honeycomb

CES: Tablet wrap-up

As expected, CES 2011 was a tablet paradise. The majority of our pre-CES tablet predictions came true, including the debut of the 7-inch Dell Streak, and new arrivals from Acer, Asus, LG, MSI, and more.

Admittedly, some of our predictions were off. HP did not unveil a tablet running the WebOS platform acquired from Palm. The company is, however, announcing something big involving WebOS next month.

We also didn't see a 10-inch version of the Galaxy Tab from Samsung. Instead, the manufacturer offered up 4G and Wi-Fi-only versions of the Tab, along with a smaller Galaxy Player and an intriguing slide-out Windows tablet.

Outside of our predictions there were a few pleasant surprises.… Read more

Motorola Xoom wins Best of Show. Here's why.

LAS VEGAS--As predicted, CES 2011 was a feast of tablets. They came in small, medium, and extra large. Some even came in pairs. The most promising of the bunch included the BlackBerry PlayBook, Toshiba's 10-inch Android Tablet, the Samsung Sliding PC, and the Motorola Xoom.

Within the tablet category, the Motorola Xoom rose to the top by promising what we felt was the most anticipated mobile OS (Android Honeycomb), on impressively spec'd hardware (dual-core, 4G-compatible, HDMI out, front- and back-facing cameras), in a 10-inch format that can literally and figuratively measure up against the iPad.

Like any product … Read more

CES: Motorola reveals iPad-rival Xoom tablet

Motorola today revealed its new Android-based Xoom tablet, which the company hopes will dethrone Apple's iPad in this fast-growing market segment.

The Xoom betters the iPad in some ways--it comes standard with front- and rear-facing cameras, including one that can record in HD, compared with none in the current version of the iPad. It also boasts a larger screen with a higher resolution, supports Adobe Flash, and uses Verizon's network instead of AT&T's.

It will become the first device to run the latest version of Google's Android operating system, known as Honeycomb. The operating … Read more

Android Honeycomb video shows slick tablet OS

Google released a video today showing off the upcoming version of the Android operating system, called Honeycomb--and it is indeed just for tablets.

After a premature release earlier in the day, Andy Rubin, Google's vice president of engineering in charge of Android, published the video officially on a blog post. Here's what he had to say about Android 3.0:

Honeycomb is the next version of the Android platform, designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. We've spent a lot of time refining the user experience in Honeycomb, and we've … Read more

iPad joystick at CES 2011

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Nvidia announces a 3D sharing page called 3DVisionLive

HP may not announce a tablet at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show after all, but rather may wait until February if press invites are a decent indication of the company's plans

Asus announces a line of Android and Windows tablets as well as a new Android phone

Video streaming site Vudu is going to start streaming 3D movies

The Fling is a suction joystick for the iPad

Toshiba's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet, hands-on

Let's all give a round of applause to Toshiba, who instead of giving us a prolonged tease for its Android Honeycomb tablet (ala Motorola), had the courtesy to just lay it all out there for us. CES may be in Vegas, but that doesn't mean every great product needs to go all "Showgirls" on us.

Here's the deal. Toshiba has a 10.1-inch Android Honeycomb tablet due out the first half of 2011 (price TBD, but in the iPad ballpark). The system uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, capable of 1080p video decoding, smooth Adobe Flash support, and full-resolution video output via the integrated HDMI port.

Like the iPad, the screen is glass-covered, capacitive, LED-backlit, and supports multitouch and accelerometer screen reorientation. Unlike Apple, Toshiba set the screen resolution to a 1,280x800-pixel resolution, fixed at a 16:10 aspect ratio. Users are also treated to a haptic feedback touch-screen keyboard and dual cameras--one facing you with a 2-megapixel resolution, and the other facing out with a 5-megapixel sensor.

Around the edges you get ports for HDMI, full-size USB, Mini-USB sync, and SD card expansion. Onboard storage is yet to be announced, but other specs, such as 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, GPS, and digital compass, all come standard.

Another key feature worth noting: a removable battery. Granted, with all that horsepower, you'll probably need more than one battery to match the iPad's 10 hours of runtime--but it's still a feature not offered by any competitors. … Read more

Motorola video: iPad is just a 'giant iPhone'

Motorola is already trying to elevate its unannounced tablet above the iPad in a promotional video released Sunday.

Of course, it's easy to claim just about anything when promoting a product that hasn't been formally announced and subjected to the rigors--and possible slings and arrows--of independent reviews.

But that hasn't stopped Motorola from denigrating the iPad by calling it a "giant iPhone" in the ad (above). That statement implies that Motorola's tablet isn't just a giant Droid X. We'll see, when Motorola shows its cards at CES next month.

What do we … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 28: The first dual core Android phone (podcast)

The first dual core Android phone, a whole new Android Market. All that and more on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly for Thursday, December 16th, 2010. Join Justin Eckhouse along side guest host, Senior Associate Editor Jessica Dolcourt!

News Stories

LG’s Optimus 2X is first dual-core smartphone http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20025831-251.html

Rumor: Honeycomb will be released as Android 2.4 in February at MWC http://androidandme.com/2010/12/news/rumor-honeycomb-will-be-released-as-android-2-4-in-february-at-mwc/

Official Froyo … Read more

Motorola's Honeycomb tablet sneaks into wild

During last week's All Things D conference, Google's Andy Rubin gave the world a sneak peek at an upcoming Motorola tablet running the long-awaited tablet-optimized version of the Android OS, code-named "Honeycomb." This week, with far less fanfare, images of the 10-inch Motorola tablet popped up on a mobile forum offering a telling new detail: a Verizon logo.

The images don't offer many other notable details, but the tipster does spell out the specs, including 32GB of internal storage, an Nvidia Tegra 2 T20 dual-core processor, gyroscope sensor, a display resolution of 1,280x800 pixels, front and rear cameras (2MP/5MP), a 1GHz system processor, microSD support, 512MB of RAM, and wireless connections for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, and LTE. … Read more

Google's Rubin shows off unannounced Android tablet

A 3D version of Google Maps will accompany a Motorola tablet running Honeycomb, the next version of Google's Android, according to Google's Andy Rubin.

Rubin showed off the unreleased prototype tablet at the opening session of D: Dive Into Mobile in San Francisco today, the same day that the company announced plans to ship Gingerbread, Android version 2.3. Honeycomb and the Motorola tablet will arrive at some point next year, Rubin said, showing off the Google Maps application and eliciting more than one "oooh" from the crowd of mobile professionals.

He declined to provide any … Read more