14 DAY TRIAL // The latest flavor of Google's Android operating system, namely Android 2.2 (Froyo) is now official. The Internet giant announced the new Android release on Thursday at its Google I/O conference, where it also unveiled a series of pretty interesting details on the platform, along with the features that raise it above the already available versions. Most of these were already rumored to arrive, and now they are official, including that Flash Player 10.1 support, tethering, great performance enhancements, and others more.
According to a recent post on Android Developers, the new release of the platform should come with about two to five times performance improvements when compared to the Android 2.1 flavor of the OS. Moreover, it includes a series of optimizations for enterprise users, such as Exchange capabilities (account auto-discovery and calendar sync), and developers are offered the possibility to build apps that control security features of the handset. A faster browser is also included in Froyo, with the V8 JavaScript engine packed inside, which should deliver two to three times performance boosts.
The aforementioned post also speaks of a “rich set of new APIs and services: New data backup APIs enable apps to participate in data backup and restore, allowing an application's last data to be restored when installed on a new or a reset device. Apps can utilize Android Cloud to Device Messaging to enable mobile alert, send to phone, and two-way push sync functionality. Developers can now declare whether their app should be installed on internal memory or an SD card. They can also let the system automatically determine the install location. On the native side, a new API now gives access to Skia bitmaps.”
The Android Market has suffered a series of changes too, with a new bug reporting feature being added into the mix, Android Application Error Reports. Moreover, installed applications can now be set to auto-update as soon as a new version is available, in addition to an “update all” button that should appear on the Downloads page, enabling users to bring all apps to the latest available version. Among the other features that Android 2.2 comes around with, some of which were reported on previously, we can count tethering and portable hotspot, though it seems that carriers will be in charge of this feature, being able to disable or set plans or additional fees in place for users.
All in all, Google touts the Android 2.2 version as a minor platform release, even if it comes to the market with new user features, developer features, API changes, and bug fixes, thus laying the ground for the next release, Gingerbread. No specific details were provided on when existing handsets should receive an upgrade to the new OS flavor nor on when the first Android 2.2-based phones will be delivered to the shelves. A quick look at the video below will offer some more info on what the platform brings forth.