Today, Google announced that there would be a tablet specific version of android. Codenamed Honeycomb, the release is rumoured to have higher resolutions and APIs that are tablet specific. Apparently, according to Google – apps will know if they are being run on a tablet device.
Video Demo: http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20101206/googles-andy-rubin-shows-off-prototype-motorola-tablet/
Transcript of Demo: http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20101206/googles-andy-rubin-dives-into-android/?mod=dive-into-mobile
There are some interesting multitouch gestures that Andy Rubin used to rotate and pan the map view.
Interestingly enough, we wonder whether this is just Google catching up to Apple (with a lot of the interface design principles being borrowed from the iPad). Also, we wonder what other features Honeycomb will have that are very specific to tablets besides the multiple frames/views. Google is famed for producing great, usable UIs, but I still have yet to be convinced about android. Maybe Honeycomb will sweeten me up on that one?
Kate Ho 