Android is all over the smartphone and tablet market, but now its even a step closer to print its mark on the HP’s cut-price TouchPad tablet. The CyanogenMod team has released the third alpha of Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ for TouchPad tablet, which gave a few lucky ones an opportunity to get their hands on a more reliable version to play with.
Yet again CyanogenMod has an update, which is designated an alpha, but the CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 release is surprisingly polished. It is specifically designed to have a comfortable seat along with the existing webOS platform from Hewlett Packard. This would allow TouchPad owners to boot back into the stock operating system should they so choose, that one can experience all the functionality of Google’s Android platform to the device.
Having built on the work one in the previous two alpha builds, this latest release is different as it is based on the ‘Tenderloin’ parent release. This release even fixes the so-called ‘sleep of death’ bug, which had been one of the major issue found in the earlier editions. The so-called ‘sleep of death’ bug was one where the TouchPad’s CPU would go into a power-saving mode and refuse to wake the device from standby without a reset.
Other improved aspects include the tablet’s Wi-Fi connectivity, which prevents the signal from being lost when not used for long periods of time. The new build even improves the performance of Android applications running in full-screen mode.
Briefing about the TouchPad 4G from the HP warehouse (which is only officially released in the U.S.), it can be said that the said tablet adds mobile broadband connectivity to the TouchPad’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios – there’s improved support, described by the team as ‘preliminary’.
The new update would be welcomed by those who have chosen to take the plunge and installed Android on their TouchPad. A simple, easy-to-follow guide can be noted on IT Reviews. The guide is accompanied by an even more interesting and exciting project in the making, which is a port of Google’s Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ operating system.
Android 4.0 would use a revamped user interface developed specifically for large-format devices like the TouchPad, unlike Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’. It would be as a part of the Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ release. Surprisingly, Google seems to be keeping it like an open secret, as there has been no detailing, but it has released the full source code for ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ – meaning developers can, and have, start porting it to other devices.
A hacker update was even noted as Android hacker ‘fattire’ made an announcement that he has started working on the porting of the latest Android OS to the TouchPad. However, to get to the end result, it seems it will take a real good time.
HP TouchPad with such updates would only get better. its ‘Gingerbread’ for now and ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ is even on the way.
The latest build can be downloaded here in a format suitable for a fresh or upgrade install.