The TouchPad weighs 1.61 pounds, about the same as the heaviest Android tablets we've seen, and three-tenths of a pound heavier than the iPad 2. It's also a smidgen more than a half-inch thick, matching the thickest of the Androids and the first-gen iPad, but two-tenths of an inch chunkier than the 0.33-inch iPad 2.

Overall the design strives for minimalism: It has just one button, a flat oval centered beneath the display that returns you to the home screen, and just one port, a MicroUSB connector on the bottom (both positions assume portrait mode). The port works for charging, as well as for transferring data to the device from your PC; the included wall charger is compact, and as with Apple's iPad, you use the USB sync cable to connect with the AC adapter.

The only other controls are the prominent, pleasingly contoured volume rocker (at the right side in portrait mode or the top in landscape), the power/wake button (top right in portrait), and the headphone jack (top left in portrait). Also positioned for use in portrait mode is the 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat, which is centered above the display. Unlike the vast majority of competing tablets, the TouchPad lacks a rear-facing camera for still-photo and video capture.

In contrast, the stereo speakers are optimally located for use in landscape orientation; they're positioned out the bottom, and designed to maximize the audio by vibrating against the plastic backing. The audio sounded terrific with my test tracks, the best I've heard on a tablet so far. I can't say that the inclusion of Beats Audio made any difference, though; my tracks sounded the same whether that feature was enabled or disabled.