Google has finally officially confirmed the next version of Android. Honeycomb will bear the version number 3.0 (putting to rest the 2.4 rumours). The news does not come as a major surprise in light of a number of tablet announcements confirming the new OS.
As expected, Honeycomb is designed for devices with larger screens (tablets and perhaps some of the larger smartphones). The user interface is quite different with Google describing it as “truly virtual and holographic.” There will be more home screen customization (with a “3D experience”), redesigned and more interactive widgets, an improved browser supporting tabbed browsing, form auto-fill, Google Chrome bookmark syncing, and incognito mode.
Honeycomb will also come with Google Maps 5 with 3D interactions and offline reliability, access to Google eBooks, and other Google Mobile apps.
There was no word on minimum hardware specifications (with a dual-core processor requirement?).