After Gingerbread Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS is next up from Google

What is it

Just over a day has passed after the developers have had their hands officially on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and already we have reports coming in from Phandroid suggesting that Android OS Honeycomb will be arriving sometime in February of 2011. Reports have it that the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS instead of being available for all the Android-based devices will be specifically available for tablets, similar to the RIM’s new BlackBerry tablet OS. The Honeycomb is touted to come compete with an improved user interface with a cleaner apps page and video chat service that we may have expected in the Gingerbread (but didn’t get).

android honeycomb

Functionality

The Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS will be built for both mobile phones and tablets, but speaking truly as the reports have it will be the first Android version that’ll be built for the tablets specifically. The Honeycomb as we have said will come with an improved user interface, a clear app page and a new email interface, which could resemble the Gmail app for the iPad, where in the landscape mode, the inbox is displayed on the left side of the tablet’s screen while the message occupies the rest of the space on the right. Besides the aforementioned feature there’s a solid belief suggesting that the video chat facility, which may have been missed in the Gingerbread, could find place in the forthcoming Honeycomb.

android honeycomb features

What to expect

Having been through the features of the Honeycomb it is easier for us to make sense of what we can expect from the new OS when it makes debut. Thus the expected support for larger screens than its predecessors, make the Honeycomb perfect for the tablets, which again get us back to the notion that the Android 3.0 will be a precise OS for the tablets.

What not to expect

We have had the opportunity to have a look at the Motorola’s prototype tablet running the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, thus we wonder if the UI would look like what we have seen on the tablet or is this some kind of a customized version. Other than this, the Honeycomb may lack the traditional Android buttons you’re used to.

Wrap up

A new version of the Apple iPad is on its way, and there isn’t a real competitor out there as yet. But with the growing versions of Android OS and with the sophistication of the Honeycomb, it comes without guessing that we could be in for a device good to take the iPad to blow for blow. The Honeycomb’s special make for tablets and its notable differences in comparison to the Gingerbread will make the Honeycomb a success.