Android 3.0 tablet samples ready by December; Android 4.0 in 2H 2011

By on Oct 19, 2010 at 11:44 AM
Hardware October 19, 2010

Following a flurry of purported Android 3.0 details, a new report out of Taiwan claims that Google is putting a solid time line in place with its Android partners. Citing “sources from notebook players,” the rumor roulette-wheel that is DigiTimes suggests that Google recently contacted its partners with news that engineering samples of Android 3.0 will be ready by December. The report also claims that manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola, Acer, Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International will have Gingerbread tablets in hand to show off at CES in January, 2011. Digitimes wraps up its communique with word that Android 4.0 will launch in the second half of 2011. It also notes that Android’s popularity amongst tablet makers will continue to surge thanks to lower software and hardware costs compared to Windows-powered tablets. Whether or not consumers will bite, however, remains to be seen.

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  • superchunk

    Weren’t I saying just this a few days ago when some of you out there were arguing that 3.0 won’t hit until much much later. :P

    This is why I can wait to get my upgrade in late November; there will be awesome new multi-core, hardware pushed, Android 3.0 cell phones and tablets out by end of year.

    iPhone will then be waaaaay behind until June and then they barely even catch up to the Android offerings, only to be eclipsed a few months after.

    • wahahahahha

      And around and around we go.

    • Perspective

      Your post assumes manufacturers will immediately release 3.0 updates, even as some stil ship 1.6 devices weeks after the release of 2.2. Also, as we’ve already seen (Galaxy Tab), the OEMs don’t really listen to Google, so their claims about a timeline ring hollow.

      14.1 million iPhones last quarter. Android has 70 handsets and may not match that figure, and if we look at iOS as a whole, it’s not even close.

      • unrEVOked

        but but but but Android has 70 handsets and iOS has only 1….but but but but but but but. You should change your name to Obama, quit playing the blame game. Quit sucking from Jobs’ nipple.

        Android has only been in the game 1 year…. how about that “perspective”?

        P.S. Your claims are also hollow since you base them on “queer perspective” which is based purely on speculation. Are you reading from Jarrett’s playbook?

      • HoboJim

        Contrary to your own dumbass point of view android has been around longer than “only a year.” Android didn’t arrive with verizons ugly duckling known as the DROID.

        Either way, you are going to have to buy a whole new device if you want 3.0 and bought an android phone even in the last 6 months because there is no upgrade path….just fragmention.

      • unrEVOked

        or rooting?

      • JustSayIn

        Who knows if there is or isn’t an upgrade path. The upgrade path only matters when you factor in whether the manufacturer is going to adopt it and give their users the new OS. Why would they though, they are hardware companies, not software companies.

        If I am manufacturing I am not going to port 3.0 to old handsets, my goal is to sell you new hardware. What, you just bought my latest and greatest three months ago? Sorry.

      • unrEVOked

        Sorry HoboJim, i forgot the first Android device was launched on October 22, 2008. Its been around 2 years. Thats way longer than a year. WAY WAY WAY longer than a year.

        I hope you can forgive my mistake. I didn’t know it would make you sooooooo angry.

      • yaya

        @unrevoked
        in technological terms, one year is a LONG time.

      • MicroNix

        Spoken like a true iTard

      • LOL

        LOL…My droid destroys every iphone I have ever come in contact with…Rooted runing at 1200 mhz…And when they don’t have service (ATT) I share my Wifi signal so they can get there messages…

      • JustSayIn

        @unrEVOked,

        If you are going to be pro-Android you should at least know something about the platform.

        Launched 2003
        Google purchased (not Google’s baby) 2005
        Distributed to the newly formed OHA 2007.

        From purchasing in 2005 until present day. Just because the company took four years to wrap their heads around what was already done and released in 2007 doesn’t mean it has only been around for a year.

        The only thing worse than not knowing, is choosing to not know.

      • unrEVOked

        Damn, you fools are some sensitive little geeks.

      • JustSayIn

        @ unrEVOked,

        You are the one putting the (mis)information out there. If you were doing a piss poor job at work (and you probably are) wouldn’t your boss have a direct responsibility to the company to bring it to your attention?

      • unrEVOked

        Yes, I am. Which is why, like you, I am on BGR arguing about when android was cooked up.

        Did I make you mad when i said Android has only been around a year? Would it be better to say that Android 1.5 has only been around a year? Does that make you feel better? Or are your going to tell me that no, 1.5 has been around since Feb. 2009.

        You are all so laughable…

      • unrEVOked_mom

        unrEVOked! what are you doing here? come back and finish your homework!

      • unrEVOked

        The first Android device was launched on October 22, 2008. Can you explain to me why you think that 2007 has any relevance to my comment of how long Android has been “in the game”?

        Since Apple has been making OSX since 2002… does that mean the iPhone has been “in the game” since 2002 also?

      • unrEVOked

        Mom, go away. I want to play with the other retards.

    • alen

      as someone who used to build PC’s and buy the latest and greatest, YAWN

      what is the point of paying top dollar for the fastest cell phone when 99% of apps won’t use the power? even games will take 2 years or so to use that power by which time something new will come along.

      going to look at android, but so far i like iphones. i can get 4-5 years use out of an iphone. 2 years for me and then 2 years or so giving it to my eldest son who’s going to use it as an ipod.

      • superchunk

        You could do the same hand me down pattern with any cell phone and of course Androids.

        Point is, Android is moving at a faster pace. If far less time it has matched and in various areas surpassed iOS. From this point on it will always be iOS playing the majority of the catchup.

  • F1

    Hope that they manufacture some higher end units, with elegant metal casings & colors, tiered of plastic toys!

    Thank You

  • john mccain

    i do recognize what steve jobs says about android, but those problems he mentioned will be solved soon IMO and android will take over.

    • techjunkieforlife

      Who cares what OS is currently winning this so called race of yours, it will change hands over time, back and forth. Is it not that fact we have several runners trying to be first the most important thing?

      • john mccain

        yes, competition brings out the best in people. the consumer wins. if you mean that, i’m with you. i’m just a google fan because i think its a genius, a juggernaut that cant be stopped. google only used digital information to become this huge. it made money out of nothing. to me google is the american dream of the second millenium.

      • techjunkieforlife

        Scientia potentia est is a Latin maxim “For also knowledge itself is power”, not a Google invention you know and yes I did mean it.

        Good to see reasoning thou, people just spam comments without offering it these days. Not that I exactly agree with it but Google is a welcome addition to the market.

      • john mccain

        i actually have a latin proficiency certificate, sometimes its usable. if its not a google invention, google is insanely good at copying it :-] srsly i think google is almost a perpetuum mobile, it makes infomation make more information, which is then packaged as a product for the consumer. the consumer feeds back directly to the information that uses this new information to make more products =) whats genius is that google can use pretty much ANY kind of information to make money off it.

  • bopper

    hey superchunk, read the article again, no 3.0 tablets in December, it says “engineering samples”, see below

    engineering samples of Android 3.0 will be ready by December

    that is a huge problem, no 3.0 tablets for Xmas. I’m torn between the two products. Apple should press Microsoft hard for MS Office for the Ipad and close out Android to keep market share.

    • TheOtherGeoff

      office 365. MS office in a browser. In theory, all it requires is a platform that supports activeSync (iP* supported). However, I trust MS as far as I can throw them when it comes to supporting HTML stds.

  • Bruce

    Is Android still around?

    • bob

      They are definitley on Steve Jobs mind. LOL!

  • Dave’s Not Here

    Please wake me up when they hit the $1.99 section on Amazon.

    • superchunk

      I don’t understand why people know Android phones for the bogo offers or the 0.99 specials. To me that is the best part of competition and cell phone marketing. I would FAR prefer a free phone over a $200 phone when they offer essentially the same options or when the free one is actually better.

      • Googly Googs

        Don’t get too upset over it.

        It’s just the way the cookie crumbles G

      • Googly Googs

        Theres really no such thing as BOGO with Android Devices.

        It’s actually BOG17

      • Mang

        Ask the ones selling the phones, numbnuts.

  • MushroomStamp

    Just hope they release a tablet that doesnt’ require a monthly tax (Data plan). Problem with WiFi only is that they don’t come with a true GPS chip, you need 3G models for that (at least to date anyway). Why this is, i dunno.. but I don’t want a monthly contract, however I REALLY want an android Tablet.

    Adam, by notion ink looks like everything I want in a tablet EXCEPT not working with App store, you have to use their store :( … I’m done with proprietary stuff, especially from a small company.

    • Troy

      Hi, Just thought I’d mention ,,, you can use the GPS on some 3G models, even if you don’t have data or a connection. As long as it’s true GPS, some apps have preloaded maps. CoPilot Directions will let you just download the maps you want even, that saves a lot on storage. The app is free and so are the maps. You just have to be on wifi to get the maps, then you’re good to go.

  • GN

    android 3.0 to 4.0 within months of each other??…very impressive google…

  • Channan

    I’m a consumer. I’ll bite. I’ll swallow too. This is beginning to sound a little sexual, and it is. Android turns me on!

  • GN

    I really think, google is trying to shut Jobs the friggg up…and his apples…I really do.

    • HoboJim

      I do too. Now all have to do is make a stable OS, get manufacures on the same page, and not leave people who bought their junk phones in the dust 3 months after they bought whatever crapdroid it was with an obsolete OS. Should be an easy fix, right?

      • GN

        I agree with that also…people buying all the nice, high end phones, should receive upgrades as well…as long as the phone can handle it, that should be a given…seems google is targeting now for the larger screens and faster processors with there upcoming 3.0 Gingerbread. Hence my comment about most of the 2.2′s are higher end phones, and can take that upgrade yesterday.

      • HoboJim

        That is my big concern. I have a DX. I have 2.2. Will I see 3.0? I better. I signed a 2 year contract so it would be nice if I could at least have an update OS for those two years or some kind of support. These aren’t simple flip phones anymore. Somethings gotta give whether its the OS or two year contracts.

      • JustSayIn

        Please stop spreading misinformation. You signed a 2-year contract without any guarantee of new OS’s. They don’t have to give you shit but a signal.

      • MOFO

        Yeap, I learned a couple years ago never sign a 2 year contract. If I don’t buy retail, I only sign 1 year contracts. You buy the phone for what it has, not because something is promised.

  • meanjavabean

    Bore. Google is pre-announcing two versions of Android in a desperate attempt to suck tablet share from Apple. Fact is, Apple owns the next two quarters of sales, has V2 in the pipeline and, if production bottlenecks are reduced, will move 10-15 million more units before Google and RIM have product available for sale.

    • JustSayIn

      Please stop spreading misinformation. It will be 9.8 million – 15.2 million more handsets.

    • Hockey88

      From Steve Jobs: “Unfortunately, there is no solid data on how many Android phones are shipped each quarter. We hope that manufacturers will soon start reporting the number of Android handsets they ship each quarter.” Why should I care? Me worried…nah….maybe…of course! Android is outpacing iOS period!

      • meanjavabean

        Agreed. Android is kicking ass; it just won’t do so on a tablet for another two quarters. And then it will have to contend with a new version of the iPad. This is an interesting race..

    • Mang

      “Google is pre-announcing two versions of Android in a desperate attempt to suck tablet share from Apple.”

      Crazy thing is, it will work.

  • Norm

    I’m so pumped up for DROID 3.0 AND DROID 4.0. Just imagine all of the new DROIDS from VZW! The DROID MORE INCREDIBLE 4, THE DROID X5, THE DROID 5,6,7 & 8 WORLD EDITIONS all in first half 2011 alone!

    I better save up. With new DROIDS coming out every two weeks I’m going to have to budget, especially if I want an up to OS that will still run the apps that keep coming out and aren’t compatible with the version I get stuck with, with each new DROID I buy monthly.

    • GOD

      Did you and Goofan finish your reach around..

    • GN

      Norm trying to give us all WOOD…lol

    • GN

      If I had Norms money…I would throw mine away..:p

    • John

      I want a droid X 5.

  • Mgl323

    Will 3.0 have access to the android market?

    • JustSayIn

      No please stop spreading misinformation.

      • Mgl323

        How am I spreading misinformation? All I did is ask a simple question.

      • GN

        hes JustSayIn…rofl

    • superchunk

      Are you trying to be funny or do you really not know that every phone has access to that phones market. RIM, iOS, Android, WM7, etc all have access to their markets from their application for said market.

  • always cool

    Don’t buy/upgrade your Android device you bought last week, just yet. Wait a couple of years, and you’ll have Android v7.0 that will allow you to make love to your phone, without worrying about VD or getting it pregnant.

  • Downtown Clown

    Just what the world has been waiting for! New tablets from Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International.

    Ohhhh! Can’t wait! That should really threaten the iPad!

    Why does’nt Google really put the pressure on and sign some deals with Kia & Hyundai while they are at it.

    • Mang

      Watcha tink yo Honda is made of, home-skillet?

  • Darwin

    Not only did Google purchase Android they first made it look like Windows Mobile. Then when the iPhone came out they completely changed the Ui to attempt to look like the iPhone which they are still doing a poor job of copying.
    Once the iPhone is on other carriers which will happen soon they will put a huge dent in Android sales. Which is exactly what happened in Europe. Also 3G iPads will be on Verizon and other carriers, not just wi-fi with mi-fi.
    Google is about to compete with the gold standard in hardware, OS, and app design directly for the first time and it is not hard to figure out who will come out on top.

    • http://michaelshivers.com Michael

      you guys are all idiots. some people like android phones, some people like the iphone. yes, the android is gaining sales and is definitely catching up to the iphone, but apple has an army of die-hard fans they can count on. you don’t have to ‘side’ with one or the other. it’s all a matter of opinion. i got the EVO because it’s a better machine than the iPhone. don’t believe me? do some research. regardless, the EVO works for me. the iphone might work for YOU, i don’t really care. i’ll stick to what i like, and you can stick to what suits you. it’s not about which one is better “overall”, it’s about which one works for YOU. stop being CHEERLEADERS, grow up, and get the phone or tablet that works for YOU.

    • MicroNix

      Gold standard? Don’t you mean silver? After all, that’s the metal band around the iPhone that you can cause signal degradation with! (I know, overplayed joke)

      What’s funny is that now the manufacturers (other than Apple) are getting it and putting out hardware that is just about on par with iPhone, soon to pass it up. The way I see it right now, iPhone has two distinct advantages. Screen res (which up to the iPhone 4 was horrendous and passed up by nearly every other higher end phone manufacturer) and the camera.

      What’s funny is everyone that looks at devices sees both iOS and Android as nearly equal until someone with an Android device starts speaking commands for search, complete text messages, complete emails, etc. and how its native for just about anything that requires input. While Steve Jobs says that search hasn’t happened on the mobile platform, Google says it has and is kicking the daylights out of iOS with it. When I’m out and about, or in a conversation requiring factual information, nothing beats an Android for search. Not even Apple. It’s not just about the apps anymore Steve.

  • http://www.hghreviews.org/ Eric

    As nice as the Galaxy Tab looks – it drops with Froyo 2.2 – I think it’ll be Gingerbread before Android is really ready to rock on tablets.

  • http://www.buymobile.net BuyMobile.net

    Strange… Looks a lot like… Oh right, the iPad. How can Android say that they have perspective on an idea that has barely been on the market (in any form) for a year or two? I’d say nobody is qualified yet to say they have any extensive knowledge on technology that is as newly developed as all of the “pads” that have recently been developed.

    BuyMobile

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