TechNutty UK » Touchpad

HP Releases New 3.0.4 webOS Update

Nicholas Griffin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:58:11 +0000

Recently HP decided to decease in produced any hardware for it’s webOS software, with promises to keep the OS up to date, whilst not actually producing any hardware, well it seems that HP have kept to their word and released a jam packed update for the platform.

HP’s Jon Zilber stated in a blog post that the update will include “better performance, user interface improvements, and other enhancements such as support for accelerometer events in Adobe Flash Player, and more robust Skype video calling.”

The 3.0.4 update will be available from today for all of you TouchPad owners to download over the air, allowing you to access some great features as soon as you do these include:

A new Camera app for photos and video
Added the ability to view TouchPad-only/phone-only applications in App Catalog.
The ability to pair non-webOS phones to your TouchPad, so you can answer calls on your TouchPad. Pairing with non-webOS Bluetooth keyboards has also been streamlined.
Support for OGG Vorbis music files, and the ability to add songs to a playlist from Album view.
Online/offline messaging status support.

This is obviously good news for any current webOS owner as it gives a clear indication the HP actually care about their users, offering updates to a service they no longer receive money for, which personally I think is great, hopefully they keep it up?

Do you have a TouchPad? Have you updated it yet?

Tell us what you think about the new update below, and do not forget to follow us on Twitter @technuttyblog.

[via TechRadar]

HP Offering Touchpad and Palm Pre 3 Refunds

Nicholas Griffin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:54:28 +0000

If you bought a Palm Pre 3 or TouchPad before it’s recent price decrease, you may be feeling a little bit angry with yourself for not waiting, well we have got just the right remedy for that, as HP has confirmed that it will be offering refunds to all of it’s customer who bought the TouchPad or Pre 3 before the price drop.

Earlier HP listed on its official site the refunds that will be available for every model of it’s webOS devices, with customers being offered the difference between what they actually paid for the device and what they would have paid had they waited.

Which is an extremely odd move for HP, well for any company really especially since not many people bought the devices in the first place, making it impossible a huge mob to attack HP, so they have nothing to worry about, but it may just be a gesture of goodwill and hoping you will shop with them in the future because of it.

The best part of this is that you could get you hands on up to £300 if you are one of the early adopters of the webOS brand before they binned the whole idea. But the only way you will be able to get this offer is it you had activated your device before the 23rd of August 2011.

What do you think? Do you have a HP TouchPad? Have you got your refund yet?

Drop us a line or two in the comments below, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @technuttyblog

HP To Bring Back The HP TouchPad

Nicholas Griffin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:39:40 +0000

If you were to late to pick up a TouchPad early enough don’t fret, you might just get another chance, as after a suprising increase in demand after HP decreased the price of the device, HP confirmed one last run with it’s TouchPad.

HP released this post on their company blog:

Before I share, let me first say thank you for enthusiasm for this product. Since we announced the price drop, the number of inquiries about the product and the speed at which it disappeared from inventory has been stunning. I think it’s safe to say we were pleasantly surprised by the response.

HP confirmed that thanks to the TouchPad’s increase in demand they will release their tablet once again:

Despite announcing an end to manufacturing webOS hardware, we have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand. We don’t know exactly when these units will be available or how many we’ll get, and we can’t promise we’ll have enough for everyone. We do know that it will be at least a few weeks before you can purchase.

If you want to know the TouchPad availability you can be following Bryna @BrynaatHP and Mark @MarkatHP.

What do you think? Will you buy a TouchPad this time around? Have you already got one?

Drop us a line or two in the comments below.

Get Andriod On Your Brand New HP Touchpad, Cyanogenmod To Be Released Soon

Nicholas Griffin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:33:34 +0000

[stream provider=youtube flv=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dc20yOVKm5UM img=x:/img.youtube.com/vi/c20yOVKm5UM/0.jpg embed=false share=false width=640 height=360 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /]

A few days ago we heard that you will be able to port Andriod to the newly cheaper HP TouchPad, well apparently you can, and is something the guys at CyanogenMod have already done, check out the video above with the Android TouchPad in action.

The team have done this by releasing a brand new CyanogenMod 7 firmware, which is firmware which has been designed around the Android operating system and can be used as an alternative to the stock firmware on a specific device, at the moment Cyanogen 7 is built around Gingerbreaad 2.3.

This video had been taken on Friday, but the team is already saying they have progressed since then, as CyanogenMod can new support the logical volume manager, they have worked more on the 2D hardware acceleration and a few other tweaks to the cheapo tablet.

The guys main aim is to enable multi-boot platforms with two fully working OS’s, enabling users to select between Cyanogen and WebOS, CyanogenMod released a statement about this new breakthrough:

Hey Internet/RootzWiki–

Here is some (older) touchpad progress from Friday. The Cyanogenmod team wanted to share it with the public as a blatant publicity stunt to bring attention to our need for a few more touchpads (for developers currently working without them).

As you can see from this quick demo, we’ve been working hard and have made progress. Since this video was created last week, the build has been more “tabletized” (tablet tweaks added, etc.), lvm support has been added, and 2d hardware acceleration should appear very soon.

The touchscreen driver issue is now the focus of our attention.

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. This appears to be very possible, and we have discussed several potential implementations with our new friends in the WebOS development community to make it easy for an end-user to set up.

For the moment though, we need about 4 tablets, as we have talented and experienced developers who cannot contribute effectively due to a lack of hardware. If you have an extra touchpad and are willing to help the cause, please let us know in the comments below.

A BIG CAVEAT– PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR ETAS. For the uninitiated, this is the #1 rule for Cyanogenmod. It will certainly be a long while before our goals become reality. Our goals incidentally are not connected with any bounty– we are motivated to do it right, not do it fast.

And now the obligatory shout outs– Thanks to rootzwiki and all the devs and everyone else who are collaborating and contributing to this project. You know who you are, you.

The CM team
www.cyanogenmod.com

PS- Yes, this is gingerbread (Android 2.3.5). Everything you see, except for bootie thebootloader (a great kid’s show btw), was compiled from source.

What do you think? Do you want Andriod on you TouchPad? Have you got a TouchPad?

Drop us a line or two in the comments below.