Android Honeycomb Tablet OS is official. This does not suck! (1 Viewer)

And you know my feelings on Android tablets so far...


http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/google-shows-off-android-3-0-the-entirely-for-tablet-honeycom/

I will say this: the interface is very different from anything we've seen before. Very impressive video.

Looks very interesting for sure.

The amazing thing is that MS couldn't come up with something like this for Windows desktop. I can see the need for a dual core chip, but I'd like to see more -- it's certainly pretty, but what does it do that Android doesn't currently do except nicer looking and faster, with the understanding that the higher specs account for much of those gains? But I'm glad they moved away from the app drawer aesthetic. A nice, flashy intro, but I'm/ hoping for a game changer on the input side.

The onslaught of Honeycomb tablets from every manufacturer is going to give the iPad a serious run for its money. And if the iPad 2 is just an iterative device with a camera and the same old iOS app drawer, it's going to look very dated but quick. Video chat over Google Voice could be the next big thing -- I anticipate that will come to the SGT and phones as well.

Official blog post:

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/sneak-peak-of-android-30-honeycomb.html

Verizon walkthrough:

http://gizmodo.com/5726696/android-honeycomb-walkthrough-the-future-of-google-tablets

Interesting, but brief, video. It only gave a taste of what was to come, and I found it too short and fast to have any opinion on whether HoCo is super awesome or modest revision.


I did see that Android is now going to be afflicted with a CoverFlow-like interface for books. On behalf of all Mac users, you have my sympathy.

Originally Posted by DaveF

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's kinda what I thought too.


Hopefully, their spin on the coverflow thing works much better in actual, practical usage -- I'd think it'll at least be much easier/more customizable than Apple's take on that so far, but that still may or may not be all that good...


_Man_

Longer walk throughs:


http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/googles-android-3-0-honeycomb-for-tablets-a-guided-tour-of-the/

I remain envious of the revised Google Maps. Hope that comes to iOS sooner than later.


The most intriguing part to me was the swooping multitasking system. It looked like a re-imagining of WebOS's "cards" metaphor. That could be quite powerful.


EDIT:

Widgets for email...I have lust in my heart.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/motorola-offers-first-taste-of-honeycomb-with-xoom-tablet.ars


Motorola's Xoom tablet is wide-ish screen, with an aspect ratio of 1.6 (1280 x 800 resolution). Conventional widescreen HD is 1.777 (or 1280 x 720). The iPad is a squareish 1.333 (1024 x 768).


So another choice for hardware designers, software designers and buyers is what aspect ratio to go with. And not simply a choice of a "square" or "widescreen", but perhaps everything in between as Motorola's design suggests.

The GTab is very close to 1.7 (1024x600) -- a size popularized by the original "netbooks". (1024 wide because that is the minimum to fit most web pages; 600 tall because -- I dunno -- that was as short as they could go to cut costs for the screen and resulting size of the machine, and it still is a bit too short for some apps.) And big desktop widescreen monitors were all 16:10 to start, and have only recently started going exactly-HD 16:9.


I'd classify all of those as widescreen, and the slight differences (between 16:10 and 16:9, or 1.6 to 1.777) shouldn't be too much of a problem for most apps. Apps with UI widgets (lists and grids) should resize "gracefully", and most games just have to decide which side to crop slightly. Google Maps wouldn't care; the web browser wouldn't care. It's only if you want pixel-perfect representation with no arbitrary cropping that you'd have to worry about it.

Honeycomb's big...yeah yeah yeah! It's not small...no no no! Honeycomb's got...a big big bite! Big big (taste/crunch) in a big big bite!"


_Man_

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that demo video us for the Motorola Xoom. And that demo is a scripted event or demo video. It's not real. This has come out on the CES reporting. The tablet is wholly hands off; no one can touch it or use in an unscripted fashion. Hopefully android 3 will be that great. But I've got a dim view of these non-real demos.

http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-motorola-xoom


Oh well -- doesn't appear to be a true "hands-on" either. The Moto guy is holding the thing the entire time.

Could this be the killer input method in Honeycomb? http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/10/google-acquires-blindtype-to-improve.html The prospect of typing without looking -- indeed,typing without an onscreen keyboard altogether -- is totally awesome.

That BlindType looks very promising. Since it probably uses some kind of dictionary, wonder how well it handles text that are not recognized words and maybe the mixed use of multiple languages.


Not sure I'd really want the virtual keyboard to scale to my typing as I go though, but I'm sure that can be optionally adjusted or locked.


Will they actually get it into Honeycomb in time for the upcoming tablets?


_Man_