Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) review

Android 3.0: Verdict

In the end, Android 3.0 is an exceptional tablet operating system in almost every way. It runs fast on the Motorola Xoom, works well for browsing the internet, supports Adobe Flash, offers the best mapping technologies in 3D and Street View mode and seems poised to capture a vast market of tablet users who prefer the more open framework. It's great that you can email or copy an APK file to install apps.

That said, Android 3.0 is still a work in progress to some extent. There is no standard way to rent to purchase TV shows and movies, and that's more of a problem on a larger tablet screen than it is on a smartphone. Not having that system available makes Android 3.0 less compelling because one of the main uses for a touch tablet is consuming media from the sofa.

There are also precious few tablet apps available – no Skype client, no Pandora, no movie playing apps, and only a handful of games. Motorola doesn't provide an custom UI options like HTC Sense, although you can customise some settings.

Overall, Android 3.0 is powerful and fast. It looks closer to what you'd expect in the modern computing age and not as much like an enlarged version of the smartphone operating system. A few problems still exist, but they are relatively easy to overlook.