Meanwhile, Google wants *you* to spend more money on their own store:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/g...tes-many-chan/

Boom.

The people have spoken and Google has delivered.

Romain Guy has posted a one-liner that states that Android 3.0 adds hardware acceleration to UI rendering!

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6914 (at the bottom)

I've literally 'broken' this story 3 minutes after it was posted including writing this message. I should really start a news site.

It just keeps growing... The Android 3.0 SDK preview is live!


http://developer.android.com/sdk/and...ighlights.html

Tons of new features. You can tell that Google has been working quite hard on this.

PLEASE Samsung, announce that you're going to port 3.0 to the Tab!

I know the community will provide a port, but it would be nice for some official support.

The 3.0 preview news is quite major. There are a slew of innovations that are extremely exciting. Have a read, and my commentary will follow later on.

I'm really looking forward to Honeycomb on the Tab! It's just perfect for the form factor, and the GPU accelerated UI hints that it will run like a dream as well.

The one 3.0 feature that I'm most excited about: Renderscript.

Renderscript in Android 3.0 is a stroke of genius. Basically it's a runtime (and simplified) framework for drawing 3D images and animating them in applications without the need to know more complex 3D APIs (eg. Open GL). The end result? 3D that's accessible to the lay programmer and vastly improved productivity for the experienced developer.

Why is this great?
A scripting language means quick testing. Without the tedium of the compile-test cycle *and* forgoing the necessity for diligent planning and design before implementation, a scripting framework allows developers to consider the 3D UI as an afterthought, to spruce up apps presentation (eg. adding a 3D wall of images to a once flat thumbnail UI).

Simplified syntax for simpler 3D. A script means simpler implementation. This is potentially a huge productivity booster and opens the world of 3D interfaces to every day programmers, or those just looking to dabble and experiment. Seasoned programmers will likely balk at this solution, but the one thing I've learned is this: don't underestimate the power of simplicity. Simplicity opens doors that remained closed for so many people and provides an entry point for exploration. One great example of this is Ubuntu.

While I fully expect Renderscript to be overused by many. I have faith that certain developers will use it very well and craft enlightening new UIs with outstanding performance.

One last thing. There is official mention that Honeycomb is optimized for dual-core processors as well as single-core processors.

This is great news for the Tab and puts to rest the (somewhat silly) rumors that 3.0 would be a dual-core only OS!

Here's a really cool application for scanning Walgreen prescriptions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xgoNB5ovjk

I'm not quite sure what it does, but it seems very useful!

CONFIRMED: The Galaxy Tab 2 will be revealed next month at Mobile World Conference!


http://androidandme.com/2011/01/phon...wc-next-month/

It looks as if Samsung is really putting the heat on and gunning for the #1 spot. I'm very curious to know a few things:
1) The OS
2) The system specs
3) The release date.

This rides on the heels of the recently released Galaxy Tab, though I would expect inflated specs to compliment a new device. Of course, with a release so close to the original Tab, they may annoy early adopters.

Perhaps a Honeycomb upgrade would sate the masses?

I've been using that app for a while now. REALLY great feature is that renewal by barcode scanning for prescriptions! I really think they need to fix their weekly ads section, though. It's awful.

If you liked that app, you should also take a look at the Autozone app, if you shop for car parts. (As someone with a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle, a 1993 Honda Del Sol and a 2000 Ford Windstar... yah, I do.)

Now this is really, really big:
Sony has announces PSX Game Android app store, and Android Dev-kit!

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/s...station-suite/

The PSX store will support v2.3 devices and up and span tablets and phones.

The development-suite is the most interesting part, as it will make it easy for developers to develop games for both Sony mobile devices and non-sony Android devices simultaneously. Wow.

Any way you slice it, it's a major win for Android gaming (and one that I fully predicted, ahem). With a MAJOR gaming provider backing the platform

I would be *really* interested to see if they are compiling their binaries to the Dalvik VM, rather than using the NDK. This would totally make sense for the v2.3 requirement which allows for native lib calls from Dalvik without the bloated (and slow) JNI layer for the same purpose. Especially with the trace-thread optimization and native compilation in the new Dalvik VM, I expect that it's fast enough to run actual game code (inner loops) with the true benefit of write-once, run-anywhere, which simply isn't possible with the NDK. This would make advanced 3D games truly portable: a significant first for ANY DEVICE.

Of course, this is just speculation, but something tells me that it's the case.

Android is poised to seriously compete in the mobile gaming arena. It seems like all of the work Google has put in to the platform to make it more game-developer friendly is really paying off!