What is new in Android 2.2?

Google yesterday announced the release of the version 2.2 of its popular mobile operating system Android. Though released by Google it will take weeks to months for the device manufacturers to come up with devices featuring the latest OS. Developers can download the Android SDK and NDK (native development kit) from the Android developer site.

Samsung recently released a firmware upgrade to 2.1 version of the Android OS for its fastest Android powered mobile SPICA. SPICA originally featured 1.5 version of Android. New SPICA devices come with 2.1 version of the OS. Users with older version can flash their mobiles to 2.1 using the utility provided by Samsung. I am going off topic here (due to my love for SPICA).

Android 2.2 was codenamed FROYO (Frozen Yogurt--a funny name for an OS but Google always does something different) during the development stage.
This release of the OS has 20 new features to encompass the needs of the enterprise users.
Integration with the Microsoft Exchange messaging system, account auto-discovery and linkage with the Exchange global address book, Calendar synchronization these are the highlighted features for the enterprise user.(It seems more people are taking their Android phones to work--Blackberry beware).

According to Google these new APIs are featured for device policy management, enabling developers to write applications that control security features like remote wipe, minimum password, and lock screen timeout, Froyo also offers an application data backup API and a cloud-to-device messaging API.

What is there in this release for a regular Geek like me?
Android has received the much anticipated Flash support and speed boost.
A two-to-five-times speed improvement for applications has been achieved via use of a just-in-time compiler functioning with the Dalvik virtual machine (a VM built specifically for Android by GOOGLE).

A old saying goes like this “Your enemies enemy is your friend". Google must be aware of this I suppose. When Apple is up against Adobe by banning Flash from its devices Google is welcoming Flash with open arms.(Google what about your touts for Open standards and HTML5 usage).

Android 2.2 supports the Flash 10.1 browser and Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). Adobe, meanwhile, released the public beta version of Flash Player 10.1 for Android.
This will turn the table for Apple. From now on we can see who (Google vs. Apple) has the muscle to decide what stays and what should go away?

By including the V8 JavaScript engine the browser capabilities in Android 2.2 has been enhanced. It is the same engine featured in the Google Chrome browser.

Users will be able to access Android camera capabilities via the browser. Voice input is featured as well, for informational queries.

Devices running Android 2.2 also can serve as a portable hotspot for network access.
Novell, has announced MonoDroid which will enable C#(from Microsoft) developers to write Android apps using a cross compiler.

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