In celebration of Verizon"s Droid X launch, Google has announced the immediate availability of the Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) source code. Since a few days after Google"s I/O developers conference back in May, Nexus One owners have been running test builds of Froyo. Initially, the builds were just rolled out to a select number of devices. However, thanks to the developers community, the ROM quickly made its way to other Nexus Ones across the world. Google has repeatedly stressed the fact that it was not the official release.
Well, now it"s finally here. On the Android Developers Blog, Android 2.2 has gone open source and is available for all to do as they see fit. Froyo includes many new and exciting features. Included in these are a faster browser, cloud-to-device messaging (also known as Android Intents), an improved Android Market, and much more. JIT compilation is also baked in, giving applications as much as a 450% speed boost when compared to Android 2.1. Enterprises will be happy with the enhanced Exchange support, adding remote wipe capabilities in addition to other important security features.
On The Official Google Blog, Google notes that 160,000 Android devices are being activated each day. There are currently 60 compatible Android devices on the market scattered across 21 OEMs, 59 carriers, and 49 countries. Android continues to see significant growth in the mobile market and doesn"t look to be slowing down anytime soon.