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Google Unveils Android 'Honeycomb' Tablet
adeelarshad82 writes "Google Mobile Platform VP Andy Rubin unveiled the very first Android 'Honeycomb' tablet. While very few specs were released about the device, it is said to be a sleek, black, Motorola tablet that is roughly 10" and runs a NVidia dual core CPU. The device has a very clean homepage and the app page looked almost Apple iPad-like. In fact, the Gmail app looked almost exactly like Gmail on the iPad. According to Andy Rubin, Honeycomb should release some time next year, and most major OEMs planning on building Android tablets have expressed interest in using this version of the Android platform."
This is excellent news! I love that Google creates these devices that jumpstart the industry to doing their own versions. Great job, Google!
Give me these four things, and I'll buy it in a second:
1. Wireless-N
2. Built-in Bluetooth (think external controller used for emulators and games.)
3. SDHC card slot
4. At least one standard USB slot (preferably USB 3.0, but even 2.0 would be fine...just so long as it's a standard port without any proprietary nonsense.)
For the love of Jim Darkmagic, PLEASE FREAKIN' INCLUDE THESE FOUR THINGS.
Living With a Nerd
just a large android, too awkward to use as a phone, too big to carry around, what's the point?
Exactly my reaction to iPad when Apple announced it. I was wrong, there are plenty of uses for a tablet form factor. Two in my immediate world: 1) A computer that fits in the flap of my camera back to which I can upload photos for in-the-field high res slideshow. 2) A touchscreen program controller for my synth keyboard.
With a bluetooth keyboard and stand, should be perfectly able to replace a netbook or laptop for road trips. Subject to replacing lame Android interface with a real desktop like KDE of course.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
but the app page looked almost Apple iPad-like. Plus, when Rubin brought up the Gmail app, it looked almost exactly like Gmail on the iPad.
Seriously? Gmail app looked a lot like a Gmail app - but on the iPad?
Wow! How does that compare to the likeness to say... Gmail?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Engadget has the video.
Except for the fact that netbooks are cheap and not limited. While undoubtedly you are going to be able to do more with the Honeycomb tablet than an iPad and it will be cheaper, netbooks still are the way to go for laptop replacements. I can buy a netbook for a bit less than $300 that can do most of the things a tablet can do for a lot cheaper.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
In juxtaposition to the new Google tablet featuring "NVidia dual core CPU", just a few /. stories prior is a link to John Carmack opining "In the not-too-distant future, we're going to be seeing multicore on mobiles" in reference to gaming capabilities.
Interesting times.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
too big to carry around
Honeycomb's Big!
Yeah yeah yeah!
It's not Small!
No no no!
For $450 you can buy a decent convertible netbook/tablet that does both.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Apple sells a camera kit [...] for thirty bucks
Of course if it had a USB socket in the first place -- and some very standard drivers -- you could use a generic MicroSD adapter for $5.
The big advantage to the iPad for me is that it lasts all day on battery with just about constant usage. I know that it is always available if I need it without needing to find an outlet. I sometimes go 2 days without charging it. That nvidia dual core CPU I have a feeling will drain the batteries pretty quickly when something makes heavy use of it. I sure hope they put a big battery in it. If they do I would probably end up getting one. If it only lasts 5 hours on battery under medium use then it will be useless to me.
Except for the fact that netbooks are cheap and not limited. While undoubtedly you are going to be able to do more with the Honeycomb tablet than an iPad and it will be cheaper, netbooks still are the way to go for laptop replacements. I can buy a netbook for a bit less than $300 that can do most of the things a tablet can do for a lot cheaper.
The netbook/laptop format is most certainly limited. They're nearly unusable while standing or walking, and very awkward to use while sitting but not at a desk. So while you CAN buy a netbook for $300, it can do most of the things an ipad can do, except the things that it can't do or do as well. Those applications are what the slate format excels at, and individuals can decide if those applications are worth the expense.
Pretending the slate form factor is useless because it's not exactly the same as a laptop is just ignoring the obvious.
IIRC, getting spooge from a mobile device is patented by Apple. At least that's the way their fanbois act...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
For $450 you can buy a decent convertible netbook/tablet that does both.
yes, it does both less well than either of each. Convertibles give you all the bulk and weight of a laptop, combined with an OS that wasn't designed for tablet use. What's not to love?
After you spent even more money to get accessories that are already present on every other device in the market. Slashdotters aren't happy with the device because it adds completely unnecessary hurdles to use, a USB port with USB host on it would solve the vast majority of complaints. Of course this is why competitors advertise the fact that they have USB so you can hook any old USB keyboard without the need to buy unnecessary adapters. I give Apple credit for creating an accessory industry out of nothing. Why people keep buying Apple products and the proprietary connectors they use I'll never fully understand when the Archos or APad are far more useful, cost less, and come in a variety of sizes. When the iPad first came out I could understand it, but these day? Hell no
It's not about GNU Hurd, or the latest kernel or old Amiga software. I have no use for those on my tablet.
However, when I buy a piece of hardware .. i'm not buying a lifestyle, or an experience or a free pass into all the latest fashion events.
I'm buying hardware. Just that.
I don't want to change my life to work around this hardware's limitation. I don't want to do things the "apple way". I want to do things just the way I LIKE to do things.
Currently, apple doesn't give me this freedom of choice.
For me, buying an Apple product is just like using GNU Gnome. They might think they know what's good for me, but they don't really.
Regardless, i'm disgusted by the greediness and the closed nature of the company. The hardware and software are brilliant, but they could be so much more had they been open and let users do whatever they want. They could easily take over the market had the iPhone been an open platform that users can change and tweak every aspect of. Wait, you're a granny who doesn't care about these things and want you stuff to "just work"? then don't change them! But give me the choice, because I DO want to customize things!
It all comes down to choice. I like making my choices. You prefer apple to make them for you.
Sigs are for the weak.
iOS 4 didn't run as well on slower hardware (the 3G has about 1/2 the processing power of the 3GS, which has about 1/2 the processing power of the 4). But at least they all got the update.
My wife has a Samsung Captivate, which shipped months after Froyo (2.2) and still doesn't have it. And I haven't heard plans for when or if it will be released, even though Gingerbread is now out the door.
The Eclair version the phone shipped with has a major bug which makes the GPS painfully slow, and this is fixed in newer releases, but they just don't feel like letting users have that release. Screw you. You have no choice.
To top it off, the one app my wife wants on her phone is Angry Birds, but because the phones are so fragmented, and because she has an old version of Android on a brand new phone, she can't play Angry Birds.
I love many aspects of Android (OSS, Linux based, Google Backed, etc) but fragmentation is a real problem that they need to fix.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
There are brand new Android phones being shipped and sold today with 2.1 instead of 2.2, with Gingerbread out the door now. And most Android phones/carriers haven't been releasing updates.
Apple has been releasing updates for two generations back on their phones. You're complaining that Apple hasn't pushed updates back three generations, and my wife's Android phone isn't getting support/updates as a brand new phone.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Not necessarily true. You have the bulk/weight of a netbook when using it as a netbook. How is that a disadvantage?
You can load any apps/software you want, have a full keyboard, USB slots, etc.
And many of the convertible netbooks/tablets change the OS interface when in tablet mode. When you remove the screen and tablet you leave the weight of the netbook behind.
You have the best of both worlds. Why is that bad?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
It's not that I don't want to make choices ... it's that most of the "choices" I see defended here on Slashdot ... well, to be frank, I don't give a damn about them. Exercise the choice to buy it or not ... and then get over what the rest of us do with it.
Like I said, if you want the "freedom" and the "choice" to install Hurd or some other obscure thing, and if you want to obsessively fiddle with kernel parameters and mount your own filesystems in new and creative ways or do any manner of wacky things ... then, you're absolutely right, a device made by Apple isn't for you.
Apple knows that you're not their market. But the big wide consumer market is made up of people who don't have any interest (or, indeed, the knowledge) to do the kinds of things you want to. They don't want to compile a kernel, or change their window manager. They just want to touch the screen and have what they expected to see appear. Having all of those options you want largely increases the odds of messing up the device.
After using computers for almost 30 years ... well, there's just some things I don't care about doing for the most part. I can if I have to, but for a device which is primarily used for entertainment, I have no interest.
However, thanks to Apple, people are now at least making additional tablets that do give you the freedoms you want. While still leaving the rest of us the freedom to buy the one that we don't need to do that with.
Until recently, a tablet was an expensive, niche item which few people could fathom. Google wouldn't be introducing this if Apple hadn't demonstrated that people are willing to buy them.
So, run wild. Buy another tablet that suits your needs. Enjoy it. Fiddle with it. Fuck up the operating system and have to reinstall from scratch. Whatever floats your boat. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Why? When you can buy an Archos for half as much and achieve all of the same functionality and them some and in the same easy to use interface. People bought iPads because they were really easy to use, much like the iPhone. The Archos has the same strengths. They are computers for people who aren't technical.
My sister is an artist and completely computer illiterate, she can quite easily take the card out of her camera and put it in the Archos or she can even directly attach her camera, she can even print!
There's no reason to make apologies for Apple, they purposefully limited their hardware to force people to buy accessories, it's a great strategy from a business standpoint as there are a great many people who are happy to live with the limitations of the software despite the hardware being capable of much much more.
From what I've seen, most other companies have chosen to offer various sizes rather than forcing everyone into a single mold, all while charging less. Eventually this will hurt Apple as they will have to move fast to keep up and large companies have a bad habit of moving slow.
Not necessarily. There are convertibles where the screen just lays down, and there are some where the screen detaches and turns into a tablet.
Hence I said "remove the screen".
Then again, reading is hard.
Know what else is hard? buying products that don't exist.
Can you point us to where we can buy one of these detachable screen laptops? Or did you see a picture of a concept mockup someplace and confuse it with a well flushed marketplace of competing devices?
One distinct advantage the iPad has, is that it actually exists.