Much as we’d like to see some serious alternatives to the iPad in the tablet market in time for the holidays, it may be worth waiting a few months before investing in an Android slate. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is leading the charge, and is creating a buzz of anticipation ‘ but Google itself has raised doubts over how well it will run Android, at least until the next release.
Google is being cautious, claiming the new Android release, 2.2 or Froyo, is ‘not optimized’ for tablets, even though it runs on the Galaxy Tab. Hugo Barra, director of mobile products at Google, told TechRadar that Froyo, “is not optimized” for tablets and therefore Android Market will not be available on these devices.
In reality, the Tab should be able to get around some of the Froyo restrictions. Many of these relate to screen size, and the Tab has a seven-inch display rather than the 10 inches of true iPad lookalikes ‘ this enables the Samsung model to behave more like an outsized smartphone than a new category (Dell Streak makes the same trade-offs). But until release 3.0 of Android, aka Gingerbread, and its successor Hummingbird, come along, the full tablet apps and media experience may be lacking.
This would seem to be a serious competitive disadvantage against the iPad, with Apple taking the approach of running its iOS and App Store consistently across its smartphones and tablet. However, there are plenty of compromises in the Apple experience too ‘ many apps written for the small screen do not behave in the same way on a tablet and, unless rewritten specifically for the iPad, appear stretched, or with other downsides. So, while Google’s ambivalence about tablet Android may be a case of conflict of interest with its upcoming Chrome OS for ‘cloudbooks’, it may also see the search giant trying to manage expectations in a way that Apple has not.
“If you want Android Market on that platform, the apps just wouldn’t run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor,” Barra said, even though Samsung is boasting that its seven-inch Galaxy Tab will be compatible with 85% to 90% of Android Market programs.
But Google needs to address the issue one way or the other, given that a flood of Android tablets is expected to debut in the coming months, such as the Toshiba Folio 100, unveiled at the recent IFA show, and devices from Motorola and HTC.
The main issue seems to be screen size and resolution. The Android Developers web site says that from Android 1.6 to 2.0, the OS supports three generalized sizes (large, normal and small) and three generalized densities (high, medium and low dpi), with an upper resolution limit of 480 x 854 on screens measuring from 3.5-inches to 4-inches. It is understood that Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) will extend this to provide optimized performance for larger screens and tablet-style navigation, and that should arrive in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Google says Android Market now boasts over 80,000 applications, up 10,000 since mid-July. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month Android smartphone sales total about 200,000 each day.