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First case of Android running on HP TouchPad caught on video

Posted: , by Nick T.

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First case of Android running on HP TouchPad caught on video
What would happen if the HP TouchPad could run Android instead of its native webOS platform? Although it was not originally meant to do that, in terms of hardware, the tablet is more than capable of booting Google's operating system, and there is already a team of developers trying to turn this crazy idea into reality. 

However, somebody seems to have beaten them to it. There is a rumor circulating on the web claiming that a Best Buy customer who took advantage of the tablet's aggressively discounted price of $99 received a unit, which had Android 2.2 Froyo installed instead of webOS. Although we cannot confirm the credibility of the story, there is a video showing the Froyo-flavored TouchPad in action, so there might be some truth to the rumor after all.

In the video, the guys mention that it is Ubuntu actually booting prior to Android, so it may be the popular Linux distribution that is installed natively on the device with Froyo running in a virtual environment of some kind. Soon after that, the QuIC (Qualcomm Innovation Center) logo pops up, meaning that the guys at Qualcomm might be in the bottom of all this. That seems to be a logical explanation as they are the ones who provided the chipset that ticks inside the TouchPad, so the software that was needed to get the thing humming was already at their disposal.

Unfortunately, further details remain unclear so we have no idea how this special HP TouchPad made it into the wild. Nevertheless, those who managed to grab a unit on the cheap might have an evil grin on their faces right now in anticipation of the first working Android port for the TouchPad to see the light of day.

source: NotebookItalia (translated), YouTube via Android Central

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1. remixfa posted on 23 Aug 2011, 08:05

that would be awesome if qualcomm got involved directly in helping people port over to Android. ha, it only helps them sell out of those things even faster.

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2. SuperAndroidEvo posted on 23 Aug 2011, 08:12 2

I was about to buy one yesterday, but I am going to wait for a quad-core tablet. I have my dual-core HTC Evo 3D, so a quad-core tablet will be my next purchase.

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3. PeterIfromsweden posted on 23 Aug 2011, 08:17 3

You shuold've got the touchpad, 100 $ is super cheap : )
Could have bought it just for your collection of phones.

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4. protozeloz posted on 23 Aug 2011, 08:41

dam someone beat me to the 1.5k bounty

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5. Synack posted on 23 Aug 2011, 09:45 1

Dang... I was in it to win it too...

Looks like AOSP Froyo running on GB kernel. Maybe that was the only way they could get it to boot...

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6. NeXoS posted on 23 Aug 2011, 13:16

HP was so stupid to buy Palm. What a waste of money and time. They could be selling Android tablets now instead.

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8. naz (unregistered) posted on 24 Aug 2011, 10:23

@nexos Android tablets arent doing that well in the market either hardly flying of the shelves. the whole reason why google released honeycomb was to make android more tablet friendly. Google didnt want people to port froyo onto a tablet cos its designed for smartphones. Also non of the app are going to look good on a tablet format cos they are all made for phones, your better off sticking with Webos much more user friend then android. Hp havent said they are abandoning webos they will be still releasing OS updates their just not going to be making the hardware. They are discussing licensing webos to either samsung, HTC or both.

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