Will HP continue WebOs or will they switch to Android? If they're going with WebOS, i'll buy one.

It's rumoured that Meg Whitman (HP CEO) will make an announcement about the future of webOS today:

http://www.precentral.net/webos-all-hands-meeting-scheduled-...

I believe HP already announced they remain committed to webOS and that it was still in development.

There is, of course, the elephant in the room: nobody currently builds WebOS devices.

Which is too bad - I love my Palm Pre.

>and with HP still undecided on the fate of WebOS I’m not going to spend my money on a potential brick

This sounds like a misnomer. Can a device that is primary focused around web-browsers be considered a brick?

And a device that can have Android and Ubuntu/Debian installed on it. The CyanogenMod team is working on porting Ice Cream Sandwich. An openly hackable device lasts much longer than a planned-obsolescence, closed-platform model.

I know the current way to get Ubuntu on it is the chroot method, but why hasn't anyone hacked the WebOS Doctor to have a boot loader to dual boot Ubuntu? Or even have a system like a GDM login that gives the option to start X/Gnome instead of the native environment so you wouldn't need Ubuntu at all?

The reason they use a chroot instead of a native boot is because WebOS has the drivers for the system already loaded. By booting Ubuntu inside of WebOS, they avoid not having compatible drivers for the system inside of Ubuntu. I don't know if all the drivers are open source or if today's announcement will change that.

Ah yeah, I guessed that's why they only had a chroot until now, but what if you modified the system to load X11/Gnome at the end of boot instead of going into their own proprietary desktop environment?

With the announcement of WebOS open source, it should theoretically become possible. Luna is just a desktop environment overtop a fairly normal Linux system. There might need to be a few extra packages installed to get Gnome 3 or Unity running, but as long as they can grab access to the video processor, it should be do-able. One more thing to look forward to.

There's a rumor HP is running Windows 8 on Touchpads internally for development purposes. I've looked but haven't found examples of people installing Win8 on Touchpad. This would be a cheap way to check out the OS on its major intended target form factor for cheap. Any pointers?

If the rumor is true, it's unlikely that you or I would be able to run the system even if we could get it loaded. Windows 8 Dev Preview didn't have drivers for my SATA drive, I doubt it comes preinstalled with drivers for the Touchpad. If HP has it running, it's because they ported their drivers to Windows 8. AFAIK, they have not released those publicly.

It's a bit more future proof than a device missing a browser. However as the browser is not updated, it will lack future technologies.

I gave a TouchPad to my mother-in-law for her birthday and she loved it. I think the TP is a great transition device because the interface is quite easy to use. Plus she was able to print to her HP printer, so she was happy. The TP didn't get a lot of love from reviewers, but it is a solid tablet.

Curious about the ability to put Android on one of these (in case WebOS ends up a dead end) - has anyone here tried it? How'd it go?

Has anyone managed to get the 32GB/$150 version from that Developer Device Program announced in November?

I didn't get one and I had to dig around to see that they have all gone. They didn't even have the courtesy to email everyone to say they had sold out.

If you go digging around the forums there is a short paragraph on it somewhere

I am reading this from my 32 GB model I got through the program. Still getting used to it. It is a good browser/mail reader. Tedious to type on. Biggest gripe is there is no undo (escape) key.

I still have a code for a second one. I wonder if it would be honored.

Yes, I actually got two and am liking them a lot more than I expected to.

nope. I'd really like to though

I really like WebOS (never seen it first hand - can't get devices for love nor money in Aus), and I want to see it do well.

I got mine in mid- to late- November. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far; good games coupled with a good media streaming app make it a nice device for me.

Nope. Still foolishly hopeful.

Got no contact from them.

Anyone know if this will be available in Europe??

Ditto. Does eBay USA provide international shipping?

ebay doesn't provide any shipping. either use a dropshipper or ask the seller to ship to you.