So! I've been going back down memory lane for a bit- even if i didn't get into Android until, maybe... 5.0, 6.0 with the Galaxy S5?
I've always had an incredible fascination with old and deprecated Operating Systems- especially ones that aren't even iterated on anymore, such as old Workstation OSes for things like Silicon Graphics, old MacOSes, NeXT, and so on, so forth- but overall, i've had a huge fascination with them almost the whole time i've been into technology.
So i decided i'd take a look down the history of Android, see what i think or find out that i didn't know. And then, i hit Android 3.0! Not a single video did an overview on phones, but there was a very good reason for that- 3.0 was, as you all probably know, designed for tablet specifically.
The features were actually really cool for the time it was released. It was way ahead of its time, trying to make Tablet Android a more productive, fleshed out and desktop-like experience to suit the larger screens. And i'm here wondering- where the hell did it all go?! All Tablet android does now is shrink things to make sure they aren't oversized on a tablet.
3.0 was way ahead of its time, putting forth tablet Android as a more fleshed-out, unique experience, when it'd be almost 7 or 8 years before this would begin to happen again, and now that these features have been removed, iPadOS and the iPad Pro pretty much reign supreme in the tablet-as-a-work-device market, which stinks as, if Android had its old Tablet features, iPadOS would pale in comparison, even as well-optimised for Tablets as it is. The only way to find a similar experience is through Samsung DeX, and you even have to splurge an extra hundred bucks on the keyboard cover for that to work.
These features need to come back, in my opinion, especially if Google decides to make a move to release a Pixel-brand Tablet. Between the taskbar-like navigation bar, the action bar at the top of the screen, it would make it so much more easy to navigate Android on a Tablet, and allow it to be much easier to use as a desktop-like device, something tablets are becoming more and more suitable for as technology grows.
I've always had an incredible fascination with old and deprecated Operating Systems- especially ones that aren't even iterated on anymore, such as old Workstation OSes for things like Silicon Graphics, old MacOSes, NeXT, and so on, so forth- but overall, i've had a huge fascination with them almost the whole time i've been into technology.
So i decided i'd take a look down the history of Android, see what i think or find out that i didn't know. And then, i hit Android 3.0! Not a single video did an overview on phones, but there was a very good reason for that- 3.0 was, as you all probably know, designed for tablet specifically.
The features were actually really cool for the time it was released. It was way ahead of its time, trying to make Tablet Android a more productive, fleshed out and desktop-like experience to suit the larger screens. And i'm here wondering- where the hell did it all go?! All Tablet android does now is shrink things to make sure they aren't oversized on a tablet.
3.0 was way ahead of its time, putting forth tablet Android as a more fleshed-out, unique experience, when it'd be almost 7 or 8 years before this would begin to happen again, and now that these features have been removed, iPadOS and the iPad Pro pretty much reign supreme in the tablet-as-a-work-device market, which stinks as, if Android had its old Tablet features, iPadOS would pale in comparison, even as well-optimised for Tablets as it is. The only way to find a similar experience is through Samsung DeX, and you even have to splurge an extra hundred bucks on the keyboard cover for that to work.
These features need to come back, in my opinion, especially if Google decides to make a move to release a Pixel-brand Tablet. Between the taskbar-like navigation bar, the action bar at the top of the screen, it would make it so much more easy to navigate Android on a Tablet, and allow it to be much easier to use as a desktop-like device, something tablets are becoming more and more suitable for as technology grows.
