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Today is a big day for Android, nay, for all of us. After nearly seven years, Android 2.2 Froyo has finally dropped off the platform distribution numbers. Our Froyo Deathwatch has ended. That's not all that happened this month, but everything else is fairly routine.
Pop quiz: How long does it take for a new version of Android to be widely adopted? A new version of Android comes out, AOSP updates, OEMs adapt it to a myriad of devices, and carriers test the updates. That process. How long does it take?
As an Android developer, the first thing I do when I set up Eclipse with ADT on a new machine is hunt down the Android source for the API level I'm working on.
Google has released the latest of its monthly Android version distribution charts, and for the first time Android 2.3 Gingerbread is present on over half of all Android devices. A milestone, to be sure.
Oh, Android. How far you've come since the days of the G1. Actually, tomorrow, October 22nd, will mark 3 years to the day that Android has been available on consumer handsets in the United States, and the G1 on T-Mobile was concepción.
With its $99 fire sale price, the TouchPad finally hit the sweet spot. Units have been selling like crazy over the past week, but it seems as though one new owner got a little more than he bargained for. No, unfortunately HP didn't accidentally send him 100 units for the price of one, but he did allegedly receive a unit running Android 2.2, rather than webOS.
Users of the Motorola Flipside have had to be a patient bunch whilst waiting for their Froyo fix; since making its debut on AT&T in October of last year, the device has been running Android 2.1 with MOTOBLUR software. Fortunately for those users, they can now upgrade to a newer version of Android through the Motorola support website right now!
Netflix this evening appears to have quietly unleashed the Android app on 16 more previously unsupported devices, all without updating the application at all.
Coupled with the Market update that was announced and subsequently leaked earlier today, Google released a new version of the Videos app, previously available only on certain tablets. Because the new Android Market adds support for movies, among other things, the much needed update to Videos opens up access to devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Would you look at that - only hours after we leaked the long overdue update that, most importantly, fixes reboot issues, Verizon opened the flood gates and is now pushing the 74MB download over-the-air to HTC Thunderbolts all over the country.
Even though we reported yesterday that the Motorola Atrix would be receiving the option to unlock its bootloader, a group of dedicated developers on XDA have found a way to do, even on Froyo. The update involves flashing a specifically-coded SBF, and then running commands from the fastboot menu of the phone. If all goes well, you'll get the fabled "device is now unlocked" message, and you will be one step closer to killing that damned Motoblur.
Motorola DEFY owners, you are second-class citizens no more, as T-Mobile's latest OTA software update will infuse your devices with a fresh Froyo taste. Unfortunately, the 112MB upgrade won't free you from the shackles of MOTOBLUR, but it will bring some staple 2.2 features - including Adobe Flash compatibility, WiFi hotspot capabilities, and faster performance - as well as some Motorola additions, such as a task manager and LinkedIn integration.
What an incredible day for Samsung Fascinate users on Verizon Wireless - earlier this morning, we reported that the coveted Froyo update was finally set to arrive tomorrow, April 21st. Looks like someone at Verizon pulled the trigger a little earlier, as we are seeing multiple reports of the update rolling out as we speak write.
All that time Fascinate owners spent waiting for Froyo has not been in vain - your day is finally coming. Officially announced by VZW via Twitter, all the frozen goodness that you can handle should start rolling your way first thing tomorrow. Assuming that it's handled the same way that past VZW updates have been, this update should drop in stages, so be sure to leave us a comment when you get yours.
Today, for the first time ever, my EVO 4G had an unexpected failure installing updates for some of my Android apps. All update attempts would inevitably end in an almost instant failure with the message that read:
'Tis the weekend for Android device updates: unwilling to let European Samsung Galaxy S owners have all the fun, Motorola announced yesterday that Android 2.2 for the Blur-packing Bravo had begun rolling out in phases. They neglected to elaborate on how exactly these phases are structured, so unfortunately, we don't have much in the way of specific ETA's, but it's likely that you'll seen an update hit your device in the next few days.