Android Honeycomb: A Detailed Tour of Google's Tablet OS

Google's new Android Honeycomb OS will supply an entire new kind of tablet experience. This is the

lowdown on what it is all about and what it's going to deliver to the table.

New Google Tablet OS Arrives. Google's Android operating system is about to get lots larger, literally.

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Google took the wraps off Android Honeycomb, the newest edition of its cell OS, on the Client

Electronics Present in Vegas this week. So why serve up one other new model when the final one,

Android Gingerbread, is barely out of the oven? It's easy: Not like Gingerbread, Honeycomb is not made

on your phone.

Honeycomb, as Google explains it, is "built solely for tablet." It's going to seem on units like Motorola's

Xoom Android tablet and a slew of different products set to launch soon. Make no mistake about it: The

Android tablet army is here, and it's able to do battle.

Think of Honeycomb because the tablets' secret weapon. Here's the lowdown on what it's all about and

what it will convey to the table.

Android Honeycomb: The Interface

The first thing you discover about Honeycomb is that it's an entire new experience from the Android

we've come to know. The software program was "designed from the bottom up," Google says, with a

give attention to delivering an enhanced version of Android made specifically for large-kind gadgets.

Honeycomb incorporates a revamped interface Google engineers describe as "actually digital and

holographic." Instead of hardware buttons, the software features an on-display screen navigation bar

that seems on the backside of the display, regardless of which approach you orient the device. Easy

multitasking and customization take middle stage. And the house display itself takes on a really

completely different look from earlier smartphone-targeted Android releases.

The up to date look is partially as a result of prominence of new punched-up widgets, redesigned for a

more interactive expertise: You may scroll through your inbox with the new Gmail widget, for instance,

or browse through your upcoming appointments with the updated calendar widget. Honeycomb can

also create a custom widget for any person in your contact listing; once on your private home display

screen, it shows a comprehensive stream of updates and activity for that individual on all the companies

the place the 2 of you're connected.

One query at the moment unanswered is how Honeycomb's strong interface will affect Android battery

life. To this point, things sound promising: Motorola, for its half, says its Xoom tablet can provide 10

hours of video playback on a single charge. Till some of these items are available to be examined out

within the wild, though, it is tough to say what real-world performance will likely be like.

This video, put together by T-Cellular to help promote its upcoming LG G-Slate Honeycomb tablet, does

a reasonably good job exhibiting the new interface in action:

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Android Honeycomb: Multipaned Apps

Apps in Honeycomb will have the ability to take full benefit of the tablet display measurement by

increasing into a number of panes that present up aspect-by-aspect in your screen. Within the new

Gmail app, for example, you may pull up individual messages whereas retaining an energetic view of

your inbox on-screen on the identical time. Different applications will be capable to make the most of

the a number of pane concept on their own terms, as each developer sees fit.

Android Honeycomb: Video Chat

While video chat has been obtainable in Android for a while now, through third-party tools, Honeycomb

will introduce an integrated answer utilizing the Google Discuss platform. With the tap of an icon, you'll

be able to pull up your list of friends and initiate voice or video chat with any of them -- whether they're

on-line by way of a tablet or by way of a traditional PC.

Android Honeycomb: The Browser

Android's stock browser will get a critical upgrade in Honeycomb. The app positive aspects the power to

deal with a number of tabs, computerized type-filling, non-public looking, and Chrome-based mostly

bookmark syncing. You can even entry a scrollable checklist of your bookmarks right from your own

home display screen, thanks to the included Honeycomb browser widget. All together, the updated

browser will definitely rival the functionalities provided by the various third-social gathering options

within the Android Market.

Android Honeycomb: All the pieces Else

There are countless different nuances to the new Honeycomb OS, including a redesigned YouTube

interface and a tablet-optimized version of Google's eBooks marketplace. This final video, produced by

Google, reveals some of these features as a part of its general preview of the Honeycomb release:

Google has yet to announce a proper launch date for Honeycomb, but Motorola says its Xoom tablet --

which is the flagship gadget Android engineers are utilizing to develop the software program -- will

debut someday within this quarter. So if all goes as planned, the Android tablet army shall be invading

very soon.