By It looks like those rumors of Gingerbread being a tablet-focused release may have just gotten a bit stronger. According to sources of DigiTimes‘, Google’s looking for a hardware manufacturer to partner up with for an Android 3.0 Gingerbread-based tablet, and Motorola’s currently got the top bid. Just the other day I was wondering why Google would go with a Chrome-based “Google Tablet” when it’s clear the the Android-based tablet market needs a lot of work and a lot of love.
Verizon is expected to be the distributor of the 3G (and possibly LTE) enabled device, linking up quite nicely with the rumors of Motorola and Verizon teaming up to bring a tablet out sometime in Q4 2010 or Q1 2011. It’ll reportedly feature a Tegra 2 chipset by NVIDIA and will have a 10-inch touchscreen. It’s also said to be much thinner than the iPad. Google’s main efforts in this endeavor are supposedly in making sure that the user experience for a tablet device is top notch – something we can’t imagine is untrue considering their big-time hire in ex-Palm and lead WebOS designer Matias Duarte (and before that was a rumored focus of Google’s) – and that Motorola’s hardware is capable enough to keep up.
Whether or not these specifications will spill over into handset adaptations of Android 3.0 remains to be seen, but suddenly those rumors regarding “recommended specs” for Android 3.0 devices don’t sound too crazy now. But this is still just a rumor so don’t take that without a grain of salt.
Acer – a manufacturer we already know confirmed to be working on an Android tablet – has also reportedly delayed their offering as DigiTimes cites their desire to wait for Android 3.0 (suggesting that a prettier Android is definitely looming). Their source with Acer also mentions hardware specifications, though they state Android 3.0 will have a “minimal” requirement of a 1GHz processor as opposed to a “minimum”. Usage of the world “minimal” is more than likely a nod to the upcoming storm of 1GHz+ chipsets headed our way by the end of the year, with some architecture designers even boasting dual-core speeds of 2GHz for mobile devices.
While we can now clearly see where someone may have gotten Google’s “minimal” requirements mixed up with “minimum” requirements in earlier rumors, these new rumors certainly suggest Gingerbread will still probably need a bit more juice than other Android handsets to date can offer. As we expect Gingerbread to be announced sometime in Q4 (with a release short to follow, possibly spilling into Q1 2011), rumors will only ramp up from here. Google obviously needs to communicate their efforts ahead of time to hardware manufacturers that are part of the Open Handset Alliance in order to allow them to begin prototyping new designs, so perhaps we can let our guards down just a tiny bit more when determining the amount of truth behind any unconfirmed claims.
I will totally buy one of these!!!
BRING ON THE GINGERBREAD MAN
Don’t rush take your time too make it sickkk and better than ipad!! But USB plug things like a computer
How the hell can we expect devices with Gingerbread when Google haven’t had a presentation yet? I mean, it’s not like we got to see Froyo devices before Google I/O..
Well, it’s common sense to “expect” devices with Gingerbread: no one’s going to just let it sit there, otherwise Android would’ve stopped at 1.0. We just shouldn’t expect concrete details ahead of Google’s official unveiling. But this is just a friendly reminder that rumors do tend to get more frequent as progress is made on development (and that goes for everything in the world of technology).
I thought Google was not going to interfere with the manufacturers. I mean, what company gets to start working on devices with Gingerbread before it’s even released? Answer: No, company (but if I remember correctly, Motorola got the privilege to use 2.0 before everyone else).
This requirement for Gigerbread and higher processor speads translate to even worse battery life. I hope the battery industry can evolve as quickly as the hardware.
If they put it on Verizon they need to make sure it is GSM capable. Many people, like myself, who travel internationally would really want to use this wherever they go.
I hope Liquid 2 has Gingerbread. If so, I would seriously consider upgrading to the second iteration of my great phone.
It’s the Gingerbread man. It’s the ANDROID man.
Excellent! I am buying one!
google should slowly switch over to chromeOS
A new tablets war led by ipad is coming ~ it seems more interesting ~~ a good thing for us consumers!! if you get one , please don’t forget get a Aneesoft ipad tool witch will give you another surprise .
NO! Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!
@energizer1389 That is blatently untrue. The only computer technology that has really been increasing in energy usage is GPUs. CPUs have been fairly flatlined when it comes to energy usage.
@Brian H. if it’s LTE it would be GSM-based :)
Give me one I can read outside in the sun (i.e. pixel Qi screen or similar), make it affordable, and I’m in…