Google’s preview of Honeycomb tagged: , ,

Google’s preview of Honeycomb

Posted by in Android, News

Yesterday Google gave a more detailed preview of the tablet-specific version of the Android OS, named Honeycomb, at an event
at Google HQ.

Much of the preview covered features already publicised, but it gave a chance to see a proper demo of the OS. The main points were:

  • Existing Android apps will ‘just work’ on Honeycomb, with the rider that the developers observed Android’s list of best practises.
  • A new UI with ‘back’, ‘home’, and ‘task’ icons at bottom left. Notifications at bottom right with more information shown.
  • A task switching widget that shows snapshots of each running application.
  • Several generic widgets (stack, grid, list) that allow the customizable display of a collection of your data, such as your e-books, or favourite videos and so on.
  • The concept of application ‘fragments’ (basically user interface components) that will allow developers to extend their applications for use on a tablet. Where it makes sense to do so, some fragments may be shared between mobile and tablet versions of the application, easing the burden on the developer.
  • Greater integration with Google’s cloud services.
  • Hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics to allow smoother animation and 3D-like interfaces. E.g., smooth fading and zooming, shaded and textured geometry (such as the book covers in the library), and 3D animations (such as the page turning in the book reader).
  • A 3D graphics engine called RenderScript to allow for the creation of 2D and 3D effects.
  • Support for multi-core processors
  • Better multimedia support, including the HTTP live streaming currently used by the iOS devices — this is great, as HLS is by far the best option for streaming in my opinion.
  • Support for front facing cameras that will enable video calls.

Many of these features are really great, but they certainly don’t blow the iPad away. In fact, some parts of the GUI look a little awkward and inconsistent. Overall, the whole presentation offered little in terms of excitement, perhaps because we’ve seen these features coming for a while now.

At one point, the demonstrator tried to get celebrity ‘Lady Killer’ on a video call. He wasn’t there. Perhaps he was busy on his iPhone.

Oh yes, and CNN said how great Honeycomb is, without actually saying it. More like “aren’t tablets great for showing the news and videos”.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Android fan, but I was not blown away by it all. Maybe it was just down to presentation. What does interest me is how Google are going to balance Chrome OS on netbooks and Honeycomb on tablets. At some point there has to be a crossover. Or will they merge?