Google announced today at their Google I/O keynote, that Android 2.2 “Froyo” will be available soon, and are releasing the SDK revision 4 to developers.
Android 2.2 promises to improve speed, API and services, browser and improved Android market to all Android-based headsets. Some of the new user features include new home screen tips widgets, providing tips on how to configure the home screen with shortcuts and widgets, optimizing the use of the multiple home screens. The phone, application launcher and browser have been moved to dedicated shortcuts on the home screen.
Exchange Support
Some of the new enhancements with Android 2.2 is improved security, allowing exchange administrators to enforce a password policy across devices, in addition to numeric pin or alpha-numeric passwords to unlock the device.
Exchange administrators will have the ability to remotely wipe data, restoring the device to its default, in case the device is lost or stolen. Users can also backup their phone to their computer, with a one-touch option on the phone.
Calendar support is now enabled for exchange users, allowing the user to sync their calendar agendas with their phone. Android"s email application will feature global address list look-up, which will auto-complete recipients name from your exchange contact lists. Android 2.2 will also feature auto-discovery, to easily setup and sync your exchange accounts with your phone, you just need to know your username and password (Exchange 2007 and higher only).
Improved Camera and Gallery
The camera will feature an onscreen button menu, providing quick access to some of the cool features including zoom, flash, white balance, geo-tagging, focus and exposure. The camcorder will allow easy access to set video size/quality for MMS and YouTube sharing. LED flash will also be enabled for the camcorder.
Gallery support will allow you to peek into picture stacks, using the pinch-to-zoom gesture.
Portable Hotspot and Tethering
You can quickly turn your supported Android phone into a mobile hotspot, with a 3G connection, with just about most Android phones. The portable hotspot will allow up to eight devices, or you can tethering your Windows or Linux laptop to your headset through the USB cable.
Support for portable hotspot and tethering is limited to certain supported devices.
Multiple keyboard languages
Android 2.2 will support multiple keyboard languages, with easy switching between languages by swiping across the spacebar. This swap will change the keys and auto-suggest dictionary.
Improved Browser and Game Performance
Android 2.2 Froyo is adding some major improvements to the browser, with the enhanced V8 engine, JavaScript-heavy pages will load much faster. Dalvik performance boost will offer up to 2x-5x performance speedup for CPU-heavy code, compared to Android 2.1. Android 2.2 improves kernal memory management, reclaiming up to 20x the memory, which provides faster switching between apps.
From the performance boost, games will receive a performance boost, providing more frames per second during gameplay.