honeycomb - 31/36 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

LG Announces The Optimus Pad, 8.9 Inches Of Pure Honeycomb

Posted by Brian O'Toole in LG, News, Optimus Pad / G-Slate, Videos

Yesterday's announcement by Samsung of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 might have seemed like something of an echo of the Motorola XOOM. Well, with LG's recent unveiling of the Optimus Pad at MWC, we can still see some resemblance but with a few alterations making it worthy of further attention.

First up, the Optimus Pad refrains from the somewhat popular 10-inch screen diagonal seen on both Motorola and Samsung's tablets. If you have doubts about the handiness of a 10-inch device, it seems that LG shares your sentiments: the Optimus Tab scales the display back to 8.9 inches, while maintaining a similar 1280x760 WXGA resolution.

Feb

Samsung Unveils The Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola XOOM Buyers Take Notice

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Samsung

Right now at MWC 2011, Samsung's just released the first official confirmation of a new addition to the Galaxy Tab family, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Unlike the 7-incher preceding it, the 10.1 packs a 1 GHz dual-core CPU and Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Rather like the controversially-priced Motorola XOOM, the 10.1 also includes a 1280 x 800 resolution screen and multiple cameras.

In terms of connectivity we find quad-band HSPA+, A/B/G/N WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1. The internals appear capable of 1080P playback at 30 FPS, so we imagine the internal 16 - 32 GB storage will come in handy for that.

Feb

[Poll] HP's New TouchPad Is Hot, But Is It Enough To Lead You Astray?

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

HP's recently announced TouchPad is a genuinely exciting device - there's no question about that. In fact, with such features as a dual-core Qualcomm CPU and the fancy new "Tap to Share" technology, it might just be the most serious competition Honeycomb tablets will face in the first half of 2011, aside from a certain Apple product.

But is it enough to cause you, dear Android Police reader, to second-guess the XOOM or G-Slate? I know it isn't enough for me - and here's why.

Just look at the TouchPad - its design makes it clear that what HP has created is essentially the iPad's twin sister.

Feb

Hands-On With The Honeybread Theme For CyanogenMod 7: It's The Bee's Knees!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Ever since the official Honeycomb video preview was unleashed at CES, the blogosphere has been aflutter with admiration for the update's stunning UI. It didn't take long for the developer and modder community to push out Honeycomb-like visuals, either - for example, the clock widget has been available for a few weeks.

Now there's an even better way to get that Honeycomb feel, at least for those running CyanogenMod 7 (CM7): Honeybread. I've been running the theme for the past few days, and I'm seriously impressed. (Side note: I had to flash CM7 to try the theme, and I'm hugely impressed with it, as well as Gingerbread.

Feb

[Rumor] Android 2.4 Coming Soon To A Smartphone Near You

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Pocket-lint has been told that the Viewsonic ViewPad 4 smartphone will be the first device with Android 2.4 when it launches in April of this year. Android 2.4 was confirmed over a month ago; however, this rumor lends credence to the fact that the update will not be a major release. Instead, the update will augment Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), allowing dual-core apps specifically designed for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) to work on single-core devices.

Earlier last week, we heard that Honeycomb was designed exclusively for tablets and not for smartphones, though some of its features will be carried over to smartphones. This appears to be in line with Pocket-lint's rumor today.

Feb

Best Buy Ad Leaks Ridiculous Activation Requirements And $799.99 Price Tag Of Motorola XOOM

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

A leaked ad from Best Buy shows that the Motorola XOOM will be priced at $799.99. It also confirms rumours that the tablet will be available in-store from February 24th.

The ad seems to be the real deal (complete with the trademarked Best Buy yellow price labels), however we couldn't help but notice a few glaring spelling mistakes. Either the ad is a fake, which is unlikely at this point, or Best Buy needs to fire its current spell-checker.

In any event, the above confirms that the Honeycomb tablet will only support Verizon's 3G network at launch but will be upgradeable to 4G at a later date.

Feb

[Weekend Poll] The Great Divide: Is The Tablet/Phone Split Going To Hurt Android?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

Welcome to the first of a new series of polls, where every weekend, we'll ask your opinion on a timely Android-related topic. The goal is to see where the populus stands on issues and foster discussion to broaden our view. So without further ado, let's get into our first poll.

The Great Divide

Ever since the SDK was released, there's been discussion on whether Honeycomb would make it to phones or not. Most of the team here firmly said no - but a few of us thought it could. The debate was fueled by the SDK preview release - specifically, as Ars Technica noted, the emulator could scale down to WVGA resolutions.

Feb

Honeycomb's Boot Screen Looks Just As Amazing As The Rest Of The OS

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

It's pretty much universally agreed upon that Honeycomb's UI overhaul looks awesome, with its Tron-inspired holographic UI touching just about every part of the operating system. But what about the boot screen? It turns out that looks just as slick - TechCrunch managed to grab a video of it, and - despite the poor lighting - we can see that it looks nothing like previous versions of Android, which featured the Nexus "X" animation. Check it out in the video below:

Also noteworthy: The XOOM boots in less than 10 seconds. Mmm, Tegra 2 goodness.

Source: TechCrunch

Feb

Yes, Folks, Honeycomb IS A Tablet OS - Though Some Of Its Features May Arrive On Phones "Over Time"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

If, for whatever reason, you didn't believe that Honeycomb is an OS built exclusively for tablets (despite the third slide of Google's official video teaser), here's yet more proof for your doubting mind.

First up, we have a report from PC Magazine, who has been told by a "company spokesman" that Honeycomb will not be available on Android smartphones. However, some of its features will be carried over (PC Mag thinks Movie Studio and browser enhancements are likely candidates) - just as should be expected.

Additionally, Phandroid has a "trusted source" who claims that Google is currently working on Android build GRI17 (that's Gingerbread post-Honeycomb, or Ice Cream Sandwich).

Feb

Honeycomb Will Come With An "Encrypt Tablet" Feature - Business Users And Spies Rejoice

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

Earlier yesterday, Google demoed some of Honeycomb's most impressive features, however one of its best features seems to have slipped under the radar. While playing around with the Motorola XOOM, Engadget noticed an "Encrypt Tablet" option in the settings page.

At this time little is known about the encryption standard that will be used or whether the encryption process will affect the tablet's other features in any way. All that is known is that your accounts, settings, downloaded applications, media, and other files will be encrypted, and you will require a numeric PIN or password to decrypt the data. Additionally, it will take an hour (or more) to encrypt all your data.