ViewSonic has released to the owners of its unusual ViewPad 10 dual-boot tablet an upgrade to Android 2.2. The hybrid is leaping from the aging 1.6 and now gets access to a much more recent web browser, voice search, and many apps that were previously off-limits. No mention was made of official Flash 10.2 support, although the Windows 7 boot doesn’t have that issue.
Unlike most Android hardware, however, an update isn’t available over the air or through a computer sync. The instructions instead require that users load an image of the Android 2.2 install on a USB thumb drive, plug in a USB keyboard, and use a section of the BIOS to install the new firmware.
The tablet is still on sale and ships with a 1.66GHz Atom and 2GB of RAM as well as either a 16GB or 32GB SSD depending on whether it comes with Windows 7 in Home Premium or Professional trim. The two configurations ship for $599 and $679 each.
