Android 'Honeycomb' 3.0: Hands on experience

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Google gives a taste of Honeycomb 3.0 with a preview of its Android 3.0 Preview SDK. Larry Dignan has more in his blog.

The boot up screen is relatively bog standard, and as the operating system loads, a faded sliver effect floats across the text.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Widgets are available on mass to add to the five-panoramic screen, which allows five desktops, all customisable with widgets and application shortcuts.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
There are over two dozen pre-installed widgets and application shortcuts available to make your device more customisable.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Simply click and drag a widget or application shortcut onto one of the five desktop spaces you have, and it will zoom into full-screen mode to help you specifically add where you want the widget to go.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
The screens are constantly updating with new widgets and application shortcuts you add, displaying in real-time the updates you make.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Crosshairs appear when adding widgets to make icons align with each other.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
The menus look remarkably different from before, with Google opting for a look similar to Linux-based Maemo. The interface is smooth, slick and shares similarity with Windows Phone 7, to some degree.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Similar to Maemo, when a dialog displays, the background fades and more emphasis is added to the dialog, with a blue faded strip around each edge and slight transparency in the border.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
The storage menu allows you to see how much space is being used, ranging from media files to application usage.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Honeycomb also adds consistent copy-and-paste design, with iPad-like thumb tacks to select text and to move the cursor into a specific place in text.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
The user aesthetics are clean, simple and vibrant with the overall design and feel of Honeycomb.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
All the features you would expect from a mobile operating system and tablet are available with Honeycomb.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
There is a fine balance of settings and features available, with many enterprise ready settings to allow administrators to remotely access certain areas and apply corporate policies.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
But as this is a preview SDK of a pre-release operating system, not everything works perfectly yet.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
But as this is a preview SDK of a pre-release operating system, not everything works perfectly yet. Unfortunately the browser was one of the applications that failed to work.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Search has a significant focus in Honeycomb with default Google searching options. But other searchable items include your music, your messages - including email and text messages if you are running Honeycomb on a phone - and the applications you have installed.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Multitasking allows you to run multiple applications and switch between the two. The bar at the bottom is drawn onto the screen, but remains permanently fixed.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Email has a very Outlook-like feel to it. It just so happens that in this case I am running an Exchange-based email account.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
Email is smooth, quick, and clean to use without complicated features. All the usual basic features are there, including adding attachments. Text is sent in plain-text and not HTML however.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
The clock in the lower-right hand corner displays the notification space, where the screen orientation lock can be enabled, along with Wi-Fi and airplane mode. The rendering of this space is not perfect yet, however.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
If your Android device has a camera installed, Honeycomb allows you to take pictures too. There is nothing too special here, however, with some non-Android phones exhibiting better camera features than Honeycomb.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker
However picture sharing and setting comes as standard, with Facebook and email uploading, and the ability to set a picture to the background straight away.

Published: January 27, 2011 -- 08:14 GMT (00:14 PST)
Caption by: Zack Whittaker