14 DAY TRIAL // Today, software giant Adobe officially announced that it plans on making the Flash Player 10.2
available for Android-based devices starting with March 18th.
According to the company, they have been working closely with Google to make the software fully compatible with the latest flavors of the mobile operating system, including the Android 3.0 OS.
“Flash Player 10.2 is a production GA (General Availability) release for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) devices which meet the Flash Player hardware system requirements,” the company announced.
At the same time, Adobe notes that the software is available only as a beta release for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets, and that it needs Google’s Android 3.0.1 system update to work with them.
“The March 18th beta release of Flash Player 10.2 in conjunction with Google’s first system update to Android 3.0 (version 3.0.1) currently underway for the MOTOROLA XOOM will deliver the first phase of our work together,” Adobe notes.
The said software update already started to arrive on XOOM devices, as previously reported.
The beta release “will be followed by subsequent updates, which will complete the optimizations and result in a production GA release of Flash Player 10.2 for Android 3.0,” the company continues.
Some of the main features in the new Flash Player 10.2 for Android would include support for hardware accelerated video presentation for H.264 and deeper integration with the Android browser, which would arrive only on Android 3.0.1+ devices, along with enhanced performance for the latest smartphones and tablets, and more.
“Flash Player 10.2 leverages the Stage Video rendering pipeline to enable users of Android 3.0 tablets, like the MOTOROLA XOOM, to enjoy smooth playback of high-definition Flash video content on the web,” Adobe explains.
Following this update, users would enjoy reduced CPU usage, along with higher frame rates for existing H.264 video content.
Through the deeper integration promised for the Android 3.0 browser, users would benefit from a better browsing experience, including improved scrolling of web pages, as well as displaying of rich, immersive content just as the page designer intended in the first place.
“Flash Player rendered content will continue to be placed in a separate window on top of HTML in the Android 2.2 and 2.3 browsers, as these browsers do not support the new Android 3.0 browser rendering model,” the company announced.
Newer smartphones and tablets would enjoy performance improvements, since the software was designed to take advantage of multi-core, GPU-enabled processors. Adobe offers a list of devices that can take full advantage of these enhancements.
The new software also comes with some improvements aimed at devices that sport touchscreen displays, for those cases in which the content requires keyboard input.
“This feature simplifies the development of multiscreen applications that require keyboard input, making it easier for developers to optimize desktop applications for mobile devices. A new ActionScript API enables developers to automatically launch and display the soft keyboard,” the company notes.
The production GA release of Flash Player 10.2 will not arrive only in the Android Market, the company continued, but it would be pre-installed on upcoming tablets and smartphones too. It would also be pushed as an over-the-air (OTA) update for existing devices.