You touch the right spots (iOS 4.3 preview)

Part of what I've been looking forward to see in Honeycomb is the transitions between open apps. It's like an alt+tab using your fingers. The transitions are apparently great in HP's touchpad (i.e. the video keeps on running through the thumbnails). Same is somewhat true with the demos of Honeycomb, including the drag and drop between windows.

I've complained about how the iOS will lag against these new features on Honeycomb, but come on, Apple knows better than that.

Here's a hands on video featuring the new iOS features:

• The five finger "close" gesture will close your current app and return to home (the counterpart of tapping the home key)
• A 4-finger scroll upwards is the equivalent of the double tap on home, revealing the apps that are open for multi-tasking
• While a 4-finger towards the left or right scrolls through open apps.

It looks great. Good sign of things to come.

Rumor has it, the ipad 3 may not even have any dedicated buttons, just a screen. I can see that working. Again, a step ahead of the competition. Damnit. This iOS upgrade will help with the catchup, but it of course will not be enough.

Scream for Ice Cream

Already there are details on Honeycomb's successor, Ice Cream, which is supposedly marrying the best of Gingerbread and Honeycomb.

Here I am considering a Gingerbread phone (Sony's Xperia Arc), looking at a Honeycomb tablet, and praying for a Honeycomb phone by the end of the year, and already there's a successor! These aren't just minor changes between versions either, each upgrade is a whole new experience. These transitions are incredibly fast and is a clear indicator for me that Android is the way to go.

Here come the tablets! One after the other, manufacturers are coming out with tablets that will feature the new Honeycomb OS. As I've noted before, the iOS just fails in comparison against this beast from Google. Every other competitor of the iPad before these tablets were running the wrong OS (read: Windows).

Honeycomb as an OS works. It works better than the iOS on the iPad. And as it can be used by any manufacturer, this just might be the tipping point that will strengthen the second wave of the tablet revolution.

The first real competitor of the iPad was really the Galaxy Tab. But inconspicuously, it differentiated itself from the iPad through one glaring difference: the size. To a point, that was kind of clever. It tried to define a new category and decided not to go heads on versus the Apple pioneer.

One area where the ipad is still untouchable though is the price. Brian Chen from Wired.com has a good theory as to how Apple does it: as Apple does everything in house, from OS development to retailing, they eliminate a lot of costs along the way.

My love's a revolver, an iphone killer

I'm overdue for a new phone, but I'm holding on to my money till a Honeycomb phone arrives. If rumors are true, a version will materialize by Q3 this year: the HTC Revolver. Not much news about it, except for the fact that it will have the new OS.

I was supposed to get an iphone 4 by Christmas last year, but I put it on hold to balance out my spending. Good thing I did! Right now, prices of the iphones are dropping. Stocks are also starting to build and promos are popping up left and right. That only means one thing: there's probably going to be an iphone 5 soon. Already, Engadget reports a bigger 4-inch screen for the iphone 5 (in contrast to the current 3.5 inch screens). Other sources also point to a slide-out keyboard, which will be a first for the iphone series. The iphone will probably go the route of the ipods in terms of diversification: the 5 will be the touch, a new iphone nano will be the nano, and the 3Gs and 4 will be the ipod classic. Fearless forecast, Iphone 5 out by July.

Very exciting news for Apple, BUT I'm still going to wait for that Honeycomb phone. Still am clueless even as to what sense a Honeycomb OS will be of use to a small device, but I'm really after the technology. I need an Android phone that will match up to my iphone. No other smartphone is up to par up to now. The Nexus S is a close second. There are no concrete competitors in the near future. So, I'm pinning all my hopes on the Revolver and its Samsung and Google phone counterpart.

Here's Google's official Honeycomb video preview. Not as impressive as the Xoom hands on, not as sexy as a Mac, but full of potential.

Worth the wait, I tell you. Don't buy an ipad! As for me, I'm sticking to my 3GS for now.

Honeycomb on the horizon

Google is coming up with Android Honeycomb soon and there's been a lot of good reviews on the net. Things are looking very promising. This early, I can say that I am definitely not going to buy an ipad. It just seems to be lagging in features—actually, as it always has.

High on the praise list for Honeycomb is how widgets don't have to snap to a wide grid. This means that your tablet is already starting to work more like how a computer's user interface works. There will also apparently be options at the top of the screen where you can toggle menus and other application options. Again, computer behavior floating to the top.

This is the most fluid Android OS I've ever seen by far. Check out this hands on video from TechCrunch:

The obvious fault of early Windows tablets was that it was a computer OS shoved into a tablet. The processing power in the tiny devices just wasn't strong enough, rendering these early renditions too slow. But beyond that, using them they just didn't feel right. It was a mouse and keyboard centric world trapped in a touch interface (they even wanted you to use a stylus).

Apple started it right. They picked a behavior and built the tablet around it. Even the applications were built specifically for how the tablet was used. Although they were immensely successful at creating a new category, they now have to evolve faster than Google.

Google is already moving in the right direction. The ipad just isn't fulfilling its potential. Although for some people, simplicity is a distinct advantage, when Google cracks how to fully maximize the tablet, opening it up to a universe of applications that the ipad just can't hack, Google's OS will rise the way Windows 3.1 once did.

It doesn't help that Steve Jobs is sick.

The future of the ipad will mean that MacBooks will be rendered obsolete. If you can edit photos and videos on an ipad, when they reach 15 inches and more, when they have the processing power neatly hidden in a thin sheet, why would you still need a laptop? Google's laptop quite frankly sucks and failed with the critics. They've got nothing to lose moving into this direction. Incidentally, it was earlier reported that ipad sales were actually bigger than MacBook sales in 2010. So it looks like this is really the way to go.

So the question now is, who will get there first? And remember, there are two dimensions to this race: operating system and hardware. Honeycomb is definitely getting close to the ideal state. If Google can keep this pace and decent hardware options appear, watch out Apple, the end is near.