Froyo is coming!

[BigSmooth]

I know I'm looking forward to it. If some of the rumors are true I'll be very happy with the update.

 

[theeedude]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/18/android-2-2-will-invite-you-to-visit-flash-enabled-sites-rub/

Android 2.2 will invite you to visit 'Flash-enabled' sites, rub Apple's nose in it

 

[theeedude]

Ironically, I think Apple's rejection of Flash may end up being quite GOOD for the platform. Before it was just another platform for writing web apps that no one except Adobe really had any interest in pushing over other platforms, since it didn't really help any one company over the other.
Now, Google, HPalm, RIM, etc all have an incentive to promote Flash as THE competitive weapon against Apple, which will not have it. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Apple's animosity won Adobe and Flash a lot of new friends. So it went from being sort of uninterestedly tolerated by all, to being banned by one but embraced by everyone else, which could make it THE de-facto alternative to App Store Apps on all other platforms, which combined have a much larger market share than Apple.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's here!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Part 2:

lol ok couldn't stop noticing the similarities. the only thing that's really different is there aren't 10 liveblog threads going on in the forums today and my Facebook/Twitter feed isn't clogged with people talking about the unveiling.

 

[Deeko]

Just glanced through Engadget's hands-on preview - looks pretty solid. Much more of an upgrade than 2.1 was. Might be the biggest upgrade since Cupcake.

 

[Reliant]

I just want this to come out so I can wait months for HTC to update my phone!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

now how long will Motorola take?

 

[theeedude]

Can someone please explain to me what HTC Sense is doing that is making it hard for it to take Android upgrades?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Can someone please explain to me what HTC Sense is doing that is making it hard for it to take Android upgrades?

Well HTC wraps into the ROM so heavily that it needs to be working on 2.2 properly before HTC can deploy it on its devices (sans Nexus One).... so the Desire and Legend will take longer but the N1 should have 2.2 almost immediately?

Phones like the Hero and Eris also have Sense and are slower so who knows what HTC is doing to get 2.1/2.2 up running on those.

 

[theeedude]

Well HTC wraps into the ROM so heavily that it needs to be working on 2.2 properly before HTC can deploy it on its devices (sans Nexus One).... so the Desire and Legend will take longer but the N1 should have 2.2 almost immediately?

Phones like the Hero and Eris also have Sense and are slower so who knows what HTC is doing to get 2.1/2.2 up running on those.

Thanks, I was kind of hoping their UI customizations were lightweight and just ran on top of whatever Android OS. But I guess they are more involved. Is this also the case for Motorola, or are they using the official Android?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Well HTC wraps into the ROM so heavily that it needs to be working on 2.2 properly before HTC can deploy it on its devices (sans Nexus One).... so the Desire and Legend will take longer but the N1 should have 2.2 almost immediately?

Phones like the Hero and Eris also have Sense and are slower so who knows what HTC is doing to get 2.1/2.2 up running on those.

Unfortunately, even Sense-less phones take forever to get updates. Look at the Motorola Droid and Samsung Moment, both of which had their 2.1 updates delayed by months. I don't think either one was officially late, but only because Motorola and Samsung never promised much in the first place. But both of them took at longer time than they should have to finally get an update. Sense devices like the Droid Eris and HTC Hero didn't really take much longer to get their updates.

 

[abaez]

Motorola has their own UI modification for some of their phones, and they're even slower updating than HTC. The Droid run stock I believe, so the update should be quick. Edit: I'm corrected - didn't realize that the Droid took forever. I think Verizon probably had something to do with it instead of Google.

The whole HTC Sense UI slow updates has basically turned me off on the EVO. 2.1 was released in January and they are just getting it. If 2.2 is going to take 4-5 months, forget it. 2.2 brings 2-3x the performance and some other really nice features and I'm not going to wait or root (which is up in the air even considering the Incredible has not been rooted yet).

I noticed that Engadget had *alot* of froyo/google/android articles today. That much coverage is usually reserved for Apple stuff/announcements, so it's nice to see some parity.

 

[Deeko]

Unfortunately, even Sense-less phones take forever to get updates. Look at the Motorola Droid and Samsung Moment, both of which had their 2.1 updates delayed by months. I don't think either one was officially late, but only because Motorola and Samsung never promised much in the first place. But both of them took at longer time than they should have to finally get an update. Sense devices like the Droid Eris and HTC Hero didn't really take much longer to get their updates.

That's the thing. Everyone goes on about how they are so worried about getting a Sense phone because of slow updates....in reality, they aren't THAT much slower. I'd be more concerned about buying a Blur device, because I don't think Moto has updated any of those, but HTC has been generally pretty quick with Sense devices, all things considered.

 

[BigSmooth]

Official video from Google (embedded in an Android dev's blog post that says FroYo will be pushed out to "some devices" in the coming weeks): http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/android-22-and-developers-goodies.html

Definitely a good time to be a Nexus One owner.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Moto is probably the worst of them all. Look at the Droid update. Took forever. I didn't follow the Droid as much, but the Milestone got 2.1 around the same time, and we have a few ridiculous bugs like the alarm not working and we are the alarm, not the phone, the music playing when headphones unplugged (yeah that's great in meetings). Worst of all, the Droid isn't smooth yet. I can bet you Moto will never address these issues till 2.2 which I'll just throw out a date like September. Yeah I'll be happy when September rolls around and I get my update. Yes, you can argue that there's faster devices now like the Incredible and the N1, but are you telling me it takes a full 1ghz to run your homescreen smoothly?

Even the Eris runs quite well on 2.1, and so do HTC devices on old ARM11 processors. The question is why a 550 mHz Cortex A8 can't handle Android properly. You can fault Google somewhat, but at the same time Motorola really does nothing to the OS, doesn't optimize it, doesn't really address major issues, and just slaps it on a device and calls it a done deal. If they can't even get a Google Experience phone correctly, what makes you think they'll make their MotoBlur devices well? Shrug.

I don't mind HTC's sense devices taking a while to get updates, but at least the phones come out well. The Legend, and Desire are incredibly smooth compared to similar devices (Droid and N1). I don't mind waiting a bit for a polished phone with a nice Sense UI. On the other hand I do mind waiting for Moto to release its updates which are more of catchup releases and fail at the same time.

 

[Deeko]

Moto is probably the worst of them all. Look at the Droid update. Took forever. I didn't follow the Droid as much, but the Milestone got 2.1 around the same time, and we have a few ridiculous bugs like the alarm not working and we are the alarm, not the phone, the music playing when headphones unplugged (yeah that's great in meetings). Worst of all, the Droid isn't smooth yet. I can bet you Moto will never address these issues till 2.2 which I'll just throw out a date like September. Yeah I'll be happy when September rolls around and I get my update. Yes, you can argue that there's faster devices now like the Incredible and the N1, but are you telling me it takes a full 1ghz to run your homescreen smoothly?

Even the Eris runs quite well on 2.1, and so do HTC devices on old ARM11 processors. The question is why a 550 mHz Cortex A8 can't handle Android properly. You can fault Google somewhat, but at the same time Motorola really does nothing to the OS, doesn't optimize it, doesn't really address major issues, and just slaps it on a device and calls it a done deal. If they can't even get a Google Experience phone correctly, what makes you think they'll make their MotoBlur devices well? Shrug.

I don't mind HTC's sense devices taking a while to get updates, but at least the phones come out well. The Legend, and Desire are incredibly smooth compared to similar devices (Droid and N1). I don't mind waiting a bit for a polished phone with a nice Sense UI. On the other hand I do mind waiting for Moto to release its updates which are more of catchup releases and fail at the same time.

The Droid follows the same formula Motorola has employed for years. They offer phones that look spectacular on paper, they advertise the hell out of them, and if you're lucky...it will live up to the hype, but more often than not they're buggy, break-prone, etc.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The Droid follows the same formula Motorola has employed for years. They offer phones that look spectacular on paper, they advertise the hell out of them, and if you're lucky...it will live up to the hype, but more often than not they're buggy, break-prone, etc.

LoL... true. Well, I'd say this one looked and operated a little better on paper than their RAZR rehashes. Then they really got me excited with the MOTOROI. But the excitement ended as 2.1 came out, and now 2.2 is here, and HTC is launching phone after phone.

Thank goodness the Droid does have some highlights like a fully unlocked bootloader, terrific build, nice RF (and I guess it's beneficial that HTC fouled up on their N1 & co's antenna placement).

I ventured onto the Milestone forum yesterday on Moto's site to try to question about if I get a warranty in the US and I noticed the site is just complaint after complaint.

 

[Unheard]

http://i.imgur.com/nLK6D.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XBgHb.jpg

Booting on Eris

Still has a lot of work to go before usable though.