The market is full of smart phones and tablet devices, and with the huge demand in the market for smart phones and tablet devices, Android is no where behind to launch its own smart phones and tablets.
Android Operating System for Tablets and SmartPhones
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) are two of the latest Android mobile operating system from Google Android especially for tablets.
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Android 2.3 the Gingerbread was released in December 2010. There were lots of improvements and new features were incorporated in to Gingerbread as compared to its previous versions. The Nexus S is the newest smartphone introduced by Google in December 2010 which was powered by Gingerbread. The device was co-developed by Google and Samsung to run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Android2.3 (Gingerbread) Features
- Android 2.3(Gingerbread), supports Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi hotspot functionality can connect 6 devices. In the sense, you can use Android 2.3 phone as a wireless broadband router. It also supports for NFC (Near Field Communication) which is a high speed data communication mechanism operates in high frequency within a short range (10 cm).
- In addition to standard voice calling, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)supports for SIP audio and video calling. If you have a good 3G or Wi-Fi connection and a SIP account you can make Internet calling.
Some additional features of Android 2.3(Gingerbread) is as follows
- New user interface design with new themes (Black themes save power)
- Extra Large Screen Size supported
- SIP Communication Supported (SIP Video and Audio Calling)
- Supports for NFC (High Frequency High Speech Data Transfer in short range)
- Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding
- New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost
- Improved Copy and Paste functionality
- Redesigned Multi Touch Software Keyboard
- Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers
- New sensors support (i.e gyroscope)
- Download manager for long running HTTP downloads
- Enhanced support for native code
- Improved power management and application control
- Support for multiple cameras
Android 2.3 Gingerbread supported devices
Nexus One, Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire Z, Motorola Droid 2 and a few other handsets and tablets meets the hardware specifications for Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Features
- Tablets & Phones: Honeycomb is designed for Tablets, but would run on Phones as well, without trouble.
- All Existing Apps work: No matter for which android OS an app was developed, it would still work on Honeycomb as-is. So you already have 200,000 apps in Market plus new apps coming soon.
- Notifications Revamped: Android did great in notifications, now its even better. Gone is the pull-down notification shade used by earlier Android versions. Instead, notifications pop up much like Growl on Mac OS X. Notifications scroll better, display more info e.g. shows contact photo when someone pings you on Gtalk
- New graphics Engine: Honeycomb uses dual core, and is hence capable of producing Richer graphics using Renderscript engine. This brings fluidity and advanced visual 3-D effects, much like Apple’s Core Animation. Renderscript will also bring 3-D games that are visually stunning: one area where Android lacked.
- Application fragments: Apps can consist of small fragments that work together seamlessly. The new Gmail app for Honeycomb is a perfect example: The Inbox view will change to a message view as needed, with different panes or fragments sliding on- or off-screen.
- Intuitive camera: The new camera interface exposes settings in a rotary dial, making it easier to manipulate photo settings. The dial rotates off the screen as new controls rotate on to it.
- Google Talk Video chat: This is a great feature which had been awaited for long. Quality would really be decided by the network you are in, but it works.
- Easy multitasking: Multitasking has been Android’s true strength, but its wasn’t very accessible to users. Switching between apps is now easier, and faster. Application shows their screenshots along with icons.
- Better Market:Access to Android Web Store
- Smoother Transitions:Improved 3D graphics, animations and support for dual core processors
- Smarter widgets: Widgets are now more powerful,inherently more graphics capable in terms of scrolling, speed & transitions.
Apart from the above mentioned features, here are some additional features:
- Customizable home screen
- Automatically sync apps and settings with your phone and stay in sync as time moves on
Enriched multi media experience, improved multitasking, full browsing experience, new UI and opened to Android market - Chat face to face with millions of Google talk users
- Google Maps 5 with 3D interactions
- Send and receive mails on the go with Tablet Optimized Gmail
- A redesigned virtual keyboard, new tools for selecting text, new video chat on Google Talk and revamped versions of Google Maps and eBooks.
- Totally improved browser with tabbed browsing, Google Chrome bookmark syncing, auto form filling and many other features.
Android 3 Honeycomb supported devices
Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab are the only device currently that works on Android 3 (Honeycomb) OS
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