11. Android 3.0 Honeycomb

On 22 February 2011, the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) SDK – the first tablet-only Android update – was released, based on Linux kernel 2.6.36. The first device featuring this version, the Motorola Xoom tablet, was released on 24 February 2011. The update's features included:
Release date: 22 February 2011
Features:
  • Optimized tablet support with a new “holographic” user interface
  • Added System Bar, featuring quick access to notifications, status, and soft navigation buttons, available at the bottom of the screen
  • Added Action Bar, giving access to contextual options, navigation, widgets, or other types of content at the top of the screen
  • Simplified multitasking – tapping Recent Applications in the System Bar allows users to see snapshots of the tasks underway and quickly jump from one application to another
  • Redesigned keyboard, making typing fast, efficient and accurate on larger screen sizes
  • Simplified, more intuitive copy/paste interface
  • Multiple browser tabs replacing browser windows, plus form auto-fill and a new “incognito” mode allowing anonymous browsing
  • Quick access to camera exposure, focus, flash, zoom, front-facing camera, time-lapse, and other camera features
  • Ability to view albums and other collections in full-screen mode in Gallery, with easy access to thumbnails for other photos
  • New two-pane Contacts UI and Fast Scroll to let users easily organize and locate contacts
  • New two-pane Email UI to make viewing and organizing messages more efficient, allowing users to select one or more messages
  • Hardware acceleration
  • Support for multi-core processors
  • Ability to encrypt all user data
  • HTTPS stack improved with Server Name Indication (SNI)
  • Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE; kernel module)
  • Applications' write access to secondary storage (memory cards on devices with internal primary storage) is disabled outside of designated, app-specific directories, while full access to internal primary storage is still allowed through a separate application-level permission.