Android 2.2 isn’t much of a leap forward

After what seems like an eternity, I finally got the Android 2.2 software on my Motorola DROID. After tooling around with it for about a week, I'm surprised to see how little of a difference this made despite all the hype.

We first heard about Android 2.2, or FroYo, at the Google I/O conference in May, and it looked like a major new firmware revision. I was excited about the ability to get full Flash on my smartphone and Google was hyping the overall performance improvements so much that I thought it would breathe new life into the DROID.

Then, we waited, and waited for the update. Because the DROID is stock Android, one would think that it would have been first in line to get Android 2.2 - but that honor went to the EVO 4G, which had HTC's Sense UI. Eventually, I couldn't wait for an official upgrade so I installed a final version that I found floating around the Web.

After the install process, I was ready for an amazing Android experience and was met with crazy sluggishness. The phone felt like it had been dipped in molasses - opening apps was delayed, as was simply scrolling between home screens.

The version of FroYo I put on my phone was supposed to be final but sometimes stuff on the Internet can't be trusted. I had another, untouched Motorola DROID (don't ask) sitting around and I waited for the official Android 2.2 update from Verizon. Once that hit, I was still shocked at how slow the device seemed.

Perhaps my perception has been spoiled because I've been playing around with high-end Android phones like the EVO 4G, DROID X and Samsung Galaxy S phone while my DROID has been collecting dust on a shelf. There's only so much performance software can squeeze out of somewhat outdated hardware, but I feel many are expecting the world from this long-awaited update. They are bound to be disappointed.

I've put Adobe Flash Player 10.1 on the DROID and this was a decent experience. Adobe has spent a lot of time optimizing this for mobile, so it works well with most of the sites where I want to use it and the performance is good with in-browser videos and audio. The major annoyance is on the content publishers' side, as many sites haven't optimized their flash experience for small screens.

I don't think this version of Flash will make iPhone users green with envy but it's a step in that direction. Once sites are tailored to deliver a premium mobile Flash experience, the Apple Safari browser could seem limited compared to Android. It's not going to change Steve Jobs' stance on Flash anytime soon but it is a nice feather in the cap for Android users.

To be fair to FroYo, there are some really cool things with the new update, mostly relating to apps. Android 2.2 now includes the ability to automatically update your apps, so you won't have to deal with the annoyance of manually updating each program. You won't have to worry about security really, as an app will only auto-update if its permissions haven't changed.

I often hear about how poor the Android Market is for discovering new apps and I completely agree. Froyo makes a minor step to solving this by greatly improving the search. For some strange reason, you were out of luck if you misspelled the name of an app in previous versions of the Android Market. There was no "did you mean" and similar app names would not be found. That's inexcusable considering the company behind Android is Google.

FroYo's solution is not perfect, but it will now auto-suggest app results in the case of a typo.

My expectations for FroYo on the DROID were pretty high, so maybe I was bound to be disappointed. I should have known better, as it was only an incremental upgrade. I think it's safe to have high hopes for Android 3.0, however - although I'm fairly certain it will never come to the DROID.

Contact Marin Perez via email or follow @Marinperez on Twitter