Android 2.2 (Froyo) on the Droid!

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After being announced at Google I/O, everyone has been waiting eagerly for it to come out for the Droid and a couple other devices. It looks like we are getting closer to this update as we have a 2.2 rom out in the wild (but requires a separate kernel that has the wifi driver)

You can check out putting froyo on your Droid here:
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/08/download-newer-motorola-droid-froyo-leak-frf57/
(Also, there are some newer baseband updates available on droid-life)

Here is a list of all of the new features – the links will take you to a sreenshot of new feature in action.

All screenshots I have taken for this article are free to use as long as they have proper attribution – https://tyler.nien.house/licenses/.

An index of all of my froyo screenshots is available at
http://tan-com.com/tyler/screenshots/froyo

  1. New home screen.
    1. Phone and Browser quick launchers on either side of the
    2. 3D app drawer (Which now works in landscape mode!)
    3. Buttons bottom left and right on the screen that change screens along with the usual dragging.
    4. When pressed and held, previews as a sort of shortcut (which also works in landscape) to get to any of the
    5. 5 home screens
    6. Power Control widget has new Auto Brightness setting
    7. New widget: Home screen tips
    8. New widget: Market
  2. New look for the recent app list (list is longer – 8apps)
  3. Search bar has option to choose between “All, Web, Apps, Contacts”
  4. Changed Settings Menu (Settings)
    1. Under Wireless & Network settings, the ability to tether – right now it only has USB tethering available (Settings > Wireless & Networks)
    2. Enable and disable Edge/3G data connection (Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile networks)
    3. Sound and Display items separated
    4. Ability to set specific rules for vibrate (Settings > Sound) this setting will determine what the silence/vibrate slider will do on the lock screen.
    5. Volume management for Ringtone, Media, and Alarm in one place (Settings > Sound)
    6. Sounds for locking and unlocking the screen (Settings > Sound)
    7. New screen lock options – PIN and Password along with the original Pattern method (Settings > Location & Security > Set up screen lock)
    8. Tab based filters in application manager (Settings > Applications > Manage Applications)
    9. Ability to move apps to the SD card (Settings > Applications > Manage Applications)
    10. New voice recognition settings (Settings > Voice input & output > Voice recognizer settings)
    11. “Power Button Ends Call” (Settings > Accessibility)
  5. Market gets some updates
    1. “Update all” option
    2. Choice to automatically update specified apps
    3. Separated Description and Comments tabs for apps
    4. Search suggestion (and other search features, I have heard)
  6. New Enable USB storage or Disable USB storage screen (Accessed from the notifications tray still)
  7. New camera app
    1. Icons will rotate no matter which direction you turn the phone
    2. Video recorder does not do this though (yet?)
    3. Video recorder supports using the flash while recording
  8. New Car Home
    1. Has a second screen accessible from the first.
  9. New Clock app
  10. Dragging finger off the top of the software keyboard will bring two extra rows of numbers and symbols onto the screen
  11. Apps with light themes
    1. Messaging
    2. Google Talk
  12. Gmail app gets updates
    1. Switch accounts by tapping the current username in the top right
    2. Colored Labels
    3. Previous/Next buttons when viewing emails
    4. Install apps (.apk) from an email
  13. Call log items are grouped together
  14. Contacts list view settings
    1. Sort list by first or last names
    2. Contact name options (First name, last name vs. Last name, first name)
  15. Landscape mode also available when device is turned to the right

Other things I missed:

  1. Multiple Google calendars
  2. Threaded download history

source: http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/07/additional-froyo-tips-for-motorola-droid/

2 thoughts on “Android 2.2 (Froyo) on the Droid!

  1. very nicely put together! i love this update! except mine doesnt have the 3d app drawer

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