HP TouchPad

When HP pushed the webOS 3.0.4 software update for the HP TouchPad last week, it added support for OGG Vorbis audio files as well as a new camera app and performance improvements. Unfortunately the update also broke any custom kernels users may have installed.

But just a few days later the developers behind UberKernel produced a new beta version of the popular custom kernel for the TouchPad. Using UberKernel for webOS 3.0.4 you can overclock the tablet’s processor to run at speeds as high as 1.7 GHz. Normally the TouchPad’s Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor runs at 1.2 GHz.

UberKernel can speed up overall performance — although users may notice a slight decline in battery life.

In order to install the new version of UberKernel you’ll need to do a couple of things. First you need to install PreWare with beta testing feeds enabled — and if you’ve already installed PreWare without beta feeds you’ll need to uninstall and reinstall PreWare.

Second, you’ll want to fire up PreWare on the HP TouchPad and download the latest version of UberKernel.

Finally, you’ll need to search PreWare for another app called Govnah, which is the utility you actually use to adjust the clock speed on your tablet.

While the HP TouchPad has gotten a lot of attention in recent weeks now that users can install Google Android on the tablet, the webOS operating system is still more stable than Android on the TouchPad. The operating system features an excellent multitasking system based on the concept of “cards,” and you can search the web and the tablet from the home screen using the “Just Type” feature.

While there aren’t as many apps available for webOS as Android, there are also some excellent webOS apps available from the HP App Catalog and the PreWare app store for homebrew apps.

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13 replies on “Overclock an HP TouchPad to 1.7 GHz with UberKernel for webOS 3.0.4”

  1. For me it’s HP touchpad  One of the best tablets hardware and

    software!!    No matter what people say

  2. Frankly, fighting over tech devices well…all I would ask is do you have a girlfriend or wife…or is that your tech device? I have been very happy with my Touch pad. Besides, if you really want to play tech build a full blown PC hot rod then bitch about things. These are still gadgets, Corel X5, Auto-cad, Adobe CS5, or Solidworks are not about to run on any tablet.

    Runs slow…? Sure it does. Hello

  3. I have 2 32gb HP touchpads sealed. Contact me on twitter @dave01568

  4. My experience with touchpad has been completely different. I use it all the time for emails and web surfing as well as a reader. I have it upgraded to the latest operating system and it’s overclocked at 1.5 ghertz. It now plays HD videos smoothly. Would I rather have an ipad? Sure, but the touchpad 16 at $99 is the tech buy of the decade.

  5. well I have had nothing but smooth sailing with mine. Currently running 3.0.4 overclocked at 1.5. Fingers crossed it stays this way!

  6. Sold my 32GB. . . just too many problems with the TouchPad. The hardware is horrible–mine developed cracks around the speakers within 2 weeks (this is a know issue), then the screen started having light bleed through. Sent it in to be fixed only to get it back in worse condition, then to wait a month for a replacement that sounded like it was going to break when you held it. Just horrible!

    And all the software patching and over-clicking with 3.0.2 did very little to improve the device. Now I see on the forum tons of complaints about 3.0.4–they seem to have caused more problems than they fixed.

    Not to mention, the cards multi-tasking that every “tech writer” goes on and on about really sucks–you end up swiping endlessly to get to different cards because webOS team wasn’t smart enough to allow you to zoom out or scroll multiple cards with one swipe. There’s just lots of fail in the TouchPad and webOS. All the hype about both turned out to be a total joke. If I paid $500 for that POS I would have been livid!
     
    In the end it was a $150 pain in the back side and not worth the time I spent mucky about with it.

    1. Go away troll you are a moron, I have both a iPad and a touchpad, my TP runs circles around my iPad.

      1. Yeah, I’m a troll.
        That’s why this thread is so long in the forums
        https://forums.precentral.net/hp-touchpad/288235-touchpad-case-cracked-speaker.html

        Nice try, your new HP TouchPad runs circles around an iPad that’s how old now? And you are saying that’s good? 

        Out of the box the TP was very slow. Sorry you can’t face reality and need to be a fanboy for something, but webOS is dead. . . get over it and the hardware was a complete fail on HP’s part.

        If you don’t like my real world experience being stated. . . get over it!

        1. By your name I would and will call you a troll. And yes it does run circles around my iPad. For 99 dollars it far surpasses the iPad for bang for my buck. My iPad would collect dust if it werent for my wife.

    2. weird for me the the build quality is fantastic. thats been onethe of thethe mosr praised aspects of the touchpad. are u sure u didnt have something else?

      1. Most complaints are with the initial WebOS release, since HP released the TouchPad before the WebOS could be properly optimized for the hardware and some found it actually ran faster on other hardware platforms.

        So running slower than it should with the given hardware was one of the initial complaints but they partially fixed it with the last two updates.  Still not all that fast but combine it with the over clock and it should be more than enough for most users.

        Hardware wise the TouchPad may no longer be top of the line but it’s still one of the more powerful ARM tablets and still better than anything else you’ll find for the $300 and below range.

        Hopefully though the combination of increased competition and the lower production costs of the next gen processors should help lower ARM devices pricing to give that kind of performance to more affordable devices by the end of next year or maybe early 2013.

    3. You’re loser. I and many people have been using touchpad without any problems. It works great. 

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