My Phone Has Flash and Yours Doesn't

I recently blogged about the imminent release of Froyo, a.k.a. Android OS 2.2, for the Motorola Droid on Verizon.  The rollout has begun, but it will take another week or two for it to reach all phones.  I got sick of waiting, so I downloaded the update myself, and then followed up with the big prize: Flash.  Here's how I did it, followed by my first impressions.

Instructions

First I downloaded the update, using instructions from Android and Me.  There are many sites that have instructions now, but I liked Android and Me because they provided a direct link to Google's servers.  If I'm installing a new operating system on my phone, I want to know it's coming from a legitimate source!  Also, Android and Me's instructions don't involve rooting your phone or any other nonsense, and my phone will continue to receive future updates just as if I had received the official update.  Get the instructions here.

The update doesn't come with Flash pre-installed; you have to do that yourself.  Surprisingly, Adobe makes it difficult.  Fortunately, Android and Me has a link for that too; get your Flash here.

Review

I was a little disappointed that the update was so hard to get.  I know that Verizon is going for a gradual rollout so their tech support won't get overwhelmed (and so they can turn it off if there's a problem).  But there is a small group of hardcore fanboys like me who want it now, and there should be an option for that.  Sprint has a menu option on the Evo 4G; why can't Verizon?  Better yet, I wish Google made the update available directly on a web page.  I'm sure they have an agreement with Verizon not to do that because Verizon wants to control certain features like tethering, but you don't see desktop OS makers playing hard-to-get with their updates.

Adobe was even more disappointing.  After being spurned by Apple, Adobe made a big show of running to Google's open arms.  And yet when my Droid, the old Android flagship, was finally ready to accept the glory of Flash, the Adobe website made it impossible.  There are a series of pages at Adobe.com with links to other pages, all of which lead to dead ends.  I finally had to rely on a third-party website who used Megaupload.com.  Again, I'd rather not rely on sketchy third-party sites for important system software.

Once I got the downloads, however, everything went incredibly smooth.  The manual update was a simple affair.  After rebooting, the new changes were immediately obvious.  There are now "sticky" buttons on the home screen for phone and web; they show up on all the home screens (so it's easier to actually make a call).  The Droid finally gets extra home screens, for a total of five.  I've been waiting for that feature for a long time, so long that I got used to only having three.  But there's an extra feature: you can view small thumbnails of all five home screens at once, and jump to the one you want.  Also, when you press the "home" key, it always takes you to the center home screen.  This makes for a user experience that is both easier and more powerful.

Even better: automatic updates from the Market.  I try to limit how many apps I have installed on my phone; it's currently a few dozen.  That's still a lot of upgrading, and some developers like to come out with new versions at an annoying rate.  It's not really their fault for improving their software; it's Google's fault for not having a more graceful update ability on their phone.  Especially since it's a Linux-based phone with a package manager and central software repository.  Bulk upgrades have been part of the game for ten years now.

Anyway, Google finally got with the program.  Not only does the Market offer bulk uploads, but you can tell individual applications to automatically upgrade themselves. Alfred Whitehead once said, "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.”  Sounds like progress to me.

The Facebook app received an upgrade, but I had to download it manually.  This is an app I use on a regular basis and the upgrade is nice, but not worth kvelling about.

A couple features notable for their absence: the flashlight, and tethering.  The flashlight turns on the camera LED's so you can use the phone as a flashlight; great idea, and way more effective than a similar app on the iPhone, but not terribly necessary.  There was already an app in the Market that does the same thing, and I didn't bother downloading it.  So that feature was not terribly missed.

Tethering, on the other hand, is sorely missed.  It's a very cool feature and was advertised from the time the Droid went to market, and now Verizon is squashing the feature because they want our money.  Understandable?  Yes, but that doesn't make it good.  The good news is that the Droid is so powerful that when I'm on the go, I never miss my laptop any more.  I basically have a small computer in my pocket, and that's all I need.  If I really needed tethering, I'm sure there are third-party solutions.

The absence of tethering is more than made up for by bluetooth voice recognition.  Android already beat the iPhone in terms of voice recognition, mainly because Android has it and the iPhone doesn't.  But it's always been a pain having to pick up the phone and press the voice button, especially when you're driving.  Kinda takes away the whole point of "hands free."  Until now.

I tried the bluetooth voice recognition and it worked as expected, which is to say well.  All I had to do was press the button on my bluetooth, and my Droid invited me to "speak now."  After I had given my command, it repeated it back to me--"Call Jordan Koplowicz at home"--and proceeded to place the call.  Hands free, eyes on the road.  As it should be.

Of course, it's still not up to the level of Blackberry's voice recognition, which is legendary.  Blackberry was quick and tight, and if it misunderstood, I could correct it, all in a matter of seconds.  Android has a way to go before it gets to that level.  But it's now head and shoulders above the iPhone, and that's what really matters.

I'm still waiting for the phone to read my text messages to me.  This is a feature that's been promised for some time, and yet has never materialized.  Since Android 2.1 I've had voice recognition for writing text messages, which works well (although it's not entirely hands free).  I understand there are third party apps that handle this, but they won't work with Google Voice.  "Hands free texting" remains unobtainable, but bluetooth voice recognition is a major consolation prize.  Especially when I can tell my phone, "navigate to the nearest bar," and it will fire up the built-in GPS and give me turn-by-turn voice directions all the way there.

The final feature, the creme de la creme, is Flash.  After the initial struggles to download (see above), it installed smoothly.  Flash magically started working in every browser on the phone (I have three); that's better than some experiences I've had on desktop computers.

I immediately craved a website to test my newfound power, and Adobe graciously supplied, with their "Adobe Showcase."  (Hey Adobe, if that is available from the Market, why not Flash itself?  Huh?)  It has a list of sites that rely on Flash, including movie trailers and online games.

Online flash-based video works great; the mobile version of Flash has a full-screen mode that fits perfectly on my Droid, and playback is smooth.  Add in the excellent speakers on the Droid, and you have the best multimedia experience that a four-inch screen can give.

Games worked almost as well.  The full-screen mode works for them too, which is nice.  I found game performance was a little laggy, as if I was running flash on a computer that was barely powerful enough for the task.  Which is, essentially, what I'm doing; the Droid has a 512 MHz mobile processor with 128 MB of memory.  If it were a desktop computer, you wouldn't dream of running flash with those specs.  And yet, the phone pulls it off.  It's partially a testament to Linux, which offers a slim and optimized OS, which Google has harnessed effectively.  (Compare this to the bloatware coming out of Microsoft, where the idea of running Flash isn't a dream, but a nightmare hidden in the depths of Ballmer's subconscious.)

Am I happy with the Flash on my phone?  Absolutely.  Does it run well enough for actual use?  Yes.  And yet, I feel somehow disappointed.  

The truth is that web developers don't rely on flash the way they used to, and that's a good thing.  One of the overriding principles of web design is to keep it simple, and focus on content, not delivery.  Google and Facebook are prime examples of this, and I've always held that it's a major reason why they beat out the competition.  (Well, Facebook used to be a good example of this, until they put their dick into the interface over and over.  Now it's just a sticky mess.)

The point is that there aren't that many sites that rely on flash, and the ones that do are generally time wasters (movie trailers and games).  To be sure, I consider my phone a toy, but I want it to primarily be a business device.  As such, it doesn't really need flash.  (RIM, you have my permission to turn this into an ad.  Good luck.)

Nevertheless, Flash comes to Android at the perfect time.  I've long held that the Droid is better than the iPhone, in very significant ways.  Now we can add Flash to that list.  The latest report is that Android has topped the iPhone as the #1 smartphone in the United States.  The appearance of Flash is too recent to be the cause of Android's rise, but it is representative of the reason why: people like the freedom of Android.  iPhone and Android are both Linux-based phones (more or less), but Google treats its customers like adults, who are allowed to make their own decisions, such as whether they want Flash.

Bottom line: 2.2 takes a good thing and makes it even better.  Flash is the icing on the cake . . . I mean the Froyo.  I mean it's the cherry on top.  You get the idea.