Android has announced their first update to the Android Honeycomb 3.0 platform and it’s called… Android Honeycomb 3.1. That’s right, no fancy names like Ice Cream Sandwich or Gingerbread here, possibly because Google is planning to supersede Honeycomb in the near future.
The Honeycomb 3.1 update is already rolling out in the US to Verizon Xoom customers and sports some great additions to the Honeycomb platform.
USB Hosts
Any tablet running Honeycomb will now be a USB host. That means that a plethora of USB devices will now work when plugged directly in to an Android 3.1 device. Keyboards, controllers, joysticks and just about any other USB accessory will now be supported by the Android 3.1 platform.
Android 3.1 for Google TV
This one is well overdue. Google is finally releasing a proper OS for their Google TV IPTV platform. Now your TV will literally be able to do everything that your device can do (so long as the action’s not touch or motion reliant, of course). That means the Android Marketplace and access to all of Androids apps, Google’s new Music Beta (when it finally comes out), Android Marketplace’s new movie rental scheme and all your day-to-day apps like email, Facebook etc will all be easily accessible right in your loungeroom on the biggest screen in your house.
Other stuff
There’s still the normal upgrades to speed, efficiency and some UI tweeks, of course. But most of the new stuff coming to Android isn’t going to be as update dependent as it used to be. Most of the announcements from this year’s I/O conference’s first day were cloud based. So if you want more juicy info stay tuned.
Find a better phone plan
Thousands of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
Related Articles
Find Better Phones and Plans
Hundreds of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
