Author: Phil Nickinson

Here you go, folks, the down and dirty walkthrough with Froyo — aka Android 2.2 — on the Nexus One. Remember that there’s a lot of back-end stuff that’s been optimized, and we’re really just starting to scratch the surface. But here’s a quick look at some of the highlights of the latest version of our favorite operating system. Have at it!

Now we don’t mean to cause any undue alarm here, but check out the live wallpaper on the Nexus One above. It doesn’t reproduce perfectly in the picture, but there’s definitely some major color banding going on, just like we saw with the photo gallery in Android 2.1, first with the Nexus One, and later with the Droid, as the gallery went from 24-bit to 16-bit. I’ve been using that wallpaper exclusively since it came out, and this is the first time I’ve seen this on the home screen.

In fact, the ol’ picture of Mars does the exact same thing if you plop it up as the wallpaper. Now we’re not coders, but there’s a pretty good bet there’s some ones and zeroes being shared here. If someone wants to learn us a thing or two about this one, we’re all ears. In the meantime, sound off in the comments. Anybody else seeing this?

Stop. Do not pass go. Now that you have Froyo up and running on your Nexus One, it’s time to take part in the Adobe Flash 10.1 beta. Just click here in your Android browser, install it, and start watching Flash video, playing Flash games and doing all that other stuff that Android and Flash do so well. Huzzah!

For those of you who are running rooted and ROM’d Nexus Ones with a custom recovery module — either Amon Ra or ClockworkMod or the like — it’s now stupidly easy to upgrade to Android 2.2 Paul at MoDaCo did the legwork. All you have to do is download his patched (and already rooted) version of Froyo, slap it on your SD card, and apply it per usual through the Recovery. No muss, no fuss, and you’ll even keep your current settings, and it’s a hell of a lot easier than rolling back.

Let’s all pause from the Froyo mania for a second and ponder the above picture, brought to us via Howard Forums. This purportedly is the Motorola Shadow, which kind of looks like a mashup between an HTC and Moto device, borrowing a number of stylings from the former.

That’s about all we know at the moment, well, that and it’s about time we saw some new hotness come out of Moto. Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

It took what for most Nexus One owners seemed to be a lifetime, but we now have the download location for Android 2.2 (Froyo). Here’s what you need to do to flash it to your phone:

Update: Yeah. Hang on a sec guys. Sorry bout that.

We’re doing ours right now, so stand buy, and sound of if you’re having fun.

Update #2: You can install a FroYo nandroid backup (courtesy of scepterr at the CM irc channel) as long as you’re running ERE27

1. Backup everything via nandroid (this isn’t a rooted ROM)
2. download ERE27 Here
3. download the nandroid version of FroYo Here
4. reboot into custom recovery
5. wipe all data
6. flash the ERE27 update.zip file from step 2
7. When finished, preform a nandroid restore using the nandroid image you downloaded in step 3
8. reboot
9. enjoy some FroYo

One thing that apparently already is working its way out in the open (unlike the mythical Nexus One Froyo update that’s only reaching a blessed few) is the new crash report tool for Android applications. We got a look at this during the keynote on Thursday at Google IO, and it’s a nice little feature. If an app crashes on you, tap the "Report" button. Then you can send your system data directly to the developer, so they can figure out what happened. You also can leave "Feedback." Try to keep that constructive, huh?

Developers then get the bug reports and can act on them. Below is what we see. Pretty cool, huh? I’ve got the report feature on the Droid and Nexus One, but not the Evo 4G thus far. Thanks, @macprv!

So here’s the thing: TechCrunch’s M.G. Siegler apparently awoke to an over-the-air update of Android 2.2 (Froyo) on his Nexus One. And immediately, everybody and their mother started posting "Froyo being pushed out to the Nexus One!" Thing is, only a scant few people seem to actually have gotten the update thus far. So maybe it’s being pushed out, and maybe it’s not. Let’s all take a deep breath, m’kay?

If in fact it is on the way, we’ll have the manual update location shortly, and we’ll bring you the instructions, just like last time, so you don’t have to wait on the OTA update.

For those of you who are running custom recover modules (such as Amon RA’s or ClockworkMod, it’s noted that you’re going to have to go back to the stock recovery to update Froyo.

For what it’s worth, I’ve rolled back my N1, and no update’s come down yet. The fact that a tech journalist got an update certainly is a hell of a coincidence, but maybe I’m just jealous, huh? Anyhoo, sound off in our forums if you find out anything. And for the really adventurous, there’s an entire thread at XDA Developers of people saying they don’t have the update. [via TechCrunch]

See here! There’s the Bump contact-sharing Android application. And it’s just like it sounds: Bump your phone against another with the app, and it shares the info. Oh, and see that iPhone cowering in the corner? It’s there for a reason. You can now Bump from one platform to another, which has to be some crime against nature, right? Check it out after the break.

read more

Take a glass case. Fill it with a boatload of Android phones, tablets and MIDs. Stick it in the middle of a conference full of Android faithful. What do you get? A neon-green siren that beckoned even the most seasoned smartphone veteran. What all is in the case? Check out the video after the break. 

read more

The Android Amazon Kindle app: Coming this summer. The Android Amazon Kindle hands-on video: Coming right now, after the break. It’s not a bad little app. Download and read ebooks right on your phone, change the font size and background color, and all the usual bells and whistles you’d expect. Check it out.

read more

What!?!?!?! No Froyo? No Android 2.2? No Flash? Sorry, folks, the first day of Google I/O is a slight snoozer as far as hard Android news is concerned. (Don’t worry, it’s coming on Thursday.)

But there are plenty of application developers and even some new hardware (new to you, anyway) here at Moscone West. So stay tuned. We still have tons of great stuff to bring you.

Sure, HTML5 is important and all — but let’s face it, most of us are more concerned with the end result. And one of the more impressive things we saw at this morning’s keynote was Sports Illustrated’s HTML5-based web version of its magazine. Let’s talk more about that after the break, and what it may well mean in the Android mobile space.

read more

We’re live at the Google IO keynote at Moscone West in San Francisco, where we expect to see the latest version of Android — called Froyo — announced any second now. We hope. Only one way to find out. Join us after the break to get it all as it happens.

read more

How about another story about just how quickly Android’s going? According to analyst Gartner, Android had a 1.9 percent worldwide smartphone market share in the first quarter of 2009. Fast forward to the first quarter of 2010, and that number has jumped to 9.6 percent. (Obviously the success of the Motorola Droid and its variants has had something to do with that, but other phones certainly have contributed, too.) The iPhone, meanwhile, climbed from 10.5 percent to 15.4 percent, giving the two operating systems 25 percent of the entire market. [Gartner]

Google co-founder gets a day’s life out of his Android battery, and he thinks you should, too. Speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist forum (alongside CEO Eric Schmidt), Page said poorly written third-party apps likely are to blame.

"I have noticed there are a few people who have phones where there is software running in the background that just sort of exhausts the battery quickly. If you are not getting a day, there is something wrong."

Schmidt — who, like Page, also is way smarter than you — chimed in, "The primary consumer of the battery life on these phones is the transmit/receive circuit. SO tuning that and obviously figuring out a way to not use too much of that extends your battery life."

Sho’ ’nuff, Eric. Looks like somebody read our battery life tips post. [via Tech Radar]

If you weren’t quite up to installing the leaked Android 2.1 update for the Sprint HTC Hero, fair not — it’s now all official and everything on Sprint’s Web site, sort of. It’s listed as being released today on Sprint’s support page, though the download link is notably absent still. Note that the upgrade will wipe your phone, so make sure all your important data is synced up somewhere.

Now, does anybody know if and when the Hero will be upgraded to Froyo? (Yeah, we went there.) Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

Update: HTC has the link to the download here.

Here’s the official Google I/O T-shirt — and will you look at that, it’s got some QR codes on it. Any attendees want to spill the beans as to what they link to? 

Update: Fine. Spoilsports.

There’s a bit of gnashing of teeth apparently going on over the HTC Droid Incredible and its capacitive screen. Chris Tabor — aka igl007 in just about every forum there is — has been screaming from the rooftops about the Incredible’s screen and how sometimes it won’t respond unless you’re holding it. And that’s a problem, for instance, when you’re using certain car docks, which is what started this whole thing.

Anyhoo, Chris did a series of tests, videoed them, and posted his results just about everywhere, and got some really good responses, some of which require an electrical engineering degree to understand. And it looks like some of you have this issue, and others don’t. And it bothers some of you way more than others.

Let’s face it: There’s not going to be a mass recall of the Incredible over in what all likelihood is some sort of technical characteristic of the screen, not unlike what we saw with the Nexus One. Our advice? First, don’t be playing with your phone while you’re driving, even if it is in a car holder. (And maybe try a different car dock.) And second: If you do have to make a call or something, just touch your thumb to the phone and poke at it with whatever finger feels the most natural.

The sky is not falling. But it might have darkened a little bit. If you’re still concerned about this, sound off in the comments or check out the thread here.

We’re winging our way out to Google I/O development conference in San Francisco (follow us on Twitter for the inside scoop), where we’ll spend a couple of days deep within the Google development community, hear a couple of keynote addresses — oh, and likely get our first real look at the next major version of Android: Froyo.

We asked your favorite Android Central writers and Smartphone Experts editors about their homes, dreams and fears for Google IO. Check ’em out, after the break.

read more