LG drops plans for Froyo-based tablet, pushes back launch
updated 05:25 am EDT, Mon October 4, 2010
Android 2.2 not optimized, waiting for Honeycomb?
LG today stated that it has dropped it plans for an Android 2.2 Optimus-branded tablet. A company spokesperson stated that LG had been in discussions with Google about what was the most appropriate OS for a tablet moving forward, and it was decided that Froyo was not the best choice. Android 3.0, which is nicknamed Gingerbread is a possibility, but LG’s chief competitor Samsung has hinted in a slip that Android won’t be properly optimized for tablets until Honeycomb. With Gingerbread due this fall at the earliest, this news could push LG’s entry into the tablet market well into next year.
In Electronista’s first hands on with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab we expressed surprise at how much of the core Android 2.2 OS remained in the final shipping build on the device, expecting it to have been more optimized for use on a tablet. For example, when in landscape orientation we noted that the small onscreen keyboard left a blank space on each flank. It has been suspected that Samsung’s choice of a seven-inch screen was primarily dictated by the very lack of OS optimization that has led to LG’s decision to wait for Google to deliver a better Android OS alternative for the tablet form factor.
While the version of iOS running on Apple’s iPad is largely similar to that running on the iPhone, it is has been customized to deliver a user experience that is much more of a cross between a smartphone and a laptop. To highlight the differences between the iPhone and the iPad on launch, Apple had a number of apps that it had either written specifically for the iPad on launch, or had re-written, in order to take advantage of its larger screen real estate. It remains to be seen whether this lack of differentiation between Android 2.2 on a smartphone and the way it operates on the Galaxy Tab will hinder it sales in any way.
Prior to today’s announcement, LG had indicated its planned iPad and Galaxy Tab competitor would be ready this fall. The delay is an embarrassment for LG, who had boldly claimed that their Android tablet would be more productive than Apple’s when it was planned to launch, running Froyo. The news that the LG Froyo-based tablet has been cancelled follows the recent departure of LG's CEO Nam Yong who resigned taking responsibility for LG’s poor phone sales.
TAGS :
computers, Android, LG, Apple, Froyo, Gingerbread, Android 2.2, Honeycomb, Galaxy Tab, Apple iPad
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
Oh, wow! Apple had better watch out...
for all the tablets coming down the pike that will be just flooding the tablet market and overwhelming the iPad. If Android isn't even optimized for tablets yet, that would seem to be a pretty big problem. But I guess the pundits will ignore that and just continue to get excited about the 20 or so tablets that should be arriving shortly to do battle with the iPad. Somehow they can't get it through their skulls that tablet parts are going to be in short supply until at least early next year, so Apple has very little to concern itself over rivals. Apple just needs to keep getting iPads pushed out the door to consumers. Apple's iPad is ready to go and sitting in Target ready for sale. It's not some vaporware that's been just announced. So, pundits take note. Any Android tablet will be using an OS that's not ready for primetime and what consumers will be getting is just some half-baked, rush to market product. Or pretty much what they said the iPad was.