If you spent your weekend outside and away from the Internet, you might have missed the massive liquidation of HP TouchPads on Amazon, woot.com, WalMart, and the HP online store. Normally a $100 fully featured tablet is nothing to scoff at, but there is a catch: The HP TouchPad runs WebOS. WebOS is a fine operating system for a tablet, but it’s not Android. The folks at HacknMod.com posted a bounty for the first person to port Android to the HP TouchPad.
HacknMod is offering up $450 for a basic Android port and is looking for sponsors for the WiFi, Audio, Camera, and MultiTouch bounties. There’s a lot of discussion about the port on the XDA Developers and the RootsWiki forums if you’d like to get a bearing on how far along the project is. The TouchPad has already been rooted so there’s your starting point.
We’d like to throw our hat into the ring, but we missed out on the TouchPad fire sale. If anyone knows of an online shop where they’re still available, leave a message in the comments.
via HacknMod.com
Wow, HP’s “server is too busy” to even notify me when they are available again.
It was a liquidation, they (most likely) won’t be available again.
I fought for 2 hours and scored 4 on Saturday.
It can be done through OCD, no real challenge..
by “has already been rooted” you really mean “HP/Palm decided to let anyone that wanted it to have root terminal access”
Since HP doesn’t seem to be letting web OS die just yet, I have the feeling that getting a zillion touchpads into consumer hands can’t be a bad thing for the future of the system. Assuming an app store of some sort continues to exist, there will be an assured customer base here for the indefinite future.
Bounty for every douche bag who bought up 20+ HP Touchpads and are now attempting to sell them on ebay for more than full price.
I checked Sunday night, 1400 new listing for HP Touchpad had been created on Ebay in 2 days. Before that, it was only about 20 listing a day.
Its only a problem if people buy them…. So we sit on our hands and let those DB realize if they dont sell it for below or at the price they sold from stores , they are the proud new owners of 40 touchpads. As cool as they are I suspect the DB will quickly wake up. Supply & demand, never forget the demand half.
+1 NO ONE BUY ONE ON EBAY!!! Just wait it out. I will keep an eye on the price and see what happens.
Won’t happen. I have been trying to get a waacom cintiq for a few weeks. These things normally sell at retail or many time more than retail. The one I watched yesterday went for $2400 instead of retail of $1999.
Unfortunately, someone will bid on these and reward their DB behavior.
Well i wish i knew about this fire sale earlier then 10 mins ago… First the Chronos now this. ugh.
+1 My Chronos and launchpad should be here tomorrow.
Use “CHRONOS_50” upon checkout. It worked for me last night.
WOOOOORRRKS!!!!! Thank you man, I missed the sale, but now I can have my Chronos too!!!!!! THANK YOU!! And thanks HaD community!!!
Now, I just need to find how to get one of these tablets here in Europe.
Man, I’d love one of those but they are not available in the UK :-(
Yes they are. Currently running at £89 for a 16GB model at Currys.
Forget Android. How about getting Ubuntu/Ubiquity running on one of these?
Same difference in all probability.
If there were already Linux support then an Android port would be coming along right behind it and vice versa.
The situation with devices powered by ARM processor or ARM-based SoCs is different than with x86 PCs.
Dixons (PC world / Currys) started selling them very cheap at 6pm today. Sold out before I could get one. With a bit of luck other retailers will follow
Yeah I wish I saw this on Saturday but I was busy tasting Wine. I wouldn’t never consider a Touchpad but at $99 its another device to play with!
Didn’t hear about the sale until Saturday at like 4. Every store within 50 miles was sold out, except for Sears who didn’t know how to get their system to let them sell it at the lower price. I fought for a couple of hours on HP’s small business site and snagged 2 32gb models, one for me and one for the wife. Really hoping for a good Android port. Too bad it would have to be gingerbread because honeycomb source isn’t out in the wild and probably won’t be as Google doesn’t want the tablet only fork and is making Ice Cream Sandwich to tie them together.
I scored a touchpad! Its not bad but android would be a plus
It was hardly “rooted”. HP published how to get access to root and encouraged developers to do so.
Got mine on B&N check slickdeals for more stores
When did you get it on B&N? I would of never thought of that. I looked around already.
I got it on B&N too, last night around 11 PDT
There are people who have said Barnes and Noble have oversold and are cancelling orders. The rollercoster looks to be still climbing as the Buy-it-now price was around $165 this morning and climbed to $225 now.
Yep, just got an email from B&N: “Due to unexpected customer demand for this item, our inventory was depleted prior to your order being processed so we are unable to fulfill this item as requested. Consequently, we have canceled your order and you will not be billed for this amount.”
Reads like the Touchpad will be cheaper yet as Ebay sellers realize they too will have to liquidated to recoup a portion of their investment. Who knows? People, and auctions can be strange combination that often does irrational things.
You mean like the stock market?
Android already works decently on the Palm Pre, and I believe the TouchPad as well. It’s a little glitchy (WiFi requires a root terminal to turn on, sleep mode’s broken), but it does work. I don’t see this as a major challenge.
If you guys still want an HP touchpad, really the only place you can get one is at a B&M (brick and mortar). As a general indicator, go to google.com/products and search for HP Touchpad and you will be able to see if any stores around you have them in stock. They’re going really fast so if you don’t already have one and you can’t go tonight you might be out of luck.
http://www.cdw.com (hint use cdwg.com if busy) has both 16 and 32GB versions and macconnection.com has 32GB versions available.
Good luck!
Tigerdirect has them in stock still
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=000580980
Slickdeals.net just headlined the tigerdirect page, so online stock is sold out and it’s now only available in stores (tigerdirect).
I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I used to buy lots from tigerdirect. My first barebones was from them. I have the touchpad in my cart though.
So lame!!!! They emptied my cart!!! Why did slickdeals.net have to post it!!! lol.
It went though, zone.com 32GB 2nd air!
zones.com seems to have a few, check this link: http://www.zones.com/site/locate/search.html?txt_search=hp%20touchpad
I saw people are saying they haven’t been able to update their site because of the traffic and they have been out of stock for hours. I will find out soon enough I guess.
CDW
TechData
Tiger Direct
are all sold out
Tiger direct is offering $20 cash back on your next order if you ask about the hp touchpad.
Out of stock at zones.com
I just got my Touchpad from Best Buy yesterday morning; I’m pretty impressed with the device considering I only paid $99 for it. The webOS GUI has a nice look and feel for it, this thing flies with a 1.5GHz overclock via Uberkernel (I think there are even 1.7Ghz+ overclocks attainable via experimental kernels) and the battery lasts for hours. It’s definitely lacking in the app department, though; no alternative browsers, no FTP or SSH client, no app for using the camera, no Google apps, etc. The lack of an SD card slot is a little disappointing, but I probably won’t ever need the 16GB provided for me anyways.
A proper Android port would be great as long as devs will be able to get all of the hardware working well under it. Considering that I can already run Ubuntu on this thing, I can’t imagine that it would be too difficult to get Android running naively. If there is a donation “pot” that will go towards the bounty, I would be more than willing to chip in a few bucks to help spur development and reward the hard working devs for making this thing useful.
+1 for throwing a few bucks in the pot.
Excellent. I was lucky enough to get in on the blowout sale, now I’m just patiently waiting for the mailman.
My thoughts were a GPS tracker/map system for my 4×4, currently I use a Ubuntu laptop which works very well but is large, expensive and definitely in the danger zone in terms of breaking something.
$99 sealed the deal, as I can just use it as a quick web browser or email client if all else fails.
Android would definitely open a ton of possibilities though. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s TouchPad hacks in the future! :-)
For 4×4 I used to an old IBM rugged laptop. Slow but with external GPS and topo maps, works good.
@Ebaying:
yay greed. that’s how we advance humanity.
I think zones.com is really out. My order says in process, but if you look at the status shows total due $0.00.
Hmm. Just had a look around a few places with people trying to get Ubuntu running on HP Touchpads.
They’ve got it sort of working, but not really usable yet. There’s lots of puff about Android, but nothing really concrete.
Seems a lot to pay for what is probably going to be a doorstop.
Still would make a good tablet for email and web browsing on the couch. It does have flash.
If you don’t mind the hassle.
How long before HaD starts featuring electronic door locks for student dorms using HPTPs instead of Arduinos?
I hope I’m wrong, but I have a nasty feeling that the HPTP’s “unique” hardware is going to be a bigger stumbling block than people think.
Still, I guess it would be a hell of a door lock :)
best buy show be throwing the last of they’re stock on shelves tomorrow am be there as soon as possible employees are getting first dibs.
Quantities are strictly limited. Limit 1 per customer.
I wish their site would show if their store has any in stock, would hate to get up early and be disappointed.
*their not they’re
Without reading much…
Seriously? Android? Give me the freedom of a full blown Linux distro vs some Google knockoff…
I would like to see a port of android for the W7M phone my company(to remain anonymous) foisted upon me.
The hardware is ok, I just can’t stand the Gui built for a 6 year old.
https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219377/TouchDroid_will_turn_HP_TouchPads_into_Android_tablets
try this article
Anyone know if these are still available anywhere?
I have tried most places in australia including HP themselves through my company’s direct dealer and no such luck. FeeBay and Craigslist are just full of people wanting to make a quick buck
Looks like one U.S. user has already installed Android onto their HP Touchpad with the help of Qualcomm:
http://www.fatdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1814
This would make the HP Touchpad a really hot deal!
edwincomp still has the 16GB models for $130…still a great price. Hopefully I can throw Android on there as soon as I get them.
Never heard of erwincomputers.com Lots of negative feedback on t3h google. Have you dealt with them before?
No, never dealt with them. The reviews say that they have terrible service and support…but from what I can tell, they are pretty good as long as the goods don’t arrive broken…and if they do arrive broken and they won’t respond, I’ll just do a chargeback.
They just canceled my order after holding my money for 8 days. At least I got my money back…and I really don’t even mind. With news of an amazon on the way, I already had buyers remorse.
As a Android user, I would attempt a Meego port instead: much more fast and compact than Android.
i got 40 for the purpouse of having some stock for hackers. hit me up.
Is there any way to know you’re legit? I’m really interested in this thing… if you really got 40 of them just for us hackers, I will have to build a statue of you! :)
If you’re legit and can prove it then please please hit me up =] Can’t promise that I alone can port Android, but I’m sure I can port a few emulators at least ;)
if you really do, please let me know. i’ll gladly buy one off, as i want to run linux on it.
Same here. Could you ship ’em?
It’s not really worth a trip to UK to buy a tablet, as that would kinda eliminate the point of going in the first place. Kinda like the people who drive 100km for a gas station, to save $10 on the gas…
What price are you sslling at?
If this is for real, I’m in… pretty please ;o)
Yeah, would love to break into one of these. Having to watch jealously as all the devs are tearing into theirs at work :(
You have some available, o Robin Hood of the hackers?
Yes plz, I’d love to use this to make the jump into droid when it happens. Email is on the website
How much for 2?
I would love to get one of these if there was a way to add (even internal) usb functionality to it. Mainly so I could add a flash drive or SD card slot, because whats the point of a media tablet that only holds 16 gigs?
Has anybody got enough of a look at the hardware to know if thats possible?
I am an iOS user and I have spent a lot of time with Android and webOS, and webOS is far better then Android, but that said since their are way more apps for Android I will be putting android on my newly acquired touchpad once and if possible.
Looks I might able to get one. We have a demo unit at work that I might able to buy.
And btw this makes it way faster
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/how-to-improve-the-performance-of-your-new-hp-touchpad/3866
Reduce logging. What a difference!
just for kicks I looked up the touchpad on ebay, sorting highest to lowest price.
lol
i managed to get one a week ago from OnSale, an Amazon reseller. i was following #hptouchpad on Twitter (i dont even use Twitter all that much) and it was a really helpful up-to-the-minute line of where to get one.
however i don’t think HaD gives webOS enough credit in this article. sure it doesn’t have a lot of apps, but it sure is nicer to work with than Android’s network of complicated and unintuitive menu trees i need to go through just to see all my text message threads. i miss my Pre ;(
Just got a response from HP Direct today Aug 30th after I requested to be put on their mailing list on Aug 22nd.
HP has decided to make another 200k of the touchpad because of the high demand. They should be available in late September early october. I bought one. They are definitely worth the $150 for the 32gig.
Where did you get this information?
Because this is the first I have heard of it.
I got a 32gb version, I wanted a 16, but could not find one, so I paid the extra $$$. Got a touchstone charger from wallet mart, had a heck of a time getting a price match..
Anyway I digress… I like the thing for what it does, there are some rough edges, but I think that I will keep it as is, I like the interface….
I am using it for some time. Now I am looking to upgrade it’s RAM (https://www.allhdd.com/ibm-00d5038-memory/) to improve it’s performance
Android devices don’t have enough storage. I am using an SSD as an external Hard drive (https://www.allhdd.com/samsung-mzwlj15thala-00007-ssd/).
I have been using it with https://serverorbit.com/pc-and-server-memory/pc4-23400 and it is working very well.