I needed to create a new thread about this, because it's lost in the Nexus One thread.
Now that I've had several days to play with the 2.2 software update, I feel like I can more easily comment on it and the big features it brings:
Flash - I just want to get this one out of the way. Flash works. It's not great, but then again, I don't think surfing the web on a phone has ever been great (yes, I include all phones in that statement - it's just a less-than experience). Flash is there, it works, I've turned it off, but I can use it if I want.
Launcher - A small change, but now, on the home screen, the app window launcher is joined by the phone launcher and the browser launcher. It may seem like nothing, but it's an important UI improvement, in that I can get to the phone and internet from any page on the home screen. Yes, finally catching up to the iPhone here
SPEED - I've buried the lead, because the speed improvement is palpable, and I sense it in almost every aspect of the device. Without a doubt, all my apps are launching faster now and run quicker. I couldn't quantify it, but if they're saying 2-5x faster, I can't deny that. There are definitely instances were it seemed to take about two seconds to do something before, where it takes no more than half a second now, if not less. I can't explain what a difference this is. Well, I'll try. See, around a month ago I upgraded from a horribly slow G1 to the Nexus One. This speed increase feels almost the same. So yeah, I almost feel like I have a new phone. I don't know if other N1 owners here feel the same or will feel the same once they've upgraded, but this is how I feel.
Hotspot - Remember how I felt about the speed upgrade? Well, I'm even more a fan of the built-in hotspot feature of Froyo. Example: yesterday I had a meeting with an architect for one of my clients. When we sat down I just took 10 seconds to put my phone in hotspot mode, then opened my netbook, and I was good to go, all in about 40 seconds. This is a huge deal for me, and I love that I didn't need to pay an additional fee to my carrier or buy a USB adapter and carry that around. Plus, if I ever wanted a tablet device of any kind, I wouldn't need to buy a 3G version and pay for a data connection for it.
As you might have guessed, I'm thrilled with this software update. The version number increase really belies the improvements they've made. I really do feel like I have a new phone.
Previous Topic
Index