If you apply the 3.0.2 patch (an over the air update), it resolves most of the performance issues with webOS on the tablet. Unfortunately all of the online reviews were done using 3.0, so the misconception that webOS on the Touchpad = slow has stuck.

I saw TouchPad at BestBuy last night and it was sluggish as hell. I don't really care if it had a patch applied or not. They had exactly one chance to make a great first impression and they failed. We can point finger at whoever, but what I saw pretty much explains why TouchPad did not gather interest with BestBuy buyers.

This is a known issue to HP. It really stinks. The demo units aren't even using 3.0, they're using a special demo build.

I understand the reasoning behind this (make the demos as cool as possible!) but I think you'd run a serious risk of high returns - if you take it home and it doesn't run as well as the one in the store, you're going to mess with it for a few days, get increasingly frustrated and eventually take it back.

It's not a misconception. If I use webOS on a touchpad - as it comes out of the box - it's slow.

There were 'misconceptions' that Java was slow too. And Java was slow. And still is in some use cases. But somehow that's the fault of the user, not the technology?

webOS out of the box will auto-update itself over the air to 3.0.2. It just wasn't available when the reviews were written. If I read a review now, it's based on outdated information.

They should've waited until 3.0.2 was available before sending the devices out to reviewers.

Frankly, if you're gonna have error for reviewers, I'd put in as many cheap, unmaintainable perf hacks as I could.

Yes I totally agree, only one chance to make a first impression and all that.

That's like saying "sorry I didn't brush my teeth before our first date, but I brushed them now! Tonight at 5? ... hello?"

This is why you don't release a broken product hoping to fix it later.