The rumors that the next version of Honeycomb being right around the corner look to be true, as today Android Open-Source Project engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru has pushed the GPL portions of the 3.2 source code to the AOSP tree. Don't think this means that Honeycomb has been open-sourced -- this is just the bits used for the 3.2 update that are using the GPL license, which requires the source code to be available when the software is shipped.
For you developers out there, JBQ also gives build instructions (they haven't changed since last time) and warns that the binaries aren't likely to run on actual hardware, again like the 3.1 code. While I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting the core of Honeycomb to be open-sourced, at least we know that the 3.2 update is on track and we should be seeing it soon.
Update: As pointed out in the comments below, the 3.2 update is rolling out now for Wifi users. It's build number HTJ85B, has the application zooming feature we first saw yesterday, and the long-awaited SD card support.
Harman International Industries -- the company behind such audio giants as Harman Kardon and JBL -- has announced it is supported the Android Open Accessory Protocol. That's the feature announced back at Google IO in May that will let you connect your Android 3.1 tablet and Android 2.3.4 smartphone to, well, anything.
The obvious play here is for car audio, and Harman specifically mentions its Aha Radio service. But also look for navigation and steering wheel control, as well as being able to share music and movies to passengers' seats as well.
No word on when we'll see AOAP-enabled dash units, but it's gonna be pretty sweet when we do. Check out the full press release after the break.
MIUI, a popular third-party ROM for Android devices, is now available as a stable version for the B&N Nook Color. It's worth noting that this is not part of the official MIUI project, but a faithful port from the folks at MIUI.us -- like many of the English language releases. It's built from the latest 1.7.8 release (July 6), which has a page full of bugfixes and optimizations, so you're getting the very latest version for your eReader turned awesome Android tablet.
As of right now, there looks to be an issue mounting the internal storage (the developers have acknowledged and will fix in the next release) and you'll need to download something like softkeys or button savior to have access to the standard Android buttons. The next release will bundle button savior to save you that step. Other than that, the feedback looks very positive. You can find the download links and more information at the source link below.
Here's an interesting addition coming to a future version of Android. Apps that don't properly scale up to Honeycomb tablets' greater resolution and larger screen sizes will be able to be zoomed in on to properly fill the screen. This is different than stretching the app to fill the screen, which is what happens now if the app doesn't properly target Android 3.x.
Instead, if you tell the app to "Zoom to fill screen," the app will be emulated at approximately HVGA resolution (that's 320x480) and then scaled up. The down side is that things will look pretty pixelated, but usability shouldn't be affected.
You won't see this on every app you run on Honeycomb -- many apps were designed to scale up on their own just fine, thank you very much, and so developers can remove the stretch/zoom option if they so choose.
And since we know you'll ask, Google's not yet saying what the next version of Honeycomb will be, though we've seen evidence that it could be Android 3.2.
Look at what we have here, an update already for the yet to be released Toshiba Thrive, that a few lucky folks have been able to land their hands on. While there is no detailed break down of the update available currently, it does lead us to believe that Toshiba is still hard at work making sure that the device is perfect for the official release. If you have been able to land a Thrive early, have you updated yet, and if so have you noticed any changes? Be sure to let us know all your thoughts and findings in the forums!
Thanks, Ken!
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1 year ago
Android Central reader unboxes the Toshiba Thrive before we do
Can't wait to get your hands on the Toshiba Thrive? You're not alone. Android Central Forums member illwood has his already and has given it a proper tablet-on-carpet unboxing. It's one of the strong, silent unboxings, but it does the job, properly slitting the tape before raising the Honeycomb tablet aloft before the masses as a rainbow magically appears in the background.
OK, some of that stuff happens. Check it out above.
Although Asus is still planning on following up its popular EeePad Transformer tablet with the Asus EeePad Slider, they've now gone ahead and let everyone know it will be arriving in the UK this Autumn. That puts them off by approximately a month or so from their originally planned launch in August. No specific reasoning for the delay was mentioned but Asus did confirm they'll announce dates and pricing later this month.
But might it first hit the Motorola Xoom? It'd make sense, seeing as how the Xoom is the de facto Honeycomb reference device.
Issue No. 16992 in the Android Open Source Project has to do with Exchange support on the Xoom after the Android 3.1 update -- namely how it's not working.
Comment No. 28 on the issue, apparently made by a Googler, seems to address this, saying:
"There should be a 3.2 update coming within days, and that should help those of you with the Xoom.
So will we see Android 3.2 on the Xoom in the next week or two? News at 11.
Welcome to another exciting edition of "Who's using which Android version!" -- the game show that takes a look at the various versions of Android floating around out in the world, and the percentage of devices using them.
Unsurprisingly, Android 2.2 Froyo leads the way for the past two weeks at 59.4 percent, but that's down from 64.6 percent for the two weeks ending June 1. Android 2.3 Gingerbread doubled to 18.6 percent (that's combining Android 2.3, 2.3.2, 2.3.3 and 2.3.4). And Honeycomb -- Android 3.0 and 3.1 -- ticked up ever so slightly to 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.
Again, the Honeycomb numbers represent tablets compared to the entirety of Android devices out there. But it's probably safe to say they're not catching on as quickly as Google and hardware manufacturers would have liked.
Been holding out, waiting for the inevitable price drop to come to the WiFi only Motorola Xoom? If so, your wait is now over. As announced on the Motorola Twitter account the price of the WiFi only Motorola Xoom has now been dropped to only $499 and for those keeping track that's a full $100 off the original launch price. Making room for the Motorola Xoom 4G?
Source: Motorola; Thanks, to all who sent this in!
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