Yesterday was a good day, but today is better. Reason being is that yesterday my HP TouchPad came back to me after being sent out for repair. (see http://ssarge.net/technology/HPTouchPadCrackedCase) Today I went to my work (where I had it shipped) and picked it up. Found out that they didn't repair my original TouchPad like I had requested, but actually just swapped it out with another one. Now I'm not really particular about that, just so long as it works for me, there wasn't anything wrong with the other one except the cracked case... at least that I know of. There are a few issues I'm finding with this refurb. unit, and that is the volume button and the serial number tag. The button doesn't seem to stick out like my original one did, and the tag is a bit extra-recessed into the case, so the final fit isn't as good as it could be. But on my Christmas list is the HP case, so those issues shouldn't be once I have it installed. Now I probably should have spent the money on the case from day 1, but I didn't because I'm thrifty like that.
So I tried to get it connected and logged into my account and get things going, but that just wasn't happening for some reason. I was trying with the wireless at work, and I even tried to use my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2) as a hotspot, but it just wasn't connecting. So I get it home and try again to go through the setup, not happening. keep getting an error saying that It can't connect at this time... general failure message. So I decide to run the WebOS Doctor to see if it'll get the newest version on there and maybe that will resolve the issue. Low and behold, after the WebOS is restored to 3.0.4 (unsure of the initial version), I'm able to add my account and get things installed again.... YAAAY!!
Once I got the OS installed, I start checking things out since I haven't really used it in a bit. Got to get used to it again and make sure that the major functions still, well, function. Wifi is great, apps download and install, and I can pair it to my phone. Wait, what? I can pair it to my phone? Sure enough that is a feature of WebOS 3.0.4, it lets you bluetooth pair the TouchPad with any phone, not just a WebOS Palm phone. So I tested it out and had all audio working through my the TouchPad. Would I use this as a normal feature? Probably not, but it's there if I can't get up, grab my phone and talk on that. Though if I was to do some extreme customizing, I could put a TouchPad in my car. But maybe I'll just leave that to an actual PC/laptop that can stay in there.
The fun part about getting a device back from repair or just getting to use something that you haven't in a while, is the joy of getting to set everything back up. It can be enjoyable to some people, I take a bit of joy in this. I updated WebOS, but have not restored any of the apps or accounts yet as I wanted to wait until I got Android loaded and working in case I needed to restore things. Right now I've got Android loaded from CyanogenMod, Gingerbread Alpha3, and all the apps updated. I loaded Alpha3 on, and then realized that I didn't do it the way I wanted and thought I would just continue rather than erasing everything and starting again. So I restored the backup that I made of Alpha2, which overwrote Alpha3, but it did install all my apps. Then I updated to Alpha3 and confirmed everything is just gravy. I'm really liking the idea of this tablet now, and after getting my Galaxy S2 have a greater appreciation for the Android OS. The previous phone, Motorola Milestone/Droid was OK, but not up to the challenge.
This past week I've been browsing all the forums and looking at the different layouts, widgets and apps that people have installed and ways they've configured their device. I've definitely got some updating to do with my TouchPad now. So with that I will stop typing this on my clunky desktop and go use this tablet a bit more. I'm starting to like it more and more.
