Android 2.2 upgrades are starting to be made available for Australian phones. We've upgraded our Acer Liquid E to 2.2 to find out why this new version of the mobile OS is a must.
Some Android phone vendors and telcos are expected to start rolling out the Android 2.2 upgrade this month. We use an Acer Liquid E as our test Android phone so we upgraded it from 2.1 to 2.2 this week (the official Acer upgrade will be available to users late November). We were blown away by several new features in the mobile OS. If you've got an Android phone, this is what 2.2 gives you:
1. TETHERING (WI-FI OR USB)
The tethering function in Android 2.2 turns your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. After we enabled tethering, our Acer Liquid E was able to share its phone internet connection with a little army of netbooks and tablets in the APC office. In effect, Android 2.2 give you a handy mobile (or MiFi) router that's ridiculously simple to operate. While it's possible to do tethering with other phone OSes using third party apps and a networking degree, all you do with Android is turn on tethering and wait for your other devices to recognise the phone as a Wi-Fi access point. No configuration is required, save for putting in a WEP security code for the Wi-Fi access.
2. BUSINESS-GRADE EXCHANGE SUPPORT
OK, this is really the most important new feature in Android 2.2 and it would have been number one if we weren't so smitten with Froyo's easy tethering function. By adding a host of Exchange synching and security features, Android 2.2 will be taken seriously by your company's IT administrators. It can now sync multiple Exchange calendars as well as email and contacts. It also supports Auto-discovery (in which you type your username and password to sync with your Exchange account), Global Address Lists (lets you find recipients from the directory) and multiple Exchange calendars. Administrators can now remotely wipe or disable Android 2.2 devices and enforce password policy across devices.
3. FLASH SUPPORT
Android 2.2 supports FlashAndroid 2.2 finally introduces full Flash support to smartphones, the same full-featured Flash that you get on PCs. Until now, Flash was available only in a cut-down version on some mobiles, and it's not supported at all by the iPhone goliath. Even the new Windows Phone 7 OS doesn't support it.
4. STORE APPS ON SD CARD
Android 2.2 lets you move apps to the SD cardThis is an improvement that will dramatically expand usage of apps on Android phones. Until now, Android apps could only be installed in the phone's memory, which severely limited the number you could have at any one time. Some can now be moved to the SD card, which on the Acer phone we're testing, can be up to 32GBs. The caveat is that the Android apps need to support the feature and not all do yet - and even when installed on the SD card, some apps still leave plenty of files on the phone memory. But, in general, the shackles are off and watch Android users go nuts with apps.
5. DATA BACKUP & RESTORE
Android 2.2 lets you synch your phone's settings and application data with an Android cloud backup service tied to your Google account. It means they can be restored in case of a complete phone reset or migrated to a new phone. Naturally, individual Android apps need to support this feature, so it won't be available consistently. Developers need to implement backup and restore functions in their Android 2.2 apps via new data backup APIs.
6. CLOUD-TO-DEVICE
Content such as alerts, text, images, application data and more can be pushed directly to an Android 2.2 phone using the Android Cloud to Device Messaging service. The service works by sending a notification to the phone telling it to fetch the data awaiting it on the server (the same service that Google Apps such as Gmail use to synch their data with your mobile). While application developers are expected to make full use of this, there's already an instance where you and I can use it. It's called Chrome to Phone, and lets you send whatever's on your Chrome desktop browser screen to your mobile phone browser or clipboard, whether it's the web page you're looking at, a link, or highlighted text. Install the Chrome to Phone extention on Chrome, then the related Chrome-to-Phone application on your phone, and watch the magic in action.
1. Install the Chrome to Phone extention on your Chrome browser
2. Install the Chrome to Phone application from Android Market.
Hit "send to phone" on your desktop browser and the web page on your desktop appears on your mobile browser!
7. BETTER APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
It's much easier to manage applications with 2.2's new Applications manager, which organises the apps in logical tabs by what's been downloaded, what's running and what apps are on the SD card.
8. BETTER VIDEO INTERFACE & GALLERIES
Android 2.2's new video controls and photo gallery interfaceThe video camera controls now make it easier to take better videos, providing one-tap access to more of the key functions such as zoom and focus. The photo galleries have better touch controls which allow you to better organise and display your photos.
9. AUTO APP UPDATING
You previously had to update apps from the App Market one-by-one. Now it can happen automatically, in the background.
10. TURN VENDOR INTERFACES ON AND OFF
We're Android purists here, so we love Acer's light reworking of the Android UI interface on its Liquid E phone. It adds value without trying to rebrand the UI as its own. HTC's Sense, Motorola's Motoblur, Sony Ericsson's Rachael and Samsung's TouchWiz all have their supporters too, but removing these UI overlays and returning to the native Android interface is a much more complicated process. Android 2.2 makes it easier to disable the vendor UI (above) and return to the native Android interface, but the vendor will have to implement it.
Below, Acer's home screen (with quick access icons that are permanent across the home screens) and right, the generic Android 2.2 home screen (with our apps).
Acer Australia's product manager for Smartphone and Tablet Devices, David Niu, highlights the customisations that Acer has made to Android 2.2 running on the Liquid E smartphone.
Acer's David Niu on the Acer interface for Android 2.2WHEN IS THE UPGRADE TO 2.2 AVAILABLE?
Vendors and telcos are making the update to Froyo available to several Australian Android phones this month (November). Acer's Niu explains when it will be released for Acer users and why Acer supports the Android 2.2 platform.
Acer's David Niu on the improvements in Android 2.2
