Android Honeycomb 3.1 - A Quick Breakdown

Google’s Android operating system for tablets has had mixed reactions.

Google’s Android operating system for tablets has had mixed reactions. On one hand, users seem to like Android for the mobile phone, and on the other hand, there’s Honeycomb 3.0 that lacks the finish and refinement seen in its primary competitor - iOS. Many of us agree that the OS is far from complete and there are some bugs that need to be ironed out. The iPad has been a runaway success and Google is hoping to catch up once Honeycomb matures. We just got news of Motorola launching Android 3.1 for the Xoom tablet and that’s something we’ll see across the board very soon. Here’s a quick look at what key features and enhancementsHoneycomb 3.1 has to offer. Improved USB support While tablets were designed to replace netbooks and notebooks, one of the key things stopping users from doing so was poor connectivity with other devices using the USB interface. Come Honeycomb 3.1, users will be able to use a wide variety of USB devices with their tablets. USB open to a variety of devices; game controllers included This means, everything from keyboards, mice, other input devices and even digital cameras will be able to work with tablets. Imagine typing on a tablet using a portable, folding keyboard and transferring images from your camera or a card reader to your tablet, and viewing photos in real time. Google says that you can even use Bluetooth-based input devices with the tablet. Resizable Widgets Sure, this is something that third party window managers bring, but Android has never really had a built-in feature to do this. This means, anyone using Honeycomb had to be satisfied with the size of widgets. The new widget system lets you drag widgets into the screen of your choice and then adjust its width by holding it down, similar to what LauncherPro would let you do. Improved Wi-Fi capabilities Well technically, it’s not going to be faster or anything of that sort, but there will be bits and pieces added to the functionality. For example, users can now turn off the screen and the tablet will continue to stream content over the network for extended periods. Wi-Fi optimized for longer battery life There’s also an option for users to use HTTP proxies for separate Wi-Fi networks, so you no longer have to switch networks and set a different HTTP proxy each time. Google claims that their new Preferred Network Offload (PNO) feature will help reduce battery drain during long Wi-Fi sessions. App Updates There are a bunch of Google apps that come bundled with any Google Android OS. Google has tweaked many of these for the 3.1 release. The browser, for example has an improved Quick Controls UI that’s bound to make navigation and multitasking between tabs easier. The browser has been upgraded to allow HTML5 video playback, so you no longer have to depend on Flash versions of Vimeo and Youtube videos. UI tweaked and enhanced to allow easier navigation Ability to save web pages for offline viewing is also a part of the browser now. Users should also notice some performance benefits, all thanks to hardware acceleration support through plugins for the browser. The Gallery now supports something called PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol). In simple terms, you can import photos from a camera to the Gallery easily. Other apps to receive enhancements are E-mail, Contacts and Calendar.  ASUS Transformer - one of the tablets to get the 3.2 update Whether or not Google is successful in impressing users will only be known in the weeks to come, as manufacturers start rolling out these updates. Google has already started work on 3.2 andmanufacturers are announcing that the update should be available sometime in August.

VisionMobile Report: Android Not a Very 'Open' Platform

One of the reasons for Android’s success is the belief that it’s an open operating system and people generally like that. A study done by VisionMobile, an analysis and research company states that Android isn’t the most open platform out there. VisionMobile has deviced a way to gauge the ‘openness’ of a software or platform and it turns out Android has an openness rating of just 23 percent. Eclipse, a software development toolset scores the best score of 84 percent followed by Linux at 71 per cent. Webkit, the rendering engine for Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browser closely follow at 68 and 65 per cent respectively.

Android trails behind the rest

VisionMobile believes that openness of a software or code is not only to do with the license that it adheres to, but also to do with Governance. Governance is what decides the roadmap for the project, the transparency of the decision making process, whether the discussion on the development of the project is open to everyone and if anyone can choose to make variants of the project. VisionMobile believes that the most open of projects are likely to do well in the long run. The only odd one out is Android, which although popular, isn’t as open as some of the other platforms. VisionMobile says it wouldn’t have been as successful, if vendors hadn’t pumped in the money that made it a strong competitor to Apple’s iOS-based devices.

Asus' Rs. 32,999 Transformer TF101 Tablet is Here

Finally, after much speculation and rumors, Asus has launched the TF101 Eee Pad Transformer for a price tag of Rs.32,999 which is presumably the MRP. This pricing is for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, the 3G variant will be launched at a later date. We've also got confirmation from Asus that this price will include the docking station as well. Keyboard sold separately The tablet alone has limited connectivity, however when paired with the docking station, we get two USB ports, a multi-touch touchpad, SD-card reader and a full QWERTY keyboard. The Transformer uses a 10.1-inch IPS panel with 1280x800 pixel resolution and features 10-finger multi-touch support. Powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and with 1GB of memory, 1080p video playback is a non-issue. We also have Bluetooth v2.1 and Wi-Fi ‘n’ for connectivity. Unfortunately, we’ll be getting Honeycomb 3.0 for now, so some sluggish behavior is to be expected.

Samsung Readying 5.3-inch ‘Galaxy Q’ for IFA

The rumor mill is abuzz with news of Samsung busy prepping a ‘Dell Streak’ like device for IFA in September. The news comes from a Chinese site, eTomato, who’ve brought this to our attention but there isn’t any leaked image or presentation slide to go by so take this with some salt. 

What is Samsung up to?

Apparently the new device will be called the Galaxy Q and will sport a massive 5.3-inch display, most likely Super AMOLED Plus and that’s about it, we don’t have any other information about this mystery device. If we are to speculate then it will most likely have a dual-core processor either Exynos or Tegra 2. It should run Ice Cream Sandwich given IFA is two months away -Google should have a stable build for Samsung by then. 

What remains to be seen is how will Samsung market this product? If they dare to call it a phone then would it suffer the same fate as Dell’ Streak? How does one walk around with a 5.3-inch slab in his pocket. As a tablet, the screen size seems a bit too small and if you’re going to lug around another device then it might as well be at least seven inches or more, else you might as well use your phone. Let’s wait and watch if it actually materializes or if it's just vaporware. 

Android 3.2 is Officially Here!

Android 3.2 is here! The new release implies that the previous version has been worked upon with new capabilities for both the users, and the developers, complete with level 13 API changes.

The latest one..

According to a post on Google's Android Developers, this latest version of Android has been optimized for better user experience, something that the existing Honeycomb version so desperately needed. The newer version of Android comes with a swanky compatibility display mode, which is designed to make apps look good across all devices. With a pixel-scaled alternative, the few apps that behave weirdly on larger displays will have themselves sorted out. Additionally, users will be able to sync the available media with the removable SD card to have data on the card directly sent to the required app. The latest version of Android will come with updated SDK tools for developers. The tool kit consists of an Android library, system image, few emulator skins but excludes external libraries.

We had reported a few days ago about the first Android 3.2 tablet, the Huawei MediaPad making an appearance at CommunicAsia, Singapore. Now, with the official announcement being made the cat is finally, completely out of the bag. What do you think?

Twitter for Android Gets Big Update

Twitter for Android has gotten a huge update bringing two big features, namely push notifications and multiple account usability. So now, if you have more than one Twitter account that you tweet from, you can use the Android app to switch between accounts without logging in and out. These features have been available for Twitter on iOS since Twitter bought the iOS app, Tweetie. However, to the disappointment of many Twitter users as well as social media marketers, yet to the smiling faces of third party clients that base their product on multiple account usage, this feature is still not available on Twitter for web.

Twitter for Android with new features

For iPhone users, push notifications came in Twitter for iPhone and now for Android users it seems slightly redundant. Android already has a bar for notifications so users will see the same notifications twice. The Twitter for Android app is available for free from the Android Market. If you want your Twitter on your Android smartphone to be able to push notify and tweet from multiple accounts, head on over and download the app.

Adobe to Introduce New Android Apps for Upcoming Sony Tablets

Adobe and Sony have announced the new ‘Adobe AIR App Challenge’ to entice developers to create and develop unique high-performance mobile applications - a precursor to their upcoming ‘Sony Tablet’ rumored to become available in the global market starting Fall 2011.

Both companies will enable tapping into native device capabilities to combine Adobe Flash technology and HTML 5 to enable a wide range of applications including media, gaming and data-driven applications. Adobe says that their Creative Suite 5.5 and their latest developer tools combined with Sony’s upcoming tablets will provide content publishers with a platform to deliver better tablet experiences. 

Sony Tablets to get taste of Adobe Air

 

Sony, as we've already reported, are developing two tablets - the S1 optimized for media and the S2 designed for mobile communication as well as entertainment. As part of the collaboration, Sony will pre-install Adobe Flash Player on ‘Sony Tablet’ devices enabling a more 'complete' Web browsing experience that includes an array of videos, games and other multimedia content.

This sounds like good news for developers as it’s relatively easy to build AIR applications with Adobe tools and deploy them as native applications via the Android Market. The new apps, it seems, will have tight device integration, including support for camera, video, microphone, multi-touch and more. Also, support for geo-location allows developers to create location-based applications and services. However, only time will tell if this new tablet with ‘new’ applications will satiate the ever-increasing needs of the consumer. 

HTC HD2 to Get a Windows Phone 7 Mango ROM?

The HD2 from HTC boasted of some seriously breathtaking specifications and that too, back in 2009. And because of the specifications, it’s not very surprising to see the smartphone run ports of MeeGo, Android and Windows Phone 7. The latest on this front now, is that the HD2 will be getting a ROM to the Mango Update of Windows Phone 7.

Mangoes for you, HD2

If you have tried Windows Phone 7 on the HD2, you definitely must have heard of the Dark Forces Team. These guys were the ones to bring the port-that-won’t-be-official to the smartphone, and if what sources say are to be believed, the same team will also bring the Mango update for the HD2.

Apparently, Dark Forces Team is working hard to bring the ROM for the handset, sometime during this week, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet. It will be interesting to see how well the HD2 handles the ROM and hopefully will make Microsoft change their mind and launch some official updates for the HD2.

Is this the Samsung i973 Running Windows Phone 7 Mango?

There were rumors back in early July about Samsung prepping a new Windows Phone 7 (WP7) based on the Galaxy SII. Today, we have a first glimpse of what could potentially turn out to be the i973, which runs on WP7. At the Microsoft Partner Conference in Los Angeles, Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President - OEM Division, showed off an upcoming WP7, which he described as being ‘thin and light', the same being SII's forte.

Image courtesy GSMArena

We only get a quick glimpse of the phone as he quickly puts it back in his pocket. How come it wasn’t on display along with the rest of the products? It seems like Microsoft didn’t want anyone to get a good look at the device. From the picture, it appears to be a 4.3-inch screen, however there’s no way to tell if it’s Super AMOLED or SLCD. The three touch sensitive buttons are placed at the bottom like in every Windows Phone device. Hit this link to watch Steve’s portion of the keynote.

Evernote Releases App for Android Tablets

Evernotw has released an app designed specifically for Android tablets and is available for free from the Android Market. It offers the same note taking functions as all the other Evernote apps, including audio note recording and social note sharing but it does it with a new interface that helps visual note browsing. In this new interface, the homescreen presents notes in Snippet View. The left hand bar can be used to to tab through notebooks, tags and shared notebooks view options. Using the application, users can also create and edit rich text notes. This feature is available to all Evernote users, not just Android tablet users. There will also be a new bar for text editing above the keyboard.

Evernote on Android tablets has a new look

There's a larger Evernote widget available now for the homescreen, where users can see snippets of their recently created and edited notes. Evernote's VP of marketing, Andrew Sinkov says, "In addition to letting you jump to core Evernote features, you now see snippets of your recently-accessed notes. This means you no longer need to launch Evernote in order to find a recent note, just tap on the note in the widget.” This new Evernote for Android is available for free in the Android Market.

Bangalore Based EAFT Launches 10.1-inch Android Tablet

It’s been hard enough trying to make a choice when it comes to purchasing a tablet, however, things just got a little tougher with yet another device that has been recently announced for India. The latest tablet to enter into the foray is by another local manufacturer, Bangalore-based EAFT (Everything at your Fingertips) Technologies. Their offering is the MagicTile-Marathon 10.1-inch, NVIDIA Tegra 2 infused, Android tablet.

With features that include full HD i.e. 1080p video playback and Flash 10.1 Support, the MagicTile should be worthy competition for the Xoom, ICONIA A500 or even the iPad 2. However, that might not necessarily be the case here. For one thing the MagicTile has very limited internal storage i.e. 512MB for the OS and running apps etc. and is available with Android 2.2 aka FroYo, which is not upgradable.

According to EAFT’s Engineering Manager for the project, Pankaj Verma – the reason why EAFT has launched the Marathon with FroYo and not Honeycomb, is because of the fact that this version has, so far, proven to be the most stable of the lot. While that’s understandable from a certain standpoint it seems a bit that even Gingerbread was not an option seeing as NVIDIA’s 1GHz Tegra2 processor is quite capable of handling it.

Could it really take on even the ICONIA A500?

The lack of ‘GB-capacity’ memory is what will automatically take it out of the running with the big boys like Motorola, Apple, Acer or Samsung. What the MagicTile, or Marathon does support is USB 2.0 connectivity, which will allow you to connect a pen drive up to 16GB for added support. If that isn’t enough, you can also thrown in a 16GB microSD card. The USB port can also be used to attach a keyboard or mouse, which means it has only FAT32 support and not NTFS for hard drives.

With regards to media, the device is capable of reading AVI files and H.264 formats in full HD. EAFT is also providing customers with their own App Market for downloading applications (hopefully the device will also come preloaded with the native Android Market as well). The MagicTile is also equipped to handle 3G connectivity but will have no calling functionality, it’s strictly for data.

Here’s a quick look at the specs -

• 10.1-inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution
• 3G for data only, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi,
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• GPS with aGPS support
• USB 2.0 with plug and play capability
• 1.3MP camera
• HDMI out with 1080p video support
• MicroSD card support up to 16GB
• Stereo speakers built in

EAFT has priced the MagicTile-Marathon tablet at Rs. 29,990 (MRP), but it is available at a special online price of Rs. 26,990, since it’s only just been launched. You can get it online at that price here.

Your Tablet Choices Available on the Shelves

With a fresh batch of tablets due to arrive in the months to come, we as consumers are once again spoilt for choice as every manufacturer is trying their best to out-do the competition with price cuts, freebies etc. While it’s not a bad thing to wait a while to decide which one to pick, there are some who are impatient and that’s why we’ve rounded up all the worthy tablets that are currently available in the market under one roof, so take your pick.

BlackBerry Playbook 
If you are a BlackBerry (BB) fanatic then the Playbook is worth considering. As a stand alone tablet, its feature set is a little weak compared to Android-based tablets but when paired with a BB, you get access to a host of new features like BB Bridge for instance. It’s also very compact, making it easy to carry around in your briefcase. There are three memory options available :

16GB - Rs.27,990
32GB - Rs.31,500
64GB - Rs.36,000

Your BB's best friend

Some highlights of the Playbook :

• 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels
• Wi-Fi only model currently available
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with 1080p video recording capability, 3MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• 1080p HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid support
• Stereo speakers

HTC Flyer 
HTC’s Flyer is another 7-inch tablet currently available in the market, so naturally it competes with the BB PlayBook and the aging but still capable, Samsung Galaxy Tab. But the Flyer has an ace up its sleeve as it runs on Google’s Gingerbread (2.3.3) OS thereby giving you greater flexibility in terms of app support or customization. The 3G version with 32GB built-in memory is the only one currently available for Rs. 39,890.

Stylish but expensive for it' size

Some facts about the HTC Flyer :

• 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth v3.0 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with 720p video recording capability, 1.3MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• 720p HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

Motorola Xoom 
The Motorola Xoom is a good option if you’re looking for a 10.1-inch tablet and although it released quite some time back internationally, it still packs quite a punch. Motorola have launched it for a rather steep price in India though. The 16GB Wi-Fi only version retails for Rs. 34,490 where as the 3G version goes for Rs.41,490.

A good 10.1-inch option

The Xoom also features :

• 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 800x1280 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video recording capability, 2MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

Acer ICONIA Tab A500
The competitor to the Motorola Xoom, Acer’s ICONIA Tab A500 offers similar functionality and more by including a standard USB 2.0 port for plugging in pen drives. With the current Honeycomb 3.0.1, it's a bit sluggish to use but the 3.1 update has already started rolling out in some parts of the world and we will be getting it some time next month. The Wi-Fi version with 16GB built-in memory sells for Rs. 27,990.

3.1 update coming next month

The A500 features:

• 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 800x1280 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with LED flash and 720p video recording capability, 2MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

iPad 2
The iPad 2 needs no further introduction. If you love iOS and everything Apple then this is the one for you. The pricing hasn’t changed much since the time it launched but then that's the case with most Apple products. The following are the configurations and their respective pricing

              Wi-Fi Only     3G+Wi-Fi
16GB    Rs.29,500    Rs.36,900
32GB    Rs.34,500    Rs.41,900
64GB    Rs.39,500    Rs.46,900

Still going strong

Some facts about the iPad 2:

• 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 768x1024 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 0.7MP rear AF camera with 720p video recording capability, VGA forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4 support
• Stereo speakers
• No Expandable memory