Google's Andy Rubin talks Android and Apple, promises Flash support in Froyo
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 27th 2010 4:21PM
posted April 27th 2010 4:21PM
Gather 'round, Android fans, because Google's Android boss Andy Rubin has done a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, and we're guessing you're going to want to hear what he has to say. The biggest news to come out of it is word that Android 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo, will come complete with full support for Flash, which is far and away the most official confirmation we've had to date, and slightly contradicts earlier talk that Flash support wouldn't necessarily be built into the OS. Why the change? Rubin says that sometimes being open "means not being militant about the things consumers are actually enjoying." On a similar note, Rubin also said that while he doesn't know when the number of Android phones sold would exceed the number of iPhones and BlackBerrys sold, he's "confident it will happen," adding that "open usually wins." And the hits just keep on coming from there, with Rubin not so subtly working in a mention of North Korea after a discussion about Apple and closed computing platforms, before closing things out with the line: "with openness comes less secrets." Hit up the source link below for the complete interview, in which Rubin also address the issue of Android fragmentation, and reveals that he does indeed own an iPad, but naturally has a few things to say about it.
"I don't understand this antagonism towards Flash... we've gotten it to work on a phone ZERO times!"
So you mean to tell me that these Android phones have different firmware for each vendor, and each phone isn't guaranteed to get the latest update, even if they are fairly new, ala Nexus?
@MattsZ Yes. The Nexus One is probably the exception. Google relies on the carrier to deliver the update over the air and doesn't offer a way to do the update yourself unless you hack the phone. Many devices have either been stuck on older releases like 1.5 or 1.6 after users bought them, or have taken a long time to get 2.1 out the door. In some cases this might be because the vendor in question put complicated layers of software on top of Android, so it isn't just Google's update that needs to be pushed, but an update of the top level UI too. Its one of the things that is pissing SOME people off about Android at the moment, and that Google is supposedly going to start addressing with Froyo by things like pushing more of the OS into applications that can be updated regardless of the OS version, etc.
Yeah
@Dr Kwame Nkrumah better than having just one crappy and dated phone to choose from ala iphone.
@Air Force One
Better than having phones that are stuck on old firmwares that you have to pray just to get an update.
Exactly what i'm talking about...
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f7/deleting-text-messages-help-14424/
If that doesn't work, perhaps I should try rooting it I guess, eh? Maybe this isn't a problem on Droid's but on the older OS's it seems to be. Perhaps I should wait for an upgrade or download an alternative SMS app to delete the messages., ahh wait i'm a n00b and have no idea what either of those are.
Why didn't Andy tell us about all the successful developers making money from Android?
Because they're greedy and trying to keep all of those billions in app sales on the hush hush...
It's fucking beyond me how the android fanboys criticizes iPhone users for jailbreaking to get multitasking etc., when they have to root their phones just to get a FIRMWARE UPDATE! wow, these guys can't see the forest past the trees
@MattsZ
Shhhhhhhhhh my dude, don't say it too loud or prepared to get downranked.
How many success stories have we heard from developers from Android. With like 70 percent of the apps being free, the developers are struggling on Android, the open source nuts on Android who feel everything should be free aren't paying for the software. Good luck convincing the big game manufacturers like EA to bring their games to your platform when people don't want to pay for it. Developers want to make money, not give everything for free and make it up with ads like what is currently being done on Android.
You also brought up a good point. Look how so many people are waiting just to get a bloody update on their phone. You have carriers and manufacturers withholding updates for phones creating on big mess. This is what the Android nutjobs want to propose as the future.
PLEASE GET ANDY RUBIN OR ERICK TSENG ON THE ENGADGET SHOW
THANKS
@Springdaddy It made me laugh, for whatever that's worth. :D
But didn't Microsoft just prove (with the fastest selling OS in history) that open does not usually win?
In-fact in terms of market share and separately sales, 'open' has yet to win.
So Flash, which is the sole property of a huge conglomerate, is "open" compared to HTML5. Riiiiight...
What I find more incredibly stupid by all the Apple haters is that with all of their success people still think they're making poor decisions. Based on the fact that Flash is STILL in development has to tell you something. Come on people get real. You can't think that you're going to get the entirety of Flash without giving up something else.
I'm waiting to see a browser running an all Flash site like HBO.com and multitask 5 other apps at the same time.
@incredibilistic +1 on the HTML5 thing - that's the way to go.
The bad thing about Android is
1. To many diff phones, diff firmwares.
2. Hardly any games.
3. Snapdragon has a weak gpu.
I want games and iPhone delivers.
Here are a couple of examples of "Open" winning...Wikipedia? Free market Capitalism?
I really doubt flash will significantly reduce battery life on a phone because most people just don't spend that much time on heavy flash websites. On a tablet, I see this being more of an issue as web surfing will be more common. Its still worth it though. Or better yet, give us the option of turning it off.
Well, I personally still think that Flash/AIR is bad for mobile devices.
All it would do is to keep the Android phone prices up, as h/w manufacturers would start promoting Flash support: moar CPU! moar RAM!! moar GPU!!! better Flash support!!!!
I do not like iPhone for the Apple's total control (No DivX? WTF!?), but I think in the short term ban of the Flash is a good thing as it gives a chance to the competing technologies which might actually be more mobile-use friendly.
I love the Android Platform and the OS.
I recently ordered a HTC Desire. because the internal memory has 120MB memory left or installation of apps.
But i heard u cant install applications in the Memory card.
Will this problem be taken care of in the the os v2.2???
Does anybody know? can anyone help me or give me an advice?