Google ups the Android ante with Honeycomb, Web app market

Consumer Reports News: February 02, 2011 04:06 PM

The tablet and smart-phone war between Google and Apple heated up today at a Google press event, as the company demonstrated its new operating system for tablets—Android 3.0, also known as Honeycomb—and announced the opening of its Web Android Market for Android apps.

Meanwhile, Apple countered by introducing today a news app for the iPad, The Daily, from News Corp. There was no announcement today of a new version of the iPad, though such an announcement should happen soon.

Here are highlights from Google's announcements, with images after the jump:

Honeycomb expands upon earlier version of Android by taking advantage of tablets' larger displays. The demo showed app "widgets" on an Android desktop.

There's a new user interface (as compared with older versions of Android running on smartphones) for tablet camera controls.

A new version of Google Maps lets you rotate the map in 3D, even rendering skyscrapers in perspective.

A new app, Google Body, lets you explore the human body in 3D, peeling away layers and labeling individual body parts. It's a "body browser," kind of like a Google Maps for human anatomy.

Many apps written for earlier versions of Android will run on Honeycomb. It wasn't entirely clear from the presentation that every such app will run, though.

Honeycomb will feature improved animation and 3D rendering, with smooth visual transitions. The demo showed visually curling book pages, much like the iPad's iBooks app, as well as 3D "carousels" of books and videos.

There will be tight integration, via the cloud, between Android-based phones, tablets, and Google TV. "It's the cloud that makes the experience seamless," said a Google spokesperson.

CNN demonstrated an app for Android tablets that lets you browse up to 350 news stories on a "broadsheet" grid, then zero in on those that interest you. It will also feature live video feeds from CNN and a tablet version of iReport, a CNN feature that lets consumers upload photos and videos (which they've presumably shot with their tablet's camera) of news events. The CNN app is supposed to be available first on the Motorola Xoom tablet "in the near future."

Google's new Web-based version of its Android Market is open for business now. You can browse and purchase apps using a Web browser; purchases are then automatically downloaded wirelessly to your mobile Android phone or tablet. (Seeming to take a swipe at Apple, the Google spokesperson said that you don't have to "sync" apps to install them. However, it is true that you can buy and install apps on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches wirelessly over the Web without first syncing).

In Google's Web app store, you can click on the "Tweet" button for an app, and it will send a tweet to your Twitter account; your Android-using followers can click on the link to go directly to the app and buy it.

In the Web app store, you can view your previous orders and download any app you already own to Android devices, in addition to the one you originally downloaded it to.

Before the end of March, Google will introduce "in-app purchases" for Android apps, which will lets developers sell products and features from within an app. For example, you could unlock an extra feature, buy virtual currency, or buy a related product, all while running an app.