This morning I got the OTA Android update that would take my Nexus One from 2.1 to 2.2, aka Froyo.
At 33 I shouldn’t be so excited about a software update, but I was. First thing I did after installation was go to write a smug text to a HTC Hero owning friend who is a few versions of Android behind. My smugness was short-lived when I discovered Swype no longer worked. It turns out that this is because it’s a closed beta with DRM restrictions, so I just had to uninstall Swype and then rerun the installer. Back in the game.
If you haven’t done so yet, you should really get yourself onto the list for the Swype beta, it truly is a revolution in mobile keyboards.
Anyway, first thoughts on Froyo.
A few bugs are ironed out, the most noticeable one to me is that the gallery no longer seems to randomly tell me that “there are no items in your collection”. I can also now access my different Picasa accounts associated with different Google accounts which I couldn’t before.
But the main aspect of the update is the interface. There are numerous little tweaks to the interface all over the place that just make the entire thing that little bit slicker and polished. Not necessarily things that bugged you about 2.1, but the kind of thing iPhone users have been cooing about for years, and the type of thing that will help bring Android up towards the level of sophistication of the iPhone OS.
So far so good. although I should just mention that I don’t seem to have full Flash support in the browser …
ETA: I now have have full Flash in the browser after downloading the free app from Adobe in the Android market.
