By Over the weekend Sanjay Jha wasn’t ready to confirm or deny Motorola’s plans for bringing an Android tablet to market while speaking on Android and the boost it has given Motorola’s cell phone business, but now analyst Ashok Kumar has it from “people familiar with the project” that Motorola is not only working on one, but also planning to release its slate as soon as November. The tablet will feature a 10-inch form factor and — in keeping with Motorola’s commitment to be ahead of the Android curve — will be running on Gingerbread (Android 3.0).
This should further confuse the release time frame of the next iteration of Android, which some sources have claimed won’t be making it to devices until early 2011. Motorola’s November timeframe, however, lines up with early reports of an October release for 3.0. If phone manufacturers are yet to get Android 2.2 on handsets aside from Google’s own Nexus One over two months after its official release, we have to question whether a tablet could see a yet unannounced version of Android on a tablet so soon. Unless of course Google is approaching the Android 3.0 release differently and working closely with manufacturers before an official announcement. Perhaps this Motorola tablet is even the fabled Google tablet that the search giant has had a hand in developing for Verizon (the Moto/VZW/Google team-up has resulted in several hit handsets at this point and helped launch Android onto the fast track to success).
We won’t know for sure whether the OS version or the release date is off, or if we are in for a pleasant surprise and both will hold true and we will be seeing both Gingerbread and a Motorola tablet just in time for the holiday season. One thing is for sure: if Motorola’s streak of knocking it out of the park with high-end Android smartphones carries over to their tablet ventures, we could finally be in for some worthwhile devices in the slate format. Get ready to hear the term “iPad killer” tossed around even more than it already is.
[via UnwiredView]
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IT!!
I’m still waiting for my froyo update on my moto Droid
Another device which will be unsupported 9 months after launch ?
@rob you can find that here:
http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/files/file/66-update-cm-600-droid-rc2-signedzip/
:)
The original Droid is still supported… are you confusing Motorola with Samsung?
And no phones other than the Nexus One has Froyo officially and The Droid will be getting Froyo.
im still waiting for my eclair on my stupid cliq
DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOID TABLET
OMG..its not GOOGLES fault the phone company is slow to implement upgrades. Does anyone not remember that not long ago there was no such thing as OS upgrades? that what u baught is what u got and that was it?
Google is doing GREAT releasing regular awesome updates to android os. Its the manufacturers fault that they decide to do custom skins and crap that slows the addoption.
In a way it is. I wish you could be able to just go to google and download Android on your phone just like you can get Windows updates on your PC.
I agree with GaurdianAli – Out of all the consumer devices ever made, very few have updates you can apply. Computers and routers are the most common. Now TVs, cell phones, smart hubs among a growing list of others, can be upgraded. It is a massive consumer win. In some cases, where bugs are fixed, it is like a remote warranty service without downtime. Pretty cool state of affairs.
Relax. You are in a modern world.
You guys are real pissy over your updates honestly this is exciting. It makes sense too, last November motorola introduced eclair to the world and android to the masses, wouldn’t it make sense for all parties to do it again with Verizons LTE (4G) and gingerbread?
@ari-free you basically can, heck it is even easier than that with rom manager.
OMG! This rumor makes sense given Verizon announced working with Motorola on a smaller version slate back at CES 2010. And THAT was to be LTE equipped and have a Tegra 2 chip capable of 1080p and, of course, Flash!!! And if anyone knows LTE, it’s Motorola. They have a full end-to-end LTE product showcase. Also, remember when someone from Google said that later this year, Android will blow minds?
I guarantee you this will be their show-stopper!
Minds, prepare to be blown. :)
If this has a front facing camera (maybe 2 cameras), 720p-1080p resolution, & dual core processor, I might get it.
Oh and it has to have a Bluetooth or USB keyboard available.
@ace curry – Guaranteed it’s the souped-up version of what’s shown in the link below, i.e. bigger screen, more design mods. After re-reading, I see it mentions the Motorola LTE radio. ;)
http://www.slashgear.com/verizon-icd-vega-lte-tablet-hands-on-0768873/
Hopefully Motorola will hire new SW designers for the slate. If they moto blur the thing it will be a joke.
@ cwrig No thats the reason they are making gingerbread (android 3.0) Its supposed to be more user friendly ans have a more visual UI making it more like a computer operating system, thus eliminating need for MotoBlur
it wont take much to kill the iCant device
@sharon- i agree. Plus 80gb, the best pixel resolution!,hdmi out everything, hackable, and a port for my controllers. Thanks MOTO!!
@rob, keep waiting. You won’t see it now until after the rooting issue is fixed, and the whole thing goes through in house and VZW testing again. We’ll be lucky to see it in Sept sometime now.
Oh ya I WANT IT STOCK. NO ADDED UN-DELETEABLE APPS. GREAT BATTERY LIFE.
@sid> I know 3.0 is supposed to improve UI. But the nature of the open market will cause manufacturers to brand devices with their own UI tweeks to set it apart from others. HTC has already said they are doing Sense for 3.0 for example.
If Motorola’s past SW is any example of the future; they may well ruin good hw with bad sw ui branding.
Apple made a lot of stupid mistakes with the IPAD (NO USB!) but they set the bar for UI.
I will buy it on launch day….if it has LTE.
C’mon, Notion Ink… give me the Adam you promised.
I may very well upgrade my Verizon account and get one of these Moto thingies if you’re not serious about delivering the Adam Tablet.
–Serious In Scottsdale–
tablets are gonna be fun, not only the original PC OEMs will be making tablets, but also mobile OEMs like Samsung, Motorola who will make tablets. The world will be awash in tablets shortly.
Apple set the bar for UI? Its a bunch of 4×4 grids. Am I the only blind one here? iPhone/iPod/iPad UI is horrible. Its really really crappy.
I’m a tablet skeptic but if google can put Bumptop tech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHLDWkpb2U4) and have it go all the way through the UI, it would be a unique experience that you can’t get on a PC/laptop or phone. Bumptop on windows 7 tablets is cool but since it was just an overlay on Windows, there was an abrupt change from that UI to ‘normal’ Windows.
You people are such pussies, whining about when/if Moto will develop/release a slate form factor tablet w/ the next generation of Android…
Suck my gingerbread.
ace, isn’t it funny? Apple UI used to be recognized for the menu on top of the screen. Next came jelly buttons and brushed metal. Then came the dock and the genie effect.
The face of iPhone today is a grid of icons (most of them designed by 3rd parties) on a black screen. I can do that too on my PC! Just load up my windows desktop full of icons, set the background to black and voila! I have an iPhone PC!
thinking about what google could do with bumptop…imagine using it to manipulate windows and throwing them on the walls just like all the other pictures.
Moto is the best according the update plan. Droid was the first mobile running android 2.0 then droid receive 2.0.1 later also receive 2.1 and next week will receive 2.2 froyo starting from the 6th august to the 15th
@SharonW remember the following rumors!!
1. Android 3.0 will be available in Novemeber.
2. Verizon working closely with Google on a tablet.
3. Verizon LTE will be operational on Nov. 15, 2010.
4. Devices for the LTE network will be available on Black Friday.
I’m in the market for an Android tablet and I’m off on Black Friday!!!
Don’t forget to have the following features installed:
1) 3G and/or 4G
2) WiFi b/g/n
3) Front facing camera (1.3MegaPix)
4) GPS + A-GPS – tablets much better than handphones for navigation.
5) Digital compass
6) Bluetooth and mic (for voice chat).
7) Super AMOLED Screen or something within this level.
8) Large RAM and ROM
I held out getting an iPad in the hope that some Android tablet will come out somewhere near my wishlist.
This sounds like what I want in a tablet.. I was very disappointed in the iPad for obvious reasons. this would be good flash mean netflix on my tablet nicee!!!!
I just want to see it used as a phone… lol… watching ppl run around town with this thing to their ear. Think about it as a video conferencing tool tho… I dig it
Sorry, Im still sore about Moto slacking on their first android device (Cliq). If history repeats its self (which it normally does) you will be lucky to get one update and then they will just forget about you and concentrate on something newer. Absalutely no loyalty to old customers.
I’m still waiting for my froyo update on my moto milestone.
AHHH. At last. The mighty iPad-killer has arrived.
These tablets need small “Fob Phones” that “clip-sync” into the tablet and unclip when the user would like to be highly mobile. Fob Phone = can clip onto a necklace – approx. 2″ x 2″ x 3/16″ thick.
Motorola – Get on it !
Motorola Matryushka !