Japan’s e-Mobile has landed its first Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet in the form of the Sharp A01SH Galapagos. This 7-inch slate packs the industry standard 1 GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor and matches the original Galaxy Tab’s 1024 x 600 pixel screen resolution.
Tagged ‘Android 3.0’
This weekend the first wave of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 reviews were released. Despite an overwhelming appreciation for the hardware, build quality and design, the slate carved out ho-hum scores due to its OS, Android Honeycomb.
As a firm believer in software’s ability to wield better performance from existing hardware I’m perplexed by the Honeycomb situation. Developers are not flocking in droves like I’d expected and in three months we have just a handful of Honeycomb-optimized apps.
The most popular alternative Android keyboard, Swype, has just been updated to version 3.0 beta. In order to participate in the beta, you’ll need to register for a Swype account and be willing to live with a few kinks here and there. The reward for your time is an Android Honeycomb-compatible virtual keyboard rockstar.
Swype 3.0 beta supports both landscape and portrait mode in Android Honeycomb. In addition to sliding your fingers across the screen, letter can be tapped out individually to use the keyboard’s predictive text function. Another nice touch is the keyboard can be resized much like the virtual keyboard found on webOS for the HP TouchPad. There’s also three positions to choose from: left, center, right.
The Android Market is a work in progress. Yesterday Google updated its application store to include a list compatible handsets beneath each title. Although screening was previously available while browsing on an Android smartphone, the update is particularly useful for those who browse and install via the web store.
Unfortunately Google made one major omission with the update. They forgot to include a filter for Honeycomb apps. As an Android tablet owner I cannot begin to explain my frustration in finding quality Honeycomb-optimized apps. We are no closer to solving the issue today than we were several months ago when 3.0 launched.
Originally scheduled to launch in May, the Asus Eee Pad Slider has quickly become one of the most highly anticipated Android Honeycomb tablets to date. Thanks to an almost a cult-like following, the sliding slate seems destined to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.
Over on Amazon Germany, the Eee Pad Slider is now listed as coming soon. Release date and pricing information remains a mystery, but a listing on Amazon is always a good sign. Word on the street is the slate will retail for a price somewhere in the range of $500-$800 (£304-£486).
Hitting the scales at less than a pound, the 7-inch ViewSonic ViewPad 7x will be one of the first bite-sized Android Honeycomb tablets to come to market. Despite its small stature, the ViewPad 7x is no slouch in the specs department, packing the same 1 GHz nVidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor as its much larger counterparts. It appears the Acer Iconia Tab A100 and HTC Flyer have a new competitor, game on.
If you own an Android smartphone, listen up. The Register has just revealed details on an Android vulnerability which could potentially allow hackers to collect digital tokens, normally stored on our smartphones, after we authenticate with a password protected service. Bottom line, logging into websites while using public WiFi networks may be bad for your health, and wallet.
It’s time to put the speculation to rest, Motorola has come clean with sales data for its inaugural tablet, the Motorola Xoom. More than 250,000 Xooms have been shipped by the manufacturer during the first quarter of 2011, a respectable number, but shipments and actual device sales are quite different from a retail perspective. Combined with 9.3 million mobile device, 4.1-million representing smartphones, and it’s easy to see why Motorola’s net revenues were up 30 percent compared with the year-ago quarter.