Android News
According to Google, Android is not meant for tablets in its current state
September 9, 2010 | by Chris Smith
Android OS, Google Android, Tablets
Well, it’s post-IFA and if you aren’t tablet drunk, especially Android tablet drunk then you must have one heck of a high tolerance. We got a chance to see some of the latest tablets and even some that are actually coming to market. But according to Google, Android is still not meant for tablets, at least in its current state.
We have heard rumors of what the next versions of Android (Gingerbread and Honeycomb) may or may not be about, but it seems pretty likely that they will have some sort of tablet-centric goodness in mind. Google says that tablet devices running FroYo will not be able to access the current Android Market and that they “want to make sure that [they're] going to create a application distribution mechanism for the Android market, to ensure [their] users have right experience.” Basically, if Google doesn’t think that your current Android tablet “has what it takes”, then no Market for you.
In my opinion this makes sense; Android really is an OS made for mobile phones in mind and a tablet device should have some special attention paid to the OS that it is running, even if it is just little touches like Apple has made to iOS for the iPad. Although the changes are subtle, they really do help support the larger devices’ screen. For example, think of how ridiculous the music app in Android would look all stretched out. A huge list view with huge song names that is cludgy and ugly. Google needs the chance to customize some of the experience of native applications as well as provide developers with new tools to take advantage of the larger screen sizes.
Yes, I think that a tablet all spec’d out running FroYo would be good, but I do believe that with some added “tablet-centric” enhancements and baked in openness, Google may be able to create something that may be more compelling than the current kingpin, iPad.
Via [TechRadar UK]
Agreed with google in that, no they could make some enhancements to froyo to make it more tablet friendly… and i think the tablets they are approving they know can / will be upgradable to gingerbread..
However apart from a few apps, I think Android is probably already more suited to a table platform then ios.. Especially with all the home-screen customization.. Widgets and what not.. Theres a lot more there to already take advantage of the bigger real estate then apples junk.
Samsung did a gr8 job wid the Galaxy Tab by modifying native application and creating some new ones to fit the 7" screen……..other companies should follow them instead of putting stock Froyo onto a tablet……
My recent post Five of the Best Tablets Revealed So Far
chris smith is being a troll which i personally think is below androinica. Google had said that froyo is for phones and the gingerbread will start the split between tablets and phones. As it stands, to get the market you will need a cellular connection. “has what it takes” (cellular connection) then no Market for you. um yeah that have been apparent from the beginning. welcome to the beginning. why do you then bring apple into the conversation? androinica has always been the voice of reason when it comes to such topics. stick with that and true android fans will stick with you. I hate that this blog post (IMHO) was directed at people that don't understand the rules.
I think that they should at list give the possibility to have internet connection behind a proxy… as far as I understood that's not yet possible with android (and google said that at the moment they are not working on that feature, and they are not even planning to add it) .
Stock Android 2.2 supports up to 854×480 screen resolution. Just that is enough to say that it's not meant for tablets.
Android 3.0 is going to support up to 1280×760, which should, in theory, cover basic tablets and netbooks. More advanced devices such as high res tablets/netbooks (e.g. 1366×768) and Google TV will likely be supported in the version of Android that'll come after Gingerbread. I'll speculate that it's going to be released at the next Google I/O event.
Hypothetically due to the design of Android it should be relatively straightforward to support multiple screen resolutions with a single application package. As a developer you'll need to build screen layouts for higher resolution screens and add them to whatever is already there in your application. We'll see how it'll pan out.
I'm still waiting for Google to make up their mind on Android vs Chrome OS. The latter seemed very promising but with all the strong growth of Android the chances are Chrome OS might share the fate of Wave.
If you thought Android was fragmented fasten your seatbelt – we are about to go downhill full throttle.
Borys Burnayev
actioncomplete.com
GTD for Android and Web
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