BENNY's RANTS: GOOGLE I/O Web Developer Conference May 20

May 20 - day 2 of the Google I/O conference :

In his opening address, Google VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra reported some impressive numbers achieved by Google in the past 18 months till now :

- Daily sales of more than 100,000 new Android-based handsets. There are now more than 180,000 active Android developers who have contributed more than 50,000 apps now available in Android Market

- 60 Android compatible devices, from 21 OEMS, in 48 countries, on 59 different carriers.

- Free turn-by-turn navigation that Google launched six months ago has now in 6 months hit 1 billion miles travelled with their Navigation ( the target was 1.5 million miles )

- Android is now at second spot in US smartphone sales

- Number one in mobile advertising based on AdMob data .

Android’s present performance and coupled with the upcoming new OS Froyo ver 2.2, Google is posing a looming threat to other non-Android smartphones especially to Apple Iphone.

Over the next 40 minutes, Vic continued with the presentation of the new version of Android 2.2 codename Froyo which is now the 7th update. The theme of the announcement was that Froyo was built with 5 “pillars” in mind. Summary of the main features :

- Faster speed and performance due to the new Dalvik JIT compiler in Android 2.2 which offers a 2-5 times performance improvement in CPU-bound code vs. Android 2.1

- Flash support on Adobe latest Flash 10.1 . Demo of a game on an iPAD without flash support and on the Nexus with Flash support

- New data backup APIs enable apps to participate in data backup and restore, allowing an application’s last data to be restored when installed on a new or a reset device.

- Apps can utilize Android Cloud to Device Messaging to enable mobile alert, send to phone, and two-way push sync functions. This means that – using Android’s “intent” call – one get real-time, two-way synching between the phone and any web-app that would take advantage of it. One huge feature that showed this off was the ability to browse apps on a web-based Android market and send them straight to your phone: one can install apps without even having to look at the phone.

- App and their related data can be easily restored to another other Froyo/2.2 device

- Improved Enterprise / Exchange Support capabilities such as account auto-discovery and calendar sync. With the new Device policy management APIs, developers can now write applications that can control security features of the device such as the remote wipe, minimum password, lockscreen timeout etc. 

- Tethering / Mobile Hotspot : It will give one the usual round of options such as setting the SSID, encryption type and password, and will be just as easy as connecting like as on any traditional wireless router. A demo shown an iPAD connected to the phone which was setup as a mobile hotspot.

- Much faster browsing experience - with the V8 JavaScript engine in the Android browser this has resulted in a 2-3X improvement in JavaScript performance vs. 2.1. A demo showing the Froyo was 2-3X faster against the older ver 2.1 Eclair and Apple iPAD. Vic says Froyo browser is now the FASTEST mobile browser.

- New functionality in browser- Camera, orientation, geolocation

- Search the Android Marketplace directly from Quick Search

- The ability to install applications on the SD card automatically. Developers can now declare whether their app should be installed on internal memory or an SD card. They can also let the system automatically determine the install location. One can launch, run, and utilize applications while they’re still loaded on the SD card. So, no restoring them back to the phone when one need them.

- One-button update or automatic update for apps or one can now update your applications from the Android Marketplace ALL of them and at one time. More than one apps that need update - just download them all at once, instead of having to activate all of them independently.

- New Android Marketplace for the PC - ability to “queue” an application to download from the PC, and then Over the Air, the phone will initiate the download.

- Android Market provides Android Application Error Reports, a new bug reporting feature, giving developers access to crash and freeze reports from users. Developers will be able to access these reports via their account on the Android Market publisher website.

- The ability to purchase music from Android Marketplace

- The ability to stream own music including non-DRM from iTunes library from the desktop

- Download an app on the computer and one don't need to tether your phone. Instead, the update will automatically be installed over-the-air to the phone. Same goes with music one purchase - this is something the iPhone is lacking.

- Voice recognition for search and for Google Translate—the latter of which, when plugged into text to speech, makes a handy speech-to-speech translator.

Links to more reviews :

http://androidcommunity.com/android-2-2-froyo-officially-announced-by-google-20100520/

http://androidcommunity.com/android-2-2-froyo-brings-speed-to-the-browser-apps2sd-20100520/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-beta-hands-on-flash-10-1-wifi-hotspots-an/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/flash-10-1-for-android-beta-unveiled-hulu-a-no-show-froyo-now?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget

http://phandroid.com/2010/05/20/android-2-2-froyo-officially-announced-with-ground-breaking-new-features/

http://phandroid.com/2010/05/20/android-at-100000-activations-per-day-50000-market-apps/

http://phandroid.com/2010/05/20/flash-player-10-1-for-android-now-in-public-beta/

http://phandroid.com/2010/05/20/not-so-fast-tethering-will-ultimately-be-at-the-discretion-of-the-carrier/

At the time of writing this up, only 5 part video was posted of Vic's presentation :

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89xc_1Vv69k&feature=channel

Presenting Google performance - his theme on Openess, Choice, Innovation. Introduction to Froyo and the 5 Pillars of Performance.Demo Replica Island

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQFXRW5ZiE

Demo Replica Island against iPad, Nexus 2.1. New Exchange support and Device Admin API. Application Data Backup API. Cloud to Device Messaging API. Tethering and Portable hotspot. Demo of browser performance

Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXW0RIqBVCo&feature=channel

Access camera from browser. Improved Voice input demos. Adobe Flash Player and AIR support. New features of Android MarketPlace. Apps to SD features.

Part 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8unC9bA4O8&feature=channel

Crash apps reporting feature built-in at MarketPlace as guide to developers. Marketplace on computer and OTA download to phone - 2 demos. Mobile Ads enhancement

Part 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNoLVzpBqqk&feature=channel

More examples of Mobile Ads emphasizing on types to suit different apps category. Demo Double Click function on ads whose options have also been expanded. In a demo, Google showed how users could touch an ad shown on a portion of the screen, swipe to expand it for more content that might include a video and where to buy, and easily collapse it with another swipe to return to the original Web site. Show HTC latest EVO 4g and announced it as gift to all attending