Honeycomb AOSP delayed?

**E_man** · 03-24-2011, 04:53 PM

Sad, but understandable. With the rushed feeling I've gotten from the XOOM/Honeycomb launch, I'm glad they are taking the time to clean it up. Wish they hadn't had to do it in the first place though.

**coolVariable** · 03-24-2011, 05:25 PM

goes to show that google is in over its head.

**FatMikeNJ** · 03-24-2011, 05:41 PM

For the better good.

**digitalslacker** · 03-24-2011, 06:00 PM

All this means is that developers will turn to the Full SDK and/or the XOOM system dump to start putting Honeycomb on other devices.

It will stop the manufactures from dumping HC on devices that it's not designed for and that's probably what Google is aiming for.

**coolVariable** · 03-24-2011, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by digitalslacker

All this means is that developers will turn to the Full SDK and/or the XOOM system dump to start putting Honeycomb on other devices.

It will stop the manufactures from dumping HC on devices that it's not designed for and that's probably what Google is aiming for.

Considering the quality of some of the cheap android devices, I would not be surprised if OEM's do the same.
Sadly, didn't the dev for HC on the Nook say that he was halting all futher development until the AOSP release?

**junglejunkie** · 03-24-2011, 08:22 PM

Was really looking forward to running a "full" HC ROM on my nook, but I guess the v4 preview will have to do for now.

**digitalslacker** · 03-24-2011, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by coolVariable

Considering the quality of some of the cheap android devices, I would not be surprised if OEM's do the same.
Sadly, didn't the dev for HC on the Nook say that he was halting all futher development until the AOSP release?

hopefully this changes that and people start working on it again.

I can't say I'm not disappointed, Google, you lost some cred tonight.

**coolVariable** · 03-24-2011, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by digitalslacker

hopefully this changes that and people start working on it again.

I can't say I'm not disappointed, Google, you lost some cred tonight.

I hope so too.
Terribly disappointed but not surprised. If HC is THAT bad they shouldn't have released the xoom with it, so I call BS on "delaying it because they want to make it better"

**E_man** · 03-24-2011, 11:09 PM

They really shouldn't have released the XOOM from a code completion standpoint. Not sure how you can say it's not complete. Look at SD support. LTE support. The just arrived flash support. Lack of app backwards compatibility.

I have no trouble believing that the code is incomplete right now. Google/Motorola released it admitting it was not complete.

**E_man** · 03-25-2011, 02:29 AM

Here's what a Google spokesperson had to say on the matter.

"Android 3.0, Honeycomb, was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes and improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization. While we're excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones. Until then, we've decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We're committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it's ready."

**Clak** · 03-25-2011, 09:35 AM

Why not just release it with the warning that it's not designed for phones? I mean, don't we know that already anyway? This just seems like a really closed way of doing open source. In the past it felt like Google wasn't too concerned with what the software ended up on, they just handled the software end, what it was used for was up to the OEMs. Now they seem to be taking a more active role, which is a little too heavy handed for me.

**E_man** · 03-25-2011, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Clak

Why not just release it with the warning that it's not designed for phones? I mean, don't we know that already anyway? This just seems like a really closed way of doing open source. In the past it felt like Google wasn't too concerned with what the software ended up on, they just handled the software end, what it was used for was up to the OEMs. Now they seem to be taking a more active role, which is a little too heavy handed for me.

They don't seem to be concerned with community ports, they seem to be concerned if a smaller device maker like Kyocera or something putting on phones and turning people off to android.

That's different than just adding a skin.

**jbrown1114** · 03-25-2011, 02:39 PM

Agreed; while I believe supporting AOPS is still firmly one of Googles goals, they are also responsible for looking after the Android brand image.

What happens if some OEM gets hold of the latest Android OS and starts shutteling it to decives that it was not designed for or compatibe with? Marketing these devices as the "Latest" and "Best" that android has to offer would only leave a sour taste for Android in the mouths of all the consumers who bought the device, not knowing any better.

This in effect is what we are seeing to a lesser extent with the Xoom. Look at all the hits the Xoom takes for little things like the lack of flash support upon released, and for the the SD and LTE both being disabled. Although those of us who know Android, know these things will be corrected in time, many people do not. That's exactly the situation the Google needs to avoid.

**Clak** · 03-25-2011, 02:52 PM

Then they would need to do this with every version of Android from here on out, as OEMs have been putting software meant for phones onto tablets for a while now. Or is google only worried about the reverse, of Honeycomb ending up on phones?

**jbrown1114** · 03-25-2011, 03:32 PM

It's not that they mind OEM's putting their software on different devices, they just want to make sure that their software is robust enough to handle it. And right now, Honeycomb is not.

From what I read of Andy Rubin's comments in his interview with Bloomberg, it sounds like the development team cut out a lot of the functionaliy that would allow Honeycomb to run as a phone platform in their rush to meet the Xoom release deadline.

As far as the reverse case. Previous Android releases were capable of of running just fine on a tablet platform. They weren't optimized for it the way Honeycome is; just as Honeycomb won't be optimized to run on a phone platform. But it needs to be capable