The good news is that Google, the lead developer of the Android operating system in the Open Handset Alliance, has begun to push Android 2.2, a.k.a. “Froyo,” out to costumer beginning Monday, June 28.
The down side is that it’s only for Nexus One users. You remember Nexus One, the HTC phone that was going to be on all four carriers but now only has two (T-Mobile & AT&T), was sold online but eventually had to go to retail.
Ok, sarcasm aside, there is a reason other phones will take longer. The fact is, most Android phones don’t ship with a vanilla Android installation. They customize it or put some kind of software layer over it, which requires testing on their own part. They have to certify Android on their hardware, then their software, and all the apps that go with it.
So, while Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 via an over-the-air software update (one of iPhone’s most glaring deficiencies), the rest have to wait. It likely won’t be too long. HTC told the mobile phone blog Recombu.com that it’s working on the Android 2.2 port for its phones and will ship it some time in the third quarter. Which happens to start in two days.
Froyo is said to provide better performance, the ability to turn the phone into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, improved Microsoft Exchange support and, in a big differentiator from Apple’s iPhone, support for Adobe Flash 10.1. The full list of features is here.
Nexus One users will get a message on their phone’s notification bar that the 2.2 download is available. Just approve the download and let it run.