honeycomb - 34/36 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

Andy Rubin: Next Version Of Android To Be Called "Ice Cream Sandwich"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

As you probably know by now, versions of the Android OS tend to be alphabetically named and include some sort of reference to a dessert. Therefore, it was only reasonable to assume that the version of Android following Honeycomb would be called "Ice Cream."

However, according to Andy Rubin, that is not the case - instead, the name will be "Ice Cream Sandwich."

We still don't know Ice Cream Sandwich's version number, the features it will introduce, or anything else about it, but for those of you interested in the reason behind the name, TechCrunch has a pretty good theory: Google's statue for Android 2.2 includes frozen yogurt, which would be pretty hard to distinguish from ice cream.

Jan

Editorial: Five Things Android Tablets Will Need In Order To Succeed

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

Introduction

If there's one thing CES told us about the upcoming twelve months in technology, it's that 2011 will be the year of Android tablets. And with noteworthy entries such as the Motorola XOOM, ASUS' lineup, and the T-Mobile G-Slate, it looks like the tablets' quality might be just as high as their quantity - at least hardware-wise.

But what about the software? After all, isn't a device's OS what makes or breaks it? And even if the tablets are good, will consumers care? Let's take a look at the top five areas Android tablets will need to succeed in.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Confirms That Xperia Arc Running Android 2.4 Was A "Misconfiguration"

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

During CES 2011 Sony Ericsson's newest smartphone, the Xperia arc, was sighted running Android version "2.4".

A few weeks ago there were rumours that Honeycomb, Google's next iteration of the Android platform, would actually be Android 2.4 and not Android 3.0. Although it was later confirmed that Honeycomb will indeed be Android 3.0, rumours suggested that an incremental update to Android was being readied. The About section of the Xperia arc, displayed below, appeared to confirm that there was indeed a version 2.4.

However, yesterday a post appeared on the Sony Ericsson Product Blog confirming that the version numbers "higher" than 2.3 appearing in the display of the Xperia arc phones was merely a "misconfiguration" and "nothing to get too excited about".

Jan

Motorola Estimates Sales Of The XOOM Tablet To Reach 700,000 To 800,000 In Q1 2011

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

Motorola is expected to launch its XOOM tablet in February 2011 and, according to DigiTimes, they have placed an order for about 700,000 to 800,000 units. If there is greater demand, DigiTimes expects the order to reach up to one million units by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

Interestingly, DigiTimes also claims that Motorola and Samsung are being given special treatment by Google, while competitors, such as LG and HTC, are being left behind. This could explain why Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google, originally demoed Android 3.0 Honeycomb on a (then unofficial) Motorola XOOM.

At this point, Motorola's sales estimates seem rather modest, considering the Samsung Galaxy Tab sold over 1 million units in its first month and the Apple iPad is expected to sell up to 7 million units in the first quarter of 2011.

Jan

CES 2011: Video Walkthrough Of Toshiba's Anonymous Tegra II Tablet

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Toshiba

Last Updated: April 16th, 2011

While Toshiba's original attempts at an Android tablet running on the Tegra chip didn't exactly go down a storm, they seem keen to continue with Android devices, and brought a new tablet with them to CES. Artem got a video demo from one of their reps, and as you can see there are some attractive features to note.

Like the Motorola XOOM, the nameless Toshiba tablet (henceforth "Anon") has a 10.1" WXGA (1280x800) screen, which was unsurprisingly nice and crisp. It also sports the convenience of full-size USB and HDMI ports, along with a full SD card slot allowing for storage expansion up to 64 GB.

Jan

[Rumor] WiFi-Only Version Of Motorola XOOM Coming In April

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Motorola, News, XOOM

Do you love the Motorola XOOM but hate the idea of signing up for yet another contract? Looks like you might just be in luck - according to Maurizio Angelone, Motorola Latin America's General Manager, a WiFi-only version of the XOOM is very real and will, in fact, be launching in April.

Of course, it's always possible that the April timeframe will be exclusive to Argentina, and there's no word on pricing, but we can always hope it'll come to the States along with an iPad-esque $499 asking price. Let's make it happen, Motorola!

Source: Infobae via Engadget

Jan

Verizon Gives Walkthrough Of Honeycomb With New Notifications And Task Switching

Posted by Anuj Ahooja in Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, Tablets, Verizon Wireless, Videos

We've been getting a lot of information about Honeycomb over the past two days. Earlier today we got some more previews from T-Mobile and just now, at Verizon's CES keynote, they introduced us to an updated notifications system and a brand new sleek task switcher. Here's a video of the full walkthrough which gives us other new visuals like how to mess around with homescreens, a look at the new YouTube app, Maps 5.0 (which got quite a bit of oohs-and-aahs), Dungeon Defenders, Gtalk video chat, and much more!

via Phandroid

Jan

New Honeycomb Previews Released Thanks To T-Mobile G-Slate Video Promos

Posted by Anuj Ahooja in Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, LG, Motorola, News, Tablets

Since yesterday's Honeycomb video leak and the introductions of the Xoom and G-Slate, Android fans everywhere have been awaiting more information on the sweet tablet OS. Seems like our wishes have been heard and granted by T-Mobile who has unleashed videos of the G-Slate UI. In these we find brand new user interface layouts of Gmail, the browser, Gtalk (including video chat), Google Books, and the brand new homescreen interface. Check out the videos below.

via BoyGeniusReport

Jan

Android 2.4 Is Real, Possibly An Incremental Gingerbread Upgrade

Posted by Brad Ganley in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, News

It's been a very confusing ride trying to figure out the official version number of Honeycomb, what exactly Honeycomb will be, and what devices will get it. Thanks to CES 2011, though, we're finally getting some answers.

At first, we all assumed that Honeycomb would be Android 3.0. Then we saw some evidence suggesting the existence of a Android 2.4. After that, we got the official, final word on the matter: it's 3.0.

Today at CES, a member of Tweakers.net got his hands on one of those new Sony Xperia Arcs that turned out to be running what looks like an early build of Android 2.4.

Jan

Motorola Announces The Xoom Honeycomb Tablet

Posted by Anuj Ahooja in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News, Tablets

After a surprise from Andy Rubin at D:Dive Into Mobile, a tease from Motorola themselves, and many rumors surrounding it, the Honeycomb powered Motorola Xoom is finally official. Announced today at CES, the Xoom will pack a dual-core 1GHz Tegra II processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and vanilla Android 3.0. The Xoom eschews the recent trend of 7-inch displays on tablets, and instead opts for a 10.1-inch 1280x800 (16:10) (gorilla glass) display, which should complement the 720P video playback capabilities nicely.

Along with an amazing screen, the Xoom has both a rear 5MP camera with LED flash, HD video-recording, and digital zoom; and a front-facing camera for video conferencing on Google Talk for tablets.