The Worst Operating System of All Time!

How many Android tablets do you see in the market? There are very few left. iPads sadly dominate this space, and if you wonder why that is, I feel it has a lot to do with Google’s approach. The company decided to launch a completely different version of Android for tablets back in 2011, and, it sucked. I’m Brandon Miniman with Pocketnow, and let’s take a quick look back at five reasons why Android Honeycomb is to blame.

Subscribe:

About us:
Pocketnow has been a key source of mobile technology news and reviews since its establishment in 2000. With offices on three continents, Pocketnow offers round-the-clock coverage of the mobile technology landscape, from smartphones to tablets to wearables. We aim to be your number-one source for mobile tech news, reviews, comparisons, and commentary. If you love mobile as much as we do, be sure to subscribe!

Follow us:

[ThatsPety]

If you want to objectively judge an OS, It's a terrible idea to test it on experimental, niche hardware. I'm not defending Honeycomb, I'm just saying

[BensoftMedia]

I loved Honeycomb, I didn't get it on a stupid dualscreen tablet though. It was the first and last time Google attempted to take tablets seriously by having a unique tablet UI instead of the blown up phone UI they went with after.

[karabg]

In my opinion honeycomb UI was much more usable on 10" tablets than ICS because you didn't have to reach top of the screen for notifications and settings and reaching the middle of 10" screen for home, back and multitask keys. Yes it was choppy, yes it couldn't even play FHD videos correctly but it was easier to use, and only real brawback was that rarely any app was made to work well with large screens. If you look at it Windows 10 actually directly copied notifications and settings from honeycomb. I had Acer Iconia A500 and battery life was stellar, it worked well for like a year and when apps started updating to ICS versions everything started slowing down to the level of being unusable. And it's simply not true that Google abandoned tablets after it, both Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 came quite a while after Honeycomb. Tablets didn't really fail it was just that initial hype about them was way overpropotioned. Everyone wanted one but no one knew what to actually do with it other than maybe being home media device.

[windowsxp]

Downgraded my Xoom to 3.2.1 (latest for my model officially), rooted it, updates the binaries, installed Play Store 4.8.2, used some tricks to pin the version to that, installed some apps like Opera, and bingo. Best thing ever. Way better than newer versions IMO.

[samevans]

- No, it wasn't the worst os ever not even close. Windows ME/ Vista still remain the worst (Although windows vista wasn't that bad compared to ME)
- No, it didn't cause Google to abandon their tablet efforts. Nexus7 was released just 1 year later and it became the most successful tablet google ever made!

[accesser]

For some reason now I want to see the Google io honeycomb launch to see what was new and amazing back then

[DapperDop]

“Fit inside your pocket” lol riiiight....

[Jimmyageek]

ZTE Axon M is the Successor to Sony Tablet P!

[idib]

Worst operating system I don't know but probably one of the biggest let down/ disappointment from a tech company... I remember how people were hyped and excited about Honeycomb on tablet hoping it would be the well anticipated iPad killer. No less! . How foolish were we...

[davidperrii]

Wow I remember the Motorola Xoom running honeycomb that was a joke but the hardware at the time was amazing!!!!

[snoopysatangore]

I don't agree. I found the UI really futuristic and full of good concepts.

[tomrachellesfirstdance]

You said Google stopped developing after honeycomb but they released 3 tablets (i will not count the 4th as the pixel tablet never took off )after honeycomb the original nexus 7 didn't even run it so how could they of stopped developing for tablets then release 3 tablets after the n7's where huge huge sellers what a rubbish video all your facts are wrong

[GameRoof]

The app drawer wasn’t bright white on other Honeycomb devices, for example the Motorola Xoom.

[Caratho]

Interesting video, my earliest device ran on Donut (I think it was upgradable to Eclair?) And while Tablet functionality wasn't priority #1 back then either it's pretty neat to see how far Android has come with software optimisation. That device (a LG GT540 I think) was just a nightmare to handle.

Additionally, great improvements in this video! Was a really nice video to watch :)

[zic]

finally an intro and background music!

[Shahil]

Gingerbread was my first experience with Android, oh boy the memories. And troubleshooting!

[user]

Hey, finally som editing, nice! Now you just need to get a good mic so you can have an even sound in the whole video.

Nice video with a nice subject, however the mic sound is not that great

[ptchblackprgress]

What smartwatch are you wearing @2:48?

[mikemacbeth]

Love the content Brandon. So good to see you back. I really do think a new setting and/or mic is in need though mate. Too much echo and treble. Purely constructive loving the nostalgic content.