Android running as test app on HP TouchPad
A Chinese developer has reportedly gotten Android to work on an HP TouchPad by installing it as a WebOS application package and running Google's OS in emulation mode.
Android has found yet another way to run on HP's TouchPad, courtesy of a Chinese developer.
A developer dubbed Chomper has created a test version of a WebOS application package, or IPK file, containing Android. Installed on an HP TouchPad, the IPK file lets TouchPad owners essentially run Google's mobile OS as its own app.
TouchPad users daring enough to try it out can download the IPK from a Chinese Web site (Google Translate version) linked by a poster at a forum hosted by tech site PreCentral.
Installed this way, Android appears to run fairly smoothly, according to Engadget, but it notes that neither audio nor multitouch work yet, and there are hiccups when bouncing between home screens or playing YouTube videos. And since this method is likely forcing Android to run in emulation mode, performance is slow, says PreCentral, adding that it sees a lot of potential here if some of the bugs can be squashed.
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Other developers have been striving to bring Android to HP's discontinued TouchPad, especially after sales of the tablet soared when the company launched a fire sale to clear out excess inventory.
The development team at CyanogenMod seems to have gotten the closest to fully running Google's OS on the HP tablet. The crew has so far succeeded in enabling Wi-Fi, sound, multitouch, the accelerometer, and a range of other features working on a TouchPad running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. But unlike Chomper's IPK file, which is available for anyone to download and install, CyanogenMod's Android mod is not likely to be available to the public for some time.