Google... that's great and all... BUT...

[Smokexz]

Why hello gentlementalmen... I understand you like Honeycomb? Is good no? Why of course it is! Looking forward to that Xoom? Well, I myself am an LG G-Slate kinda guy, but that's just me . Now, I understand we are psyched for these tablets, great.

HOWEVER... where is the Gingerbread at?

If you notice, the only device that has Gingerbread is the Nexus S, the Nexus One has no sign of Gingerbread... This seems to me that Honeycomb was pushed... rather quickly. Now assuming this will ever touch our mobile phones, because Google has made it pretty crystal clear that they will(sarcasm) what is up? Not a single device has Gingerbread, and Gingerbread is STILL not fixed properly on the Nexus S(random restarts, restarts during calls[I have not had this problem, but others have], and the launcher not responding at all). What is up? Has Google forgotten that they made money off of cell phones, and not these "portable" smart computers? Thoughts? Will Honeycomb hit current devices? Will Ice Cream be the next iteration of Android for phones? Will Google spawn a whole new series with Honeycomb?

My thoughts:

Google will launch Ice Cream for phones, and leave Honeycomb for tablets... because as of now, it seems most of the OS is built for bigger devices, most of their gloating of the new version of Android seems to be around a tablet. I hope this is not the case, but it is looking this a whole lot.

 

[eric6052]

During the Honeycomb event today Google made it clear that some form of honeycomb will make it to phones. They mentioned that the fragments (what Web OS calls cards) will work well on phones as each willbe its own screen. I think Google views Gingerbread as a minor update while Honeycomb is a whole new ballgame. That being the case Google is going to give priority to Honeycomb. Think of 2.0 to 2.1, it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

[dsignori]

During the Honeycomb event today Google made it clear that some form of honeycomb will make it to phones. They mentioned that the fragments (what Web OS calls cards) will work well on phones as each willbe its own screen. I think Google views Gingerbread as a minor update while Honeycomb is a whole new ballgame. That being the case Google is going to give priority to Honeycomb. Think of 2.0 to 2.1, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Yup, exactly. Not really sure what the OP is trying to get at here, but Honeycomb looks great and will be everywhere in less than a year.

For the OP, "Where is Ginderbread?" ? What's it been, a month since the Nexus S? and already there's a leaked Droid X 2.3 ROM, with other phones at CES having 2.3 and ready. I guess I missed the point of posting a Gingerbread issue in a Honeycomb forum ..

 

[Smokexz]

Yup, exactly. Not really sure what the OP is trying to get at here, but Honeycomb looks great and will be everywhere in less than a year.

For the OP, "Where is Ginderbread?" ? What's it been, a month since the Nexus S? and already there's a leaked Droid X 2.3 ROM, with other phones at CES having 2.3 and ready. I guess I missed the point of posting a Gingerbread issue in a Honeycomb forum ..

No no no, you misunderstood me, I am asking where is the Gingerbread, because Honeycomb is coming soon, and now I know, to mobile phones. However, there is still only ONE device with Gingerbread on it and no word on anybody working on gingerbread (besides LG Optimus series).

My point is that as soon as Gingerbread was announced, Andy Rubin whipped out this Tablet with Honeycomb on it... That's perfect but not even a day after Gingerbread, they come out with something a whole lot newer. We can definitely expect Honeycomb Q1 or Q2 on tablets, but on phones is a different story. A lot of devices don't even have Froyo. What I am trying to say, is that Google might cause some major fragmentation, releasing it so quickly might cause manufacturers to just abandon old hardware, and start anew with new devices that are running the latest iteration. That is why I mentioned Gingerbread, there is only a single device with Gingerbread talk on and that is the Optimus series, and Nexus One if that counts. We have to realize we have a lot of Android devices and it takes a while to release an update for a single device, Google releasing a new update within three months after releasing the previous OS update is just something I don't understand.

 

[dsignori]

No no no, you misunderstood me, I am asking where is the Gingerbread, because Honeycomb is coming soon, and now I know, to mobile phones. However, there is still only ONE device with Gingerbread on it and no word on anybody working on gingerbread (besides LG Optimus series).

My point is that as soon as Gingerbread was announced, Andy Rubin whipped out this Tablet with Honeycomb on it... That's perfect but not even a day after Gingerbread, they come out with something a whole lot newer. We can definitely expect Honeycomb Q1 or Q2 on tablets, but on phones is a different story. A lot of devices don't even have Froyo. What I am trying to say, is that Google might cause some major fragmentation, releasing it so quickly might cause manufacturers to just abandon old hardware, and start anew with new devices that are running the latest iteration. That is why I mentioned Gingerbread, there is only a single device with Gingerbread talk on and that is the Optimus series, and Nexus One if that counts. We have to realize we have a lot of Android devices and it takes a while to release an update for a single device, Google releasing a new update within three months after releasing the previous OS update is just something I don't understand.

I see. I did misunderstand your intent then, sorry. Honeycomb is not going to be on phones any time soon. For now it is a tablet-only OS. It may come to phones in some form in the future, but that's down the road.

Also, Sony has the Experia Arc on 2.3 coming out, Samsung has a SGS 2 and others, etc. coming soon. the Barcelona event next week will probably show 6 -10 more phones that will run 2.3, etc. 6 months form now there will be dozens of phones on 2.3 I bet ..

 

[brillrick]

My opinion is that Google has sort of dropped support on the current iteration of Gingerbread. Matias Duarte, the UI designer that came over to Android team from Palm had an interview with Engadget during CES. During the interview he said around the time he came the Android team was finishing up Gingerbread so he really had no input on that update. Duarte's android input started with Honeycomb. I believe he didn't want to continue with the way the Gingerbread paradigm that he did not have any input on (and possibly didn't like)

I believe the rumored Android 2.4 may be the Duarte's update to what was done with old Gingerbread. Rumors state it may include some of the honeycomb UI elements, but still be called gingerbread.

 

[bclapper]

No no no, you misunderstood me, I am asking where is the Gingerbread, because Honeycomb is coming soon, and now I know, to mobile phones. However, there is still only ONE device with Gingerbread on it and no word on anybody working on gingerbread (besides LG Optimus series).

My point is that as soon as Gingerbread was announced, Andy Rubin whipped out this Tablet with Honeycomb on it... That's perfect but not even a day after Gingerbread, they come out with something a whole lot newer. We can definitely expect Honeycomb Q1 or Q2 on tablets, but on phones is a different story. A lot of devices don't even have Froyo. What I am trying to say, is that Google might cause some major fragmentation, releasing it so quickly might cause manufacturers to just abandon old hardware, and start anew with new devices that are running the latest iteration. That is why I mentioned Gingerbread, there is only a single device with Gingerbread talk on and that is the Optimus series, and Nexus One if that counts. We have to realize we have a lot of Android devices and it takes a while to release an update for a single device, Google releasing a new update within three months after releasing the previous OS update is just something I don't understand.

Okay... Google showed Honeycomb right after Gingerbread, true, but just because it's 3.0 doesn't really mean it's better than Gingerbread and Rubin upstaged himself or something. Let me explain what I mean.

Honeycomb is for tablets and Gingerbread is for phones, they're different. What makes these great is fact that they'll share apps without any extra work from devs (a few simple additions to optimize current apps for tablets can be made but it seems it's not even necessary). Everyone keeps saying Honeycomb is coming to phones based on Matias Duarte's comments in an Engadget interview but I don't think that's exactly true. We saw from the SDK that smartphone support is hiding somewhere in Honeycomb (Android 3.0 Honeycomb emulator has traces of smartphone support -- Engadget) but I don't see that potential being realized until the next iteration of Android. What I mean by this is that Android 2.4, which if the reports today are true (see Android 2.4 reportedly coming in April, headed to ViewSonic ViewPad 4? -- Engadget), will be the Gingerbread we start seeing more regularly on phones. And Honeycomb will be on tablets. Ice Cream will be the first X.X version of Android we see releasing on new tablets and phones simultaneously. Being that Ice Cream will be an advancement of Honeycomb, Matias' comment that Honeycomb is where Android is going would still be true.

On the point of Android fragmentation across the millions and millions of Android phones out there, the truth is Google can't really do much about this. But it's not a huge deal. They are advancing Android at a rapid pace for the good of Android and consumers. If you have a phone with 2.2 (which 57% of phones have: Froyo on 57.6% of Androids in latest Google distribution stats | Android Community) and it never gets Gingerbread, you still have a great phone. And I don't see any signs that an app will not be supported by 2.2 but will be by 2.4 or something. We saw this with 2.1 and below phones but those problems are likely behind us.

In the end my point is that these problems aren't really problems. And Android is improving quickly and in the best way possible.

EDIT: After re-reading the post about 2.4 it does seem some apps may not be compatible with 2.2 (or 2.3) that are with 2.4... We'll see what that's all about soon I guess.