This week Google launches version 3.0 of its Android mobile operating system, code named Honeycomb. The company held a live event at their corporate headquarters in Mountain View, CA on Tuesday morning to celebrate the occasion and show off some of the new features that Android 3.0 has to offer.
One of the problems with previous versions of the Android OS was that they were specifically designed for use on mobile phones, and operation had a tendency to be buggy on devices with larger screens. That has changed with the release of Honeycomb.
"Honeycomb is tailored for the new generation of tablet-sized computers," Hugo Barra, Google mobile products director, said while demonstrating the new features of the OS. "We've spent a tremendous amount of time really optimizing performance on Honeycomb."
Google has also made some improvements to the native applications in Honeycomb to include features that were only previously available through 3rd party applications.
The native browser is one such improvement. While you could have multiple webpages open in the past, those pages were treated like multiple windows. Android 3.0 supports true tabbed browsing, and even an “incognito” mode for when you’d like to be discreet. The browser also automatically signs users into Google sites, and will sync bookmarks with the Chrome browser on your laptop or desktop computer for seamless transitions.
Honeycomb also takes some features from some of the alternate launchers available for Android. Rather than just scrolling back and forth through the five available desktop screens, the new OS gives you a preview of all your screens at once for easy selection, much like the ADW EX launcher.
Quick and easy access seems to be a theme in Android 3.0, and the menu bar plays a big role in this. The OS keeps the text selection mode introduced in Gingerbread, and it simply takes a tap of the menu bar for copy, cut, and paste functionalities. Additionally, a headphone notification appears in the menu when listening to music so the player can be quickly accessed to change settings when desired, and Wi-Fi connections have a similar menu bar feature.
The camera application has been redesigned as well, with easier access to settings and a redesigned image gallery for more convenient access to pictures.
Finally, a newly launched Android Market Web Store is not exclusive to Honeycomb, but will definitely compliment it. Android users now have the option to view and purchase apps with one click from any web browser instead of being limited to the Market app on their device.
With all of the improvements made in Honeycomb, some are saying that the new wave of Android tablets will be “nearly on equal footing” with iPad. We’ll certainly find out once they begin making their way into consumers’ hands this month. I’m definitely anxious to try one out in person.
