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Monday, 29 August 2011 20:40

Modders Slap Popular Android Hack on HP's TouchPad

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Modders Slap Popular Android Hack on HP's TouchPad

It was only a matter of time before the hacks for HP’s now defunct tablet started to roll in.

Android-modding group CyanogenMod released a video of its popular aftermarket software running on HP’s TouchPad tablet, a product which normally runs webOS — not Android — as its primary operating system.

“Our ultimate vision is to create a multiboot solution where the end user will be able to boot into WebOS, Cyanogenmod, and/or other OSes,” the CyanogenMod team said in a statement to Android-enthusiast blog RootzWiki. Essentially, the team wants the TouchPad to be a blank slate, so to speak, able to run multiple operating systems indiscriminately.

Since HTC first released its flagship Android phone, the Dream, the CyanogenMod team has been hard at work trying to get its software onto every Android device on the market. The software isn’t a radical departure from the Android operating system: It’s basically a mod that allows a user more control over his or her phone. From overclocking your processor to customizing your wallpaper, the mod enables subtle tweaks popular with the geeky, detail-oriented crowd.

While getting the Android software to run on the TouchPad has taken relatively little time (the device was released two months ago today), the team says its progress has been slowed due to a lack of development devices. At $100 a pop, TouchPads have been flying off the shelves since HP announced recently it would be discontinuing its mobile hardware and slashing prices on remaining inventory.

“We have talented and experienced developers who cannot contribute effectively due to a lack of hardware,” the team wrote in its statement, asking for spare TouchPad contributions from the community to help spur development.

As the group has gained in popularity, updates on the official CyanogenMod software have slowed. Original founder Steve Kondik was recruited to work for Samsung earlier this month, and team member Chris Soyars recently left for music-appmaker GrooveShark.

But a recent bounty on getting the TouchPad to run Android may have incited CyanogenMod team members to code faster (though the group denies it in its statement). Hardware-modification web site Hacknmod.com offered as much as $2,000 to those who first slapped a copy of Android onto HP’s tablet.

The version of CyanogenMod on the TouchPad (video below) is a highly unstable alpha, but the team says more features and better stability are on the way.

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