Monday 29 August 2011

Android lands on HP's TouchPad, guided by CyanogenMod

cyanogenMod is known best for tweaking and bringing latest Android builds to phones that don’t officially have it yet. They’ve taken the HP TouchPad, a WebOS-powered tablet and managed to get Android running on it. This bit comes after HP's recent announcement about the closure of their phones and tablet production. The newly-launched TouchPad was a victim of this move and it resulted in its price dropping all over the web. The cheapest model was available at just $99 and it’s been flying off the shelves everywhere. HP has maintained that it would continue to develop WebOS for other applications. The news of Android coming to the TouchPad should come as great news for those who bought the tablet.

The build runs Android 2.3.5 and is currently unstable as it’s in its early stages, but things are likely to improve soon. According to a post on RootzWiki, 2D hardware acceleration and touchscreen fixes are first in the list of priorities. The final aim is to create a multi-boot tablet that can boot into Android, WebOS and other operating systems.

We didn’t get the chance to see the TouchPad in India, but the general concensus on the web is that the tablet wasn’t really as impressive as expected. But at a price tag of just $99 (roughly Rs. 4,500), an Android capable tablet is undeniably tempting. Now, if only there were more TouchPads available.

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