Everything you need to know about Android 3.0 HoneyComb

The world finally got a glimpse of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) at CES, earlier this month on the Motorola Xoom. What was previewed was Android on steroids; Google reinvented the platform with this release. Almost all of the promises and plans that they have had for the future of the platform and for the tablet market are in place. We have seen one hands-on use of the platform, but for the most part only videos of Honeycomb’s abilities.

Today all that has changed as Google has released a preview of the Android 3.0 SDK (Software Development Kit). Also released was a detailed preview of Honeycomb and everything it brings with it. We are going to lay it all out in this article so you have a detailed explanation of what is to come.

New UI Designed from the Ground Up for Tablets

While Google has not officially stated that Honeycomb will not eventually make it to phones, they have expressed that it is explicitly designed for devices with larger screen sizes.
As of right now Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is the newest smartphone OS, and considering no phone besides the Nexus S even has that version, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now if you want the Honeycomb goodness, you’re going to need to get into the tablet game.
The New Holographic UI thats has been previewed is nothing short of gorgeous. Now let’s examine the individual aspects.

System Bar, for global status and notifications

As hardware buttons have been done away with in this new version, the System Bar will remain present at the bottom of your home screens and applications at all times. It features the navigation buttons Home and Back, along with the new Recent App button.

Action Bar, for application control

The Action Bar is another new addition, and it will appear at the top of the screen whenever an application is open. The extra screen real estate gives way to a more desktop-like approach with app-specific options and settings available without the need for menu after menu. Each app controls its Action Bar, including what it displays and its theme.

Recent Apps, for easy visual multitasking

The Recent App button on the system bar displays a visual preview of the state of the app when you left it. This eliminates the need to continually cycle through the back button. This addition is one that directly improves your multitasking ability.

Android 3.0 is designed to be the most usable tablet interface in the market, and touches like this build on Android’s core strength of true multitasking.

Customizable Home screens

The five home screens are still present, with an added bonus of a dedicated visual layout mode. It allows you to preview your screens along with your available widgets and shortcuts all at once. This makes the customization process much easier by using this streamlined interface element.

Redesigned keyboard

This is a necessary addition as its not simply a matter of porting the keyboard to a larger screen. The ergonomics are completely different. Expect to see third-party attempts to accompany the stock keyboard, just as we have currently.

Improved text selection, copy and paste

This appears to be the enhancement that made its way to to Android in Gingerbread. Text selection options appear in the Action Bar on top of the screen.

Updated set of Standard Apps

The Android 3.0 platform includes an updated set of standard applications that are designed for use on larger screen devices.

Web Browser

The new browser has also been greatly enhanced and has adopted many of the features available in Google Chrome. The new features include tabbed browsing and incognito mode. In addition to that you now have the ability to have the browser automatically sign you in to any site that has Google sign-in ability. If you have the Chrome desktop browser, you can now also have your bookmarks automatically synced to your Honeycomb device.
The browser is now designed for viewing the desktop version of websites instead of cut-down mobile versions. Java and Flash apps have now gained multitouch support. Overall you can expect an experience that is almost identical to that of a desktop computer’s Chrome Browser.

Camera and Photo Gallery

The new camera interface, just like the other apps, enjoys the benefits of the larger screen. Access to the exposure, focus, flash, zoom, and the front-facing camera are all present immediately on-screen for quick access, along with a thumbnail preview to the Gallery.

Contacts

We have seen in the preview video of the new Gmail app that multiple panes are now visible simultaneously. In the contact app your contact list is to the left, and when selecting a contact you can view their information in a business card-like format to the right of your list.

Gmail

Once again multiple panes are used and just like everything else in Android 3.0, it is super user-friendly. All the information is available on one screen; no more switching back and forth when managing your mail. The updates speed up the process, allowing you to take care of more business simpler and faster.

Other Key Enhancements

Google calls the separate panes inside apps Fragments. They have given developers the ability to design and use the separate fragments in ways that they see fit, and users will have the ability to use Fragments independently of one another. Apps designed in this fashion will work across the board on Android devices, with smaller screen devices seeing each separate Fragment as different screens within the app.

Redesigned UI Widgets

Widgets have been improved and now have the ability to interact in more ways. You can now navigate through your widgets’ content by scrolling through 3D stacks, grids, or lists. The approach is much more elegant then the widgets currently available, and they mostly appear as much more visually appealing ways to have easy access to your chosen content. Gone are the stagnant text-filled boxes of older versions.

Support for Multicore Processors and Much Improved 2D/3D Performance

Android 3.0 will be the first version of the OS that takes advantage of multi-threaded processing. The enhancements made to the software also improve single core performance, so improvement will be across the board. In terms of graphic rendering a new OpenGL renderer has been implemented that will speed up 2D performance. There is another render script present for 3D that allows for high performance 3D effects for applications, wallpapers, carousels, and more.

Conclusion

There you have it: a detailed walk-through of Android 3.0 Honeycomb. There are countless improvements in this new approach to Android and to the tablet market as a whole. This is the way tablet computing should be and this should put all the other tablet software designers on notice that Google is coming with something that has capabilities beyond anything else on the horizon. They have taken great care in their design of the UI and kept to their promise of eliminating the need for manufacturers to create their own UI.
This is as good as it gets until the Motorola Xoom, the first Honeycomb device, ships in the next month or two. Hopefully the preview has given you a great understanding of the new platform, its goals, and abilities. I for one can not wait to get my hands on the Xoom and all this tablet goodness. Tell us what you think of Honeycomb so far in the comment section below.

The HoneyComb 3.0 Logo:

A new look for Google Translate for Android

When google launched the first version of Google Translate for Android in January 2010, they were excited about the year ahead. For the first time, they were bringing the capabilities supported on Google Translate—like machine translation, romanization of non-Roman scripts and spoken translations—to the Android platform. Google also offered voice input to let you speak the word or phrase you wanted to translate instead of typing it in, and SMS translation so you could translate SMS messages sent to you in foreign languages.

Today, they’re refreshing Translate for Android with several updates to make the app easier to interact with. Among other improvements, they’ve created better dropdown boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into, an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout.

They also want to let you in on an experimental feature that’s still in its earliest stages—Conversation Mode. This is a new interface within Google Translate that’s optimized to allow you to communicate fluidly with a nearby person in another language. You may have seen an early demo a few months ago, and today you can try it yourself on your Android device.

Currently, you can only use Conversation Mode when translating between English and Spanish. In conversation mode, simply press the microphone for your language and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech and read the translation out loud. Your conversation partner can then respond in their language, and you’ll hear the translation spoken back to you. Because this technology is still in alpha, factors like regional accents, background noise or rapid speech may make it difficult to understand what you’re saying. Even with these caveats, they’re excited about the future promise of this technology to be able to help people connect across languages.

As Android devices have spread across the globe, they’ve seen Translate for Android used all over. The majority of our usage now comes from outside the United States, and they’ve seen daily usage from more than 150 countries, from Malaysia to Mexico to Mozambique. It’s really rewarding for us to see how this new platform is helping us break down language barriers the world over.

Translate supports 53 languages, from Afrikaans to Yiddish, and voice input for 15 languages. You can download the application, available for devices running Android 2.1 and above, by searching for “Google Translate” in Android Market or by scanning the QR Code below.

Here look at the some features of GoogleTV which is going to released early in the year 2011.

The web is now a channel

With Google Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Google TV lets you access everything on the web. Watch your favorite web videos, view photos, play games, check fantasy scores, chat with friends, and do everything else you're accustomed to doing online. Plus, the world's best websites are now being perfected for television -- check out our Spotlight gallery for examples.

A new world of apps for your TV

Google TV will come pre-loaded with apps like Netflix, Twitter, CNBC, Pandora, Napster, NBA Game Time, Amazon Video On Demand and Gallery. Starting early next year, apps from Android Market will work on Google TV as well.

Watch the video.

Your phone = remote control

Your Android phone or iPhone can be used to control your Google TV in place of a remote control. Use your voice to search, and even use multiple phones to control the same TV. No more fighting over the remote!

Watch it now

Never miss a show again. With Google TV, you can access over 40,000 shows and movies whenever you want with Netflix ($8.99 a month) or Amazon Video On Demand (shows start at 99 cents!).

YouTube perfected for TV

YouTube is great on the web, but it's even better on television. With YouTube Leanback, you can watch videos without ever clicking play -- just sit back and watch all of your favorite YouTube content, personally chosen for you, in full screen HD. You can even create new channels on the fly.

Watch and browse,simultaneously

With Google TV, you can browse the web or open an app and watch TV on the same screen. Check your fantasy football stats while watching the game, check your @replies on Twitter during American Idol, or purchase a product online right after you watch the ad. It's just like picture-in-picture mode, but with the web and the TV.

TV gets a homepage

Turn on your television and you'll instantly have access to your favorite channels, apps, podcasts, and websites, thanks to the Google TV home screen. The home screen is customizable for you, by you, so that you can always change your preferences.

Create a TV playlist

Want to watch something, but don't have time right now? Send it to your Google Queue and watch it later. You can also subscribe to your favorite websites and video podcasts, add YouTube videos, and more. It's like building a DVR for the web.

Record from the search bar

If you're a DISH Network subscriber using Google TV, you’ll enjoy many enhanced TV and DVR features, including recording a show right from the search bar and being able to search all of your recordings at once.

Rock out in your living room

Listen to your favorite music on the best speakers in your house by creating a personal radio station on the fly with Pandora or listening to any song, any time, with Napster.

The ultimate picture frame

Turn the biggest screen in your house into a beautiful, high definition photo gallery. Now your TV can stream photos from Picasa, Flickr, and every other photo-sharing site. Plus, you can access any public gallery, not just your own.

Over-the-air updates

How many consumer electronics products go up in value after you buy them? Google TV updates itself automatically, so you'll get new features for free.