What device gets Android 4.1 next? HP’s TouchPad!

Jelly Bean is officially on few Android smartphones and tablets, but the developer community is already hard at work, porting the software to other devices. Case in point: the HP TouchPad tablet, which essentially has no other software future. It’s an early build, but shows promise.

There’s more than a million HP TouchPad tablets out in the world, but essentially they’re all dead-end devices. HP open-sourced the webOS operating system so it lives on, however, no current webOS hardware, such as the TouchPad, supports it. Thanks to the Android development community, there’s a build of Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean, for this hardware that otherwise has no future.

Enthusiast site Liliputing took the plunge by installing the CyanogenMod 10 software on a TouchPad and I’ll be doing the same as a future weekend project. Why would I wait? Well, this is still a work in progress and there are key functions not yet working: no microphone, camera or audio yet, and the graphics aren’t quite right, so no online video support yet.

Here’s a look at what does work, which might be enough for some to take the early plunge.

Based on the video, I’d say Google’s “Project Butter” to improve performance is working as advertised. I already knew this from my use of Jelly Bean on my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7, but the TouchPad is older hardware. You’d never know it from the demonstration, though.

Some TouchPad owners will surely pass on this early Jelly Bean build, but I still think it’s worth keeping an eye on if you own the tablet. The Android community typically doesn’t back down from the challenge of getting Google’s mobile platform working on various devices. I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops since my TouchPad essentially sits on its wireless charger acting as a full-time clock and part-time web browser in our kitchen.

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How Competition is Driving Innovation Among Android Device Manufacturers

Back in 2008, Google's Android OS could only be found on one device, the HTC G1. The device was exclusive to T-Mobile, which ranks fourth among wireless carriers in the US. The HTC G1 was a capable phone, but it wasn't on par with the specs or build quality of Apple's iPhone. With the increasing market for smartphones and in particular Android devices, this has helped drive innovation among manufacturers.

Since Android is open source, manufacturers look for ways to differentiate themselves. Companies like HTC have developed a software overlay they call "Sense" that changes and improves upon the user interface of the stock Android OS. Not to be left out, Motorola has developed a similar overlay called MotoBlur. Through software, these companies hope to differentiate themselves from other Android devices. Motorola's user interface is designed with social media in mind. Customers looking for a more robust Facebook experience will likely gravitate to an Android phone with MotoBlur.

At the core of all these phones is the Android OS. While companies will introduce tweaks to the use interface using Sense or MotoBlur, this simply isn't enough to drive sales of phones. In the past year, there have been a number of phones released from HTC, Motorola, Samsung and LG. With each release, there has been a significant bump in features. Cameras have seen increases from 3 megapixels to 8 megapixels. Displays now span 4.3 inches. There have also been increases in the amount of storage memory and processing power. Only Apple's iPhone runs their iOS. With Android, customers can choose from a variety of devices across all the major US wireless carriers. With this level of standardization and choice, phones are seeing feature upgrades every two to three months. Manufacturers are no longer releasing phones to compete with today's market, but they need to build more impressive phones to compete with the next generation of phones. In the past, the product lifecycle would be one or two years. That's accelerated whereby a phone is competitive for three to six months at best.

At some point, the feature race will have similarities to the megapixel race that occurred with digital cameras. At some point, there are only so many megapixels needed to print an 8x10 photo. Similarly, you can only make a screen so big and processor so fast. Eventually, the market will reach a point where consumers are going to look for other factors when determining their next smartphone purchase. This is likely to be in the design elements of the phone or the quality of the camera optics.

The last few years have seen tremendous demand for Android phones and this is likely to continue. The competitive marketplace has been the cause for increasing innovation among smartphone manufacturers. In the end, consumers have reaped the benefits with improved features and software. Expect the innovation to continue, with the focus gradually shifting from specifications to design elements and further improvements to features that are most important to consumers.

Michael is a writer for Everything Android where he writes reviews of EVO 4G cases and provides daily news coverage on all things Android. When he's not writing, you can often find him helping out new users in the site's Android forums.

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How To Get the Most Out of Your New Android Device

Let's face it, not everyone is inclined to using smartphones especially when the only things you do are making calls and the occasional SMS. Some people just don't know how to use their smartphones, especially the new Android devices. Being the fastest growing mobile platform in the world, it would be a shame to put all of its features, apps and services to waste. Here is a list on how to get the most out of your new Android device.

Make use of your 3G

Switching off your 3G connectivity will definitely ruin the full experience of having an Android smartphone. This kills the best features of Android which are the notification systems. Let's say you have already downloaded your Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. Even better, some Android phones have these social networking apps built-in the phone. However, Twitter apps become absolutely useless without constant access to 3G. The downfall to this is that you'll need to charge your phone every night as it'll be taking a lot of your battery life. You'll just have to sacrifice it if it means using your Android to its full potential.

Never mind a task killer

Android already has a basic but flawless multi-tasking capability that handles all running apps elegantly well. There is no need to run a 3rd party killer which will not even result to a better battery life. Other task killers will also prevent your apps from running in the background which means no notifications and no updates for you. The Android market is fast starting to become significantly at par with the iPhone App Store. More and more Android phones are being sold in the market which has recently become the world's leading smartphone platform. With a huge target audience and users using Android, new and fresh apps are coming out daily to further excite its users which means multi-tasking can be flawless with an Android phone.

Share your Apps

You might not know this, but some HTC phones have a built-in App sharing services found inside the apps drawer. Select the App Sharing app and choose which apps you would want to share via standard portals. You can then share your free apps to your loved ones via Facebook, WordPress, mail or even messages.

Make use of your Android Power Control Widget

This powerful widget lets you toggle your Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, Sync and brightness all in one tab. Most importantly, this power control will be able to save most of your battery life.

Maybe you just got your new Android phone. Or maybe you've had it for quite some time but am getting bored with your Android interface. Whatever your reason must be, make sure you get your money's worth when it comes to handling your Android device.

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