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Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

Summary: Google's much anticipated Android 3.0 software development kit was made available yesterday and the first tablet based upon it is is due to ship on Thursday Feb 24, the company announced.

Paula Rooney

By for Linux and Open Source |

Google's much anticipated Android 3.0 software development kit was made available yesterday and the first tablet based upon it is is due to ship on Thursday Feb 24, the company announced.

Android 3.0, also dubbed Honeycomb and previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show last month, is targeted at tablets.

Google super developer Tim Bray posted an update on the Honeycomb release today, noting that this version of Android differs from the phone version in two ways.

"The new environment is different from what we’re used to in two respects. First, you can hold the devices with any of the four sides up and Honeycomb manages the rotation properly. In previous versions, often only two of the four orientations were supported, and there are apps out there that relied on this in ways that will break them on Honeycomb. If you want to stay out of rotation trouble, One Screen Turn Deserves Another covers the issues," Bray wrote.

"The second big difference doesn’t have anything to do with software; it’s that a lot of people are going to hold these things horizontal (in “landscape mode”) nearly all the time. We’ve seen a few apps that have a buggy assumption that they’re starting out in portrait mode, and others that lock certain screens into portrait or landscape but really shouldn’t."

Topics: Google, Browser

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35 comments
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  • Oh Lordy....

    ....where to begin with this flop. The android OS system is a complete mess, and has no direction. Just make sure wherever you buy it has a good return policy because you wan't keep it very long.
    james347
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @james347
      Get a life James, your always the first to trash anything Android. Stick with iPhone...Baa Baa
      mybyte
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        @mybyte
        I would love to see WP7 crush Android, the rest of us and use Apple and be productive instead of having to wait for carrier updates and apps we can't uninstall, oh just imagine a phone with working GPS and Bluetooth.
        Hasam1991
        Reply Vote

      • james347 is a confirmed iCrAppleholic spun on RDF induced insanity! lol...

        @mybyte No sense even responding to these iFools falling for the iFad crippled iOS CrAppleware induced coma to get a buzz on!!!<br><br>When CrApple's Garden Walled Prison Walls come tumbling down like the walls of Jericho, they'll all be abandoning CrApple's Prison Network for the freedom only available on a truly Open Platform Network (like Windows was in the mid nineties on PC's) that sadly CrApple will have these fools who have all fallen for their Magical and Revolutionary Propaganda only to find themselves stuck in AOL HELL revisited!!! lol.... we'll all be laughing hysterically at these iCrAppleholics all drunk off CrApple Juice. That's all been spiked with iHitler Jobs RDF inebriated iOS propaganda from users to it's lame developers!<br><br>Meanwhile back at the ranch..... Android will continue to dominate the First position and Top Dog mobile OS with the rest (CrApple) eating it's turds. Yes..... even after just the last quarter, Android is now in 1st position of phone devices sold using this premium FREE OS.... Android. haha....<br><br>Next assault on iOS will of course be Tablets and there too.... iOS does not stand a chance in holly hell of coming out (over time) on top of Android there either!!!! ahaha.... that even to Gene the Guru of CrApple Market Share wisdom being spread now about his CrAppletastic Future Mind Reading concerning CrApple's iOS!!!!<br><br>Now again...... for you iCrAppleholics that can't understand the basic principles of business. If CrApple has NO Factories or Foundries to make their own parts (which 60 to 70% of are made by Samsung by cost) it's only logical that Samsung would not be so lame as to produce those basically same parts going into their own devices so as to not be making money off supplying those parts. Especially when they know #1. CrApple is forced by design to only have them all made by Samsung. Who is a direct competitor in mobile device market. Therefore it can be assumed that Samsung is NOT now or never will be making parts at or even close to costs of production, let alone at a stupid arse brainless loss! <br><br>Therefore it's Samsung that holds the Control keys to the future of iOS and that can't be too comfortable, being CrApple depending on your closest competitor to supply your parts for all your own iOS devices. Samsung wins no matter whether CrApple more than what it's ordered or sells less than what it has made. Therefore shortages on parts are not Samsung's problem, because it all relies on their own guesstimations. Just as if the device flops..... it's also CrApple's responsibility and Samsung still has to be paid no matter how many devices CrApple sells or..... doesn't!!! lol....

        The whole world needs to stop drinking Steve's urinations and mental infarction produced infomercial marketing spill!!! The dude's on his last leg...... finally! Thank God!!!
        i2fun@...
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @james347 I don't think it will "flop" but would agree that Apple still has the tighter user experience. You just don't hear that many stories of apps breaking in iOS. <br><br>Of course, in the case of Android, you don't hear about things like old phones being forced to iOS4 so they are almost unusable either (thus prompting Saint Steve to offer upgrades 6 months early). Hooray subscription lock! <br><br>It's give & take. I love Apple products for what they do well. They fit 80% of the features into 20% of the interface and deliver a design-centric UI that is comfortable to operate. I hate Apple the company with equal measure. Microsoft never abused their market position half as badly as Apple does today.
      ianarmstrong
      Reply Vote

      • Monopolies

        @ianarmstrong

        That is why for anyone seeing anything further than the end of their nose, the most important thing is to preserve competition. I certainly don't want to be told by a single manufacturer what I can or can not have.
        INGOTIAN
        Reply Vote

      • That's actually funny INGOTIAN

        @INGOTIAN<br><br>Do you know of any manufacturers that don't tell you what you can or can't have??? I don't. You can chose between the choices they offer for sale and thats it... <br><br>How exactly is Apple different? You can choose to buy their products or not, just like a box of breakfast cereal, or a Roid phone... Apple, like all the rest of the electronics manufacturers state, if you do certain things, it will void your warranty. If you want Apple updates, you have to be running Apple's OS, unhacked. If you want Apple to support it, they will, provided its running Apple software and not hacked to cr@p and back... Are you dumb enough to think that you can buy a Sansung TV, hack the SW, and expect Samsung to fix it or waranty it after you screwed it up? I don't think so... <br><br>You are nothing more than a 2 year old having a tantrum over spilled milk... Bottom line.. grow up and grow a pair. If you want to buy an iPhone and blend it in a blender, you can, Apple doesn't care. Yes, it voids the warranty, but only a retard would complain about it and say Apple is telling them what they can and cant do. I'll give you three guesses on who the retard is...
        i8thecat
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        @ianarmstrong Although I think Apple has pulled a lot of stunts that make comparisons to the 80's -90's MS seem fair, it's silly to say MS never pulled anything as bad. MS made you pay for its OS on any PC you bought, even if that PC was sold with a different OS. PC makers were threatened with higher prices if they dared to offer a PC with an alternate OS. MS regularly went out of their way to right software that would break competitors software: "it's not finished if Lotus 123 still works"

        MS was evil back then....Apple is evil now. 2 Peas in a pod, albeit not at the same time.
        notsofast
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        i2fun@...<br><br>If you really think that Apple is not great then why do you think Google (and other player) religiously and tirelessly copies each and every market which Apple creates single handedly. But the sad thing is, it still couldnt match the quality & experience of Apple.<br><br>The list of Google stealing from Apple goes long you know. Touch based mobile OS (iOS), future smartphone (iPhone), App store (pity they even copied revenue sharing), tablet OS, ...(need to add soemthing every year here)<br><br>Mockers and copiers arent supposed to criticize Apple..Innovators can do that.:-)

        >>> The whole world needs to stop drinking Steve's urinations and mental infarction produced infomercial marketing spill!!!

        I guess Google will wait for that to happen and copy that too and claim its MY open source & everybody can smell it cheap..!
        saravanan@...
        Reply Vote

      • Pointless to Say Anyone Stole from Apple

        @saravanan@
        Apple started out with ideas that they got from other sources, just like most companies out there.

        Apples weren't the first personal computers, Altair 8800s were out first.

        Apple got the idea for a graphical user interface from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.

        They used BSD Unix as a base for OS X.

        They are part of the universal trade off of good GUI ideas that originated, sometimes with them, but just as often with Windows and various X11 window managers or desktop environments.

        Let me be clear that I don't have a problem with Apple doing any of these things (well, walking off with the PARC research ideas after a tour of the facility was a pretty cheap shot, but other than that, no). That is the nature of the business and Apple does it as much as anyone.

        Apple's strength has generally been to take a good idea and put the finishing touches on it. For example, they took the idea of an MP3 player (no iPods were not the first), and they achieved the right balance between storage capacity and battery life. They also put it in a slick looking case, and developed a pretty good interface for it.

        If Apple is going to claim that anyone stole ideas from them, then I would have to say, 'Pot, meet Kettle.'
        CFWhitman
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @james347 Funny how the "complete mess" of the Android OS has caught up and surpassed the install base of the iPhone.
      JohnJacob1161
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        @JohnJacob1161
        As an Android user I can say its a mess... I would rather pay more and use Apple..
        Hasam1991
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @james347
      Yet, somehow has sold more than iOS. So weird.
      Droid101
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        @Droid101 Well, one thing to keep in mind is that Apple has, for four years, had a huge handicap in most major markets due to exclusivity contracts. When Apple could sell only only one carrier, and usually the 2nd-tier carrier, while Android could sell everywhere it is clear that there must have been a lot of cases where Android won by default.

        The exclusivity agreements have all expired now, as of a couple of weeks ago, but it'll be two more years before the playing field is completely level.

        This is not to say that Android might not have done the same thing even without the advantage, but it's pretty much a sure thing that it's going to have a rougher time of it going forward now that it can't win by default.

        My gut call is that we see Android and iPhone pretty darn near split the difference in the US. Internationally I think Android will maintain its lead, but only time will tell.

        jim frost
        jimf@frostbytes.com
        jimfrost
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

        @Droid101 finally some intelligent comments. Those who like to put down a product so much should just go buy what they want and shut up...no cares about your never ending whining.
        Bradish@...
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @james347 - Android is a mess? Has no direction? What??
      How is that antenna thing going?
      How about multi-tasking?
      I bet you are on AT&T...drop calls much?

      Talk about a mess.
      Go Android or go home.
      Xander_Crews
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

    Any guess how much it's going to cost?
    bvlenci
    Reply Vote

    • Would you believe....

      @bvlenci ... a massive $0.00.
      http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
      Scubajrr
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Google's first Honeycomb Android tablet, SDK debut

      @bvlenci $600 wifi, $799 w/3g/4g unsubsidized... $600 with a vzw sub
      jrbCE
      Reply Vote

      • Wifi has no cost yet. Nt

        @jrbCE
        Bruizer
        Reply Vote
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