Android 2.2 Annoucned at Google I/O: What it Means for You

May 20, 2010 2 Comments

At Google I/O today, Android 2.2 (FroYo) was announced. News about the software and its features have been leaking for a little while now, so the move came as no surprise. What was useful about this release, is that we now know what features are included in the newest iteration of the Android Operating System platform. Here’s the official video from Google explaining those features:

In case you didn’t watch the whole video, the main features of Android 2.2 are:

• Speed
• API’s and Services
• Browser
• Android Market

The first and third feature will greatly improve the user experience, while the second and fourth issue will improve the toolset available to Android developers.  So what does Android 2.2 mean for you?  It depends on who you are:

What does Android 2.2 mean for Developers?

With Android 2.2 come some welcome features we’ve been clamoring for a for a long time.  Firstly there’s the updated 2.2 API.  Some new features are going to be present in this API, most notably the ability to push notifications via Google servers.  Google describes the additional functionality as being able to implement “alerts, send to phone, and two-way sync” via cloud to device messaging.  You can now send authenticated messages from your app server to individual devices via Google servers.  (See diagram below for how this works).

In the example included on the Official 2.2 video, a developer sent directions from Google Maps (on a Chrome browser window) instance, to a device.  Intuitively, the device knows to open the same map view in Google Maps.  It will be interesting to see what uses developers come up with for this service.   I see tighter integration between desktop and mobile applications coming in the future.

Next on the agenda is an extension of App2SD.  Developers can choose where to install their application (SDCard vs. Internal memory).  The user can override this choice, but no longer do developers have to be so conscious of application size and no longer are user limited to what their internal memory can hold.

Finally there are going to be improvements to the Android market.  The most important upgrade to the market will be the ability for users to submit bug reports to developers.  When an Android application hangs or crashes, users can choose to submit a report to the developer.  This report will be available through the developers market console.  This will be an ENORMOUS help to developers, allowing debugging to take place beyond the developer’s own device.

What does Android 2.2 mean for Consumers?

Android 2.2 will bring a much improved  user experience to the average consumer.  A lot of the features contained in this release concentrate on making the platform faster, and giving the user more management choices over his / her devices features.  Lets look at some of those features:

• Speed: Android 2.2 brings the Dalvik JIT (Just in Time) compiler.  This compiler offers a 2 to 5 time speed improvement over Android 2.1.  That means that that game you’re developing will finally run fast enough in Android!
• Backup / Restore: Applications can now backup their data to the SD card cloud.  Once you backup data for a given app, you will be able to restore that data on another device, effectively transferring you features and preferences between Android devices.
• Apps2SD:  Fact: You have more room on your SD card than your phone has internal memory.  Apps2SD takes advantage of this fact and allows you to install applications directly on the SD card.  Later, you can transfer the application between internal memory and the SD card of a given device.
• Portable Hotspot: Let the tethering begin!  Android devices will now support tethering be default.  It will be interesting to see how carriers respond to this.  No longer will users have to root / mod their device to use it as a wifi-router.
• Browser Power:  Your browser will be faster, much faster.  Google says improvements in the V8 scripting engine will make the Android browser the fastest mobile browser around.
• Market: There will be several market improvements in this iteration of Android.  Now you will be able to auto-update all of those application that require updating.  As long as the application doesn’t require new permissions to run, you can choose to automatically batch update those applications with a newer version in the market.

What features are you looking forward to in Android?  Let us know in the comments section below!

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Tags: android 2.2, android SDK, development, Froyo, Google I/O, platformNews, Op-Ed, Programming, conference