android 2.2 review

If you consider where Android was when it started versus how far it's advanced in 18 months with Android 2.2, you might get brain freeze.

Android 2.2—aka Froyo—is the most usable, polished iteration of Android yet. But more importantly, it's the first release that makes Android truly compelling for a broad consumer audience. Froyo's updates aren't that radical, but serious under-the-hood improvements and refinements throughout make it tangibly more pleasing to use.

Need for Speed

Without getting overly technical, Android executes its apps in a layer above its core Linux OS in a virtual machine called Dalvik. One of the major under-the-hood changes in 2.2 is a just-in-time compiler for Dalvik, which—here come the chocolate sprinkles—results in a 2x–5x performance boost for CPU-heavy code. That means faster apps—faster everything. (Google demoed it last week with the game Replica Island, which kept a higher framerate while doing more stuff in 2.2 compared to its performance on Android 2.1)
In everyday use, the new compiler combined with Android's efficient memory management means that pretty much everything you do, in both the general OS as well as apps, feels more responsive. The speed increase itself isn't staggering in and of itself, but the subconscious effects of a smoother, less draggy experience are real. The slowdowns and stutters I've come to just expect from Android (even with beefier processors) are mostly gone. And after a year-and-a-half of dealing with them, it's kind of remarkable to no longer rage at Android's persistent lagging.

According to Google, this speed boost incongruously comes with slightly better battery life. But any power improvements haven't been dramatic enough for us to notice during tests on the Nexus One.

The other place you'll subtly notice things are faster is web browsing. Again, Google's promising 2x faster JavaScript rendering speeds thanks to the new V8 engine, and this is actually a pretty solid estimate.

compared a Nexus One with 2.1 to one running 2.2 (both on Wi-Fi). Here's what I saw on a handful of sites, some with Flash set to "on demand" (that's essentially "off"); some with with Flash turned on completely. Plus we threw the Flash-less iPad in for comparison. As you can see, the boosts are non-trivial—extra speed that adds up to a far happier browsing experience.
The biggest feature in the browser is that it now supports Adobe Flash, an optional download from the Android Market. That might be more blessing than curse. If you leave Flash turned on, the purpose it will most often serve is to render Flash ads. Fortunately, you have the option to make plugins for the Android browser available "on demand," so it works more like ClicktoFlash—you click when you want a piece of Flash to render. The version of Flash available now is "pre-beta" so it doesn't have common desktop features like hardware acceleration for h.264 video. It's also not exactly perfect at rendering stuff, as you can see comparing this Flash-based infographic on the phone versus desktop, which limits its utility, as least given the way I browse on a phone. (I'm not a Farmville player, and Hulu blocks Android 2.2.)
It's the Little Things

The speed boost in 2.2 is fantastic, but what makes Froyo a truly great update is that it tightens bolts all across the entire platform. Android has evolved into a real product, on a totally different level than its first year.

One of Android's major shortcomings has been its interface, which has varied from wildly inconsistent to simply confusing. The UI is largely the same—it's still more complex and less elegant than either the iPhone or Palm's webOS—but it's striking how much nicer it feels thanks to even a few tweaks.
• The messages app—for SMS and MMS—and Google Talk now share a mostly unified interface with the Gmail app: black-text-on-purpleish background, moving away from the incongruous white-text-on-black.

• Inside of Gmail, you can now quickly switch between accounts by tapping the name of the account in the top right hand corner.

• When you plug the phone into your computer and turn on USB storage, a fancy Android graphic now tells you what's up, with clear instructions about mounting and unmounting your phone.

• The camera app's controls are markedly improved, putting all of the settings like white balance and flash mode right up front, rather than sticking them behind a finicky slider that didn't work half the time.

• Usefully and enjoyable—and with maybe just a little poking at Apple—galleries now have a pinch-to-peek gesture, so that you can see what photos are inside of a gallery before you open it.

Perhaps my favorite tweaks are on the home screen.

• Since smartphones have been shedding buttons like promise rings on prom night, a new center widget on the home screen puts the dialer, app menu and browser permanently at your fingertips.

• Pressing and holding the central apps button brings up thumbnail previews of every screen on your desktop. Update: Originally, these preview tabs popped up only when you pressed and held the left/right desktop buttons—which I never used, since I always swiped from one desktop to another.
Lingering Issues

Android's still not all the way there. There are still too many buried features, hidden by menu button, and general complexities, like a separate email app for non-Gmail accounts, remain. Selecting text, while now possible in the Gmail app, is confusing. And the white-on-black interface for the dialer and contacts seems even more out of place now that messages and Gtalk use a lighter UI.

The interface could always stand to be sleeker and more graceful. It's so strange, in a way, that Android has the most impressive voice controls and speech-to-text of any phone out there, but basic things like copy-and-paste can feel as slippery as brain surgery on a snail. The problem extends to the Android Market. Sure, one day we might be pushing apps to the phone from our desktop, but app discoverability, particularly on the phone itself, is a long way from optimal.

But you can see where things are going. And it feels more unified and complete than it ever has, which is a good thing. (Except the touch keyboard. It still feels like you're typing with two fingers glued together, and Andy Rubin didn't offer us much hope on that front.)
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N900

Nokia fans, don't disappear! We know it's been a hard year; Nokia's Symbian v.5 upgrade was a fizzer, and the flagship N97 suffered as a result. We know the Ovi Store really hasn't taken hold like it should have and that its other services, like Music and Maps, still need refining. But the Finns have an ace up their sleeves, a little system called Maemo running on a not-so little handset called the N900.
Design

They say that one in two people in Australia are obese, so maybe the N900's gut-busting waistline will go unnoticed when it's released in the land down under. At 16mm thick, the N900 feels like a PDA of days past, even though it looks like something considerably more modern. It also seems heavy, at 150g, but we seriously doubt this will upset too many users.

In terms of the hardware, the N900 is a home run. The 3.5-inch display is sharp and colourful, and is probably the most responsive screen we've used that works using resistive touchscreen technology. Push the screen up and you'll reveal a three-row full QWERTY keyboard. This keyboard isn't as roomy as some we've seen this year, but it does the trick for tapping out long emails and messages.

Around the edges of the phone you'll find volume keys, a 3.5mm headphone socket, a screen-lock switch, a resonable-sounding external speaker and a stylus. On the back is a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera lens, with a software-activating sliding lens cover and a bright LED flash. Around the lens cover Nokia has chucked in an old favourite, a plastic kick-stand for sitting the phone on a flat surface and watching videos. Under the battery cover you'll find a microSD card slot, but it's likely you won't need it considering the N900 comes with 32GB of internal storage.
Maemo = multitasking

In truth Maemo means a lot more than just the ability to multitask, but it's this particular function that has left the strongest impression on us during our review. Without going into a complex description, Maemo is based on Linux and has been used by Nokia in the past to power its internet tablets, the N800 and N810, for example. Using Maemo is considerably different to using any other mobile OS, and it may take some users a few days to figure out how to best navigate the various menus.

In a way, this is a fault of Nokia's design. There is, for example, no "Home" key on the keyboard, but there is two ways to get to the desktop view by using the touchscreen, neither of which are properly sign-posted in the UI (either hit the "Task Switch" icon and then select the blurred out background, or press and hold the "Task Switch" icon for a few seconds). But once you get the hang of using the "Task Switch" icon you'll be zipping back and forth between active applications.

Aside from the learning curve, the one noticeable shortcoming of Maemo compared with the other smartphone systems is a distinct lack of apps to download. The N900 has software called "Application Manager" which guides you to a shortlist of some very good apps, but there are huge holes in this catalogue, noticeably social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter and some sort of streaming music service. There is ZouTube for (you guessed it) watching YouTube videos, and we found a cool app "gPodder" which we used for downloading our favourite podcasts.
Media and the web

Multitasking is great, but only if you have multiple tasks you want to perform. The N900 has exactly that. Whether it's watching videos, playing music, browsing the web or sending and receiving emails, the N900 covers all bases and the fact that you can do everything all at once is a major advantage. Web browsing in particular is fantastic, the pre-installed Mozilla browser is fast, easy to use and includes finger gestures to rival similar on the iPhone. And did we mention this Mozilla browser supports Flash? Well, it does, though watching a video in the browser can be a bit jittery.

The 5-megapixel is a minor let down, its Carl Zeiss optics don't seem to be able to compensate for less than perfect software and we have issues with both the auto-focus and the cold colour palette we've seen in the photos we've taken. With a little care the N900 is probably quite a capable camera, but we prefer our camera phones to shoot quickly and process accurately on the auto modes.
Performance

If its heavyweight specs haven't bowled you over already, the N900's stellar performance surely will. Whether you are swiping across its multiple desktop workspaces, using the task switcher or working within an app, the performance never lags. It's really quite amazing to watch an app download and a web page render simultaneously in the miniature thumbnail windows on the task switcher.

You'll be happy to know that the N900 also makes clear sounding voice calls, and includes threaded SMS (called Conversations) to help you keep track of the messages you send to friends. If you swipe your finger from left to right in the Conversations window you bring up a cursor which you can use to copy and paste text from a message to anywhere else in the phone.
Overall

For users who don't mind spending a little time getting to know a new system, the Nokia N900 is truly outstanding. We wouldn't dream of giving it to mum for Christmas, but it's definitely a phone we want to spend more time with ourselves. We've waited a long time to find a phone with the N900's capabilities matched with its stellar performance. The N900 is pushing smartphones to genius levels. If Nokia can convince software developers that Maemo is the next big thing this could be the system that both Apple and Google have to worry about.

Although it's not officially confirmed, the N900 should be officially released in Australia in 2010. If you can't wait till then, the N900 is available now through online vendor Mobicity.com.au.

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