Although Google introduced Honeycomb, or Android 3.0, a few weeks ago, some device makers were waiting for the right stage to introduce their new tablets. This week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) afforded that chance, and companies took full advantage of the opportunity. Samsung announced a future big brother for the current 7-inch Android tablet it now sells: a stock Honeycomb tablet called the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung hasn’t yet announced pricing or availability for the new slate, which was a common theme among new tablets. HTC, maker of many popular Android smartphones, is also jumping into the tablet game with its Flyer.
Two unique features of the Flyer are the size — HTC is trying its hand at the 7-inch tablet market — and a stylus that allows users to take notes or draw on the screen. Initial reports indicated the tablet wouldn’t allow for resting a hand on the screen when using the pen, but HTC has confirmed that Flyer has a dual-digitizer. That means touching the tablet when writing with the pen should work. The Flyer will run Android 2.4, not Honeycomb, but the company is attempting to make the user experience better with its HTC Sense interface. Acer, too, is focusing on smaller sized tablets; the company was showing off its Iconia A100, a 7-inch Froyo slate that the company says will run Honeycomb.
Prior to the MWC event, we already saw the Motorola Xoom and LG G-Slate, but both made encore appearances this week. Motorola finally confirmed Xoom will indeed cost $799 for the 3G/4G model Verizon Wireless will carry. A Wi-Fi version will be available for $600, which is the same price for Apple’s comparable 32 GB iPad model. LG’s G-Slate still has no price, but will be available outside the U.S. under the LG Optimus Pad name. Since it’s just a rebadge of the G-Slate, it will include all the same features, such as 1080p video playback and the unique 3-D, dual camera on the back of the device.
Supplementing the tablets were dozens of new phones that positioned Android as the star of the show. These ranged from low-end devices all the way up to dual-core, high-end handsets. While all of these ran recent phone versions of Android, there was confirmation this week on what we reported when Honeycomb launched: Many features of Google’s tablet platform will indeed filter down to phones, as we expected. Google hasn’t shared the specifics of such plans, but company CEO, Eric Schmidt, did confirm that some of Honeycomb’s user interface design is coming to smartphones in the next Android version. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence of this came from a leaked Dell product roadmap showing a fourth quarter phone that will run Android Ice Cream, which is expected to follow Honeycomb.
One application of note that works on most Android versions received a major upgrade this week: doubleTwist’s AirSync added a feature called AirTwist that streams media from an Android device to an HDTV over Wi-Fi. The AirTwist feature is supported on both the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3. I was so impressed by how easy it was to use that I cut a short video demonstration of the app. Without any configuration on my Xbox, I was able to wirelessly send video, images and music to my HDTV.
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