Installing Android 2.2 "Froyo" On the Nexus One

gjt writes "I awoke this morning to see TechCrunch's MG Siegler post what appeared to be the first news of Froyo's availability. I frantically went to my phone's settings and tried to check for an update -oe but no luck. Then I went to xda-developers.com and sure enough there was a very long thread (now over 132 pages) of fellow eager beavers waiting for release (and trying to figure out how to get it). Several hours went by waiting for a semi-technical user to get the update and check the Android logs for the download location. It turns out you can get it straight from Google. With the information scattered around in different places I decided to consolidate the How-To into a single post." Note: According to attached comments, and to the TechCrunch story, it seems this is a staggered rollout, so not every Android owner may be able to try it out yet.

Comments

I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[Dragoniz3r]

If I'm not mistaken, Froyo introduces Flash on Android, so I guess we'll get to see whether the Flash-haters were right about how much Flash on mobile would suck.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[ScislaC]

I think the better test will really be for when Froyo gets ported to the G1 and seeing how Flash performs then... I don't know that JIT will help much.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty good actually - there's a setting which lets you turn off plugins unless you click on them. Which means you don't get flash unless you really want it.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[jo42]

I'm trying Flash on Froyo right now. And its #$%&*!+-=@
NO CARRIER

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[hedwards]

The JIT compiler shouldn't help at all. Given the performance needs of flash, it's almost certain that Adobe has it running natively. The only way in which the JIT will affect a native application is by clearing up resources being used by other applications.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[binarylarry]

JIT is going to more memory because you'll have both native and vm instructions in memory, whereas before you'd only have interpreted code. It's worth the tradeoff of course and will become more valuable as phone memory grows.

Dalvik's JIT compilation is going to allow future Android applications to meet and exceed the performance of applications compiled ahead of time ("native" applications). Native is really a bad term because both dynamically JIT'd code and statically compiled code is native. The main difference is the JIT can do all kinds of fancy optimizations and reoptimizations (OSR/devirtualization) to the native code that can't be done ahead of time by a static compiler (i.e. gcc).

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[binarylarry]

*going to use, dammit

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[mlts]

JIT compilers do help. A good example of this is .NET, where it uses an intermediary language which is compiled/translated for the CPU it is running on, and the native binaries are cached, and complaints about performance on .NET are fairly few from what I've read.

Java has had a bad reputation in performance, but in reality, those days are in the past. There are other issues with Java, but those are not performance related unless it deals with direct hardware calls, and one can use native code for that.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[LingNoi]

Profiling does that exact same thing and is already in GCC and visual studio. Sure it's not as elegent as java and JIT but it's still there and doesn't hog memory.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[LauraW]

I think the better test will really be for when Froyo gets ported to the G1 and seeing how Flash performs then

Have you heard definitively that Froyo will be ported to the G1? I was under the impression that Froyo and even Eclair are too big to fit on the G1. I'd love to be proven wrong -- I have two old G1s sitting in a drawer and would love to put Froyo on them. Froyo arrived on my N1 last night, and I'm very happy with it so far; there are lots of nice incremental improvements. But as far as I know, nobody is working on shrinking Froyo down enough to fit the G1.

-- Laura

Disclaimer: I'm an engineer at Google, but I have no inside knowledge of what the Android folks are doing. I didn't even know Froyo had been released until I saw the giant styrofoam frozen yogurt in front of building 44.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[binarylarry]

GCC and Visual Studio are only used at compile time, not when deployed to end users during execution. They are limited in what they can optimize at this point in time.

Example: Java and other optimizing JITs can devirtualize methods at runtime, effectively removing lots of lookups (possibly expensive branches) thus cache misses and other hazards resulting from heavy OO/polymorphism. GCC and Visual Studio cannot do this because they have no way of knowing what type a call site may be at an arbitrary execution point. This is one of the reasons C++ tends to really suck if you use a lot of OO in your application design.

There are literally hundreds (or MILLIONS) of these optimizations that are impossible to do with static compilers like GCC and VS.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[amRadioHed]

Is there some reason why the system needs to keep the original blocks of vm code in memory once they've been compiled into native code?

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[amRadioHed]

Why is running flash on an unsupported device a better test then running it on a system that it's designed for?

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[RightSaidFred99]

Mostly theoretical optimizations. You'll be hard pressed to find many real world cases where a JIT'd Java app will run faster than a native C/C++ app for a variety of reasons. Conversely, you will not be hard pressed to find C/C++ programs which perform better than a Java JIT'd app.

Furthermore - if you care about performance (a lot of the time you frankly don't, at the level these optimizations would matter) you can just...not use a lot of virtualized methods and take other precautions to make sure you reach peak performance.

PS: Thanks for the link in your SIG, I had a good long laugh at it. It is meant as a joke, right?

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[DrXym]

Flash Lite 4 is in the HTC Desire already. It works perfectly fine and provides a substantial amount of what the full Flash 10.1 would supply.

Point being Flash doesn't suck and if it did, it would be beyond the realms of science to think of ways to implement it in a less CPU intensive fashion, e.g. browser doesn't launch flash apps until you click on them, or only launches same domain flash by default.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[LingNoi]

GCC and Visual Studio are only used at compile time, not when deployed to end users during execution.

Not exactly. Profiling which is what I was talking about is when the program is analysed at execution time.

You compile your code, run it, profile it and then compile again with the profiler optimisations. Sure, it's not as elegant as java JIT done on the user machine however it also doesn't bog down a user's machine doing something the developer should have done on their own machines before release.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[chromatic]

If you use a tracing JIT strategy with guards (such that you can specialize a basic block based on the type of specific arguments), you need the option to fall back to the non-JIT version if the guard checks fail.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[amRadioHed]

I see, thanks. They are using a trace JIT for Android in Froyo, so that would make sense.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, it failed at Reason 100 - Eclipse is a reason not to use Java - ever.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[12345Doug]

Well it depends.....are you looking to root your phone? If so I've been running eclair for a month or so on my G1. Check out CyanogenMod 5 for the most recent ROM. Otherwise I believe you are out of luck.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[ZosX]

I've been tempted by this, but CM4 with compcache, swap, and the home screen locked in ram has made my phone usable. From what I understand, 2.1 is still a bit laggy on the G1....do you feel like its really faster?

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[MrCrassic]

Eclair works on the G1 with Cyanogen's CM5 ROM, but it's pretty slow unless you have SD swap. Even then, you need a Class 6 SD for it to be effective.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[Isomorphic]

Would you like another G1 to put in your drawer?

I realize there's always pain in being an early adopter, but Google and T-Mobile aren't being very kind to the owners of the original Android device. The phone is 17 months old and was last updated 8 months ago. That's even more distressing given that it (originally) could only be purchased within a 24-month contract.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[binarylarry]

You clearly don't understand what we're talking about.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[quick2think]

Have you heard definitively that Froyo will be ported to the G1?

No. It is correct, by Google's admission at IO, that Froyo is too big to flash to the ROM on the G1. However, as they mentioned, there could be a custom (non-Google) build that removed pieces of Froyo's functionality in order to get it to fit. Not sure why you would want to do that though. It would be like taking the seats out of a Ferrari though, it would be fast, but not much fun to drive.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[Random5]

Froyo includes the ability to store applications on the SD card so all you have to do it take out large applications until the ROM is small enough to fit in the G1's /system partition, install the ROM and then install whatever applications you couldn't fir on /system to the SD card and you have a fully functioning ROM (Flash performance will not be great based on the HTC Hero's flash lite performance). I can't think of a way to modify your Ferrari analogy which makes sense though :)

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[quick2think]

Good point, maybe that could work well enough if just getting rid of extras such as the Google apps would do it and the core OS would fit, which seems reasonable. While Google said they wouldn't do it, they did say it was kinda possible for someone else to do. The new Davlik JIT compiler would be worth it alone. On my N1 things are a bit zippier, but it is the WIFI hotspot and tethering that takes the cake. I hope T-mobile doesn't change their policy and start charging more for tethering. I got their "VPN data plan" at least 5 years ago, which encouraged tethering at the time and have an unlocked phone, but you never know.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[12345Doug]

I was on CM 4.2.xxx can't really remember the full version. When I first flashed CM5test2 I thought the base os and functionality were way faster and more responsive. I'm on test 7 now and I find it's much faster and more responsive overall than CM4, but there are a few laggy moments. That said I have a Class6 card with swap and compcache disabled. I wouldn't go back to 4 unless I really had too. Test7 seems fairly stable but there are a few quirks, however it's fixed a few quirks that were in 4. The most interesting part of the upgrade was flashing the DANGERSPL. Bricked my phone. If you go that route then you must follow the instructions exactly, especially the radio part.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[LingNoi]

Thanks for that. Your remarks/insults have completely convinced me that Java is superior and should be used for everything. Oh wait, no, no you have not.

Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash

[ZosX]

Yeah, the danger spl had me pause. apparently all is well if you make sure the radio is current before you flash, but I'm still a bit leery.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[gbjbaanb]

And no point trying to get it before you get it pushed to you?

But but but I want it and I want it NOW.

More importantly, when's it coming to the HTC Desire?

Actually, you can grab it now

[gjt]

And no point trying to get it before you get it pushed to you?

The Over-The-Air update is a staggered rollout. But, the manual method that I wrote about here let's you avoid the wait. That said, it also seems to only be for the Nexus One now. Can't find a Droid update yet.

Re:Actually, you can grab it now

[nahdude812]

I have the Nexus One, and the attempt to apply this update has my phone apparently complaining that the fingerprint of the file doesn't match.

assert failed: file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerpting") == "google/passion/passion/mahimahi:2.1-update1/ERE27/24178:user/release-keys" || file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/passion/mahimahi:2.2/FRF50/38042:user/release-keys"
E:Error in /sdcard/update.zip

Fortunately it's not trying to apply the update, and hasn't done anything unfortunate like brick my phone.

I re-downloaded the file and tried it a second time just to be sure something hadn't gone wrong with the download and copy to my SD card.

Re:Actually, you can grab it now

[nahdude812]

Replying to myself, it seems like there are different builds for different submodels of the phone. For example the AT&T compatible phone (like I have) doesn't use the same update file as the T-Mobile compatible phone. Haven't had luck finding the EPE54B download yet.

Re:Actually, you can grab it now

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm running into the same. On Rogers in Canada.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[davester666]

You will get it approximately whenever HTC feels like porting it to the HTC Desire AND then whenever your carrier feels like letting you have it. With a subset of the overall Android 2.2 features that they feel are appropriate for you.

Running it now..

[Mark19960]

And posting over my tethered N1 :)
Flash has to be downloaded from the market.. and I can tell you that it is not as smooth as they make out in the youtube videos of it.
It does work and it's tolerable, let's put it that way.

That being said, the whole phone is much faster... I went from stock to Cyanogen and that was a speed boost.
This however, is a substantial boost.

I am looking forward to a Cyanogen release based on 2.2 - I think his roms are more polished than stock.

Re:Running it now..

[evanspw]

Is it getting hotter, do you think? I'm thinking of general browsing as well as flash viewing. And can you turn off flash in the browser? (I could have said, "how are those flash ads working for you?" !)

Re:Running it now..

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a project that claims it's better than android (the logo is better?)

http://pyvm.hobby-site.org/pyvm

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[spikeb]

like any other carrier locked phone

It seems you have to install Flash from the Market

[gjt]

I just updated the original post with instructions to get Flash. Basically, search for "flash 10.1" in the market.

Tmobile only?

[Skuld-Chan]

I heard over on Android Central that this process will hang on update on a rev 2 gsm Nexus One (for AT&T/Telus) so I guess downloader beware.

Re:Tmobile only?

[ActionDesignStudios]

I've got an AT&T Nexus One (using on GCI's network, however) and it updated to 2.2 just fine this morning.

Re:Tmobile only?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you really did get the update for the ATT N1 then go look at the logs and post the download url.

Nope? Thought so

Re:Tmobile only?

[ADRA]

I gave it a try and it doesn't break anything, It just doesn't install. There are files missing in the restore that are important. Once it 'fails' you have the option of rebooting, and no harm done. There was a 3rd party one released (linked through engadget) which may work for you if you've rooted your phone previously.

Re:Too easy!

[hedwards]

Hoops? That's just for people that aren't willing to wait for the OTA update notification. The hoops we're jumping through is so that we don't have to wait for that. Updates like this are always staggered when done OTA to avoid unnecessarily straining the network.

I'll wait until Cyanogen adds it into his

[gearloos]

Remember if your rooted and update to this, you'll probably have to re root it and install a new rom all over again to get all your rooted programs working. Unless you know how to use adb and the other utils to picjk apart features very well, You probably should just wait till your prefered flavor rom has the new features integrated. It shouldn't take long.

Re:I'll wait until Cyanogen adds it into his

[slack_prad]

of course, but who has the patience? certainly not me..

Re:I'll wait until Cyanogen adds it into his

[mlts]

This is what Titanium Backup is for. Back up your apps (with the Google Market information) to your SD card, optionally back the SD card up somewhere safe, install the new ROM, re-root, and then restore your apps.

Disclaimer: I'm not related to the guys who made TB, just a happy customer.

Re:I'll wait until Cyanogen adds it into his

[ZosX]

Wow...TB carries the market information?!?! This was my biggest issue with backing up apps...they all lose the ability to update via market unless you use some third party update program that checks the market versus your installed version numbers. atrackdog is pretty good at this actually.

Good Idea

[sonicmerlin]

Staggered rollout is the best way to avoid massively distributed issues inadvertently cropping up all at once. Smart move I think.

What about all of Steve Job's issues with flash ?

[parallel_prankster]

So I remember Steve jobs rambling about why flash was bad for phones? - bad performance - poor battery life - security ? Anybody notice poor battery performance with flash? Is it easy to kill bad flash apps or does it reboot your device like my laptop ? How good is the touch interface with flash ?

some battery life info on here

[parallel_prankster]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20005452-248.html

Re:some battery life info on here

[sessamoid]

For those too lazy to read your link, here is the relevant excerpt:

As for the battery life, Greer said it's not as horrible as Steve Jobs might have made it out to be in his open letter earlier this month. "It's not too bad," he said. "Android has a little bit of an issue with battery life anyway. I just plug it in to my laptop, so I'm not super sensitive to it. I'd definitely say it depends on the game too."

So he's saying it's "not too bad", but he keeps his phone plugged into a charger/laptop. Okay.

Re:some battery life info on here

[Darkness404]

I'm not sure about anyone else, but isn't the standard procedure for owning a smartphone to keep a few extra mini/micro USB cables handy and charge it when at work/home and on the computer?

Or is it just me?

Re:some battery life info on here

[Anonymous Coward]

I think so too. Unless you don't use it as a smartphone, deactivating all the extras it haves, in which case, why did you buy a smartphone in the first place?

Re:some battery life info on here

[Mark19960]

It is for me, but IIRC iPhones don't have that arrangement...
Is the iPhone data cable not proprietary and like $40? (LOL iPhoneys)

I will stick to my $5 micro usb newegg specials :)

Re:some battery life info on here

[anethema]

I'm running a Nexus one right now, but come on. $40 cable?

There are cheap iphone cables and expensive micro usb cables as well.

http://www.boxwave.com/products/directsync/directsync-sync-and-charge-cable-apple-iphone_2661.htm and there is probably cheaper out there.

iPhoneys? Grow up man, it isn't a contest.

Re:some battery life info on here

[jo_ham]

Well, it's proprietary on the dock end (although the connector is standard), and an Apple-branded one is $19 for a spare (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA591G/A?fnode=MTY1NDAzOQ&mco=MTM3NTI1NDE), but you can use third party ones that are available for less.

It will charge off any USB port (active or dumb, like a power brick), or anything that will supply 5 volts.

I charge mine in my car off my radio's USB port using a non-apple dock cable. It certainly didn't cost me $40 (or the equivalent price in UK money).

Re:some battery life info on here

[Wovel]

You can buy new iPhone cable for $2-3 US...

Re:some battery life info on here

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever tried playing a game on iPod Touch or iPhone - even the minimalistic ones like the brick breaker stuff - that kills battery in no time. Flash or no Flash - if you stress any phone or portable it's going to kill battery fast. I do the same thing whenever occasionally I play games on my iPod Touch - keep it plugged.

Re:some battery life info on here

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

That's fine if you spend most of your time near a USB port. Some of us utilise the mobile aspect of our devices.

Re:some battery life info on here

[BasilBrush]

The other posters have already slammed you on the price. But I'd add that if you Android users might feel the need for multiple cables for charging, that's a symptom of poor battery life on your chosen platform.

Re:some battery life info on here

[jrumney]

That and a spare battery or two. For someone foolish enough to design a smartphone without a removable battery, this probably seems like a major issue.

Re:some battery life info on here

[Anonymous Coward]

i did this (cheap non-apple cable due to losing my apple one),
worked great - charged fine and transferred gigs and gigs of photos and music over the months, and then it came time for a firmware update.

Started the firmware update, it got far enough to render the phone useless but failed leaving me with a doorstop until the next morning when I went to the apple store bent over and paid for a $20 cable. Plugged it in and everything upgraded smoothly.

That other cable continued to work for everything but firmware upgrades.

Re:some battery life info on here

[TooMuchToDo]

Dock at home, dock in the car, dock in the office. And keep an extra charger with you if you travel. These be the burden of having a smartphone with a stock battery. People ought to stop bitching and get used to it (or, carry a cellphone that's just a phone to get weeks of battery life out of them).

Re:What about all of Steve Job's issues with flash

[hedwards]

It's still beta, I'm able to view flash, but it doesn't seem to work quite correctly. Because it's flash I can't use my track ball to select anything in the flash and if I zoom in there's no way of moving around. On top of which I'm having some difficulty selecting small buttons. But you can turn it off and if I understand the dialog make it ask before executing. The web browser on 2.2 is significantly faster than it was under 2.1, to the point where things seem to just pop right up rather than having to wait around.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

Kill yourself.

Re:Wow!

[hedwards]

That has nothing to do with Google. That's how major updates are always rolled out. The problem is that too many users in one cell trying to update at the same time can cause network outages. So major updates like this are staggered to reduce the likelihood of network breakage. And secondly, this is hardly a simple update, it brings quite a few changes on board as well as a substantial performance improvement.. On top of that anybody who buys a phone with a custom UI, whether it be blur or sense, is going to have to wait while the patches are applied and tested before it's rolled out. That's one of the reasons why the iPhone and Nexus One are in the positions they are. Since the people writing the OS and making the changes are working directly with the engineers creating the hardware they only have to test once. Whereas people who have a custom UI on top of that have to wait several months for it to be finished and tested before getting it.

And likewise, just because a phone was released last week doesn't mean that it's been tested for the update, they used a version for development because it was the latest at that time and then they released it when it was finished. They'll now have to do testing on the new version before they release it. Doing anything else would be horribly irresponsible.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with the other AC. Kill yourself.

Re:Wow!

[AgtSkippy]

I think maybe theres a slight chance I understood what you were saying... Was that sarcasm in the first paragraph? "Waiting three weeks for a simple update of resorting to manual install, not even a yum. On a phone that was bought last week? Sign me up!" Three horrible weeks OMG. I'm just glad google's around to keep the OHA from falling to the tragedy of the commons, even if it means my Droid will take a month or longer (I'm expecting 3) to get the updates announced this week. "Just like the MS" Ah yes, the microsoft... how we all loathe the microsoft.

Re:Too easy!

[Anonymous Coward]

And the patient get to suffer from a zero-day exploit?

Re:Wow!

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Kill yourself.

What he said bothers you? Really? I'm not sure why. I mean, the appearance of dudes like that isn't a surprise. Think about this: Every time you make a post using the phrase 'walled-garden', a twit like him is created and sits around waiting for a story like this to say "told you so!"

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

told you so!

Re:It seems you have to install Flash from the Mar

[beakerMeep]

You can also just go to Adobe's website and click "get flash" the link will take you to the market to download it.

One suggestion for those that install it, go into your settings and enable plugins 'on-demand' That way you will only get the Flash you want. It shows a little down arrow in place of the Flash that you click to enable. It's like a built in Flashblock/Adblock extension.

Also IMO, considering the platform, I think the Flash is working rather well. I quite enjoyed watching some Zero Punctuation videos on Escapist.com already.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[MasterOfUniverse]

like any other carrier locked phone

unlike iPhone though (oh the irony)...

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[nahdude812]

No, exactly like the iPhone. For example, iPhone has supported tethering since the 3G model (version 3.0), but was disabled by AT&T. There was a short while where you could update the carrier info on the phone and it would enable tethering as a built-in function via either USB or Bluetooth.

The 3.1 update not only disabled this simple work-around, it also locked the phone so you could not downgrade to 3.0. I had an iPhone at the time, and refused to ever install the 3.1 update so I could stick with tethering. I now have a Nexus One, and have never regretted the upgrade. I also bought the N1 directly from Google, and not only did I avoid a new contract, but I'm no longer subject to having my handset intentionally crippled by my carrier.

chrome extension

[Anonymous Coward]

does anyone know whats the chrome extension that was used to demo the cloud-to-device messaging feature call. And where i can find it?

Re:chrome extension

[Anonymous Coward]

does anyone know whats the chrome extension that was used to demo the cloud-to-device messaging feature call. And where i can find it?

Here you will find the chrome extension as well as the android application required to get this to work http://code.google.com/p/chrometophone/downloads/list

Re:Wow!

[wannabgeek]

so how's the iphone os 4.0 working for you? You have it already, don't you?

Seriously, how is this different from iPhone? How long has it been since it was "announced"? I'm sure if you buy an iPhone a week before 4.0 was announced, you'd get a phone with 4.0, right?

Anybody wanna bet

[twoears]

that Sprint will block the new HTC Evo 4G's hotspot capability, since they sell their Overdrive 3G/4G mobile hotspot (a separate box) for $99.99? Wouldn't that be dumb of them? The Evo 4G is darn tempting, but I'm waiting to see if they block the hotspot feature. If they do block it, I'll be very glad I waited and will choose another carrier who doesn't.

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[Aranykai]

If its anything like Sprints HTC Hero, it will be trivially easy for you to root the phone and restore that functionality. If you can copy paste commands into a command prompt, you can root your phone.

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[twoears]

Thanks, but I'm not one to reward evil. I have too much contempt for such practices.

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[Karlt1]

that Sprint will block the new HTC Evo 4G's hotspot capability, since they sell their Overdrive 3G/4G mobile hotspot (a separate box) for $99.99? Wouldn't that be dumb of them? The Evo 4G is darn tempting, but I'm waiting to see if they block the hotspot feature. If they do block it, I'll be very glad I waited and will choose another carrier who doesn't.

So which carrier do you think is going to allow free unlimited tethering? Sprint has already announced their pricing for HTC 4G....

$69.99 -- standard price for their unlimited text, data, cell-to-cell calls (any carrier), 450 anytime minutes and free nights and weekends 7pm - 7am.

$10.00 -- 4G surcharge -- whether are not you're in a 4G area.

$29.99 -- unlimited 4G WiFi hotspot.

$109/mo is not bad compared to AT&T and Verizon.
   

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[Anonymous Coward]

Me me, i want to bet!

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[mlts]

They are advertising the hotspot feature, so unless plans change, I'm pretty certain that it will ship with tethering. I have not heard anything about bandwidth charges or caps, so it might be something worth looking at when it comes out. I do want to see the fine print of the Evo contract though.

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[amRadioHed]

T-Mobile.

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[Aranykai]

I can appreciate your sentiment but I feel I have to pick my battles. Sprint has incredible plans and great service everywhere I go, not to mention the Evo 4G is incredible. Why toss all that away when Sprint could really care less?

Re:Anybody wanna bet

[ZosX]

Yeah. I pay $95 a month on t-mobile contract with 500 minutes. Not too bad. Basically the android plan is $30 over top of whatever minute plan you choose. I was told there are no caps, but I haven't gotten anywhere near the 10 gigs the cap used to be, so I can't confirm this or not. Rooting my phone opened up wireless tethering and that's kind of awesome. Too bad 3g isn't fast enough for you tube (I get like 700-1000kbits on a good day) but it is certainly fine for some heavy web browsing.

move application to SD

[Anonymous Coward]

I cannot move the applications to SD. The button is disabled for all the applications. Anybody managed to get this to work?

Re:move application to SD

[Anonymous Coward]

will need a new version of the application. Wait for the Application author to update their application

Re:move application to SD

[mlts]

Unless the app has been designed for this functionality in the manifest, it won't be able to be moved to the SD card.

http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/install-location.html has more details.

Re:move application to SD

[Anonymous Coward]

How quaint. The iPhone hasn't had this problem in 3 years EVER.

Re:move application to SD

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats because the iPhone doesn't have a SD reader so no memory upgrades, no easy way to transfer files beyond that bloated software program iTunes, no uploading good quality pictures instantly to the internet from a digital camera.... how quaint.

Re:move application to SD

[Anonymous Coward]

Android allows apps a lot more functionality than the jail Apple locks the iPhone down to:

1: Ability to use custom keyboard sets. Swype comes to mind, but there are others.
2: Background tasks. This is both good and bad because a poorly written app can jam up the system. However, this is what task killers are for.
3: Platform independence. Want to write for the iPhone? Better pony up the cash for a Mac, or risk the BSA coming down on your company if you are using a hacked OS X copy. Don't forget your $99 to .me.com, and your $99 to Apple so you can access basic documentation. Android development is a lot more platform independent. Got a PC and Linux? Grab the SDK, and a $25 dev ID.
4: Don't like the native Web browser on Android? Hit the app store and download an alternative. The iPhone might have Opera Mini, but it could disappear any day, so better use Safari and like it.
5: Want to run an app without having to only be limited to what Jobs approves? Fire up adb and install it. iPhone? Jailbreak it or forget about it.
6: Tethering? Jailbreak the iPhone, sure. Even without root, you can use PDANet, an app on Android for this functionality.
7: You can have any iPhone provider you want as long as it is AT&T.
8: You can unlock an Android phone. AT&T by policy does not unlock iPhones.
9: 32GB memory on an external card + internal memory can be more useful than just unexpandable 16 or 32 GB. Especially with Android 2.2, or if you are daring, app2sd.
10: An Android phone is available in a number of form factors. Like a real hardware keyboard? Buy a Droid. Like the iPhone form factor? Buy the HTC Legend or Desire.
11: Google doesn't consider rooting your phone akin to terrorism. In fact, you can buy a phone from Google with this feature. Good luck asking Apple for a pre-jailbroken device.
12: A faster CPU actually means something.

Re:move application to SD

[Aladrin]

Oddly enough, Cyanogenmod has had the ability to store all your apps on an SD card for quite some time and doesn't care whether the app has allowed it or not. (N1 apparently allows you to store just some of them there, though.)

Re:move application to SD

[ZosX]

Well, this is a hack. The directory is symlinked to a partition on your sd card. I believe that the apps2sd on 2.2 actually just runs from your FAT patition on your microsd, so I can understand why the application has to actually support it versus the CM hack where the internal directory is actually stored on your external microsd card in an ext2/3/4 directory. I wish I could install reiserfs....now that would be killer!

Re:move application to SD

[mlts]

apps2sd uses unionfs (or aufs) so to the app, it doesn't matter if it is located on an ext3 partition on the SD card, or in the internal memory of the phone. This way, no symlinking is needed, and to an app's perspective, it is starting up from internal memory, regardless of where it is located in reality.

Caveat: This only works on rooted phones and requires an ext3 partition on the SD card (for permissions and such) [1].

[1]: Amon-Ra's recovery image can easily partition a SD card, but you lose all data on it.

Re:What about all of Steve Job's issues with flash

[Anonymous Coward]

On the security side, I can assert that Android's security is pretty good, except for a malicious app asking for a lot of permissions, then using those to the user's detriment. However, if a Tetris clone is asking for access to my contacts, filesystem, network communication, SMS, etc, it gets suspicious.

If an app does not get these permissions, there isn't much it can do.

seen everywhere on the intarweb

[Anonymous Coward]

FROYO LIVES!

Why not?

[SuperKendall]

I'm sure if you buy an iPhone a week before 4.0 was announced, you'd get a phone with 4.0, right?

You will the day of release - everyone will, all at once.

Unless you care to pay $99/year for a developer account and then you've been running 4.0 for a few weeks now.

Re:Why not?

[IamTheRealMike]

Well, they will when they plug in and sync with iTunes. If they don't do that for a while they'll just never get the upgrade at all.

mispronounce Froyo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you notice at the unveiling the VP guy mispronounced Froyo several times?

He kept saying "Froy-o". Surely the 2nd gayest OS name in history ( "Woody" being number one for obvious reasons ) is pronounced "Froh-Yo"
Since it stands for "FROzen YOghurt"

Re:Too easy!

[beakerMeep]

Bitter and trolling is no way to go through life, son.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[darkpixel2k]

The iPhone is far more open and free than any Android device out there. Android devices are great, if your device maker loves it enough to update it. If not, good luck. iPhone apps work in all platforms, and make money for the app writers.

Amateurs can go to Android. If you want work done or actually use your device for something more than a toy, you buy an iPhone.

Uuh...$25 bucks to create your Android Market account and upload damn near any app you want. What is it with the iPhone? $50 and Apple has to review/approve your app?

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[clang_jangle]

If you want work done or actually use your device for something more than a toy, you buy an iPhone.

Wrong.

If you want work done or actually use your device for something more than a toy, you buy a Blackberry. But Android is catching up.

Re:Anybody wanna bet || I'll take that bet!

[Tumbleweed]

that Sprint will block the new HTC Evo 4G's hotspot capability, since they sell their Overdrive 3G/4G mobile hotspot (a separate box) for $99.99?

Way to keep up on the official announcements. Sprint has already released their pricing for the EVO 4G hotspot - $30/mo; they're not blocking it, they're actively advertising it EVERYWHERE ON THE WEB FOR THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS. The only unknown about it was the pricing, which they announced on the 12th. Yeesh.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[promythyus]

Actually it's $100 for apple. :P

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[BlueBoxSW.com]

Shsssss... there's only "one" walled garden around here.

Re:Anybody wanna bet || I'll take that bet!

[twoears]

The information wasn't online a couple days ago. GMAB. Do you speak to your coworkers that way?

Re:Too easy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Pst... iPhone's are the worst for security.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't that depend up what you work is?

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

Might be because he multi-posted that troll message

Re:Anybody wanna bet || I'll take that bet!

[Tumbleweed]

The information wasn't online a couple days ago. GMAB. Do you speak to your coworkers that way?

The pricing for the hotspot was released on May 12. Sprint has been advertising that they'd have the hotspot ability with the EVO for _months_. Do you run with an adblocker or something? Sprint's been running the biggest web advertising campaign I've seen in a VERY long time for the EVO 4G.

Yeah, I do speak to my coworkers that way. Keeps them on their toes. :)

Careful if you're rooted

[penguinchris]

Besides the fact that the link to the file in the summary didn't work, there are other potential problems if you click through to the source (on the forums, not the blog linked here).

The procedure that's linked to will get you to 2.2, but it won't be rooted even if you were rooted before.

I just did the classic "spend two hours trying to fix what you screwed up" routine trying to get it rooted again so that I could run the backup created by titanium backup, which requires root.

For those interested, the steps for a fool-proof upgrade if you're rooted are:

-Do a full backup using titanium backup first, obviously
-Install Amon Ra 1.7 custom recovery loader: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=611829
-Use it to flash the zip file update-nexusone-FRF50-signed.zip from here: http://android.modaco.com/content/google-nexus-one-nexusone-modaco-com/309286/frf50-froyo-pre-rooted-update-zip/ - note that this wouldn't flash for me using the stock recovery loader (which requires renaming it to update.zip but it fails saying it's unsigned), hence the custom one above
-Use it again to flash froyo-rooter-signed.zip from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=686627
-Restore your backup

Re:Careful if you're rooted

[mlts]

Between steps 2 and 3, I'd consider doing a nandroid backup. This way, you can fall back to the older ROM in case it doesn't work as well as one expects.

Re:Careful if you're rooted

[ZosX]

Yeah...you gotta love nandroid. Its saved my but a few times.

Re:Careful if you're rooted

[garompeta]

you dont need froyo rooter... because it is pre-rooted doh.
You need to just add busybox and you are good to go.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[evanspw]

I know you probably know this, but that is a problem only in the USA (and Canada?). AT&T really sux by all accounts, and Apple did a deal with the devil there. Again, that was because AT&T was the only nation-wide (approx) network that did things the way the rest of the world does, and Apple didn't want different models for North America only (the way every other cell phone maker does).

Otherwise the parent post is right - Apple sidestep the carrier on software features and roll-outs, more so than anyone else in the North American market (again, in the rest of the world, carriers have less monopolistic lock-in).

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[bz386]

Tethering wasn't disabled only by AT&T. The situation is the same in Europe, for example both O2 and Vodafone in Ireland have setup (and locked) the iPhone so that you have to pay extra to get tethering.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, the paid iPhone developer membership is $99/year and you can install whatever you build to your devices but for most other purposes distribution is via the app store yes.

Flash not HW accelerated yet

[Namarrgon]

The Flash version on the Marketplace is still in beta and is entirely software-rendered, so expect some skippiness, heat and battery drain. The final release in June/July will do hardware acceleration, and should improve all of those things..

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[evanspw]

True enough, but are there other carriers in those countries that aren't such rent seeking bastards?

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone OS 4.0 is still in beta. That is the difference...

It works great for me, though.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[bz386]

Depends on the country. In Ireland there are only two operators that offer the iPhone (O2 and Vodafone) and both did the same...

Re:Too easy!

[Anonymous Coward]

You're so full of shit. It's not even worth responding more than that.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like the MS, the software will overrun Apple's competition and leave them with just enough marketspace to keep living like a fucking zombie from hell.

I think you're on to something with that fix. Ever wonder where their "magic" comes from? I always knew they were evil bastards...

Re:It seems you have to install Flash from the Mar

[Admiral Burrito]

One suggestion for those that install it, go into your settings and enable plugins 'on-demand' That way you will only get the Flash you want.

Thank you! (Mod parent up!)

I installed flash on my N1 and noticed a ton of flash ads, and thought maybe Jobs was right! I normally use an ad blocker when browsing (desktop) and had forgotten how bad it could be. That click to play thing will do the trick until I find a proper ad blocker.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[MrCrassic]

Dude, it's been possible to install carrier profiles since at least 3.1. I distinctly remember downloading them from http://www.benm.at/ when I had the original iPhone (I now have a iPhone 3GS and had a 3G before then).

Tethering on Android is quite nice, though.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[MrCrassic]

That's completely wrong. Blackberry devices are fantastic for email, calendaring, tasks and notes, but are horrific for anything outside of that. Android seems to have potential to supplant them in productivity, especially with suites like TouchDown that bring a rather fantastic Exchange experience to any Android device. They also have great browsers, too, something that Blackberrys may never get...

Then there are RIM outages, which happened somewhat frequently when I was on T-Mobile and had a Blackberry 8700 years ago...

BTW, the iPhone is pretty okay for corporate stuff; several top companies have been considering deploying them for the last year or so.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

By your own admission you experience is years out of date. Now we have the Bolt broswer, bbssh, and many, many useful and powerful apps -- even exchange server compatibility (though BES is infinitely superior).

And BTW, T-mobile BIS outages != RIM outages. No such thing has happened with my verizon Blackberry in over two years.

Re:Anybody wanna bet || I'll take that bet!

[twoears]

Yeah, I do speak to my coworkers that way. Keeps them on their toes. :)

No, it only shows your true character.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want work done or actually use your device for something more than a toy, you buy a Blackberry. But Android is catching up.

I have never seen a blackberry I didn't want to destroy. I'd rather have my phone from 1999 than use any of those piece of shit phones.

CyanogenMod 5.0.6 is better in many aspects

[dmesg0]

After installing FroYo on my N1, I lost many of the goodies in CyanogenMod (e.g. colored trackball notifications, 360 degree rotation, better battery indicator, a lot of options in Spare parts etc). CM 5.0.6 was very fast already, so I don't feel much difference in speed, only in benchmarks. And the improved launcher of FroYo is still worse than Launcher Pro. Also, I don't feel a difference in web browser speed (even with Flash disabled).

So for me, stock 2.2 is actually worse than my previous setup. However I can't wait until FroYo based CyanogenMod is released, that thing should be awesome.

Hulu

[Anonymous Coward]

As some of you may know, Hulu is blocking Android devices. I wrote a simple app that gets around this called "Hulu Hack". It seems to work pretty well.

You can find more information about it here: http://www.droidporn.org/blog/?p=90

Re:Hulu

[farble1670]

yes i heard this, but i can't figure out why they would block android devices. if you have an ad-supported service like hulu, isn't it the more eyes the merrier?

maybe the licences they have for content don't permit mobile devices.

Re:Too easy!

[Locutus]

and if those instructions are like 'jumping through hoops' then go back to selling flowers on the street corner. My gawd, there's less than 10 steps involved and they are all simple one line explanations for each step. And if you can't follow those how do you dare go outside? And I sure hope you're not driving a car.

This 'give me one button to push so I can get what I want' mentality is getting old.

Get back on your bicycle AC and go back to chasing the ice cream truck around.

LoB

Wow!

[thenickdude]

I did the manual install linked in TFA. Using the web browser is so fast now, it's like having a whole new phone. I can read 10 pages in the time it used to take to browse through 3. I quite enjoyed some of the Flash games over at kongregate.com as well.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably because smart phones make you look like the idiot you are. If you hate smart phones why are you reading and posting to this discussion, troll?

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course -- if you work in a gay porno shop the iPhone is the only smartphone, Mary!

Re:Anybody wanna bet || I'll take that bet!

[Anonymous Coward]

they're actively advertising it EVERYWHERE ON THE WEB FOR THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS.

No need to shout. If you're that upset about it use Adblock. /rimshot

resize text in Gmail client??

[robcohen]

Has anyone noticed whether this upgrade really includes the ability to resize text in the Gmail client? Here's hoping this is finally fixed! Rob

Overload of fanbois

[seniorcoder]

Are we now going to the cell phone world cup with Apple fanbois vs. Google fanbois?
All this hype and hoopla.
It's just a phone.
It doesn't define your lives - or sadly perhaps it does.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[moosesocks]

I've been writing some code for Blackberry over the past few months. The "developer experience" ranges from undesirable to makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

Inconsistent and poorly-documented APIs, device incompatibilities, depressingly anemic hardware, a simulator that likes to use over a gig of RAM, and a web browser that makes IE look great by comparison (and an embedded HTML widget that doesn't support the same set of features as the web browser, neither of which properly implement the DOM)

The fact that they have the largest installed base of smartphones, and the smallest pool of 3rd-party applications should speak volumes.

RIM's user base is ripe for the picking, as long as somebody can come up with a good alternative to BES, and provide a good migration path from it.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[MrCrassic]

I was wrong about the source of most outages that happened to me, but the fact that I was completely dependent on a middleman server to deliver all of my data is hard to go back to after using an Android device or an iPhone for some time. The UI on the Blackberry stinks too, but that's just me. Some people could care less about that (especially for the business applications they're widely used for).

If BlackberryIM was made portable, I could see tons of people switching. That's the single most desirable feature most Blackberry owners cherish, and the only considerable alternative to that at the moment is Google Talk.

Re:What about all of Steve Job's issues with flash

[KlausBreuer]

Why is everybody so up in arms about one guy babbling about something he doesn't like? I mean, so what? Let him babble to his hearts content.

Re:So, you get it when you get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that they have the largest installed base of smartphones, and the smallest pool of 3rd-party applications should speak volumes.

Yes, and what it says is "this device is used by grownups". So there are not 37 different fart apps, 200 facebook apps, etc. I mean seriously, spend a little time to see what apple and google really mean when they say "n-thousand apps!". At least 90% of that stuff is strictly for kids.