Are you looking forward to booting Honeycomb on your current Android tablet? Well, sorry to disappoint, but it seems as if the next-gen iteration of Google’s popular mobile operating system requires some pretty hefty specs.
According to PC World, Honeycomb won’t run on anything less than a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and may demand an uber-high screen resolution set at 1,280×720.
Currently, however, such processors (on the actual market) are in short supply, with only a select few – such as Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform – offering enough dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 horsepower to power Honeycomb.
If true, what does this mean for you?
Well, as PC World’s Sascha Segan notes, Google may have embarked – at least initially – on “two parallel” software paths for tablets.
“Honeycomb will be reserved, at least initially, for high-spec models such as the Motorola tablet, LG’s rumored tablet, and the Toshiba tablet,” speculated Segan.
“With their Cortex-A8 processors and 1,024×600 screens, the popular Samsung Galaxy Tab line of Android tablets run ‘Froyo’ (Android 2.2) and can be updated to Gingerbread, 2.3, but not Honeycomb.”
Nevertheless, Bobby Cha, managing director of Korean consumer electronics firm Enspert, believes that Honeycomb-capable tablets will be priced fairly reasonably in the near future.
“You’re [definitely] going to see price erosion on many of the components in tablets right now.
“Folks like Samsung, the industry heavyweights, are going to add pressure to the component guys to lower their costs. [But for now], a tablet is still kind of an expensive toy.”
