It’s been two whole years since Android’s big debut on the HTC Dream, and Google’s mobile OS sure has come a very long way. Version 1.0 was a stable Beta version at best, offering only the most basic of features (well, compared to the iPhone anyways). Several months later, Android 1.5 Cupcake came to the rescue, bringing much needed Bluetooth support, interface enhancements, and an improved soft keyboard.
Another several months later, Google released version 1.6 Donut, and Android started to really shine. Donut took the thriving OS to the next level, integrating advanced Voice Search and improved overall functionality. It also brought a few features that weren’t as transparent, like support for CDMA networks (e.g. Verizon and Sprint) as well as support for more powerful devices in the future.
Reaching a year old, Android was updated to version 2.0 Éclair (and shortly after, a small update to 2.1). Éclair turned out to be a huge upgrade, not only bringing a complete overhaul to the UI, but also a handful of new features. Suddenly, we had live wallpapers, a faster interface, better multi-touch, and perhaps most impressive, Google’s live turn-by-turn navigation.
The Delicious Taste of Froyo
Google’s Froyo 2.2 update for Android is perhaps the most ambitious update yet, and even though it was released in the middle of 2010, phones have only just recently started shipping with it installed straight out of the box. A handful of smartphones and tablets are will be updated to Froyo by the end of the year, while older devices appear to be at risk of being left in the dust. Every Android user who doesn’t have Froyo already certainly has it at the top of their Christmas lists, not only for its features, but also its improvements in performance.
Froyo is the first version of Android to make use of Google’s in-house JIT (Just In Time) compiler. Android runs on a Java platform, utilizing the Dalvik Virtual Machine; in earlier versions it had to translate all functions into virtual instructions. A JIT compiler allows for a hybrid of virtual instructions and native machine code, meaning that the portions of code that are compatible can bypass the translation step. All of this technical mumbo-jumbo basically means Froyo delivers insane performance boosts that sometimes approach 2x gains.
Other upgrades include the Browser application, which has been beefed up with Chrome’s very own V8 JavaScript engine for yet another speed boost. Finally, Froyo brings support for Adobe Flash 10.1 the full version, not the puny little Flash Lite we’ve seen in previous phones. Sadly, devices with ARM v6 CPUs are not compatible with Flash 10.1; nonetheless, Flash isn’t the only thing Froyo brings to the Android browser.
Optimize the Froyo Experience
All of the above enhancements are just the tip of the iceberg, as Froyo comes with a long list of additional features, many of which deliver some very useful functions. We’re going to show you how to make the most of these new features and make your Android experience better, faster, and stronger than it was before. (Well maybe not stronger… but you get the drift.)
The New Android Market and Its Apps
The Android Marketplace has a couple of new features under Froyo that are easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention. The first is a handy little “Allow automatic updating” option which shows up when you view your downloaded apps. In previous versions of Android, you’d often wake up in the morning with a notification saying “There are [X] updates available,” and you would have to go through each application one at a time to initialize the update. The new Auto Update feature will install new updates as they come out, as long as there are no changes to the permissions of the specific app. Enabling the Auto Update feature does weaken the security of your phone, so it’s best only to enable it for applications that you trust.
Related posts: