get a microUSB slot or some such to let you connect your Android tablet/convertible to a laptop or desktop running Windows, Mac or Linux. But not so with the SlateBook X2, which only offers standard USB and HDMI ports in the keyboard dock, apart from a proprietary connector to charge both the dock as well as the tablet.

What this means is that the tablet can't be used standalone, nor can you carry just that on a trip, since there's no way to charge it without the dock.

Yes, the tablet has to be docked to charge. In fact, no wires can be attached to the tablet. There's a connector on the bottom to attach it to the dock, and this bottom also has the microSD card slot as well as the headphone jack.

Of course, you need to access that when you have docked the tablet, so there's an additional headphone jack on the chiclet keyboard dock, along with an SD card slot. Oh yeah, and HP's thrown in a trackpad as well.

The front of the tablet is clean and entirely buttonless, only sporting the 720p HD camera for video calls. The back has a matte white finish that keeps away fingerprint while housing the power button on your right and the volume buttons on your left. The buttons are flush with the back and yet the small grooves make it easy to always identify and click the right ones without looking  top job from HP there.

The docking mechanism is quite simple. The tablet just needs to be pushed down into place to hear that resounding click, while detaching it takes the slide of one key. Put together, it weighs about 1.6 kilos and feels much like a netbook. Detached, the tablet alone is much lighter, its 600 gms feeling approximately as heavy as the iPad 3.

While the OS makes the tablet part a pleasure to use, it still is a mobile operating system that doesn't have the chops of a Windows or Mac. For example, Chrome still opens all websites in their mobile version by default  which is ridiculous to use if you are looking at this as a laptop replacement. There is a vast difference not only in the looks but in functionality of desktop and mobile sites -- case in point, Google Drive does not have many of the editing features of its desktop site in its mobile one.

Such things make Android feel like a crippled computing OS. For 80% of your regular usage, you will be completely fine with Android. It will even offer a little more on pure tablet use. But those missing 20% of the situations are where you end up wanting access to a Windows, Mac or Linux PC with all its bells and whistles. And that makes the SlateBook X2 a great companion device, but not a standalone single solution which HP seems to think it is, since you can't connect the device to a regular PC.