Honeycomb is the newest product of Google, in terms of operating systems. This is dedicated to Motorola Xoom, being the first release of Google for a tablet PC.
With this new platform for the Android operating systems, the potential of the widgets that are seen on the home screen of Honeycomb has increased considerably. Now you can see them on a larger scale, given the dimensions of the tablet as well. As we have seen in the latest article, the widgets that are present in the new Honeycomb system are nothing new to Google, because they used this method on the smartphones they powered with the software. Only that this time, the capabilities are way improved.
In the article I read on computerworld.com, it is said that Honeycomb needs a bit more time to get the best operating system for tablets. The system is not ready to be compared with the Apple’s iPad system, because the applications that are released for this platform are not updated to fill the gaps existing between the system that was created for Xoom and the previous systems created only for smartphones. Most of the apps manufacturers did their best when releasing updates for their applications, but it seems that there are still some who run poorly on Motorola Xoom, so they will need most likely another updates.
On the home screen of Xoom, once you start up the tablet, you are able to see what mails you have received, what is the weather like in your city or in the entire country and you can see the program for a certain day. Of course, other widgets can be set to appear on the home screen. This is very customizable. You benefit of a scrollable access to your Chrome bookmarks, because Chrome is the Web browser running on Xoom. You can be happy, because Chrome is one of the best browsers for portable devices, along with Safari.
You can feel the entire space of your home screen to see more apps, but this will confuse you when you will enter the device’s system. It is better to use just a few of them and if you really want, you can change them once in a while with others, just to change also the home screen. You can move them from one location to another, just like you do with your icons on your computer.
On the home screen, you can add widgets and also apps. The processes are different. For example, on an Android smartphone, to add a widget, you have to tap your phone’s menu to find the right command and then set the widget to appear on your home screen. To add apps on the home screen, you have to go to the app and select that you want a shortcut to be placed on the home screen. But when speaking about Android tablet, the things are different. So, the processes are different from one device to another and also from setting an app on the home screen to setting a new widget. While you are using the Xoom tablet, tap the plus sign at the top right corner of the screen to enter a tool, which allows you to customize the home screen. There is the location where you find thumbnails for the five home screens, because on Xoom, you have five different home screens that you can choose.
While you are in that customization tool, you can see the widgets and the app shortcuts which are available in every home screen. You can set a screen and when you are on that screen, drag the widgets you want towards another home screen and then load that certain screen. You can add them, by going to the list with widgets and applications provided by Google on their site.
