honeycomb

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1-inch: The iPad 2 of Honeycomb tablets

Editor's note: The full review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 can be found here.

If there's one thing I've realized in my short stint covering tablets, it's that apparently there can never be too many Honeycomb-based products in the wild. Today, at Google's I/O conference, the company gave away 5,000 Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1s. CNET was fortunate enough to have a few good men in the field willing to wade through cell phone belt holders and short sleeve button shirts to get us one.

Design and features The first thing that struck us upon taking the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of its box was its slight profile. In fact, when lying next to the iPad 2 we honestly can't tell which tablet is thicker and unfortunately we don't have a micrometer handy to get down into the business of microns.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1466: Google and the nine OS strategy, and Microsoft buys Skype (Podcast)

Huge news day today, with Google's I/O presentation packing about a day's worth of news into a single hourlong presentation--and this is just the first day. We wonder whether Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Chrome OS can exist in the same world, and whether the music labels will ever again get a seat at the table. Plus, why Microsoft bought Skype, cellphones getting disaster notification texts, and the New Yorker comes to the iPad. --Molly

5,000 Samsung tablets for Google I/O attendees

SAN FRANCISCO--Google got a lot of applause at its Google I/O conference, but the loudest came with the news that the company and Samsung are giving Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Android tablets to each of the attendees.

"Thanks to Samsung, all 5,000 of you are getting one today," said Hugo Barra, director of Android product management at the conference here today.

Freebies at Google I/O have happened before, but previously they had always been phones. The move today signals that tablets are Google's front-and-center Android priority when it comes to currying favor with programmers. … Read more

How to rent movies from Google's Android Market

Google announced today that its Android Market will now begin renting movies in the U.S. Although flicks start as low as $1.99, Google said, most of the "thousands" of titles listed rent for about $3.99 each. The news and onstage demo came from Google I/O in San Francisco this morning.

For now, you can watch these movies online and on Motorola Xoom tablets that run the latest Android 3.1 Honeycomb update. Soon, you'll also be able to watch movie rentals on your Android 2.2 Froyo and Android 2.3 Gingerbread phones. … Read more

Google wants Android to be the device hub

SAN FRANCISCO--Google announced a collection of efforts to put its Android devices at the center of a host of electronically connected devices--everything from home lighting and irrigation systems to game controllers and keyboards.

It also revealed at the Google I/O show here a small Android device called Project Tungsten that can connect to speakers and home stereo systems to stream music from Google's new cloud-based music system.

Using near-field communications (NFC), Google demonstrated using Tungsten to play music. Touching a CD to a Tungsten device activates the music on a person's cloud-based music library in about a … Read more

Android.next: Honeycomb 3.1 now, Ice Cream Sandwich later

SAN FRANCISCO--Google today is releasing Android 3.1, an upgrade to its Honeycomb tablet OS, and will bring its features to mobile phones with the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the OS set for the fourth quarter.

Honeycomb is geared for Android tablets, which thus far haven't yet attained the popularity of Apple's iPad. Upgrading from 3.0 to 3.1 should offers user interface refinements, a new movie rental service, and the ability to plug in USB devices such as keyboards and game controllers.

The Motorola Xoom tablet on Verizon's 3G service--the inaugural Honeycomb device with … Read more

What to expect at Google I/O 2011

With Google I/O 2011 less than two weeks away, I wanted to take this opportunity to round up a few potential Android-related announcements. The annual Google developer event has grown to include more Android news each year, and this event will follow suit. Indeed, Android is listed in at least 21 of the sessions scheduled for May 10-11, with topics ranging from Honeycomb and 3D gaming to NFC and Android Market tools. Two keynotes will be covered live by CNET; expect tomorrow's session to focus on Android with Wednesday's session switching to Chrome. And on that note, … Read more

HTC Flyer stylus sold separately, $80 at Best Buy

One of the coolest features about the upcoming HTC Flyer is the Scribe and digital ink technology that lets you take notes, draw pictures, and more, right on the tablet with a stylus. However, it looks like you'll have to pay extra for that privilege.

As first reported by DroidLife, Best Buy currently has the HTC Digital Pen for the Flyer listed at $79.99, on top of the $499.99 for the tablet itself. Though this may be Best Buy's price, HTC told CNET that it has not announced pricing for the stylus but did confirm that … Read more

New Nook coming soon; most likely e-ink model

This isn't how products are typically announced, but thanks to a couple of sentences in an SEC filing, word is out that Barnes & Noble plans to release a new e-reader later this month.

Late yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that according to the filing, Barnes & Noble will unveil the "new eReader device" on May 24:

Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating declined to comment beyond the 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contained one sentence of text to comply with Regulation FD fair disclosure rules, except to confirm the meeting took place in New York City. The filing says simply that the company, in the meeting, "indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011, regarding the launch of a new eReader device."

The filing had no specific details about the e-reader, but for some reason the Journal speculated that Barnes & Noble might release a "more powerful combination tablet and e-reader" that would perhaps run Honeycomb, the Android 3.0 OS designed for tablets.

We're here to tell you that's probably not the case and that the more likely--and logical--scenario is… Read more

Motorola Xoom should see second software update soon

Verizon Wireless and Motorola were poised to issue another software update to the Xoom tablet earlier today, but apparently have pulled back at the last minute.

On Thursday, Droid-Life was first to report that an HMJ078 update was expected to start hitting the Android 3.0 tablet today. The site even grabbed a screen capture of the enhancements and new features.

Among the list of coming changes were improvements to Web and data access, easy viewing and transfer of photos from digital cameras, and support for Bluetooth mice. Noticeably absent from the list, however, is the ability to use the … Read more