HP Touchpad 32gb

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I just wrote a mini review of my new HP TouchPad 32gb (thanks Adam) with lots of screenshots and I figured I would share it here as well.

 

Sorry for not posting in a while but I have been busy here lately and I have not really found anything worth posting about.

 

Anyway, I recently bought a 32gb HP Touchpad from a friend of mine and thought I would post about my experiences so far. To begin with I ended up selling my Gtablet to one of my cousins so I managed to get the Touchpad for less than $60 dollars, not bad huh?

 

Here are some of the specs for the device:

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2 GHz OCd to 1.899 GHz

Battery: Rechargeable 6300 mAh battery

Storage: 32 GB internal storage

RAM: 1 GB Mobile DDR2 SDRAM

Display: 9.7in 1024×768 px XGA, 18-bit color, TFT LCD with IPS, LED-backlit

Input: Touchscreen[Capacitive] and resizable virtual keyboard

Camera: 1.3 MP front-facing webcam

Connectivity: Atheros Qualcomm Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Weight: 740 grams

 

The Touchpad runs WebOS 3.04 which is a Linux based operating system originally developed by Palm. One of the great things about WebOS is that a lot of the software available is licensed under the GPL and the Developer tools are built right into the OS. There is no root per say as the device has this functionality built into it. There are other methods of enabling the Developer mode but I thought that it was funny that the devs used the Konami code (from the Super Nintendo games) as a shortcut to enable developer mode:

 

On the a webOS device, entering ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A (upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart) brings up the previously hidden Developer Mode Enabler application. Opening the app and enabling it will require you to reset your device, after which you’ll be able to hook up to your computer and install Preware:

"Preware is a homebrew package management application for your HP webOS device. Users can install any package from any of the open standard package feeds on preware.org (or any other location that hosts an open standard package feed).

Preware is the most advanced installer currently available - it is the only on-device installer that can install kernels, applications, themes, and patches, as well as give access to over 1600 Linux programs."

Preware (HomeBrew Apps)

 

.............

 

I have used many Android devices/versions (1.5-3.2) over the years and I think WebOS is more of a complete mobile experience than Android offers as far as functionality and speed. The main problem with WebOS is the lack of applications and the apps that are offered are really expensive compared to their Android counterparts. There are a few other issues but these are mainly limitations of the applications..............

http://www.comhack.com/wordpress/?p=460

[amenditman]

Here's some good news. Moboot has made a lot of pie in the sky development ideas a very real possibility.

 

Native ArchLinux install on HP TouchPad

http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1948

and the greater ArchLinux ARM community

http://archlinuxarm.org/

 

I'm stoked and cannot wait. I will be doing the install and helping the developer any way I can. Hopefully, using Moboot means I won't have to miss WebOS. I think this will be the end of my love/hate relationship with Android. Good riddance.

 

Also, for those of you who are closet, sado-masochistic geeks (you know who you are).

Gentoo Linux variant Funtoo native install on TouchPad

http://www.funtoo.org/wiki/HP_TouchPad

 

Alrighty then (borrowed from my pal helios)

Edited November 27, 2011 by amenditman

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Excellent news

 

I will definitely be following the development. I had previously looked at the Arch Arm project but that was in the early days. Thanks a lot for sharing this!!!

[amenditman]

No problem, I knew you would be as stoked about this as I am.

Android is OK, but Arch on my TP will be more than I ever hoped for.