Slashdot Mirror
Google Says Honeycomb Will Not Come To Smartphones
tekgoblin writes "Google has officially announced that Honeycomb will not be coming to Android based smartphones. Android 3.0 Honeycomb was specifically made for Tablets according to a Google spokesperson. Although, certain features that are present on Honeycomb will become available over time on Android smartphones. Google has not offered any information to what features will be ported over specifically."
On the bright side, Honeycomb will come with disk-encryption capabilities built in.
They said the same basic thing about Tablets and the pre-Honeycomb versions of Android... ChromeOS was supposed to be for Tablets earlier on- and people went and did Tablets with 1.x and 2.x versions anyway to mostly good results. If there's not anything explicitly keeping it from being useful on phones, SOMEONE will do a phone with it.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
So on a platform that (supposedly) is already rife with fragmentation they are going to have completely different versions just for tablets? How does this make any sense? I understand that tablets and smartphones have different uses and thus different needs, but really a completely separate version?
As an aside... What does this mean for smartphone android version numbers? Will it never get to 3.0? Or will it have a different 3.0?
iOS works on tables AND phones... is Android inferior?
Android was smart enough to know that tablets and phones are not the same thing. Yes diesel and petrol engines are both essentially the same thing but you can't load diesel into petrol or vice versa. It defeats the purpose of specialization...
I guess that is because
Honeycomb is Big!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
It's not small!
No, No, No!
Of course it doesn't, and I'm glad it won't. The UI has been adapted for big screens!
Notifications, fragments, new homescreen layout that makes better use of the extra screen space are only some of the specific changes for tablets. I hope everyone agrees that those changes don't make any sense for smartphones with smaller screens.
Note that they mention that new honeycomb features WILL make it to smartphones. So what's the news?
Some of those criticizing that Honeycomb won't make it as-is to smartphones probably only have dealt with iOS and the iPad. I have one and its a complete copy paste of the iphone, a big iphone for better and for worse. Don't get me wrong, I truly love my ipad.
You also have "fragments"/columns, apps are great. But the OS itself has clearly NOT been adapted for tablets. It works quite well, but iOS for iPad doesnt make good use of the extra screen space for multitasking. Displaying app icons instead of an expose-like UI? POPUP notifications? come on!! News like this sound like people would want the same for android.
Not for me, please!
There's a clear delineation between iPhone and iPad. With android, there are 3" phones, 5" phones, 7" phones, 7" tablets. It's like being bi-sexual -- you like dick, you like vagina, you think you're doubling your options but you're really just creeping people out. Better for everyone if they decide to be a phone or a tablet and design around that.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
At launch the iPad was running a version of iOS (3.2) customized specifically for it, and this version never was released for the iPhone. Furthermore, when Apple released iOS 4, it wasn't compatible with the iPad. It was 7 months before they released 4.2 which was compatible with both. Google could very well be taking the same route here; getting things right on the tablet while continuing to advance the phones, and merging in a later release.
The following is a legit set of questions...
First, are tablet PCs *REALLY* the future of computing? I mean, PADDs were cool on Star Trek and all, but are they really more desirable than either smaller form factor laptops and/or the iPod Touch and its ilk on a grand scale? I realize that not everyone is like me and needs to carry around an 11-pound laptop everywhere, but despite the current iPad/Galaxy Tab craze, is it really likely that tablets will be the de facto laptop replacement in five years?
Second, and more relevant to the topic, what's the major difference at an OS level in Honeycomb that makes it ideal for a tablet that's either 1.) unsuitable for mobile phones, or 2.) optimized for a tablet? I can see things at the application level that could be different (a bleeding obvious example being the Office 2007/2010 Ribbon), and making apps optimized for a tablet sized display would yield different capabilities, the least of which being a little UI scaling so there aren't unnecessary empty areas where additional controls could replace cascading menus,but at the OS level, what kind of tablet optimizations would make the code so radically different from smartphones and iPod Touch clones that it deserves its own fork?
At my company we had to change our pricing for mobile application development. If our customers want iOS, the price is X and includes QA for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. If you want Android, the price starts at $X with the Nexus being the device that undergoes QA. Each additional platform (handset/device) they want a QA agreement on is an additional $X. On average this makes Android 3X more expensive as they'll want at least a motorola(Verizon), HTC (Sprint/T-Mobile), and Samsung handset tested and approved.
We'll just be treating the new tablets each as a separate platform for QA/billing purposes.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Looks like Google clarified what they said a bit (original source): http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/03/google-will-not-bring-honeycomb-to-smartphones/
iOS has not been optimized for tablets, only apps can make use of columns and similar layouts(and by the way, those ipad apps DONT work on iOS, or have you seen any column-divided app for the iphone?), the OS itself (notifications, multitasking, etc.) doesn't really make good use of the extra screen space.
Please have a look at the xoom demos. Done? Yes, now you can start wishing apple had done those kind of improvements like better notifications and expose-like UI for multitasking for the ipad as well.
Do you REALLY expect apps that are designed for big screens to make it to the smaller screens? I don't.
"certain features that are present on Honeycomb will become available over time on Android smartphones" - so what's the big deal? Even the ipad (btw, I own one and I like it very much in spite of my rants) got the *exact* same multitasking capabilities and UI about 6 months later than the iphone.
wow, finally got first comment! :-)
Forgot to say that iOS and OSX are likely to merge sometime in the future too, and are related technologies... but I suppose so is this Android with the other ones. Will Android ever run desktop/laptop/server computers?
The original source has been updated (see: http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/03/google-will-not-bring-honeycomb-to-smartphones/ )
"It turns out there may have been a bit of confusion surrounding Kovacs’ comments at the Google event. Google reached out to clarify, supplying BGR with the following statement: 'The version of Honeycomb we’ve shown is optimized for tablet form factors. All of the UI changes are the future of Android. Yesterday’s event focused on tablet form factors, which is where you’ll first see Honeycomb.'"
So, it makes you wonder why people own both when you could just have the iPhone Extreme Edition and make calls with Google Voice or something (I should work in marketting since I used to call it the iPhone XL, but Extreme sounds hip to the young kids, they will eat it alive)
The world is how you make it
no the article is wrong
i think the original article was written for pc magazine and has been rewritten on other sites.
http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/03/google-will-not-bring-honeycomb-to-smartphones/
UPDATE: It turns out there may have been a bit of confusion surrounding Kovacsâ(TM) comments at the Google event. Google reached out to clarify, supplying BGR with the following statement: âoeThe version of Honeycomb weâ(TM)ve shown is optimized for tablet form factors. All of the UI changes are the future of Android. Yesterdayâ(TM)s event focused on tablet form factors, which is where youâ(TM)ll first see Honeycomb.â
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
Ummmm..... Hasn't google been saying the Honeycomb is a TABLET ANDROID OS BUILD since it was first talked about. Gingerbread is the new shit for Android smart phones and HoneyComb is version 1.0 for Android Tablets.
Dude, chill.
Also http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/03/google-will-not-bring-honeycomb-to-smartphones/
People have already run it on desktop/laptops. It does not make sense for a server, which are generally headless never mind not having a touch interface.
Your analogy is flawed. The workings of a diesel & petrol engine are essentially the same, just some minor adjustments between them. They still work on the same principles (combustion, rotating crank, pistons, etc).
iOS has a foundation that can move between phone & tablet, the UI is what changes. If Android cannot do this, then there's something wrong in the world of google. This is pretty much the final proof everyone needed that Android is massively fragmented.
Go check out nookcolors running 2.2. Makes a heck of a good tablet.
Just like the computer market. All screens are the same size and all have the same resolution. Otherwise apps wouldn't run on all of them!
Oh wait...
So if Android Really is Open Source, it really doesn't matter what Google says, because anybody who has the ability can modify Honeycomb Android such that it *will* work well on smartphones.
Also the fact that Froyo was *not* for tablets didn't prevent many manufacturers from putting Froyo on tablets.
However I do agree that without modifications, the base builds of Android for Tablets aren't optimal for Smartphones and vice versa.
There are not minor adjustments between the two. Diesel engines lack spark-plugs and are compression ignition, this is totally different than both Otto and Atkinson cycle engines. Dies-Otto does blend the two concepts but it is quite unlike both of its parents.
It seems your knowledge about android is as limited as your knowledge about engines.
Not sure why you find it funny.
14.7 million people obviously disagree.
Google has officially announced...
Oh really? Where's the link to Google's announcement, then? I'm pretty sure that if Google "officially announces" something, it'll be on Google's blog, or the Android blog, or something. Enough with claiming "Official Announcement!" and then linking to some random second-rate blog...
Not sure if you posted that link before or after the update was issued. If before, look at the update.
And this is just Google's official stance. They won't certify any devices "with Google" unless they meet the criteria. Once the source code is out there, people will do what they want with it, port it to phones or whatever.
Credit where due.. This is the original article... http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379271,00.asp
The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development
UPDATE: It turns out there may have been a bit of confusion surrounding Kovacs’ comments at the Google event. Google reached out to clarify, supplying BGR with the following statement: “The version of Honeycomb we’ve shown is optimized for tablet form factors. All of the UI changes are the future of Android. Yesterday’s event focused on tablet form factors, which is where you’ll first see Honeycomb.”
In other words, they said it's going to be optimized for tablets first but did not specifically state that it won't be on phones.
Ohhh, "something wrong". It's one version of the OS. When is iOS 4.0 coming for the iPad? Never, of course. Just like iOS 3.2 was iPad only and never came for the other Apple gadgets. So obviously there's something seriously wrong with iOS. Grow a brain.
iOS on the iPhone and on the iPad are the same operating systems but have different interfaces. Using the same OS allows for universal apps that seamlessly run on both. This is further fragmentation of the Android platform.
That must be why the iPad is the #1 tablet.
What happened to all the good anonymous Slashdot trolls?
First, are tablet PCs *REALLY* the future of computing?
No, they aren't the future of computing, anymore than any one of servers running could-enabling software, traditional laptops, smartphones and so on is the future of computing.
Like each of those other things, tablets are part of the present of computing that is bound to have a role for quite some time in the future.
is it really likely that tablets will be the de facto laptop replacement in five years?
No, its likely that tablets will replace laptops for some users in 5 years (and, for some, they already have) and that they will fill serve new roles that laptops don't currently serve for other users. The set of niches for computing devices to fill is not fixed with new devices competing over the same limited set of niches. When laptops were introduced, some of them displaced desktops, but more of them opened up new roles.
Second, and more relevant to the topic, what's the major difference at an OS level in Honeycomb that makes it ideal for a tablet that's either 1.) unsuitable for mobile phones, or 2.) optimized for a tablet?
The ActionBar and some other UI changes are pretty much the only tablet specific parts. Other bits may be more resource intensive and not appropriate for current smartphones, but I wouldn't be surprised to see all of the features make it into Android versions targetting phones eventually. (Probably many of the features will come to phones relatively quickly in Ice Cream.)
And this is just Google's official stance.
Or not. As pointed out a couple other places in the thread, Google has since clarified, saying “The version of Honeycomb we’ve shown is optimized for tablet form factors. All of the UI changes are the future of Android. Yesterday’s event focused on tablet form factors, which is where you’ll first see Honeycomb.”
I'm still waiting for google to get it's ass in gear and release the update for the nexus one. Come on, google, you said it was going to be your damn reference hardware.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
iOS works on tables AND phones... is Android inferior?
Tables? that's MS Surface.
As for iOS they have a tablet version on the ipad and a phone version on the iphone, just like Android will have.
Bet you it wont, Honeycomb is still going to have the Dalvik VM and will still run all the old Android apps.
I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
Same reason iOS 3.2 wasn't iOS Tablet 1.0.
Try telling that to Samsung, I'd take my Galaxy Tab over the iPad anyday.
This sig has been distributed under the Creative Commons license.
14.7 Million people are fucking idiots.
So?
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
You really should not post about things that you have no real knowledge of.
Not saying that you are stupid, but a post like that could lead many to that conclusion.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
umm, my iPad runs iOS 4.X, your point? Maybe research a bit more into the devices rather than trolling.
Wow, you've just stated the differences and said they are completely different. Meanwhile they still work on the same principles. Learn something about engines yourself.
More netbooks than that sell each month. Intel sells more processors than that in two weeks (well uh, maybe not these two weeks specifically). 14 million is nothing in this industry, no matter how much Steve wants you to believe otherwise.
Look: iOS 3.2: iPad only. iOS 4.0 and 4.1: iPhone/iPod Touch only. Then, finally, with 4.2, they converge. And now Honeycomb: tablet only. Exactly like iOS 3.2. Must be nice to live in the RDF.
Atlan: How soon can this be fitted to our space choppers?
Plaxton: Napier.
[Napier exits]
Atlan: Well?
Plaxton: What's wrong with the Mark One? It gives your space choppers TD twelve.
Atlan: Not as good as fifteen. No Space Rat likes to put up with second best.
Plaxton: Speed and violence. That's all you Space Rats think about.
Atlan: As you well know, I am not a Space Rat. But so long as I give them what they want, they accept me as their leader.
Plaxton: Mindless destruction of Federation ships. It's mindless; you don't have a plan.
Atlan: Maybe the Space Rats haven't got a plan, Dr. Plaxton. But we could have: total control over all the space trade routes.
Plaxton: I want no part of that. All I want to do is to develop my space drive.
Atlan: Fine! So how soon can this be fitted to our space choppers?
Plaxton: It can't.
Atlan: Why not?
Plaxton: Because this is the only one.
Atlan: So build [pounds table] more! We've provided you with enough raw material to build five hundred!
Plaxton: I am a scientist, not a production engineer! And the other reason why this can't be fitted to your space choppers is quite simply it won't fit!
Atlan: Why not?!
Plaxton: Because the only way to increase the power was to increase the size of the photon generator chambers. This drive was intended to be installed in a real spacecraft, not in toys driven by a bunch of murderous psychopaths.
Atlan: Our agreement--
Plaxton: Our agreement was that you provide me with the resources to continue with my work. Well, that's exactly what I have done.
Atlan: [grabs her, holds a gun to her head] You will start modification work on the Space Drive now, Dr. Plaxton. If you refuse, I will tell the Space Rats that you are depriving them of speed, and I will let them deal with you in their own fashion.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
It's the same iOS, but some UI classes are only available on the iPad and some UI elements are slightly different on the iPad -- as they should be.
There's a clear delineation between iPhone and iPad. With android, there are 3" phones, 5" phones, 7" phones, 7" tablets. It's like being bi-sexual -- you like dick, you like vagina, you think you're doubling your options but you're really just creeping people out. Better for everyone if they decide to be a phone or a tablet and design around that.
My God. You just called Google a pervert.
This can't end well for you.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Of course Android and iOS make GREAT sense as a vm guest os on the server, as a VDI desktop for both Android and iOS in the cloud. I had hoped someone would have figured this out by now.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
And I'm sure you think sticking your dick in a chick's asshole is no different than sticking your dick in a dude's asshole.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Honeycomb looks amazing on a tablet, and just like Steve Jobs said, iOS is like "baby software" compared to it.
Apple needs to make iOS on tablet more optimized for the bigger screen, and for the same reason, I don't expect Honeycomb fits the small screen of a smart phone. iOS still makes more sense on a Phone.
Back in as early as '09, Google was stating that ChromeOS was not intended for tablet or solely-touchscreen devices; Only netbooks and other small laptops.
- http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/google-not-focused-on-touchscreens-for-chrome-os-652656
I have to wonder about your "expose-like UI for multitasking" comment - given that that's a pretty popular feature in Mac OS, wouldn't you think that they considered implementing a similar UI for the iOS multitasking, but opted not to for some reason?
Whyt he fuck does the new system, in your "Comments" section for your account, take you to the parent conversation when you click on it instead of your fucking post? It's very stupid, is this some new "default" functionality I need to turn off? Seriously, why would I want to dig through a conversation tree looking for _my_ post, instead of being taken right to it?
Kid-proof tablet..
Google will be porting the UI to phones, at least wherever it makes sense. Some of the changes to the built-in apps that really depend on the extra screen space will not make it back to the phones, which will usesomething different, likely whatever is currently being done for those apps on phones.
But the on-screen buttons for example is a feature that will (has already been confimed) be coming to phones[1] (although it will likely only show up on phones designed without the corresponding physical buttons.)
I also fully expect the overflow menu feature to come to phones since it is far too easy to forget about the menus currently displayed by the menu key.
[1] and has in fact long been permitted in in the Android Compatibility Definition Document, in anticipation of somebody doing the work. Nobody else stepped up so Google did it as part of Honeycomb.
Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
I honestly can't see your point. So, they weren't identical when the iPad was released, but now they are, as Apple always said they would converge. Meanwhile, Google has said that Android won't converge (according to the summary, at least).
Really, though, does it matter that much? The iPad-specific UI elements wouldn't work on the iPhone, just like some of the new features in Honeycomb wouldn't work well on a phone, either.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
No, the summary specifically says that Android Honeycomb, assumed to be 3.0, is going to be tablets only. It says nothing about 3.1, and neither does the linked story.
And no, it doesn't matter one bit, I'm just pointing out that the guy I was replying to is an idiot fanboy whose "criticism" can just as well be pointed at the guys he praises with the same "insightful" words.
...anyone else think this is a seriously bad idea?
You're essentially creating two operating systems to develop for. Now I don't just have to support the quirks of iPhone+iPad+iTouch/Android I have to support Android Tablet as well.
I seriously hope, and there very likely is, a plan at Google exists for merging at 3.1 or something similar. Come on Google, Android is much more developer friendly than iOS, let's keep it that way (please note that I did not say 'better'.)
Loading...
Comment above is not flamebait, please mod up.
My take on it: The smart people at Google are in this case too boneheaded to figure out how to integrate two different build profiles into the same project. Or they are evil because they don't want the inevitable freedoms of the netpad release to leak into proprietary lockdown land of the phone release. Either way it does not look good on Google.
Message to smart people at Mountain View: it's all just Linux and Libc in spite of what you pretend. Please don't insult our intelligence.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
You are right, but they also have Growl notifications which are great for OSX, but maybe opted not to as well.
Why they would do that instead of replacing those very annoying popups, however, is beyond my mind...
I just doubt they bothered to try hard enough, I find the current implementation of multitasking not as good as on other platforms.
I don't think compositing+expose makes any sense (yet) for phones and tablets. Since that would require true multitasking, and current platforms don't really follow that opened/closed paradigm. However, they could have displayed a shot of how the app looked like at the precise time the user switched away from it. (Honeycomb does precisely that, looks much better than the approach in previous android versions and iOS, if you ask me)
I suppose we'll never know, but I do find it curious that Apple would choose not to implement it that way - "not bothering to try hard enough" simply doesn't seem typical of Apple's product design philosophy, so I'd find it interesting to hear whether they felt there were usability or technological limitations to implementing expose-like functionality, or if they truly did "just not bother."
My sense is that shots of how an app looked at the time you switched away would have been oddly un-compelling on ~3 inch phone screen, since over time, you'll end up with 10-12 apps running easily (currently running on mine at this moment: phone, sms, mail, facebook, ipod, sirius, pandora, safari, camera, maps, blizzard authenticator, and a weather app...) -- displaying each of those "as they looked when I swapped out" would result in a lot of very tiny screen shots that simply wouldn't be helpful. On an iPad, it might be a little more useful, but it's possible they opted for consistency rather than varying look and feel between the two.