14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that the CyanogenMod team worked much faster than anyone expected on their Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS port for the HP TouchPad.
The first build of the Android 4.0 operating system for the HP TouchPad has been completed, according to a forum thread on RootzWiki.
Considering that a video of it in action found its way to the Internet just a day or so earlier, this definitely shows that the CyanogenMod team is, if anything, very fast and dedicated.
Granted, the folks have been working on it since November 2011, but still.
Unfortunately, this so-called Alpha 0 version is not exactly in tip top shape.
In fact, there are several features that do not work, hence the “Zero” in the name: “That’s a 'zero' as in 'zero hardware-accelerated video', 'zero camera', and 'zero support!'”
The forum thread where the build was released deliberately focused on the negatives of the software.
Obviously, the CyoanoigenMod 9 people will press on and strive to eliminate all shortcomings.
This Alpha 0 package was made public just to assuage the desire that other so-called hackers had for something to replace the default webOS with.
Hardware video (OMX) acceleration, for one, does not work, meaning that Netflix is not supported and that YouTube works but only for non-HD videos.
Audio has problems as well, a non-working microphone being the first among them. The team has also abandoned libaudio in order to switch to CAF libaudio.
The camera doesn't work either and neither does the Titanium Backup feature (well, the latter does work, but it crashes the kernel for some obscure reason, unlike older versions).
Furthermore, USB file transfers cannot be carried out and, finally, there are some problems with the Android Market app store.
While the Market does work, market filters may hinder the installation of certain apps. Fortunately, switching to standard DPI settings (120, 160, 240) will circumvent the problem (default is 160), though everything may turn out to be a bit hard on the eyes.
Visit the RootzWiki thread linked above for instructions on how to install the OS.