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A comment on Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' Honeycomb (video).

Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by zachallaun on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:17PM (#2072757)
I can only hope that Android 3.0 will be available on the swath of 2.1 and 2.2 tablets that have been released thus far. Neither of those operating systems were well optimized for tablet use.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by trotsky on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:24PM (#2072795)
It appears google is requiring a dual core cpu for Honeycomb. So it's unlikely you'll see official updates for them. Even tablets that skipped market access and such probably won't upgrade if there is a serious performance penalty, and it's hard to believe google would make that restriction if it was unnecessary.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by Kylekramer on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:27PM (#2072812)
There has been plenty of claims that Google is going to limiting hardware with the next OS update, and those are always been squashed. I mean, when has Google ever shown a even an inkling of trying to lock down Android? I'd be surprised if they could do it even if they wanted to.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by guelo on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @06:10PM (#2072978)
In order for a manufacturer to be able to include the Market on their device Google imposes a bunch of hardware restrictions. For Gingerbread the restrictions include

  - the size and density of the screen
  - it has to have a touchscreen
  - it has to have more than 128MB RAM and 150MB flash
  - it has to ship with a 1GB or greater sdcard installed
  - home, menu and back buttons required
  - all kinds of restrictions on the accelerometer,magnenometer, gps, gyro, etc
  - it has to have fast network capability
  - the camera has to be 2 megapixels or greater
  - it has to have USB
I don't see why they wouldn't be able to add a dual-core cpu as a requirement
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by Kylekramer on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @06:40PM (#2073078)
It is quite a jump from needing a pittance of RAM, touchscreen, connectivity, and a SD card to requiring a dual core. Android's model requires large market penetration, and requiring a dual core doesn't really make sense.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by blinkingled on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @10:12PM (#2073731)
There's no hard minimum processor requirement for Honeycomb. Via http://twitter.com/#!/morrildl/status/22845294886518785
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by vetinari on Thursday January 06, 2011 @01:29PM (#2076481)
It was just LG caught with their pants down making up excuses, why don't they provide updates for current products.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by trotsky on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:44PM (#2072890)
When? You mean like withholding google applications including the android market from devices that don't meet their hardware specifications?

color nook

archos PMPs

archos tablets

viewsonic g

etc.

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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by Kylekramer on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:56PM (#2072929)
I suspect all of those weren't rejected because their hardware didn't meet specifications, but the manufacturers didn't want to go through the trouble to get the Google stamp of approval. In particular, one of the last things Barnes and Noble want for their e-reader is Market access, with the Kindle app being available and all.
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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by trotsky on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @06:12PM (#2072984)
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/android-devices-crave...

Google requires [for market access] “all hardware components have the same software APIs as defined in their SDK to be compatible,” says Kitagawa. “This provides consistency to third-party developers that access these components,” he says.

That means devices always need to have some key components, such as touchscreens with a specified minimum resolution, a certain number of navigation keys, Wi-Fi, camera and accelerometer. Devices such as the Alex e-reader or a digital picture frame don’t conform to these requirements.

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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by drivebyacct2 on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @07:39PM (#2073286)
Again, that's only for access to the Market. Anyone can build Gingerbread from source right now. I just did last night.

API consistency for access to a Market based on those consistent APIs seems a pretty innocent requirement.

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Re:Google shows off Android 3.0, the 'Entirely for Tablet' H... by zachallaun on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:34PM (#2072843)
Most likely the "restrictions" will be more akin to recommendations.
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