In order to improve Android 3.0, Google reportedly is pushing for better standardisation of both Honeycomb and the ARM processors.
“Currently, Android 3.0-based tablet PCs have several drawbacks over their user interface as well as a lack of supporting applications. Although Google’s Android Market has about 250,000 applications available for download, since most of the softwares designed for smartphones, only a limited number of applications are able to run on the bigger screen devices such as tablet PCs,” adds the report.
According to the report, Google’s decision to withhold the source code of Honeycomb has much more to it than what the company is willing to admit.
The new Google approach seems more like that of Microsoft where developers did not have that much access to the operating system source code. This is a break from the past practice followed by Google, in which the phone manufacturers were free to customise the operating system.
Usually handset manufacturers customise Android operating systems to make their products different from others but it also fragments the Android ecosystem at the same time, making it difficult for Google to upgrade the phone’s software.
The same problem exists with ARM processors too.
Apple exists on the other side of extreme where there is no freedom for the carriers, they just have to carry the phone just the way it is. At the same time, this approach ensures the entire ecosystem moves at the same consistent pace, all the phones receive their upgrades without any difficulty.
To make matters clearer, the source code of Honeycomb would be available to the preferred manufacturers by Google, such as HTC, LG, Samsung and Motorola. This approach will make sure the reputation of Google would not suffer with low quality phones or tablets coming out in the market.
At the same time, the increasingly rigid approach by Google has caused even Motorola to express some displeasure, which reflects in their decision to look for an Android alternative.