Google held a press conference today to show off some features from its upcoming tablet-specific Android operating system, Honeycomb.
While most of what Google talked about has been public knowledge for a bit already (see here and here), the company also announced that the Android Market app store found on its phones has now gotten a web-based counterpart called the Android Market Web Store.
The Android Market Web Store not only lets you browse the entire catalog of Android applications from a regular web browser, but any app you purchase will show up directly on your Android device automatically. The guy running the demo bought an app on his computer and it started remotely downloading to his phone almost immediately. Very, very cool stuff.
In-app purchases are now supported for Android apps as well. Popular rhythm-based music game Tap Tap Revenge will be one of the first apps to take advantage of the new feature, allowing you to purchase additional music tracks from directly within the app itself.
CNN also showed off a free app it’s building for the new Android tablets set to roll out in the coming months. The app features news formatted for bigger screens along with live video streams and hourly audio updates, but it’ll also contain support for CNN’s iReport initiative.
Amateur reporters with Android tablets will be able to use the front- and rear-facing cameras to capture images and video from directly within the CNN app for direct uploading to CNN’s newsroom.
Finally, some wondered whether Google would unveil its rumored web-based music service to compete with Apple’s iTunes store at today’s event. Sorry to disappoint, but it didn’t happen. Today was equal parts Honeycomb and Android Market—no mention of Google Music whatsoever.
More on TIME.com:
Google Exec Shows Off Next Generation Android Tablet