Hasta La Gadget!

Following up on its Android event on Wednesday, Google is giving us an in-depth look at Honeycomb’s Fragments API: a tool designed to make developer workflows more fluid. As the name suggests, Fragments are smaller pieces of the larger UI puzzle, allowing you to independently control and reuse certain aspects of an action in their own modular space. These modules, like the panes that came before them, are also meant to make the transition from different screen sizes (tablet to phone, for example) simple and functional. We got a glimpse of Google’s new API in action with a demo of CNN’s new tablet app, and despite its everything-and-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic, it looks like an easily navigable interface. While Honeycomb is currently a tablet-only OS, Matias Duarte hinted strongly that it would eventually make it to phones, and indeed, the screenshots of Fragments in use are all suspiciously phone-sized. What’s more, Google intends to bring Fragments to older Android versions through a static library — there’s no timeline, but the plan is to go as far back as Android 1.6. Now that’s Android fragmentation we can get behind.

Google shows off Fragments API for Android 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The T-Mobile G-Slate may be fully official now, but the rest of the world needs love too, and LG’s just announced it intends to deliver said loving at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a few days from now. The Optimus Pad, as this 8.9-inch tablet will be known outside the US, will offer Android Honeycomb as its OS, along with a 3D-capable 1280 x 768 display, dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a front-facing camera plus a pair of imagers on the back allowing for 3D picture-taking, 32GB of onboard storage, and a 6,400mAh battery. We should be getting to grips with the device at MWC in due course — look for it to launch alongside or shortly after its US twin hits retail in March.

LG Optimus Pad (aka G-Slate) coming to MWC 2011 with Honeycomb, Tegra 2 and 3D display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Diving through the Motorola Xoom’s sweet, sweet blend of Android 3.0, we found an interesting perk — there’s an “Encrypt Tablet” option buried in the settings page, intended to secure all your personal data with a password or PIN. While a handy Google rep couldn’t tell us which cryptographic standards the OS uses, he did tell us the feature is part of Honeycomb as a whole, not a Motorola exclusive, so we’re sure to see the option in other business-minded Android slates to come. Oh, and Google asks that all you sysadmins stay tuned, as the company’s whipped up an API that lets you enforce policy restrictions upon your peons as far as encryption is concerned. Just make sure they remember to keep the tablet charged. See a close-up after the break.

Continue reading Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ can encrypt all your data, needs a full hour’s charge

Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ can encrypt all your data, needs a full hour’s charge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fully-functional Xooms with complete (or seemingly complete) builds of Honeycomb are out in force here at Google’s event in Mountain View today, and a bunch of partners are hanging out to demonstrate the tablet apps they’ve been working on. We checked out both Monster Madness — a game that’s been on Xbox 360 and PS3 for some time — and Grocery IQ, both of which obviously bring very different experiences to the table (unless you consider grocery shopping “a game,” which some of us admittedly do).

Though we thought we detected some stuttering and lag from Monster Madness when it was demoed on stage, the experience up close and in person was much smoother — definitely 100 percent playable. We double-checked and confirmed that the tablet game is a 100 percent content port from the console games, you’re not missing anything here. It features three control modes that let you toggle between two on-screen analog sticks, one stick, and a fully accelerometer-based mode that most users probably won’t consider practical because you’ve got to tilt the screen too much. Interestingly, the developer noted that there’s a low-res mode that he actually toggled in an area of the game with a lot of water because it tends to slow down, despite the fact that it’s running on Unreal Engine and is fully optimized for multiple cores. Could it be that game studios are already pushing the limits of this hardware from day one?

Moving onto Grocery IQ, it’s basically a fancy shopping list with coupons — it’s already on both iOS and Android phones, and odds are good you already know what it is. What was really interesting, though, was that we got a full demo of “application fragment” layout switching between landscape and portrait views (the app has a two-pane view for tablets) and the process of adding and removing widgets. As with some of the first-party widgets we’ve seen, Grocery IQ seems to have done a good job making its widgets visually rich and engaging — particularly the coupon browser, which appears as a stack of rotating coupons with color graphics. See videos of both products after the break!

Continue reading Android Honeycomb / Motorola Xoom hands-ons: widgets, Grocery IQ, and Monster Madness (video)

Android Honeycomb / Motorola Xoom hands-ons: widgets, Grocery IQ, and Monster Madness (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though it was technically announced back at CES, T-Mobile just barely talked about the LG G-Slate there, spending more time chatting up Dell’s Streak 7 and letting Motorola’s Xoom get virtually all of the Honeycomb attention. Well, that’s changed today with a handful of official new details: turns out the G-Slate features a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of internal storage, both a gyroscope and accelerometer, and — this is key — stereoscopic rear-facing video cameras capable of 1080p 3D capture, one of which doubles as a 5 megapixel still camera with LED flash. There’s also a third 2 megapixel camera up front for video chat over T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network or WiFi. Going back to that 3D business for a moment, you’ll need glasses (it’s unclear if they’re active or passive) to enjoy recorded or downloaded 3D content on the G-Slate’s 8.9-inch display — but you’ll also be able to output 1080p video over HDMI to the external display of your choice. Pricing is still an open question, but the companies are now comfortable enough to say that we can expect it “this spring,” so go ahead and start thinking about all the blooming springtime plant life you’ll be filming in three glorious dimensions. Follow the break for the full press release.

Update: While T-Mobile hedges its bets with a “spring” launch, LG says that it’ll be hitting US soil in March as one of the first Honeycomb tablets. The honor of being first will almost certainly go to the Motorola Xoom — Google’s in-house “dogfooding” tablet.

Continue reading LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated)

LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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