Android News, Android Reviews, and Everything Android
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9nxx066eHE&feature=player_embedded[/video]
A new Honeycomb video has come out from the folks over at AndroidDevelopersBlog that shows off a bunch of the new animations in Android 3.0. The API Demo’s include cloning, bouncing balls, custom evaluator, default layout animations, events, hide-show animations, layout animations, loading, multiple properties and reversing. If you’re an Android developer, then you definitely will want to check out this video.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gl_D-NjncY&feature=player_embedded#at=116[/video]
It was only a matter of time before we started seeing Android 3.0 ported over to a variety of handsets. Right now, you’re looking at Honeycomb on a HTC DROID Incredible. From what we can see the OS seems to run fairly smooth and includes just about all the features that you’d see on a tablet. As you’d expect, there is some lag during certain parts, but we’d have to say that’s more of the DI’s fault than the OS itself. Watch the short clip above for a closer look!
Feast your eyes on what’s being considered HTC’s new flagship smartphone; The HTC Revolver. This Android smartphone is rumored to launch on AT&T and run on the (tablet-optimized) OS, Honeycomb. How HTC plans to do this, we’re not sure- but we’re guessing it would have something to do with Android 2.4. Specs of the HTC Revolver include:
Whether or not this device is legit, we won’t know for sure until either HTC or AT&T give some sort of announcement on their website. The tipster who submitted this photo (above) noted that a “coming soon” image would hit AT&T’s site sometime this Spring. Let’s cross our fingers that this turns out to be another kick-ass Android phone for AT&T.
Well, well- look what we have here. The Motorola XOOM tablet seems to come in more than just an all-black casing like we’ve seen in just about every video review across the web. This silver and black version was spotted in Dubai, along with the video review below which gives you a closer look at the XOOM tablet itself. We all love options, and hopefully this WiFi-Only version that was spotted with the FCC will be much cheaper than the $800 MSRP that we’ve all been dreading.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYyYSQn8XHo&feature=player_embedded[/video]
We originally knew that the Dell Streak was considered a tablet, so it would make perfect sense to throw Android 3.0 on it, now wouldn’t it? This video above demonstrates a (very early) build of the Honeycomb SDK for the Dell Streak. While it appears to be very buggy still, it’s a good sight to see for this device to be running a form of Honeycomb instead of Froyo. If my hunches are right, we could be seeing a solid SDK port within a month or so from now.
A new device has been appearing across the web that strikes me as a little strange. As we all know, Android 3.0 was specifically designed for tablets, and tablets alone. There have been rumors of an Android 2.4 which is said to be Honeycomb for Smartphones, but there’s no solid evidence that this is even true. This device pictured above is called the Motorola Bee. This phantom device would run Android 3.0 along with the following features:
There’s a couple different aspects of this “Bee” that bother me. One, this device is almost identical to the Motorola Atrix 4G. I mean, down to the size, shape, and even the fingerprint lock. Secondly, these images alone look like the work of a Photoshop student during his first day of class. I’m not saying that the Motorola Bee doesn’t exist or is not plausible, because lets face it. The folks over at XDA will surely have some sort of Honeycomb port in the very near future that we could dump on our hardware compatible Android devices, but this… just doesn’t seem legit.
Let us know your thoughts!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfJuigJebRg&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Alright, fellow DroidNerds. If you happened to have missed the Android 3.0 Event yesterday which was streamed live on the Android Developers YouTube channel, then you’ll be excited to know that they’ve finally uploaded the replay video to their channel. We’ve posted the video above, and don’t forget you can also check out the presentation highlights which we posted yesterday after the event. Enjoy!
If you plan on getting a new tablet sporting Honeycomb here in the near future, then you would probably be interested in a nifty little application called Swiftkey. This keyboard app divides up your standard QWERTY keyboard into 3 sections. With letters taking both the left and right sides, and numbers in the middle, this will make typing on your 10-inch tablet much more convenient and hassle free. While your thumbs will do all the work with SwiftKey, this application also still brings us word prediction. Also split into 3 sections, SwiftKey’s word prediction will display the best guess, which just by hitting the space bar- will automatically enter it for you, along with it’s next best guess on the right, and intended words on the left.
TouchType is hoping to have SwiftKey available in Beta form not long after Mobile World Congress this month, and then a final version in April. Check out the short clilp of SwiftKey in action below.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byH4ZS9WOyk&feature=player_embedded[/video]
While we’ve all been waiting for a tablet optimized Android OS for quite some time now, Google’s Android 3.0 Event which was streamed live today, presented some fantastic new features of the OS which will be available on upcoming Honeycomb tablets very soon. Most aspects of the new OS were covered such as the new Cloud support, Renderscript technology, Video Chatting, Improved Gmail, Android Market Webstore, and In-App Purchasing. In case you missed the event online, here’s a taste of what Honeycomb has to offer.
CLOUD SUPPORT
MULTI-TOUCH SUPPORT
RENDERSCRIPT
ANDROID MARKET WEBSTORE
[INDENT][INDENT]
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
BUYER CURRENCY SUPPORT
IN-APP PURCHASING
What we’ve seen of Honeycomb thus far is absolutely stunning. The smooth transitions of the OS along with the vibrant color schemes really show how hard the Android Developer team has been working to make the most bad-ass tablet OS than any other tablet on the market today. One thing is for sure, Apple sure better get their act together because Android 3.0 is going to set the new standard for multi-function, easy-to-use software.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUGNCIozp0[/video]
Today’s the big day, folks. Don’t forget that Google will be hosting the Android 3.0 event today to discuss, demo and give us some tasty news regarding Honeycomb and hopefully some new tablets to go along with it. The event starts at 10:00am PST, and can be streamed online from the Android Developers YouTube Channel. We’ll be posting as the event airs, as well as after in case you don’t get to catch the live stream online.
