ANDROID HONEY COMB
Saturday, January 15, 2011
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Despite ongoing speculation that Android 3.0 is imminent, it looks like the next release of the mobile operating system--dubbed "Honeycomb"--will be version 2.4.
Google vice president of engineering Andy Rubin showed off the upcoming Honeycomb version on a prototype Motorola tablet on the same day that Google released the "Gingerbread" version of the software earlier this month.Also widely expected to bear the 3.0 version number, Gingerbread turned out to be version 2.3 instead.Few details about Honeycomb were divulged at the time of Rubin's demonstration, but he did confirm that--unlike previous versions of Android--Honeycomb will be optimized for both tablets and smartphones.Google has said in the past that other versions of Android are not really tablet-ready, and will not properly run applications downloaded from the Android App Market.
Still undisclosed by Rubin, however, was any specific timeframe for Honeycomb's expected release next year.
�Google Is Holding Version 3.0�
Now, with an expected February launch date, it looks like Honeycomb will be a less significant update than had been anticipated.
"For whatever reason, it sounds like Google is holding version 3.0 for something special," Android and Me's Taylor Wimberly wrote. "You would think they [would] throw 3.0 out [there] to make a statement when the first Honeycomb tablets launch, but I guess like most big Google launches those will be sort of beta, with some new features still missing."
Android versions tend to come out about every six months, with dessert-focused names. The "Froyo" version launched earlier this year added enterprise-focused features including IT password enforcement and remote wipe, while Gingerbread added communications capabilities such as a Near-Field Communications reader and SIP-based VoIP calling.
3.0 to Debut in May?
Still to come are "Ice Cream" and "Jellybean," either of which could potentially take the 3.0 spot. It's conceivable Google might bestow the 3.0 crown on one of those at the big Google I/O conference in May, Wimberly noted.
Linux-based Android now holds third place in U.S. mobile operating system market share,according to comScore, with 24 percent of the market in October.
Several months ago we reported that Motorola and Verizon had scored an exclusive on an upcoming version of Android, which we believed to be Gingerbread. It turns out that information was off, but I believe the mix-up came from my trusted source who was referring to Gingerbread as Android 3.0.
We now know that Gingerbread is Android 2.3 and likely to debut on the Nexus S, but it still appears that Motorola and Verizon have an exclusive on Android 3.0 or Honeycomb.
After Google�s engineers finished Android 2.2 (FroYo) they were split into two different teams � one to work on Gingerbread for existing platforms and one to work on Honeycomb for tablets. Every Honeycomb tablet that I know of is rumored to use NVIDIA�s Tegra 2 dual-core processor, so it appears that it is the lead platform for Android 3.0 just like Texas Instrument�s OMAP3 was the lead platform for Android 2.0.
Motorola has been working on their Android tablet for over a year now and new information suggest a 7-inch version will be the first device with Android 3.0. The new details come from Mobile-Review which is run by Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin who is a reliable source (and the same guy that confirmed the Samsung dual-core phone).
Mobile-Review claims the tablet will be called the MOTOPAD, but not many details are provided beyond that. We have heard several internal codenames for the device ranging from Everest to Stingray, so there is no telling what it might actually be called by the time it goes on sale.
We expect Motorola to announce their Android tablet in a couple months at CES in Las Vegas. They have a big press event scheduled for Wednesday, January 5th, and I think we could also see their Olympus phone (aka Terminator).
thank u
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