If you’ve been following any of the news out of I/O today, you mayu have heard that Google is finally releasing Android 2.2. But before they did that, Vic gave a quick overview of where Android is. Currently, Android is being shipped on 60 different handsets across the globe, on 59 carriers, from 21 OEMs, and in 48 countries. In February, Google revealed that 60 thousand new Android handsets were being activated every day. Today, that number is over 100 thousand. The Android OS is the second best selling mobile platform, behind RIM. Since the launch of Google Navigation less than 6 months ago, customers have used their Android phones to navigate more than 1 billion miles. Vic also mentioned that the Android Market now features more than 50 thousand applications.
Now on to the new. Android’s Froyo release offers a lot more back-end updates rather than sleek UI tweaks that we say with Eclair. The main new enhancement in 2.2 is a new JIT compiler which improves app performance by 2-5 times on the same hardware. Most apps will not see a huge improvement in performance, but games on Android 2.2 will truly shine. For those of you who use cooked ROMs on your handsets, you’re already used to tethering, but with 2.2, tethering is now being rolled out to everyone with Android phones. A new cloud messaging API allows messaging to trigger intents within Android. This will allow users to send intents from the web (Google Maps and more) directly to their phone which could automatically open up Google Maps for directions and more.
Browser speed has also been addressed with the new update. Google has increase the java script performance within the browser by 2-3 times, making the Android browser the fastest browser for mobile. Other browser enhancements include Flash 10.1 integration, voice integration, call integration, and intents.
Android Market has also gotten a few new tricks. Users will now be able to push apps t their memory cards to save space on the handsets internal memory. Users will also be able to send app crash reports right to developers. But the big new improvement for users is the ability to update all their apps with a single click of a button. Simply press the Update all button in the market and all the apps will download their latest updates, but you can also change settings in individual apps so that an individual app can download updates without having to approve them.
We also got a sneak peak at what Google has in the works for Android, beyond 2.2. Coming in early 2011, Google will completely redesign the Android Market website so that users can browser the entire app catalog from a PC or MAC. But is does not end there. You will be able to install apps on the phone directly from the website with a single click. Google will also be launching a music streaming service so that all your PC music can be streamed right to your device.
It looks like Google has a lot in store for us in the future, but for now, we will have to make due with the new Android 2.2 updates that they are giving us. The Android 2.2 SDK is now available to download, though Google isn’t expecting to make the 2.2 source code available to OEMs and developers quite yet (should be some time in the next few weeks). Those of you who own a Nexus One should be happy to hear that it will be getting its Froyo OTA within the next few weeks.
I’m sure there are a few details on Android 2.2 that we have missed, but we’ll be sure to give an extensive overview of all the features once Google makes all the details available.
