froyo or honeycomb?

[cooldude1]

so i am building a tablet pc for a school science fair and i have decided to use android as the os, but i am not sure wich one to use, froyo or honeycomb. i know honeycomb was specifically designed for tablets, but its to new and will have very few apps. but froyo can be used for tablets as well, but wasnt innitially designed for it, so there could be some problems.
which one should i choose?

 

[novox77]

honeycomb.

it can run all the apps written for previous versions.

Android applications are forward-compatible.

Android API Levels | Android Developers

 

[snapper.fishes]

honeycomb.

it can run all the apps written for previous versions.

Android is forward-compatible.

Android API Levels | Android Developers

You mean backward compatible. Forward compatible imply that future apps written for Ice-cream sandwich etc. will also run on older android OS.

 

[novox77]

You mean backward compatible. Forward compatible imply that future apps written for Ice-cream sandwich etc. will also run on older android OS.

you have it backwards. read the link I posted. In particular, this part:

Android applications are generally forward-compatible with new versions of the Android platform.
Because almost all changes to the framework API are additive, an Android application developed using any given version of the API (as specified by its API Level) is forward-compatible with later versions of the Android platform and higher API levels. The application should be able to run on all later versions of the Android platform, except in isolated cases where the application uses a part of the API that is later removed for some reason.

backward compatible means that something written on a new version is compatible with all previous (backward) versions, which is definitely not the case with Android. v2.3 will have new API additions that simply didn't exist back in 1.5. So how could it possibly be backward compatible....

 

[vcarvega]

Well if the differences between the original Galaxy Tab and Xoom are any indication, Honeycomb is much more desirable.

 

[mrqs]

you have it backwards.

no he doesn't, you do - the applications are forward compatible (meaning they'll work with future versions of android); android is backward compatible (meaning apps written for older versions will work with new versions)


@op: google hasn't released the honeycomb sources yet

 

[El Presidente]

@op: google hasn't released the honeycomb sources yet

I don't believe they are either? Didn't they say during the Google I/O that they weren't going to; they were just gonna release the source for Ice Cream Sandwich instead?

 

[novox77]

no he doesn't, you do - the applications are forward compatible (meaning they'll work with future versions of android); android is backward compatible (meaning apps written for older versions will work with new versions)

Got it. the application is forward compatible, while the OS is backward compatible. Thanks for the clarification. fixing my first post.

 

[Fetch Questman]

This thread gave me a headache

 

[cooldude1]

i do appologize because im just starting to get into android but what is ice cream sandwich?

 

[ZukoFan]

Ice Cream Sandwich is the next version of Android, which some say will be released this Fall/Winter.

It will be the one OS which is supposed to work on phones, tablets, and Google TV -- instead of now where Honeycomb is for tablets, Gingerbread and earlier is for phones, and Google TV has a somewhat custom build.

The source for Honeycomb is not out, and -- my personal opinion -- I don't think Google will release it until Ice Cream Sandwich comes out.

Sooo.... you're only choice right now is Gingerbread.

 

[xmr405o]

If its for a school project, I would suggest sticking with froyo. I think its easier to work with thus making it easier to learn from. Not that I'm saying you can't make GB work its just a better way to get u started in tablet making. Maybe you can end up teaching the big manufacturers a thing or two.

 

[cooldude1]

ah, ok.
do you know if they are going to release the source for ice cream sandwich when it comes out?

 

[mrqs]

no one knows for sure, but they probably will, since the reason for not releasing honeycomb sources is to avoid stupid manufacturers from putting it on devices it's not meant for (phones, mainly), and that reason won't exist anymore for ice cream sandwich, since it'll combine the gingerbread & honeycomb (and possibly even google tv, tho' i doubt it) forks in to a single multi-platform revision

well, that's the word around anyway

 

[ElasticNinja]

Your best of starting with Gingerbread, you'll probably be able to use the same kernel sources too for ICS

Good luck!

 

[cooldude1]

ok, so Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) or Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)?
because im getting different answers from everyone.

 

[ElasticNinja]

2.3.4 is your only option due to the fact 3.x ain't in AOSP


EDIT: since its a tablet use CM7 as it has some tablet features
Check out codeaurora for kernel help