Filed in archive Android , Google , Smartphones on May 21, 2010

Google Releases Android 2.2

© jugglerpm

Google has fully described its Android 2.2 OS, including more than 20 new features aimed at enterprises. These new features include integration with the Microsoft Exchange messaging system, allowing for things like account auto-discovery and linkage with the Exchange global address book. Also new is the calendar synchronization option.

APIs are also included for device policy management so that developers may now write applications to control security features like remote wipe, minimum password, and lockscreen timeout. Froyo, as Android 2.2 is alternatively known, has an application data backup API and a cloud-to-device messaging API. This means that devices running that have the Android 2.2 now can also be used as portable hotspots for network access.

The OS upgrade makes it two to five times faster to run applications using a just-in-time compiler functioning with the Dalvik virtual machine.

Android 2.2 will be distributed to equipment manufacturers and the open source community in the next few weeks; the Android developer site will allow for downloading the Android SDK and NDK (native development kit).

The Flash 10.1 browser and Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) are both supported by Android 2.2. Adobe representatives reported the recent release of the public beta version of Flash Player 10.1 for Android.

The inclusion of V8 JavaScript will improve browser capabilities in Android 2.2. Google executives find it very important that the Android browser is constantly improved. Google is aiming for Froyo to be the world's fastest mobile browser.

Other capabilities that should be available to Android users camera options and voice input. Google will try to make the use of voice input very simple.

Novell, on the other hand, announced the release of MonoDroid, a software development kit for building Android applications using code and libraries written for the Microsoft.Net development framework and languages like C#. MonoDroid functions with the Android SDK.