Friday, March 25, 2011

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Source Code Not Leaving the Google Hive Yet

Normally once a couple of devices have hit the mobile space, the operating source code gets released, and no doubt there are many waiting patiently to get their mitts all of Google’s first Android OS for tablets, Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but it appears they won’t be getting a sniff at it just yet.

According to an article over on Engadget and by way of Business Week, the Google guys are keeping hold of the Honeycomb source code and not letting it out of the Google hive in the foreseeable future.

Apparently Engadget received confirmation of this via Google who say…” Android 3.0, Honeycomb, was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes and improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization. While we’re excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones. Until then, we’ve decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We’re committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it’s ready.”

So there it is, Google is keeping a lock on the Honeycomb source code until such times as they consider its feature ready to use on smartphones, which could mean they are working on making Android Ice Cream similar to what Honeycomb offers for tablets, no?