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Installing Android On an HP TouchPad
Barence writes "PC Pro has published a comprehensive guide to installing Android on a HP TouchPad using CyanogenMod's alpha Android release. The mod, which is based on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) instead of 3.0 (Honeycomb, the source code of which is yet to be released) 'performs similarly to the Tegra 2-based tablets we've seen from the likes of Asus and Samsung,' according to PC Pro. 'The only real problem we hit was some apps refusing to install from the Android Market because they didn't recognise the hardware,' although there are ways around it."
"Tweet"? "+1"? FFS this is /., it's not like anyone has a credible social life in here.
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I won't be installing Android on my TouchPad for one simple reason - that would be a downgrade. WebOS is much more pleasant to use than Android; it's better thought through, easier to configure, and easier to manage open apps. If I ever have to install Android on my TouchPad, perhaps because of a glaring security hole in WebOS that won't get fixed, it will be a very, very sad day.
"Tweet"? "+1"? FFS this is /., it's not like anyone has a credible social life in here.
Twitter has had a social life all by himself since 2001, years before Twitter.com opened.
I have a real Android tablet in the Xoom, but scored a couple of Touchpads when they went fire-sale. I would keep WebOS on the Touchpad at least until HP releases another update to it which I believe they have already said they would.
It runs very well and I hope Android moves in the direction of WebOS' interface. Tablets are coming down in price... I understand the hack cred of showing your Touchpad to your friends with a castrated-functionality Android deployment but I wouldn't do it unless I could put WebOS back on once I realized it wasn't worth the effort.
I was using webos since the firesale and waiting impatiently for android. Android feels zippier to me. The web experience is great. Netflix actually works on android which is a big draw for me. While I haven't really had a chance to delve into the features of the pdf readers on android, I know webOs pdf reader is crap.
The nicest thing is that it doesn't matter a single bit.
It takes about a minute to switch back to webOs if you have a reason to. So enjoy both.
My only complaint so far is that I can't seem to find any fancy 3d games on android.. that and I wish firefox worked better. But even the standard web browser is better than webos'.
Someone mentioned other linux distros... is anyone working on one that aims to support touchpads and phones OTHER than google? It seems like a better idea to rip off the android crap and replace it with something grown by the community. Port THAT everywhere and start an app market for it.
Netflix and google reader might make me try android on touchpad. If I could figure out how to write my own rss reader I'd stay on touchpad, but I've only tackled sysadmin scripts so I'm not super confident.
Can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/detail?id=65#c14
WebOS is a lot better than android but it just doesn't have very many good apps. If Netflix and Slingplayer were available for WebOS i might keep it but it sure seems like WebOS is going to die.
I had a really easy time installing Android on my touchpad. The only issue I have now is that if the touchpad sits idle for a while (around 10 mins or more) it will lock up and I have to hard-reset the touchpad. Otherwise, Android works pretty well. Just have to get a fix for the Facebook and Twitter apps, since Facebook locks because of the lack of a GPS locator in the Touchpad.
3.04 is out today
I have an Android phone, and have an HP Touchpad, and I'd much rather use Android on this device. I don't know what these people are talking about. The touchpad seems unfinished and has strange design decisions. Its video player is in with the photo gallery and it is awful, there is no default app to take a picture with the camera, app market is severely lacking, you can't put icons for links on the "desktop" everything is under the dock at the bottom, wtf is the point of that? And the web browser sucks, it has this stupid side to side scrolling even when zoomed out all the way (fit all) on the screen. As you scroll it makes the page go off to the right or left, showing blank space, and then snapping back into place when you let go. Makes you almost sea sick using the damn browser, and also makes flash games unplayable. Awful, awful OS.
It seems a bit pointless installing an old, smartphone OS on a tablet. With ICS due out any day now, and Google promising the source code shortly there-after, it seems sensible to wait until sometime in the new year when a stable port of ICS will be available.
That's certainly what I'm waiting for. WebOS is nice, but there is a massive lack of apps, and that isn't going to change. With little or no ongoing support it's really a matter of when, not if, people are going to switch to another OS. Android is going to be the easiest tablet OS to port across due to 1)being open source and 2)the closeness of the touchpad hardware to android hardware.
I've never heard of this... is it a prerelease or something?
Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
I installed this over the weekend. The install is relatively simple, and you can easily boot to WebOS, Android or recovery. For a first alpha release it is amazingly good. There are a number of documented bugs which will be fixed in due course, but none of them are show-stoppers.
As others have mentioned, the great advantage is access to the Android Market and the myriad apps available there. Is this better than WebOS? It depends on how you use this tablet. What is a tablet for, anyway?
In the long run, Android is the future for this device. I believe open systems will win over walled gardens. HP should support this effort!
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
How to ruin your $99 tablet.
Why would you want to shit up a perfectly capable device with Android?
Why would you want to cripple your beautiful TouchPad with a version of Android not designed for a tablet? Unfortunately I wasn't able to snag one myself, but WebOS, despite it's faults, is a beautiful OS. Sure, you don't get some of the apps that you do with Android, but for most practical uses WebOS is going to blow Android 2.3 out of the water.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
If HP were run by humans instead of destructive MBAbots, they'd open source WebOS and have a thousand flowers bloom - possibly all over Androids' grave.
HP just shipped an over-the-air update to WebOS 3.0.4 today. Long-term will be another story though...and I'll likely move to Android when ICS becomes available.
WebOS isn't that bad. With the addition of preware and kalemsoft media player, it provides decent web browsing, video playback, kindle client, VPN suport, web proxy support, and an xterm with a shell, along with a reasonable selection of games. That's like 95% of my usage right there.
I got one about 2 weeks ago (employee firesale exclusive) and I'm really enjoying it. I was going to give it a go and see if I'd even use it and then ebay it if I didn't, but I'm keeping it. I can't find anything I want it to do which it doesn't have an app for (after installing pre-ware) so the Android swap would be pointless.
I recently grabbed a touchpad instinctively after seeing the CM7 video on youtube, not thinking clearly (and having too much damn money, not enough patience)
I'd forgotten about Gingerbread entirely, does anyone know googles plans for GB and Ice Cream sandwich? I'd really like to see the touchpad working well with an OS designed for a tablet.
Anyone got any theories or information?
Check out Homerun Battle 3D challenge. It plays great on the Touchpad, and you can get it straight from the market without looking around for .apk files. I can't figure out how to change the player name though.
Also, it's not lettting me intall Madden 12 on the Touchpad, I was looking forward to that, but for that I might have to buy a Honeycomb tablet.