Just when you thought every and all tablets were going to eventually receive the highly anticipated update from Google, Honeycomb, it’s being recommended at this time that you don’t hold your breath. Bobby Cha, a managing director for the Korean consumer electronics firm Enspert, has stated “Google’s new Android Honeycomb tablet OS will require a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor to run properly“. It looks like a dual core processor, like the one Nvidia produces, is at the very minimum, a requirement for honeycomb to run successfully on a majority of upcoming tablets. This is especially disappointing to those of us who just forked over an arm and a leg to purchase the Samsung Galaxy Tab, taking on a new two year agreement. In addition, it’s also possible that a 1280 x 720 screen resolution might be hitting the requirement list for honeycomb too, although Cha has also stated that “Honeycomb does not require 10-inch screens…it’s going to go as small as 7 inch.”
Furthermore, it appears that we might be looking at some fragmentation when it comes to tablets as well and not just smart phones. Thus, when one goes tablet shopping they’ll be confronted with two options. They will have to choose a device such as the Galaxy Tab with a Cortex-A8 processor, Froyo 2.2 and 1,024×600 screen res or the Cortex-A9 device sporting the 1,280×720 res and Honeycomb, securing a spot, hopefully, for future updates. I wonder if the average consumer will even be armed with this knowledge? Doubt it. Shall we even hint at the possibility that lower end tablets will never see anything above 2.1 or 2.2? Thanks to Cha, eventually, no. Cha provides a glimpse of hope when he says “with time, the Honeycomb requirements will embrace lower-cost tablets— not because the requirements will get lower, but because the parts will get cheaper.” So, we’re not sure how long ”in time” is but we suspect it’s a while. I guess we’ll have to see what CES brings us next week so we can affirm some things and put to rest others. It’s definitely going to be an interesting event, and we’re sure we are going to see the tablet make its mark at the event and after. As of now, we can probably be sure of one thing, we will most likely see only one device at the event sporting honeycomb and that is the Motorola Tablet, Andy Ruben’s pride and joy. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below. Are you disappointed about these requirements?
[via pcmag]