Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb for Tablets Revealed
The Next Generation of Android
Major news from Google just hit at CES: Android 3.0, dubbed Honeycomb, has been revealed. It might be a leak, but the video is very well made and looks quite solid. While a new Android version is always a big deal, this leak is made all the more significant by the platform's apparent shift in focus. It's all about the tablets now.
The Honeycomb
While Android for phones is certainly not going away, the Honeycomb video features a bold statement, "Built Entirely for Tablet." And the UI really shows it, as you can see in the screencap above. Gmail looks different, but that's just one change. The whole interface underwent a radical change, to work with the tablet form factor.
Highlights
- A 3D-looking task switcher
- A massive software keyboard, quite reminiscent of a certain tablet that shall remain nameless (ahem)
- Rich widgets on a roomy homescreen -- the Gmail widget looks basically like the current Gmail app
- A strong emphasis on Google Books, including "live" widgets (scroll through books on the widget)
- A tabbed browser, looking vaguely Chrome-like
- A panorama-like view of YouTube with a 3D "wall" of thumbnails
- Video-enabled Gtalk
- Solid zoom-and-pan action with the new Maps app, including 3D buildings. This seems similar to Maps v5, but it looks so much better on a tablet.
- Lots of futuristic-looking neon text
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