14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re one of those people who like to tinker with their Android devices, you probably know of HP’s TouchPad tablet, a device that was launched on the market back in 2011 and was capable of running custom builds.
A few months after the big event, the company already discontinued the product, but the device continues to exist in some sort of reanimated state, being kept alive by developers who continue to push unofficial software updates for it.
The HP TouchPad arrived with a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and drew power from a dual-core CPU. The tablet ran webOS, an operating system that currently survives on a number of LG smart TVs. However, tinkerers have continued to create custom builds based on Google’s Android, which they have applied to the tablet for years.
Which brings us to the current day, when the old tablet gets another software update. Google rolled out Android 5.1 not so long ago, but the build is yet to make its way to the majority of smartphones/tablets out there. Nexus and Google Play Edition devices have been updated, and Motorola also initiated soak tests for Android 5.1 on the Moto X.
LG’s latest flagship, the G4, also runs Google’s latest and greatest, but apart from that, you won’t see Android 5.1 anywhere else.
Android 5.1.1 reaches a 4-year-old device
However, Google released Android 5.1.1 as well, but the build is only available for the Google Nexus Player. Well, that and the 4-year-old HP TouchPad.
One member of the lofty xda-developers forum has found a way to port a custom ROM called Evervolv, which is based on Android 5.1.1, to the slate in question.
If you too still have one of these devices at home, it might be the perfect time to shake the dust off it and check out the necessary steps you need to follow to install Evervolv.
There are few builds based on Android 5.1.1 for the TouchPad and some of them have problems connecting to Wi-Fi or bring a bug which mistakenly interprets single taps as double taps.
Nevertheless, the newest build, which dates from April 27, seems to have resolved these issues, and on top of that, the camera app seems to work just fine and YouTube video streaming has no issues either.
You have to keep in mind that Evervolv for HP TouchPad is a work in progress, which means you are bound to stumble upon some problems and not all the features will go smoothly.
Even so, it’s still pretty amazing how the HP TouchPad keeps receiving the latest Android updates, even ahead of the current industry flagships.
