So it appears that after months of talking about bringing Gingerbread to the HTC Desire – HTC throws in the towel and says it is not possible… It appears that they can’t deliver on their promise because there is not enough memory on the device to give them “acceptable” user experience with Gingerbread (2.3) and Sense UI…

Now for you users that have not rooted and flashed a custom ROM on the device – it appears you will forever have that Froyo headache and be missing out on the Gingerbread yumminess. Now I have to raise this question – the HTC Desire is a 1GHz processor with 576MB Ram and 512MB Rom – but the Wildfire has a 600Mhz 512MB Ram and 512MB Rom – and it supports Gingerbread…HMMM what gives here?!

Tell us (and possibly HTC) what you think about this desicion to stop developing for this device…Will this in fact hurt them and make people question why it is not happening? Will this make you leave HTC for a different cell phone manufacture? Tell us PPCGeekers!

Special Thanks Goes out to Mr. X who supplied the source!

Source: Facebook

Google has been sued successfully and lost for use of Linux on it’s server platform.  Although this may not be a huge loss to Google financially, this issue could extend to the Android platform. Bedrock Computer Technology has also sued AOL, Yahoo and Amazon to name a few.

Will companies like Bedrock Computer Technologies impede the growth of Linux?

What do you Geek-A-Holics think?
Get your Geek Freak on and let us know.

Source: Intomobile & BBC

Some of you may have noticed in Facebook’s changelog that they supposedly enabled push notifications a few versions ago. This wasn’t working for most people, actually, probably 99% of people. Lots of people loved that feature on the iPhone. As a workaround, I always setup SMS/Email notifications, but its just not the same as getting native notifications. Since last week, I’ve seen a few reports of people saying that push notifications are starting to work for them, and others saying it still wasn’t. Mine just started working today.

You definitely need Android 2.2 or higher to get push notifications. In my settings, I have the “refresh interval” set to Never but I have Notifications checked. I’m using a Google Nexus One with the latest CM (CyanogenMOD) 7 nightly build (which is Gingerbread). I also have the app installed to the internal memory, not moved to the SD card like you can do with Froyo/Gingerbread.

Start reporting if its working for you guys or not. Make sure you tell us what your device is and what ROM you’re using.

Floating around the internet today is an image of what’s said to be the next Droid X, the Droid X2. We have noticed the original source of information has pulled down the image and article, so that makes us wonder just how true this really is.

Looking at the image above the phone looks exactly like the Droid X, right or wrong? The user interface does look different though, so this is a mystery until we know for sure. They say it runs Froyo 2.2 and would be upgradeable to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

What specifications are being spread around are things like an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, no front facing camera, only a 3G device and it will come with a locked boot loader. Also reported is a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and a 4.3 inch qHD display with 540X960 resolution. Again, we aren’t sure how true this may be.

For now, let us know what you think in the comments box below.

Source: MobiZone

Thanks Gten!

If you haven’t already heard the truth, there will be no fee’s for Samsung Android updates. These rumors have gotten pretty strong lately and Samsung has recently confirmed, with this statement to phonescoop, “No. Samsung is not charging carriers for Froyo updates to Galaxy S. We hope to have more detail on status shortly. Promise!”

What may have started the rumor was when one reporter suggested he thinks the delay in the Galaxy S getting Froyo may be because they want to start charging for it. This however isn’t the case but several people believed it and it did cause some concern. Thankfully Samsung came through hastily and let everyone know!

What we are curious to know is what “is” taking so long? What do you think?

Were you one of the ones who may have started to believe this or did? Or were you one who knew it was not going to happen? Either way, were glad it’s not and were sure you are too! Let us know what you think in the comment box below.

Source: Phonescoop

Image: android.me.up

Are you an owner of the LG Ally or know several friends with one? I sure do and know they will love it when they get this update! The update (VS740ZVD) will bring the device several improvements, with only a few that have been announced. Who knows, there could be many more updates or just the ones you see. Either way, it’s a great sign for the owners of this device and gives them a reason to love their Ally even more.

Were all sure there will be more updates than this so hang tight and when it’s available we will be sure to let you all know! For now you can discuss in the comment section below or hop into our LG Ally section and discuss this topic already started there.

Source: AndroidCentral

Can we say Froyo is the most popular platform? According to these statistics I think so. Thanks to Android Developers for keeping track of data relative to the number of active devices running any given version of the Android platform. Their tracking first started in May of 2010 and so far Froyo – Eclair continues to dominate the mobile platform market. The above pie chart and table are based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Android Market within a 14-day period ending on the data collection date noted in the chart.

Froyo seems to be consistently gaining users and AndriodCentral has broken down the numbers for you to better understand. Android 2.1 (Eclair) and 2.2 (Froyo) still dominate, at 40.8 percent and 36.2 percent, respectively. They explain that actually, Eclair devices ticked up a tad from 40.4 percent a month ago. Isn’t that a great increase? Donut (Android 1.6) devices fell to an even 15 percent, and Android 1.5 (Cupcake) is down to 7.9 percent. Which platform would you say is more popular? I think I know your answer!

Now for last months numbers, Froyo was also dominant over the other platforms with Android 2.2 being on one-third of all Android devices. That was exciting news! For a better breakdown; 33.4 percent of devices last month had the latest version of Android. The number of devices on Android 2.1 (Eclair) were 41.7 percent, and Donut (Android 1.6) and Cupcake (Android 1.5) were down to 16.5 percent and 9.7 percent respectively.

Now with all the numbers being crunched and broken down for you what do you think? Did you expect this? Are you one of those Froyo users or are you on the other platforms? Let us know which one you are and why! Also, with the rumors of Gingerbread coming do you think Froyo’s position on the graph will be replaced? We want to know your opinions.

Source: AndroidDevelopers & AndroidCentral

Now that EVO, Droid and Nexus One have received their Froyo upgrades, word on the street is that sometime this week, Incredible will get theirs.  Bringing them into our family of Froyo users.

As most of the android population now know, Froyo is the code-name of the new Android 2.2 that is touted to be faster and more stable than it’s 2.1 predecessor. However, the main feature is the ability to run Adobe Flash 10.1. Which allows your web browser to make use of websites that use Flash for navigation, games, and showing video.

Many of us that have one of the aforementioned (surprised to see that word in my vocabulary?) phones have had some type of anxiety over the new upgrade and/or rooting.  If rooted, by accepting the OTA (Over The Air) version of Froyo, unless your phone has been “unrevoked forever”, there is currently no way back to root.  For the benefits and explanation of  “unrevoked forever”, go here.

For many, a better choice may be not to accept the OTA and instead, wait until one of the great cooks we have, create a rom with the OTA included (which is what I did).

There are many, many (and I do mean MANY) posts on rooting in the forums. What may work for some, may not for others. The important thing is to get a game plan and be prepared. Think about what you want to do and how you plan on doing it BEFORE the OTA hits. After you’ve accepted it and it’s been installed, is not a good time to worry about how you’re going to root.

We’re a little late on this story, but better late than never right? Our Evo forums are all a buzz about the news that Froyo (Android 2.2) is officially coming to the Evo starting next week, as early as Tuesday 8/3. There are reports saying that it will be a gradual rollout, with all phones receiving the update by the middle of August.

If you don’t want to wait for the official OTA to download, you can go into your settings and select System Updates > HTC Software Update. There are also rumors saying that this method could start working as early as Sunday, August 1st.

The Google Nexus One is the only other phone to officially sport Froyo, so this is good news for Evo owners considering their phones also run the SenseUI. Froyo features include faster performance (thanks to a JIT compiler in the kernel), voice dialing over bluetooth, a faster browser with full Flash support, and the ability to install apps to the SD card. The Market will also offer automatic updates for your installed apps, which is an individual setting for each app.

Froyo also features a built-in WiFi Hotspot feature to allow wireless tethering. There’s no word on how Sprint will handle this considering they charge extra for their Hotspot app. It could be disabled by Sprint/HTC, or they might allow it. Time will tell on that one.

If you’re rooted and/or using a custom ROM, you should still be able to get the update, but it WILL break root, at least until a new method is found.

Those of you that are rooted or using a custom ROM, will you still install the official update?

Those of you that try to do a manual download/install, please report back once you start having success and report on its performance!

Source: PCMag

Another rumored Froyo update?   According to multiple sources, the Nexus One is set to receive yet another official OTA Android 2.2 update.   The new build will be FRF91.  This update doesn’t provide any new features.  Only some security updates and smaller changes.

According to one XDA forum poster; “My guess would be that it’s probably a fix to the exploit which allows people to root without unlocking the bootloader.” But as he said, it’s only his guess.

Here’s the download link for the savvy androidians that don’t want to wait for the OTA.

Last week we reported on the rumored “official” Froyo update for the Nexus One, with a version of FRF83. Last night, Google officially announced the Froyo update, which they say will be gradually pushed to phones this week. People are reporting the update version is FRF85B and is about a 500Kb update from FRF83. Last Thursday, Google also released the source code for Froyo, which also made everyone believe FRF83 was the official version.

“In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone’s notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones – and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features.”

You can find the Android 2.2 highlights here.

Even users of custom ROMs are reporting getting the update notification. For obvious reasons, if you’re using a custom ROM, wait for that chef to release an update, otherwise you’ll probably lose your root.

It was only a matter of time and we all knew it was coming. The Verizon Droid X has been fully disassembled by the people at DroidX.net. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to see the models of some of the chips without unsoldering the metal casings around them. There’s not much information here, but they provide a detailed walkthrough and video of the process in case you’re interested.

In other news, according to some sources, we will be seeing Android 2.2 (Froyo) coming to the Motorola Droid in late July and on the Droid X in late August. There was no mention of the Droid 2 though, so its release might be far enough way that it could ship with Froyo.

The folks over at AndroidPolice are lucky enough to have a Nexus One running Froyo, Android 2.2. You’ve probably seen the slight changes to the homescreen, heard about Flash 10.1 finally coming to Android, make more RAM available for the Nexus One, possibly activate the FM Receiver/Transmitter in the Nexus One, and that it will offer a JIT (Just-In-Time) Compiler for the kernel. Based on a LINPACK benchmark, it shows the Nexus One with Froyo getting 37.5 MFLOPS compared to around 6.5 on a stock N1.

You do have to take these results with a grain of salt though. Not every app will benefit from these changes. Most will probably see a 2-3% increase since JIT only helps programs that are not compiled to native code.

Source: AndroidPolice

It looks as if Google is already testing the next version of Android, version 2.2, dubbed Froyo. While digging through their visitor logs, AndroidAndMe came across some Android 2.2 devices browsing their site.

As for a release date, the latest rumor is that it would be ready to go around May 19th, which is when Google’s I/O 2010 kicks off. There’s also a rumor of Flash 10.1 for Android being released at the same time. It is rumored to be an OTA update for the Nexus One owners out there. The other devices will either have to wait for a port (if you’re rooted and unlocked), or wait for your manufacturer to push it out.

New features include more available RAM, multi-color trackball notifications (for the Nexus One), and touchscreen fixes. Its also rumored to have OpenGL ES 2.0 for better gaming, a JIT compiler, and possibly unlocking the Nexus One’s FM radio hardware.

Source: Slashgear

Froyo and Gingerbread. Froyo will be built upon Linux Kernel 2.6.32 while Gingerbread will be based on 2.6.33 or 2.6.34. The two known bits of information on Froyo (other than it’s kernel) is that it is expected to be released as as update for the HTC EVO 4G and that it will include functionality for 4G radios. An interesting technical tidbit that may interest the über Android Geeker about the patches that are made to the Android Linux Kernel is the following post by Brian Swetland, who is head of the Android Kernel development team-

We maintain a set of patches on top of Linux, which we periodically rebase to the latest released Linux kernel. We’ve been doing this roughly every other kernel release since about 2.6.14. This week we’re finalizing our move to 2.6.32 for the Android “Froyo” release, and we’ll likely be on .33 or .34 for “Gingerbread”.

These patches fall roughly into four buckets:
– random bugfixes (these are usually pretty easy to submit upstream)
– generic Android related drivers that are standalone (lowmemorykiller, binder, ashmem, logger, etc): These pieces are used by the Android userspace, but not other kernel drivers.
– generic Android related drivers that add new infrastructure. Wakelocks are pretty much the only significant piece here. They are depended on my peripheral drivers, but that can be conditionalized.
– support for new SoCs (msm7k, msm8k, etc) and boards/devices (G1, myTouch, NexusOne, Droid, etc) – they live under arch/arm/mach-*/… and don’t have many special dependencies other than wakelocks (which can be conditionalized)

I wonder what the next version of Android will be codenamed. Maybe Hotcakes? Post your best guess in the comments below!

Source- lwn.net via androidandme.com

Cupcake. Donut. Eclair. Froyo- wait what? Yes Froyo, short for Frozen Yogurt, is the codename of the  next update for Android OS, which will be based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32. This tasty update was mentioned in the Developers Guide Sprint released for the HTC EVO a few quaint days ago. The interesting tidbit in the Guide is this following quote-

The Android Éclair release does not include the support for 4G radios like WiMax.  Sprint is actively working with the Android team to support WiMax in the Android platform level.  The below APIs will be used for Sprint 4G device until the official Android release includes 4G support.

From the looks of things, Sprint will be the first carrier to be using the Froyo update unless the EVO is initially released without 4G support. With this tasty update, the EVO just gets better and better. Now the wait is on for a release date and pricing plans.

Source- Pocketnow.com

Image Credit- leakdroid.net