It’s been years since HP has released an official software update for the long-discontinued HP TouchPad tablet. But independent developers have been keeping the tablet up to date by porting various versions of Google Android run on the tablet for ages.

Now it’s Android 6.0 Marshmallow’s turn.

Developer Flintman has released an alpha build of Evervolv based on Android 6.0 for the HP TouchPad.

hp6_04

Android 6.0 brings a number of new features, including tweaks that should lead to reduced power consumption when a device is idle, automatic cloud backups for some apps, and more user control over the permissions used by apps.

 

The HP TouchPad tablet originally shipped with webOS instead of Android. But it’s perfectly capable of running Android… it’s just that HP never officially released Android software for the tablet, so it’s been up to independent developers to keep the 9.7 inch tablet up to date.

They’ve been doing that since 2011, when the first builds of Android 2.3 were released for the TouchPad. Every major version of Android since then has been ported to the tablet, including Android 5.1 earlier this year.

Development of the Evervolv version of Android 6.0 for the TouchPad is still in the early stages, so there are some features that don’t work as of early November, including Bluetooth, the camera, and mounting of the external_sd storage. In other words you can install the alpha build of Evervolv if you want to try Android 6.0 on a TouchPad or help search for bugs… but if you want a stable operating system you should probably stick with an earlier version of Android for now.

If you’re running an earlier version of Evervolv you should be able to flash the new build on top of it. If you’re using just about any other version of Android on the tablet, you’ll probably want to do a clean install first. And if you’ve got a TouchPad running webOS, you may want to use TouchPad Toolbox to set it up so it can run Android.

thanks Jack!

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13 replies on “Android 6.0 comes to the HP TouchPad (unofficially)”

  1. @Grant Russell, @onemad scientist, @jimberkas, @Conception, @Wally Duke

    When your Touchpad acts like a brick, use utility named tpdebrick. It was written by JC Scullins. It will restore a seemly dead Touchpad and it will also re-flash the A6 rom which seems to be a leading touchpad killer.

    Go to xda-developers dot com to and look in the Touchpad General Dev area to find current links to tpdebrick.

    WebOS users can use this utility. It does not damage WebOS.

    I’ve been buying dead touchpads, de-bricking them, and installing Android. I have yet to get an TouchPad that was actually, physically dead, and it only had a dead battery.

  2. phew i thought that developers had given up the ghost on this tablet like they did the nook color..

  3. Grant,

    I had this issue awhile back. I unplugged the touchpad from the charger, left the power on, and let it drain down to nothing for 2 days. I then plunged the charger back in, and when it got enough juice it booted into the version of android I had installed on my touchpad at the time. Perhaps this !at work for you too?

  4. I’d really like to wipe the dust of my Touchpad, and try this out, but mine wont boot up anymore.

    Does anyone know any tricks for bricked Touchpads? I tried charging overnight, and holding Home + Pwr for 30 sec, and then 1 minute.

    1. It might be just way too discharged, so protection on battery kicks in and prevent it from charging. Take it apart and check voltages on battery terminals and after protection PCB.

    2. I have a TouchPad (running both Android and webOS) and a BlackBerry PlayBook. Anyhow, the PlayBook had a design flaw that it needed a certain voltage in the battery to be able to actually CHARGE. Seems super dumb to me but it’s true. It needed a certain voltage to be able to function enough for charging to start. Anyhow many people fell victim to letting their PlayBook fully discharge or not charging them often enough when low on power which inevitably lead to a dead tablet. There is lots of info on this on Crackberry forums. Anyhow, people soon discovered a method referred to as “stack charging” (basically alternating plugging the charger in for a minute and then having it unplugged for a minute), doing this over and over again for like half an hour allowed the device to get enough juice to actually properly charge itself – it’s a pain in the ass to do, but it works. I had to do this myself once and it was the only way to revive my tablet.

      So where am I going with this? I would try to stack charge your TouchPad. It sounds to me like your battery is fully discharged since its comatose. I would imagine that simply plugging it in once and leaving it plugged into the mains over night is not showing you any lights on the device or the screen won’t turn on, so this method might be worth a try…

      Simply plug the TouchPad charge/data cable into the tablet and then, from the actual plug (to save the fragile port on the tablet) alternate plugging it in for exactly 60 seconds (use a timer) and then unplug it from the wall for another 60 seconds (again using the timer). Keep doing this while you watch TV for 30 minutes. See if that finally gives you some “lights of hope” on the tablet. If you get lights, just leave the tablet on the charger over night. Not kidding. DO NOT turn it on or keep messing with it. Just let it charge fully. The tablet may or may not show you a red lightning battery symbol on screen. I can’t remember which tablet I saw this on…but if the screen eventually turns on, you’re set. Letting it charge will give your TouchPad a new lease on life.

      1. Had the same problem. I did pretty much this, but just unplugging it and plugging it back in every now and then for 2-3 days. Eventually I saw the usb logo screen where it tells you the charger is not the right one (my official touchpad charger has been gone for a while now) and a short while later it turned on. I would recommend making sure your charger is the original hp touchpad charger or at least a 2-ish amp charger meant for a tablet, I was using a .7 amp phone charger for a day or two and got results shortly after switching to a tablet charger, may have just been coincidence though. Also, I got a pulsing light inside the home button for a while prior to it finally turning on. Apparently this is a sign the battery is too low to do anything, may be useful information. If you Google the issue there are some more extreme measures you can try if this does not work.
        Anyways, if you get it to turn on again, I would highly recommend an app to shut the tablet down at a certain battery level. I use an app called Llama, I know there is another popular one too but I don’t remember the name. I have it shut my tablet down at 15%, this prevents it from over-draining the battery as easily and can prevent this from happening again. Best of luck!

    3. Grant,

      I had this issue awhile back. I unplugged the touchpad from the charger, left the power on, and let it drain down to nothing for 2 days. I then plunged the charger back in, and when it got enough juice it booted into the version of android I had installed on my touchpad at the time. Perhaps this will work for you too?

      1. this has worked for me a couple times as well. i tried every trick in the book. i have 5 touchpads and have done the debrick on a couple, even replaced the battery on one (never again!). i would definitely try leaving it sit for a week or so and let the battery really and truly die, then plug it in as usual

    4. I just remembered… I think I may have tried plunging it into my PC as well to see if I could at least see the drive. That may have jump started it too?

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