honeycomb

Verizon Wireless has rolled out a beefy update for owners of Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

Now being launched as a mandatory system update dubbed EC02, the 35MB package offers a variety of fixes and enhancements for the Tab.

Verizon and Samsung are promising better speed and performance for the built-in browser and less drain on the battery when searching for Wi-Fi hot spots. The e-mail and message apps have been enhanced as well. Tab users can now access hyperlinks within e-mail messages, manage and download attached Word 2000 and 2003 documents, and open video attachments 5MB in size. Adobe Flash … Read more

Motorola has sold around 100,000 Xooms since launching the new tablet in late February, says a Deutsche Bank research report released yesterday.

Based on the percentage of Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices showing up on the Android Developer Web Site, Deutsche Bank estimated the total Android installed base at around 50 million units. Of those, only 0.2 percent are running Honeycomb. That points to a figure of 100,000, give or take, for the Xoom as the only known Android tablet so far outfitted with Honeycomb.

The research firm had initially estimated sales of 50,000 Xooms during the first quarter and 150,000 for the second quarter.

In comparison, Apple may have sold 500,000 iPad 2 tablets in the first weekend it was available last month, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, though some analysts believe the figure could be as high as a million, according to Reuters. The original iPad sold to the tune of 300,000 units in its initial weekend a year ago.

Neither Motorola nor Apple has disclosed sales figures for the respective tablets.

Though the Xoom's sales may seem paltry compared with the iPad, Deutsche Bank called 100,000 units after only a short time on the market "a decent start."… Read more

Editors' note: April 6, 2011, 12:15 p.m. PT Article was updated after we noticed that Sprint changed its Web site.

Yesterday, a CNET reader spotted a Web spec on this Sprint page that claimed the forthcoming HTC Evo View 4G would run on the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

Sometime after we posted this story, Sprint's specs changed again, this time citing that the Evo View will carry the "latest version of Android."

The last we officially heard from Sprint on the matter was at CTIA, when the carrier told us that it would … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Texas Instruments announces plans to acquire National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion

Google may have an antitrust investigation on its hands soon

AT&T will now charge an extra $50 if you want to upgrade your iPhone before your two-year contract is up

Sprint is looking into mobile phone payments using NFC

Google updates Maps for Android with enhanced check-in and location-based features

Sony is reportedly launching Honeycomb tablets later this year

The Commodore 64 is back

Sony might be joining the tablet craze as early as this summer, according to a new report.

According to Bloomberg, which cited a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that his company will be launching a tablet by the end of the summer. The tablet, according to the report, will run Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Following that news, Engadget found a report from Japanese publication AV Watch, citing a Sony spokesperson who said the company will be releasing a tablet "this year." The representative said details on the device and the launch will … Read more

Google and LG are reportedly working on a Nexus tablet that could reach consumers later this year.

According to information picked up by Russian blog site Mobile-Review (Google English Translation), Google is looking to create an Android Nexus tablet following in the footsetps of its Nexus One and Nexus S smartphones. Though LG is said to be handling the actual manufacturing, the tablet would be free of any additional software often thrown in by third-party hardware makers, thus creating a pure Android device.

The new tablet would most likely run a clean version of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and could hit the market by mid-summer or early fall, added Mobile-Review.

But before consumers get too excited, the news is still decidedly in the rumor stage. Boy Genius Report pointed out that the new device could just be an engineering prototype that Google wants to use internally for tablet development.… Read more

Though it prides itself on Android being an "open" mobile operating system, Google says it's being extra-protective of the tablet version of its OS before releasing it to the world.

Google said today that it will not release the source code Android 3.0, known as Honeycomb, just yet. The company says it's not yet ready to be customized in the same manner as previous versions of the OS, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Current hardware partners will not be affected by the decision; Motorola just launched the first Honeycomb tablet, the … Read more

Adobe Systems has released version 10.2 of Flash Player for mobile devices, which addresses several shortcomings in the inaugural 10.1 incarnation.

Among the features in the new software, according to an Adobe blog post, are these:

• Integration with the browser on Android 3.0.1, aka Honeycomb, so Flash content is treated "as part of the Web page instead of as a separate 'overlay.'" That pages scroll better and look closer to how Web page designers intended.

• The ability to take advantage of better hardware in some devices with graphics chips and dual-core processors--Motorola's Atrix … Read more

Office retail giant Staples appears to be getting serious about tablets as evidenced by two leaked roadmap images. Coming from two separate sources, they confirm the company's plan to offer at least eight Android tablets from a variety of manufacturers. While some devices are a few months old and currently offered through carriers, other products have yet to be announced and have been treated only as rumors until now.

The first tablet expected to arrive at Staples is the 10.1-inch Motorola Xoom. While previously listed with a price of $599.99, PreCentral's documents show a $649.99 sticker, which is slightly higher than the $600 price Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha mentioned back in February. Staples also could get the Wi-Fi-only Xoom.

As to when the Xoom will arrive remains a mystery. DroidLife lists April whereas PreCentral taps the tablet with a launch on March 17. Both are different from DroidLife's previous listing of March 27 but still on track for the next few weeks. … Read more