Hands on: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) review
With the tablet edition due out on loads of devices soon, we take a look at its new features
UPDATE: we’ve had our first tablet in, so read our full Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) review now.
With tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb just about to come out on a wide range of tablets we thought it was about time that we took a look at the new OS to see what it can offer. We’re using the Android SDK to run a virtual Android 3.0 system; actual tablets may differ slightly.
The first thing to notice about Android 3.0 is the soft-keys at the bottom of the Homescreen. These replace the physical buttons on Android smartphones, as it’s arguably harder to reach for a physical button on a larger tablet device.
It’s not the first time that we’ve seen softkeys in action, as the Advent Vega also had this; however, for the Vega the softkeys were an add-on and could disappear behind applications. With Android 3.0, these keys are built into the OS, meaning that you can always reach them. In most cases that means that they’re on screen, but for apps that can go full-screen, they can pop-up out of the bottom.
The Homescreen is largely similar to that on Android smartphones, with multiple screens that you can customise with shortcuts and widgets. Moving between homescreens is the same as on the smartphones, you just swipe your finger across the screen.
Alternatively, you can hit the Plus button at the top-right of the screen to bring down a thumbnail view of your available homescreens. This also gets you access to the library of Widgets and Applications, which you can drag onto your homescreen of choice. It’s not wildly different to the way that Android smartphones work, but it makes use of the larger, high resolution screens that tablets have.
With an Android smartphone, holding down the Home button brings up a list of Recent apps to switch between. With Android 3.0 there’s a task switcher button on the toolbar at the bottom, which brings up a list of recent apps, along with a preview window for each. Again, it’s not game changing, but it does make more use of the larger, higher resolution screens that tablets have.
Tapping the clock at the bottom-right of the screen brings up the time, date, signal strength, notifications (new email and so on) and battery charge for the tablet. Hitting the Settings icon, then lets you choose Airplane mode, configure Wi-Fi, lock the screen orientation, set the screen brightness and turn Notifications on and off. It’s important to be able to quickly reach settings like these and we like the smooth way that they’ve been integrated in Android 3.0.
Where things really have changed is with the apps. The browser has been overhauled and now has tabbed browsing available at the top of the screen in the same way as Google Chrome on a desktop computer. It makes for a much more satisfying browsing experience.
In addition, the browser now supports synching with Google Chrome, so you can share all of your bookmarks across multiple computers and tablets with a single login. We really wish that Google would introduce this feature into its smartphones.
Email has also had a big improvement. The standard email app for POP3, IMAP and Exchange accounts now has multiple panels. Opening it up gives you a list of folders, then a list of messages; hitting an email opens up that mail in a new panel. The list of folders disappears at this point (press the back button to get it back), but you’re left with a list of messages instead. Google has updated the Gmail app to work in a similar way, making more use of the larger screen on tablet.
It really seems to work. Tiny interfaces are fine for smartphones, but when you’ve got acres more space to play with it makes sense to use them.
Other developers are free to make Android 3.0 apps only, just as Apple developers can make iPad-only apps. The only question is how quickly Android 3.0 apps will be ready.
Using an emulator for Android isn’t ideal, as you don’t get a feel for how responsive the OS really is. That said, having played with the OS for a bit now, we’re quite taken with it. It seems to address the big issues with current Android phones, which are to be expected when you basically blow-up a smartphone OS on to a big screen, and turns Google’s OS into a real competitor to the iPad.
