Next version of Google Android operating system targets tablet computers Google has offered the first look at its forthcoming ‘Honeycomb’ mobile OS. This is version 3.0 of Android, and has been designed specifically for tablets.
The OS requires no physical buttons on a tablet, instead displaying a software keyboard onscreen. The advantage to this design is that buttons appear at the bottom of the screen, no matter which way around the tablet is being held.
Google has also demoed the way that widgets work in Honeycomb, and claims that they are more powerful. A Gmail widget lets you quickly scroll through email messages from the home screen; a Calendar widget works in a similar fashion.
Honeycomb also allows widgets to be configured for individual contacts. You can pin a widget to the home screen for a friend and updates about that person will automatically appear. The feature is reminiscent of the ’tiles feature found in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform, which lets you create a tile for a contact that updates with recent information about that person.
The OS receives notifications of new messages, but includes more data than in previous Android versions. For instance, when you receive an email, the notification that pops up includes a small photo of the person who sent the message.
Gmail has been redesigned for use with tablets in Honeycomb. It displays three columns, with a list of folders in the left, contacts in the middle, and recent messages on the right. When used with Google Maps 5.0, Honeycomb lets you drag two fingers on the screen to tilt the map and show drawings of buildings.
“We wanted our tablet experience to be better, not just bigger,” said Mike Cleron, principal software engineer for Google. “It shows you what you can do with an OS that has been designed from the ground up for multitasking.”
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