Android Not Ready for Tablet PCs Yet, Google Says

Operating system Android is not quite ready for tablet PCs

Operating system Android is not quite ready for tablet PCs, according to owner Google.

“Froyo is not optimized for use on tablets,” Hugo Barra, Google director of mobile products said last week. Froyo is the name of Android's latest version.

The announcement came despite many tablet models running on Android showcased at IFA Berlin.

“If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run, (Froyo) is just not designed for that form factor,” Barra said.

This can explain why supposedly Android tablets in the market are much like smart phones in form and function.

For example, the Dell Streak, introduced this summer in the United States and the U.K., has been advertised as a tablet, but it has a relatively small 5-inch screen like a smart phone, has voice calling, and retailed through carriers.

Meanwhile, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which runs Froyo, has a 7-inch screen that also allows phone calls and sold by carriers.

The Korean manufacturer is also saying that the gadget will be upgradable to Android 3.0, dubbed Gingerbread. But the next version of Android called Honeycomb would not be run on the initial Galaxy Tab units, but instead will be supported by future hardware.

“Since we emphasized portability and mobility, our determination was to apply smart phone platform instead of tablet platform,” W.P. Hong, director of mobile products for Samsung, said last week. “Honeycomb will be implemented in our next-generation tablet, not this device, because that (Honeycomb) is specifically optimized for a different type of tablet. This emphasizes mobility.”

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Monday September 13 2010, 9:16 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0