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Motorla was the first hardware vendor to ship a device running Google’s Android operating system optimized for tablets known as Honeycomb. Their tablet, called the Xoom, wasn’t really all that popular, and for good reason. It weighed more than the iPad, was thicker the iPad, and most importantly Android 3.0 wasn’t up to snuff compared to what the iOS had on offer. Since the Xoom we’ve seen a slew of Android tablets hit the market, but they’ve all failed to take off, with the slight exception of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1, but that’s pushing it. Roughly 2 months ago, at Google I/O, the world’s favorite privacy inept search company announced that by the end of this year they’d be shipping a new version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich, and while they didn’t unveil any of the features that’ll make it special, they did say that it’ll be the one version of Android to rule them all. No more smartphone specific and tablet specific variants, Ice Cream Sandwich is it.
Rumor has it that Motorola, similar to how they were the first to market with Honeycomb, wants to be the first to market with an Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. The device they’re working on will have a 10 inch screen that’s special for 2 reasons. First, it isn’t going to come in the 16:9 aspect ratio that most other Android tablets ship with, it’s going to be 4:3, just like the iPad and HP’s TouchPad. Second, and this is the important one folks, it’s said to have a screen resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. That translates to 256 pixels per inch, which isn’t quite up to Apple’s standard of retina display, as defined by anything greater than 300 pixels per inch, but it’s still impressive enough to make us drool a little.
Said device is due to be on store shelves by the end of this year or early next year. Excited? We are, and we’re highly curious to see what Apple does to fight back.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
