Buried in among the recent talk of a Google Nexus Tablet by LG was an interesting – if concerning for current Android tablet owners – snippet about Google’s licensing agreements for Android OS updates. According to Mobile-Review, using Android 3.0 Honeycomb requires a separate license to using 2.x, with one of the clauses being that a device running 2.x cannot be subsequently updated to 3.0.

If true, that could have significant impact on tablets like the original 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, which launched running Android 2.x and have not yet been confirmed to be getting an official Honeycomb update. It could also impact the HTC Flyer, which is expected to launch running Gingerbread and then, HTC has previously insisted, be updated to Honeycomb later in the year.

According to Eldar Murtazin, though, Google’s licensing limitations will prevent that upgrade, and so the Flyer will in fact launch running Honeycomb in most – but not all – of its versions. Let’s hope the situation gets clarified sooner rather than later, since we can imagine Flyer early-adopters not responding well to the idea that they’d never see a 3.x update to their device. We’re asking HTC for an official comment, and will update when we hear back.

Update: HTC’s PR team tells us that, while HTC has no official statement on this, it has no impact on the company’s plans for Flyer.

26 COMMENTS

  1. Everything is now possible in the little pretty Android world : First Google partnership with Samsung, the worst Android manufacturer ever. Second HTC blocking Incredible S’ bootloader and recovery, that sucks more than Google-Samsung fornication. And Third and worst, Google don’t release Honeycomb source code. Google is going thru the wrong way dudes, it’s called “the bitten Apple virus”

    • Google wont block honeycomb release forever.

      In the end, it will be we. The people. Who decide what we flash onto our phone/tablets.

      Custom roms are already better then anything that the companies release, and will be the same with honeycomb in a few months.

      They already have galaxy 7 tabs running honeycomb without wifi or full touch capability. It wont be long.

      • I aggree, samsung has one of the best hardware on the market. But the software is ridiculously bad. And see what happend the Nexus S : no notification led and full cheap plastic build

      • No. HTC and Motorola have better build quality and software. Even LG is coming along at a more rapid pace than Samsung. Samsung has the worst Android builds, the worst history of updating their products, the clunkiest update process, etc. Their hardware is cheap, if lightweight, with the only redeeming feature being their super-bright pentile Super-/AMOLED screens. A screen along does not make a superior phone.

        I’m only buying HTC from now on, and though the Nexus S 4G being on my carrier (Sprint) is very tempting, I am waiting hoping that there is another HTC Nexus device by the end of the year instead of choosing to ever buy another Samsung product.

        If it wasn’t for Samsung, Froyo would have had another 10-15% points of the total of Android installations: goo.gl/L3GFE

      • HTC certainly has better software than Samsung but all of their phones has crappy battery life and they have been copypasta-ing their phones. If you are only buying HTC from now on it’s likely you’re going to need to wait a long, long time before you get a dual core phone. To suggest that Samsung has “the worst history of updating their products” is absurd, the Galaxy S came out with crap software but they have done a lot to fix those problems. They are angels compared to Motorola and Sony Ericsson who almost always point their middle finger at their customers and leave them to death with their buggy software.

      • No. HTC and Motorola have better build quality and software. Even LG is coming along at a more rapid pace than Samsung. Samsung has the worst Android builds, the worst history of updating their products, the clunkiest update process, etc. Their hardware is cheap, if lightweight, with the only redeeming feature being their super-bright pentile Super-/AMOLED screens. A screen along does not make a superior phone.

        I’m only buying HTC from now on, and though the Nexus S 4G being on my carrier (Sprint) is very tempting, I am waiting hoping that there is another HTC Nexus device by the end of the year instead of choosing to ever buy another Samsung product.

        If it wasn’t for Samsung, Froyo would have had another 10-15% points of the total of Android installations: goo.gl/L3GFE

      • No. HTC and Motorola have better build quality and software. Even LG is coming along at a more rapid pace than Samsung. Samsung has the worst Android builds, the worst history of updating their products, the clunkiest update process, etc. Their hardware is cheap, if lightweight, with the only redeeming feature being their super-bright pentile Super-/AMOLED screens. A screen along does not make a superior phone.

        I’m only buying HTC from now on, and though the Nexus S 4G being on my carrier (Sprint) is very tempting, I am waiting hoping that there is another HTC Nexus device by the end of the year instead of choosing to ever buy another Samsung product.

        If it wasn’t for Samsung, Froyo would have had another 10-15% points of the total of Android installations: goo.gl/L3GFE

    • Totally agree……It sounds like Google is just punishing manufacturers who didn’t take orders from google. In return, they will get punished but getting a tarnished brand image. Most of that negative perception isn’t going to directly affect Google, so they don’t care. That’s just evil.
      As evil as Google has become, android is still my favorite by far.

  7. This is only saying 2.x to 3.0 (honeycomb). It isn’t saying that they won’t allow these tablets to upgrade to the tablet OS once honeycomb is integrated into Android.

    As usual, just more confusion being added because Google isn’t being clear to the public.

  8. I have a Galaxy Tab and honestly don’t find myself wanting Honeycomb. I think it’s going to be some time before Honeycomb is worth it. I mean while it’s cool that you can rotate maps and see the buildings, that is not something that makes me want to ditch my Galaxy Tab for a bulkier tablet.

    Also Nookcolor is a 2.x tablet that can be booted with honeycomb.

    The problem is that there will not be an automatic upgrade path for 2.x to 3.0. It will have to be a manual upgrade.

  11. Given you don’t provide a link to a source that actually shows their source of information this is all hearsay and gossip and should be treated as such.

    And Eldar Murtazin is just a blogger trying to pass himself off as a credible journalist.

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