Android Honeycomb First Shots (will be on phones and tablets sometime next year)

[aohus]

I'm disappointed. I thought they were going to come up with something innovative. This is just copy pasta straight from iOS, as they've done with Android in general. And, as always, it will probably be a sluggish pile of garbage.

I'm not convinced.

again, it looks nothing like iOS. and i'm darn glad its not. stock android OS looks NOTHING like iOS. i dont know where you all are having that idea that androidOS looks exactly like iOS. it bears no resemblance.

and no, it will not be 'sluggish.' Honeycomb will be the platform that brings the masses to android.

i wonder what apple will offer for iOS 5.x and beyond. from the looks of it, android has the edge as its an all new GUI.

there has been no discussion on the added functionality of Honeycomb, but i guess we'll all have to wait and see for that.

 

[ctt1wbw]

Holy ****, that's ****ing groundbreaking! Screenshots of screens with ****ing icons and **** on there! Holy ****, nobody has that!

 

[mKTank]

again, it looks nothing like iOS. and i'm darn glad its not. stock android OS looks NOTHING like iOS. i dont know where you all are having that idea that androidOS looks exactly like iOS. it bears no resemblance.

The vast majority of the UI elements were taken directly from iOS. Even Honeycomb's mail app has the same button positioning as the iPad mail app. They didn't even bother.

and no, it will not be 'sluggish.' Honeycomb will be the platform that brings the masses to android.

It will be sluggish because it's still Java and hardware acceleration is still not properly done. Maybe not sluggish by your standards, but I've been spoiled by the smoothness of iOS. Honeycomb will be another Android update that will take a year to get on month-old devices. History teaches us that manufacturers aren't so faithful when it comes to pushing out updates on time. That packed with the horrible Android Market; I don't think this will come close to the iPad.

i wonder what apple will offer for iOS 5.x and beyond. from the looks of it, android has the edge as its an all new GUI.

How exactly does it have the edge? They just took the home screen, removed the wallpaper, and added a few extra rows and columns and viola.

 

[infowarfare]

uh, apple invented a 'grid of icons?' what are you going to say next? that Apple invented the smartphone?

Hey look! Apple copied Microsoft with their grid of icons!

You have got to be kidding... how old are you, 21, 22? Let's go a little farther back kiddo;

Back when Microsoft was still releasing this OS on "IBM Compatible" computers:

Apple DID release the first commercially available GUI with this (well actually, first with their over-priced Lisa Computer, but then with their Macintosh in 1984):

And yes, Microsoft then copied, and were sued by Apple back then when MS finally released "Windows".

Kids today... ridiculous that this even needs to be pointed out to you.

 

[Tarzanman]

Apple's GUI SUCKED in 1984 and 1985. Anyone who wanted the cutting edge graphics hardware back then had a Commodore Amiga.

Amiga screenshots were the screenshots always used on video game boxes (back when the boxes were still HUGE).

Workbench beat the the socks off of anything Microsoft or Apple would have for a few years.

 

[infowarfare]

Apple's GUI SUCKED in 1984 and 1985. Anyone who wanted the cutting edge graphics hardware back then had a Commodore Amiga.

Amiga screenshots were the screenshots always used on video game boxes (back when the boxes were still HUGE).

Workbench beat the the socks off of anything Microsoft or Apple would have for a few years.

That's not the point. The point is Apple was first to market; Apple did not copy the "grid of icons" from Microsoft as claimed by aohus, Microsoft copied and were sued by Apple.

And for full disclosure, even though back in the day I owned that first Mac and loved it, when they did finally came out I also really loved my Amigas! (Amiga 1200, Amiga 4000) and always hated Windows for good reason (and MS-DOS.)

 

[el-John-o]

good luck on battery life w/ the dual core

You know what, in all honesty, 11 hour battery life on the iPad is great. However, I would rather have dual core performance (IF the software was there that used it, if not it would be a waste) and even half that battery life. 6 hours ain't bad either. I don't know what the battery life on the android tabs are like but I think if they go dual core, the iPad might also (using the A9 Cortex which I've heard is/can-be dual core). And if it is capable of doing anything like the laptop/desktop AMD CPU's can do with 'Cool'n'Quiet', it's battery life may not be hindered at all. With something like that, core 2 would be disabled unless needed, so yes App reviews would be plagued with "Reduces battery life" because they utilize that capablilty. Still, I would rather have software that needed 2 cores and accompanying hardware, than a battery life I will rarely fully utilize (and might not need to, could charge it in the car with a $15 power inverter or an iPad car charger, but don't because the battery lasts so darn long).

-John

 

[JD914]

good luck on battery life w/ the dual core

It's a common misconception that dual core processors will use up more power than a single core. The fact is that power consumption is greatly decreased giving better battery life. Dual core 2x less power consption.

 

[mKTank]

It's a common misconception that dual core processors will use up more power than a single core. The fact is that power consumption is greatly decreased giving better battery life. Dual core 2x less power consption.

It's really the same thing with cars and fuel efficiency based on how they're driven.

Top Gear, for example, did some testing between a BMW M3 and a Toyota Prius. Driving the same speed, the M3 got better mileage because the engine in the Prius has to work at least twice as hard to get to the same speeds as the M3, so it's constantly being stressed whereas the M3's engine is barely warmed up.

One thing that keeps me doubtful that Apple will step on the dual core bandwagon is that the way they carry out multitasking is performed in a fashion that only uses RAM and not the processor. It's a brilliant method, actually, so for the iPad 2 I'd take a gig of RAM over a dual core processor, to be honest.

 

[aohus]

Apple DID release the first commercially available GUI with this (well actually, first with their over-priced Lisa Computer, but then with their Macintosh in 1984)

Actually, the Xerox Star was the first commercially available GUI OS (1981). But you're right in the fact that Apple was the first company to deliver it to the mainstream marketplace, although the Lisa cost $10k. Thanks though, I researched and learned.

 

[mKTank]

The Lisa was 10k?

Woah


$21,693.67 in 2009 dollars...


mind = blown

 

[martymcfly618]

Wow, this looks awesome..

 

[ciaran00]

I'm an iOS fan like anyone else, but the Outlook comparison is pretty honest. Mail client looks like what it should be on a big screen. Android copies a lot of things (oh look: http://www.google.com/nexus/#!/features)... but the mail client look isn't one of them. Not if we think about how we've been using Outlook for a while.

And the grid of icons.. get over it.

I think in some ways Apple does get it. The moment they release their ideas, they're up for grabs, and it's up to them to stay a step ahead. It's a constant race. In some ways it makes watching it all get pushed to the consumer very exciting. It also is why we all like Apple so much...