Verizon Xoom owners get first crack at Honeycomb 3.1

Starting today those of you using a VZW powered Xoom tablet will being to see the Honeycomb 3.1 OTA update begin rolling out today.

Honeycomb 3.1 is a little more than just a point update. Google is introducing a new way to manage your running and most recent apps. Instead of accessing a limited number of recent apps you’ll now have a new scrolling interface that will provide a unique way to shut down and restore previously used applications.

Honeycomb 3.1 will also introduce resizeable widgets. In the example, the Gmail widget was resized vertically and horizontally to expand the number of messages seen in the widget. Any widget developer will be able to easily add resizeable functions to their apps with a few lines of code.

The just announced Movies and Music apps will be included, giving you the ability to rent movies from the just announced Movie service and stream music from your newly announced Music Beta by Google service.

Perhaps the biggest improvement in Honeycomb 3.1, your device will now be able to act as a USB host. In the example given, you can connect your camera directly to your tablet and import photos without a computer. You can connect joysticks, track pads, keyboards and more.

Also mentioned but not demonstrated in the keynote were improvements to the Honeycomb keyboard as well as improvement to copy/paste.

If you aren’t using a VZW Xoom tablet you can expect the update to begin rolling out to your device over the next few weeks.