What’s interesting about this article is the fact that there are so many tablets out there with Android, and some do indeed come with a working Marketplace. However, on older versions of the OS, many apps don’t function correctly, despite the fact that they have the same resolution as their phone counterparts. I believe this mostly refers to Froyo being released on new tablets. Also, most tablets now are just running plain  vanilla Android, without any fancy skins or additional manufacturer apps (like HTC or Samsung provides) – it doesn’t exactly provide any “wow” factor.

Google has stated that it currently isn’t using Android on any tablets, hinting that it will have a tablet-centric OS soon.

Although Gingerbread and Honeycomb have been strongly tipped to be tablet-friendly versions of Android, this is the first time Google has confirmed Froyo isn’t a platform for iPad rivals.

“The [Samsung] Galaxy Tab is kind of like a large phone’ said Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google.

“Android is an open platform. We saw at IFA 2010 all sorts of devices running Android, so it already running on tablets.

Android Market not for tablets

“But the way Android Market works is it’s not going to be available on tablets that don’t allow devices and applications to run correctly.

“Which devices do, and which don’t will be unit specific, but Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets.

If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn’t run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor.

“We want to make sure that we’re going to create a application distribution mechanism for the Android market, to ensure our users have right experience.”

This echoes comments made by Archos to TechRadar at IFA, stating that Google is looking for the ‘wow factor’ with it’s tablet platform, with custom animations and UIs, so it could be that we’ll be seeing a whole different breed of Android devices to take on the iPad.

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