Google Android and Zombies?

Alright Google, what are you planning now...

When I installed Gingerbread on my HTC Hero, the Gmail app was super buggy. I would click on an email and it would take me back to the conversations list before I could read anything. So somebody at the XDA Developers website viewed the logcat to see whats up, and what they found was quite interesting.

When the window closes it spits this out:

I/DEBUG   (   94):     45d5b684  83aa2dcb  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
I/DEBUG   (   94): debuggerd committing suicide to free the zombie!
I/DEBUG   ( 1104): debuggerd: Dec 27 2010 17:21:35
I/ActivityManager(  133): Process com.google.android.gm (pid 514) has died.
I/WindowManager(  133): WIN DEATH: Window{4064e0e8 com.google.android.gm/com.goo
gle.android.gm.ConversationListActivity paused=false}
I/WindowManager(  133): WIN DEATH: Window{4071e920 com.google.android.gm/com.goo
gle.android.gm.HtmlConversationActivity paused=false}

Committing suicide to free the zombie? What does that mean?

But even MORE interesting:
A little easter egg was found in Gingerbread. When you go into Settings>About Phone and click on "Android Version" a bunch of times, a very interesting picture pops up:

Kinda scary looking... I really wonder what this is all about. Whats with zombies, Google? 

Have a Nexus S or Gingerbread? Check it out for yourself! Let me know what you think Google is planning with this!

The Motorola XOOM!

The Motorola XOOM will be the first tablet to have Android Honeycomb (3.0) Google said that Honeycomb is in fact Android - optimized for tablets. Some people are thinking it will be very close to Gingerbread. I wonder what they are going to do about names? Will the next version be Ice Cream? Will it be for phones or tablets? So many questions and only time will tell. But as always, Google never ceases to amaze me - I have no doubt it my mind that they will integrate it perfectly.

The specs for this beautiful device are pretty spiffy:

• Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS
• 1 GHZ dual core Tegra 2 processor
• 10.1″ WXGA screen (1280 x 800) (16:10)
• 32 GB internal memory (expandable to 64 GB with 32 MB SD-Card support)
• 5 megapixel rear facing camera with 720p HD video capture
• 2 megapixel front-facing camera
• 720p HD video playback

It starts to hurt when tablets and phones are becoming faster than my computer...

With this version of android there are lots of UI changes. There are no physical Home, Back, or Menu buttons. They have been made virtual to have a bigger screen and a cleaner look. This may be a little weird to get used to. The notification system is a little different as well. Instead of a pull down notification bar, they have them at the bottom by the clock and you tap on them. Again a little weird, but I like change. The notifications are still non-invasive and look pretty nice, having photos for notifications about contacts and such. You still have multiple screens and plenty of widgets, some new widgets as well - such as Gmail and eBooks. 

At CES they said they wanted something clean and futuristic looking, and they did damn well. Usually when I think of this - all I imagine is a super cheesy UI with limited functionality. But this is completely the opposite. Even with the UI looking so nice - it seemed like there was zero lag and apps running in the background came up instantly. I'm sure this is with the help of the Tegra 2 processor, but I bet Honeycomb will have some pretty impressive speeds regardless. 

It has also been said that Honeycomb will not require minimum processor specs, but I bet screen size will play a big role in minimum requirements. 

CES 2011!

2010 went out with a bang and entering 2011 will be no different. With CES going on, we are seeing talk about Android Honeycomb on the Motorola XOOM Tablet everywhere! Motorola's tidbit at CES was nothing short of awesome! They announced the most powerful android phone ever - the Atrix 4G! This beast packs a 1GHz dual-core processor, and 1 GB of RAM (a first!) But the most impressive thing about this phone is the docking options. When you dock it to a TV or other dock, you get a desktop experience. It shows your android phone on the screen but also runs the latest version of Firefox right beside it! It also has a dock that looks like a laptop but only contains a battery, so you can charge your phone and not have to lug around a heavy laptop. Pretty smart and something we have never seen before. I am very interested to see how this will take off and how customizable it will be. Would like to Google Chrome on it at some point but still impressive.

AT&T is also stepping up their game. Taking Android phones more seriously and coming out with some nice high-end android phones. They will not only have the Atrix 4G but also a phone called The Infuse 4G - A Samsung Galaxy device. It is said to be the thinnest android phone available at a tiny 9mm thin, but not only that - the largest screen on an android device at 4.5"! With "Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus" screen I bet that will look mighty impressive! Now AT&T, we just hope you allow sideloading apps and don't strip it down to put Yahoo! services on it...

The Motorola Atrix 4G

The Samsung Infuse 4G