HP Omni 10 – The Unsung Hero

Recently, HP released the Omni 10 tablet to little fanfare, and almost no buyer interest, which is a pity, because the Omni 10 is a brilliant device for the value. First off, a quick dive into the specs of it, and two of its primary competitors in the 10 inch tablet class: the Nexus 10 and the iPad Air.

[row class=”row-fluid”]

[col class=”span3″]HP Omni 10

Intel Atom Z3770

1920×1080

32gb Flash Memory

2gb RAM

Windows 8.1

$379 (Amazon)[/col]
[col class=”span3″]Nexus 10

Exynos 5 Dual

2560×1600

16gb Flash Memory

2gb RAM

Android 4.4

$399[/col]
[col class=”span3″]iPad Air

Apple A7

2048×1536

16gb Flash Memory

1gb RAM

iOS 7

$499[/col]
[/row]

Notice something? Both of the other devices come with half the available memory, and in the iPad’s case, half the RAM as well. In fact, on every spec except for screen quality (and both the Nexus 10 and iPad Air have excellent screens), both of the competitors are behind the Omni 10. And that includes the all-important price. Now, where the Omni 10 trips up somewhat is in its app selection – the Windows Store just isn’t as fully flesh out as the Android and iOS stores, especially for second tier and local apps.

However, there is a little comment to be made there, because in the OS box for the Omni 10, it says Windows 8.1, not Windows RT 8.1, and that makes a very significant difference. You see, the Omni 10 isn’t really a tablet – it’s a Windows netbook tucked into a tablet form factor, meaning that the depth and breadth of programs it can run dwarfs anything seen on Android or iOS.

Of course, some people don’t really want to use a 10 inch tablet with desktop programs, because desktop programs aren’t designed for that kind of use, at which point that app gap becomes more prominent. Thankfully, this is where IE11 steps into the fray, because it’s regularly called the “best touch browser in the world”, and makes up a great deal of the app gap all by itself.

For those users who don’t mind using a desktop experience on a 10 inch device (a group Microsoft is targeting with both models of Surface), the Omni 10 comes with Office 2013 Home and Student installed for free, automatically making it more productive (with the help of a mouse and keyboard, admittedly) than either of its rivals. Likewise, desktop only programs like the GIMP, Photoshop, and others are also a strong point in the Omni 10’s favour, although the performance will not be quite what it is on a workstation desktop.

Now, there are always going to be those who prefer the Android or iOS experience, because it just suits their needs better, but anyone who is looking for a $400+ tablet should at least stop off at a Best Buy to try the HP Omni 10. They’ll be surprised by the value there.