Coders run Android 3.0 on Honeycomb-less tablets

Owners of Toshiba's Folio 100, a tablet that shipped with Android 2.2, can now upgrade to Honeycomb - unofficially, at least. The Folio 100 is unlikely ever to gain such an upgrade formally - its spec isn't up to snuff, as far as Google is concerned. But enterprising coders have succeeded in porting over Android 3.0 to the …

[Steven Raith]

advent vega?

I'm posting from Vegacomb Beta 1.4 right now; it's very stable, fast as you like at 1ghz and even better at 1.4ghz, and is mostly working - it's certainly fine for casual browsing and general use.

Hugely impressed with thier work to date.

Steven R

[NoneSuch]

Of course, all of this could be fixed in a few days...

...if only Google would release the so called "Open Source" software they are holding behind locked repository doors of their corporate network.

[Ian Yates]

Interestingly

Read this post in Larry Ellison's voice and it takes on a whole new meaning ;)

/insert evil Larry icon

[M man]

thaz the shizzle

the problem with the modding community it...there is just TOO much choice.

although it does give a nice granularity of choice from minor improvements to cutting egde alph quality.

cant wait to haxor my viewquest slate2...after I have got wifi teathering on my magic after i get my gfs mms to work on O2.

[green_giant]

Tabletroms

Most of the information about the Vega on Xda is reposted from tabletroms or modaco.

Especially tabletroms for the HC goodness.

All their announcements are here first.

http://tabletroms.com/forums/showthread.php?453-ROM-VegaComb-BETA-1.4-by-TeamNewCo-and-TeamVillain!

[Steven Raith]

+1

Yup, full credit to the TabletRom crew, Newbe5 and Corvus are always the first to admit that without their work, certainly the Vega port would have taken much, much longer.

Steven R

[blcollier]

Agreed RE: Tabletroms

A lot of this work has been a collaborative effort, or work based upon that, in order to get HC running on a number of similar devices: Notion Ink Adam and Advent Vega included. Most of that work has been going on at Tabletroms, so an update to the article to give proper credit would be nice.

Also, almost a whole article about porting HC to a device on which it barely works, yet only 1 paragraph about the port to a device where it works brilliantly? 'Ave a word with yourselves, lads...

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory quote

"It's sleeping forever - cannot be awaken, kernel issue,"

Just set it to not sleep. Not that big of a deal.

[PaulR79]

VegaComb Beta 1.4 is very good

Considering what they have to work with, similar tablets, SDK images and the like, it's incredibly stable on my Advent Vega. I was previously running CyanogenMod 7 nightly builds and while they were good this is possibly better. The speed and smoothness are good as is stability with this Beta 1.4 build.

There are some issues such as Flash not working properly (audio, no video), the camera doesn't work (no great loss there!) and a few other less serious issues I've had but otherwise it's a great achievment for the people working on it. From what this article says it sounds like the Vega is ahead on features working and stability but it probably won't be too long before the Folio catches up.

[Jason Bloomberg]

Almost works ...

Is always likely to be the case as new versions of Android require more than older hardware offers.

Full marks for the enterprising hackers in the spirit of getting Windows 7 to run on an 80286 with 8MB of memory and the like - "in it for the kudos and the challenge, because we can", and for opening the potential of re-using second hand, cheaper (devalued) kit superseded by newer - but it supports my decision to hold-off on Android until the OS is more mature and hardware has more likely approached the position where it won't change much further in future.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trouble with modding ...

Wanted Froyo on my old G1 (to use it as a speaker for Airfoil via Airbubble)

Downgraded it

Rooted it

Tried to install Froyo but left on the downgrade zip, so it downgraded again

Started process to root again

Got stuck in book, so effectively a brick.

So, not recommended for middle of the night because you can't sleep

[PartTimeLegend]

This is news?

A half functional port of 3.1 is news? What about the works of RCTeam to port Sense 3.0 to the Desire HD? A phone that is HTC's Flagship only to be told it won't have the next iteration of Sense.

[M Gale]

I still don't get...

...what makes the 3.0 UI any more suited to tablets than 2.x? Seriously, asides "oh well you can't run any 3.x apps" there is absolutely no reason I can see to be bothered with Honeycomb. Plenty of reasons not to bother though, like having to re-learn everything and having a bunch of pixels at the bottom of the screen permanently lost to a navbar.

Still, as a Galaxy Tab owner I should maybe consider it a blessing in disguise that the 2.3 update is likely as far as it's going. Well, that is when Kies can get its bloated, slow arse into gear and not keep telling me that 2.2 is the latest firmware.

[Steven Raith]

3.0?

It's genuinely a slicker, more complete feeling experience on 3.0; everything is far better put together, and little touches like animated rotation, etc add to the user experience. The menu systems are better laid out to take advantage of the larger screen, too

I've not had an issue with the navbar - it's integrated to the notification system which is much improved over 2.x.

It's just generally nicer overall. it's like asking why you would want a BMW 5 series over a peugot 607. Yeah, their both effectively the same thing, but the BMW is just...better.

IMHO, anyway - it's hghly subjective. If you get a chance to spend half an hour with a Xoom/Eeepad, you'll probably see what I mean.

Steven R

[M Gale]

I HAVE played with it.

Animations? Whoop de frigging do. My Tab animates the orientation change too. It adds next to nothing to the user experience. Having a half-decent processor adds to the user experience, due to things not shuddering and jerking regardless of the OS.

Changing everything for the sake of changing it does nothing for me, sorry. It's not slicker. It's not "more complete". How much more complete do you want? "Click on icon, app starts." Really, you can't get much slicker than that without dipping the thing in oil.

Larger screen? That only helps if you buy a 10" tablet, which is something I really do not want to do. I'd rather get a netbook and be able to use Windows and Linux on it, if I'm going to buy something large enough to need to be put into a bag rather than a pocket. Subjective I know, but still..

What does the Android 3.x UI do to improve things on tablets over 2.x? I'm not complaining about faster and smoother. Faster and smoother isn't the UI, it's the mechanics underneath. Unfortunately all the supporting foundations mean shit if the bricks and mortar look like a dog's dinner.

Maybe 3.x is "better" and maybe not, but I feel I really have to counter this inane, mindless, almost Apple-fan-esque drooling worship of the Honeycomb. It's not a new paradigm. It's an annoying bunch of changes. Where is the button that says "fuck this, I want it as it was, it wasn't broken so don't fix it thankyouverymuch"?

[Lottie]

re:3.0?

"It's just generally nicer overall. it's like asking why you would want a BMW 5 series over a peugot 607. Yeah, their both effectively the same thing, but the BMW is just...better."

Ah, so the indicators on 3.0 are disabled. Gotcha ;-)

[Anonymous Coward]

nook color

There is a version of Honeycomb out there that will run from the microsd slot on the nook color, does indeed work as I've used it. Very pretty it is too and no need to root the nook first either, dual boot.

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news

In other news, developers have managed to get Android 2.2 running on a rather large and (now) surly seabass.

[Stuart Halliday]

hehe

Got to laugh. The old software practises of game development in the 1980 by the young are still with us. But now they're hacking into tablets and phones. Should prove interesting what they develop into in 10 years time.