14 DAY TRIAL // DROID X by Motorola is certainly the hot news of the day, but it does not come alone. Beside the announcement regarding the handset's arrival at Verizon, info on the upcoming Android 2.2 update for it also emerged. All DROID phones from Motorola are expected to enjoy Froyo later this summer, most probably “in the latter half of the summer,” as the handset vendor announced. Other Android-based devices should also taste the solution, especially since the Android ecosystem is growing at a fast rate.
A great deal of new features should become available as soon as the solution arrives. Among them, we can count support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, which should offer users the possibility to easily access a wide range of sites based on the technology. Rich applications and content will be available inside the browser, including games, animations, rich Internet applications (RIAs), data presentations and visualizations, music, video, and others more.
“It has been an exciting time for Android momentum and global consumer adoption since the announcement of DROID by Motorola nine months ago,” said Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering for Google. “There are 160,000 new Android-powered devices activated daily and Android Market has grown to over 65,000 applications. Plus later this summer, Verizon Wireless and Motorola will update all the DROID by Motorola phones to the latest 2.2 software. For customers, this means great new features and improved browser performance. For developers, this will provide new tools such as cloud-to-device messaging and enhanced enterprise functionality.”
DROID X does not include only features aimed at end-users, it seems. As soon as Android 2.2 lands on it, business customers should also find the device suitable for their needs, especially since the OS is set to bring forth support for both Exchange and Gmail for business. Push delivery of e-mail; live widgets to stream messages; filter widgets for work and home e-mail; unified calendar for Enterprise; or Google Calendar syncing are only some of the goodies the upcoming platform version should bring into the mix. On top of that, new security protocols should enable remote password control and device wipe through Exchange servers.
“We are excited about full Flash support coming to the DROID X and other devices from Motorola,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer of Adobe. “Flash Player 10.1, which is one of Adobe’s most anticipated releases ever, has been redesigned from the ground up to deliver the kind of highly engaging experiences that consumers now expect from their mobile devices.” Adobe announced the availability of Flash Player 10.1 for its partners a few days ago.