Review of Android 3.0 HoneyComb

Google today unveiled the Android 3.0 a.k.a Honeycomb at the CES,the new enhanced 3.0 version of Android is specially designed for Tablets and is first ported on the LG’s G-Slate and Motorola Xoom.Lets have a look over the new features and enhancements in the android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb New features

1)Interface : The new interface is much more user friendly,the very first sight of the UI took us aback and this certainly looks something more than the Android OS we have seen till now.The home screen space is brilliantly distributed with the four corners decorated with well thought in  functions

• Top right :Shortcut to apps and to customize the home screen with desired widgets (add or remove).
• Top left :The mighty google search has been placed in top left (*both voice & text search).
• Bottom right:Quick look on the battery,WIFI,Time & and date-the traditional place for these stuff has been retained.
• Bottom left:Going Back,Jump to Home & switching different apps is possible from here.

Here is a demo of the G-Slate running Android 3.0 Honeycomb

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Browser:
Google’s tried to create more of a desktop feel, with tabs you can quickly launch and swap between and incognito mode/private browsing.  
Android 3.0 Honeycomb – YouTube:
The interface has been totally redesigned; it looks like a 3D ‘wall’ of thumbnails you scroll left and right through. It’s very similar to the Google Nexus S and it’s main menu that tails off into the distance at the top and bottom. When you play a video you can watch it in a small screen in the top left, without having to leave the main screen. Of course there’s full screen browsing on the 16:9 screen.
Android 3.0 Honeycomb – books:
The lead e-reader on the device is Google Books with 3 million titles.  It’s cloud based, so you can access it on your phone, computer and the tablet. We weren’t able to get a close look, but pages animate like a real book as you turn them, with navigation controls hidden until you press the screen.
Android 3.0 Honeycomb: Google Maps:
The Xoom is the first tablet to run Google Mobile Maps 5.0 and the difference is evident straight away. Previously Google maps tiles were images, but now they composed of vector information, which is smaller, consequently maps load more quickly – pinch to zoom to get close and it scales very quickly.
Version 5.0 brings 3D building information from100 cities. There’s been lots of demonstrations of this on the internet, but on the Xoom’s larger screen it’s much more impressive.
In our demonstration we were shown a map of Manhattan: a two-fingers twist swaps the map from 2D with flat images, to 3D, it’s really impressive when you get close to individual buildings, like the Empire State Building, which you can rotate.
Android 3.0 Honeycomb Gmail:
Gmail now has a two-payne view. You can have your mailboxes in a vertical column on the left and messages running down the right, and an open threaded message on the right. Most interesting is at an action bar at the top, commands changes depending on the content, click on two emails and commands could be archive.

The Honeycomb music application looks similar to the leaked version we saw some time ago, but with a spin of its own. The app also shares a 3D carousal-esque way of navigating through your music, but it’s tweaked a bit to show the album covers coming toward and away from you.

The Camera software has been significantly improved upon, and almost every setting available is just a tap away.

Movie Studio is very nice to use, and you’ll likely be able to produce some decent videos from it. I didn’t spend enough time with it as I’d have liked to, but the potential is there, and future updates to Movie Studio could make it a force to be reckoned with.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb User Interface

The most notable difference between Honeycomb, and any other version of Android, is the user interface. It’s been completely revamped to suit larger displays, and just looks plain sexy. The holographic UI is quite a step above almost anything we’ve ever seen on a tablet, and from an aesthetics point of view, can easily challenge any tablet on the market today.

Honeycomb offers the familiar five homescreen panels that you can customize with applications and widgets, only this time around, it’s done with style. The panels are all done up in 3D, and the entire UI is smooth as butter – at least on the Motorola Xoom, which has the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processors to thank for its graphics prowess. The graphical enhancements throughout Honeycomb are stunning, and make a truly immersive experience when using the tablet. Honeycomb has a slight learning curve, but just like Android phones, once you get it, you get it. Still, that may not be simple enough for some people.

In contrast, iOS is so painfully easy to use, that anyone could pick it up and get going. However, it seems as if Apple is so concerned about making their OS stupid-proof that it lacks certain functionality. Android 3.0 oozes power at the OS level, and iOS leaves it to the applications to make it powerful. This isn’t a bad thing, but more functionality within the OS itself makes for a more complex layout of how you use it.

That said, Honeycomb isn’t hard to use, and you’ll learn all the ins and outs in no time. Also, this is not to say that iOS as a whole is inferior in any way, it’s just more about preference.

Wrap-Up : Just how sweet is Honeycomb?

So does Android 3.0 Honeycomb have what it takes to dethrone iOS on the iPad? Yes. Today? Not so much.

Honeycomb has the potential to kick so much ass, and it does for the most part, but small quirks throughout give it a “rushed” kind of feel. Honeycomb offers many features that its competitors lack, but it lacks the fluidity that some competitors are great at providing. These quirks need to be ironed out before it can become the powerhouse it is under the surface.

That said, I believe Honeycomb is usable enough to be an enjoyable experience, especially if you have an Android phone in your pocket. Those looking for an iPad competitor that’s just as easy to use, look elsewhere, although you still may not find an alternative as easy to use as Apple’s tablet. That said, if you’re looking for one of the best Android experiences on market today, jump to the front of the line, as you’ll certainly be in love with Honeycomb.

Just as Android for phones has evolved, so too with the Honeycomb branch, and only then will Android 3.0′s colors begin to truly shine. Google’s betting big on tablets, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we began to see updates soon for the tablet-optimized version of the mobile OS. Plus, Honeycomb is about to infiltrate the market in many different shapes and sizes.

In the end, Honeycomb is sweet, but just a tad sour as well. All in all the Tablet exclusive Android Honeycomb 3.0 lived upto its expectation and by far is the best version of Android we’ve seen so far,but it would be interesting to see how it fits on mobile devices.

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