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HP has repeatedly stated that while the company is discontinuing webOS hardware including smartphones and the recently launched HP TouchPad tablet, that the webOS operating system will continue. HP is hoping to find a partner to license the software for use on other products — and we may still see software updates for existing webOS devices.
But if you’re not convinced that there’s a future for webOS, there may still be a future for the HP TouchPad tablet which is all the rage with bargain-hunters this weekend. While the tablet was overpriced when it launched for $499, it’s a pretty good deal for $99.
The HP TouchPad has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor, a 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel capacitive touchscreen display, and it’s selling for less than the price of an Amazon Kindle this weekend (if you’re lucky enough to find one).
Even if you only use the device to surf the web, watch videos, and read eBooks, $99 is a pretty good price. But there’s no reason you couldn’t chuck the webOS software and install something with a little more support and a wider selection of third party apps.
Right now there’s no really good way to replace webOS on the HP TouchPad. But there may be soon. Several teams of developers has already announced plans to port Google Android to the HP Tablet. One of the developers interested in the project is one of the folks responsible for bringing the popular CyanogenMod software to the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color. And hackers are already playing around with early versions of Ubuntu Linux on the tablet.
While you won’t get official support from HP for Ubuntu or Android anytime soon, if either project seriously takes off, there will probably be hundreds, if not thousands of independent developers and users working with the software and forming an unofficial support group. More importantly, while there are only a few hundred tablets apps for the HP (http://i54.tinypic.com/2rojbsj.jpg) (http://i55.tinypic.com/29d750j.jpg)
TouchPad running webOS, there’s already a much wider selection of third party apps for Ubuntu and Android. Installing an alternate operating system could be a way to breathe new life into the tablet, whether you spent $99 or $599 to buy it in the first place.
Update: There’s now a page for the TouchDroid project and a dedicated development thread for TouchDroid at the RootzWiki forum. A team of skilled Android developers plan to first try to get a version of Android based on the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) up and running on the HP TouchPad. If that works, the next step is to port CyanogenMod.
Early builds will be based on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but eventually we may see tablet-optimized software based on Google Android 3.x Honeycomb. Of course, depending on how long that takes, it may just be easier to skip Honeycomb and move onto Ice Cream Sandwich — the upcoming version of Android which Google is building for both smartphones and tablets. While Google hasn’t released the source code for Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich source code is expected to be made available.
As part of what may end up being a separate project, an anonymous member of the xda-developers community is offering a $500 bounty for Android on the TouchPad.