Android 4.0 running on HP TouchPad

The attempts of developers to have the latest OS, Android 4.0 the discontinued HP TouchPad seems to have been successful. This was shown in a photo posted by a team member where the Ice Cream Sandwich was seen running on his TouchPad device.

Following discontinuation of its TouchPad, HP sold all the stock it retained at heavily discounted prices, as low as $99. This prompted many developers to buy these tablets hoping that they would have the same converted into cheap Android devices.

Though the results are not yet transparent, till date the hackers have managed to get the CyanogenMod-7 Alphas operational on TouchPads. This was, however, accompanied by several operational issues.

The latest attempt of having Android 4.0 ported to the TouchPad does not offer as much stability as the Alpha builds but has been causing great interest and excitement in all technical forums.

The community has already worked on a patch that allows touch-input to function on the TouchPad and have set priorities for building additional support for the Android Market as well as Wi-Fi.

As the developers scrambled towards fixing problems in their Android TouchPad systems, HP announced that its WebOS software will be open-sourced. This has, surprisingly, made developers think porting this OS with Android devices.

Though the WebOS came with multitasking capabilities and innovative UI, the mobile industry did not receive it wholeheartedly as it generated only 2% market share in the US. However, making the software open sourced is already causing it to grab attention.

The time frame from which the WebOS is being made available has not yet been announced by HP but the hackers have already started planning projects on getting the same ported to a number of devices, which also includes the Galaxy Nexus. Some are even visualizing creating a customized OS having total in-built modification. The open sourcing of WebOS is definitely going to enhance these possibilities.