It was not just all about Gingerbread-powered Nexus S but Google's VP of Engineering Andy Rubin also flashed a prototype of Motorola's Android tablet on stage at D:Dive into Mobile conference.

All Thing D reported that the tablet runs on Honeycomb or Android 3.0, and not Gingerbread, and is powered by an Nvidia chip.

The sneak peek raises questions as to whether the tablet is the rumored Stingray due to be launched by Verizon. It was earlier reported by Engadget that Stingray is due for launch in the first quarter of 2011. Also it was surmised that it would sport a 10-inch display, will have 16 GB internal memory with hardware which can accommodate Verizon's upcoming 4G LTE network speed.

However, the report affirms that the tablet will run on Honeycomb. Earlier in October LG had announced its plans to forgo launching an Android 2.2 or Froyo powered tablet, and it was also reported that Motorola is planning to launch a tablet running on the next edition of Android.

LG had grounded its plan to delay a tablet as it stated that it was waiting for a more reliable Android version. With Google having launched Gingerbread or Android 2.3 on Monday running on Nexus S, it seems that Honeycomb would be targeted at the tablet segment rather than smart phones.

The speed at which the Android is evolving has left OEM manufacturers in a quandary - it has moved from Android 1.6 to 2.3 in a matter more than just two years - leaving earlier Android devices outdated.

A report in Vision Mobile suggests that Google maintains control over the OEM end of the supply chain by providing OEMs specific private code lines which are 6 months ahead of the public software development kit (SDK), thus, allowing OEMs an opportunity to differentiate. Also to keep pace with the evolution of Android OS, manufacturers have to stay close to Google to incorporate new features and patches for bugs.

Google inc Andy rubin Software Google