20
May
settings - about phone - thumbnail

There has been a lot of speculation about the features of Android 2.2, codenamed “Frozen Yogurt” or “Froyo” for short. I have been fortunate enough to have had plenty of time to work with a 2.2 device, using it as my day-to-day smartphone.

Now that Froyo has been announced at Google IO, lifting the embargo on the non-disclosure agreement of what Android 2.2 brings to the general public, we are bringing you some notes on the new features I have been taking for granted for the past few weeks.

Quick update from the Android Blog: "Android 2.2 will be here soon, and some devices will get the update in the coming weeks." More official notes can be found here.

20
May
Image courtesy of http://androidheadlines.com/

Due to the amount of information crammed into day 1 of the Google I/O conference, I am blitzing through everything that happened, keeping it short and to the point.

Many of the older device owners and early adopters will be glad to hear this one - I've talked to a bunch of Google folks in charge of developing Android at the Google I/O, and they told me that technically it would be possible to put Froyo on any device on the market now, including the G1.

Since I was trying to specifically concentrate on the G1s due to those devices having the lowest specs among all Android phones, a lot of my questions were asked with this Android dinosaur in mind.

20
May
Image courtesy of http://androidheadlines.com/

What a day this has been at the Google I/O!

I have run around and talked to numerous extremely interesting people, including Googlers who have hinted (nothing is official until it's announced tomorrow and, of course, they could be trying to trick us) and pretty much unofficially confirmed some very interesting details about Android 2.2, also known as Froyo.

Performance

First up, I have confirmed that JIT will definitely be included. As we already broke earlier, simple benchmarks show a 450% improvement in speed over Android 2.1 Eclair, due to JIT.

But this is just the beginning. JIT can't help performance everywhere and in some situations has no effect at all, such as I/O operations or while running native code.

17
May
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We get a lot of tips and leaks in our tips@androidpolice.com email (which I encourage you to use if you want to alert us of any unreleased news). Some of these leaks are pure conjectures, some make sense but have no foundation or proof, and some… some sound pretty credible.

Today, we have one of those leaks, and even though there is no proof that this information is true, I have reasons to believe that what the source is saying is not a lie.

The Leak

In 2 days, on May 19th-20th, the long-awaited Google I/O conference is going to be commencing in San Francisco, with all kinds of announcements about the future of Android expected, such as the details of Android 2.2 FroYo, Flash 10.1 on Android, FroYo speed improvements, wireless tethering, and Android Market updates.

13
May
EXCLUSIVE: More Information And Pictures Of Android 2.2 Froyo's Tether And Built-in WiFi Access Point/Mobile Hotspot Capabilities

Yesterday we brought you exclusive benchmarks showing the amazing speedups achieved by the Android team in Froyo 2.2, and today we're back with some more juicy info.

Today, TechCrunch finally broke the news of the USB Tether and WiFi Access point/mobile hotspot capabilities, built right into the core of Android 2.2 Froyo.

TechCrunch posted 2 pictures, which some claimed could be fake, and provided no further information.

I am here to tell you they are not fake, and to provide more exclusive pictures obtained by AndroidPolice.com.

I can also confirm that testing the WiFi AP/mobile hotspot feature was successful, with a couple of WiFi enabled devices hooked up to the said access point running on Froyo and all able to access the Internet just fine.

11
May
EXCLUSIVE: AndroidPolice.com's Nexus One Is Running Android 2.2 Froyo. How Fast Is It Compared To 2.1? Oh, Only About 450% Faster
Last Updated: May 13th, 2010

Upcoming Frozen Goodness

Folks, we have a Nexus One. We also have Froyo. In fact, we have the two mixed together in the most delicious frozen-yogurty Android 2.2 kind of way you can imagine.

Not much has been officially released by Google about Android 2.2 - probably less than any other release to date. We all have a hunch about some new features but Google wouldn't officially confirm or deny any of them, other than the one about Flash 10.1.

They're saving it for May 19th-20th, and we're OK with that.

However, one of our team members has been playing with a Nexus One running Froyo for about a week now, getting more and more visibly excited every day.

10
May
A Video Of An Adobe Evangelist Showcasing Flash 10.1 Smoothly Running On A Nexus One With Android 2.2 Froyo

Today we have a new video from Ryan Stewart, an Adobe evangelist, who shows off his Nexus One running a Froyo build (that's Android 2.2 for those who live in a cave) and Flash 10.1.

In the video, Ryan and his shiny dome show off a handful of examples from fully featured Flash applications to video players playing videos, all relatively smoothly and crashing free (it *is* a pre-recorded demo though, I wonder how it performs in real-life conditions).

Ryan visits the following sites:

  • Ecodazoo.com which contains highly dynamic and complicated Flash content
  • Google Finance which has Flash stock charts
  • CBS playing an episode of How I Met Your Mother (I LOVE this show)
  • NHL playing a video of a hockey game
  • Kongregate.com running a Flash game called Alchemist
  • Martha Stewart's site with a Flash menu slider
  • BBC News with a Flash slideshow

The Android Flash player apparently has an ability to use a special video codec optimized for mobile.

21
Apr
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Taylor over at AndroidandMe released some Google Analytics findings yesterday showing a couple of hits from Android 2.2 devices, leading us to believe that Froyo is being tested as we speak. Taylor says this information was later confirmed by additional undisclosed sources at Google.

As you may have heard, Google has given each attendee of its fast approaching Google IO conference (happening May 19-20th) a choice of a free Droid or a Nexus One (us included). The conference, as Taylor points out, could very well be the perfect time to launch Froyo. Whether that is the case or not, we will be there, blogging any important news live the second they occur.

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