0xfeedface Tech musings and rants

Android 2.2 (Froyo) leaked this morning. The site which hosts the leak, MyDroidWorld, came under immediate DDoS as soon as the leak was published. MyDroidWorld is back up and stable. I installed Froyo on my Droid X within just a few hours of the leak.

I had previously rooted my Droid X and removed some of the bloatware. I tried flashing the update.zip. It failed because CityID wasn't installed. Grrrr. I had to find the SBF (the original firmware that Verizon techs use when restoring your phone to its factory state) and flash it with a pirated copy of Motorola's flashing software. After restoring my phone to its factory state, the Froyo update worked. The radio failed to update, but I haven't had any issues, yet.

The phone is significantly and noticeably faster. The MotoBLUR UI that I hate so much has been toned down to a usable level. I dislike that the bloatware apps are installed again. Flash 10.1 is installed now. That'll be the first thing I remove.

Overall, I'm happy for this leak. I would recommend applying the leaked Froyo image to everyone who owns a Droid X. I'm excited for the real release of Froyo for the Droid X and the many improvements Motorola and Verizon will have for this phone in the years to come.

UPDATE: I posted an image of the failed radio update here.

I updated my Nexus One to the official Froyo FRF85B release a few days ago. I love the improvements Google and others have made to Android. One of my favorite features is WiFi tether. I have a mobile WiFi hotspot where ever I go. Everything is very noticeably faster on Froyo. I'm really impressed at how everything comes together in a unified manner.

I frequently bike to work. On my way, I listen to Pandora to make the twenty-mile journey bearable. I noticed that when I bike parallel and nearly underneath power lines, all data services die. My phone still shows full 3G bars, but all data synchronization stops. Pandora stops playing, email stops syncing, etc. I bike underneath power lines for around six of the twenty miles, a pretty significant portion to be without data services.

This problem didn't occur on Eclair. I tested on both Eclair and Froyo using both a bluetooth headset and regular 3.5mm headphones. No issue on Eclair with either headset, but it was an issue on Froyo with both headsets. My guess is that the Froyo radio is much more sensitive to interference than Eclair.

I contacted Google's Nexus One tech support. They've escalated the issue to the engineering department. I'll let you guys know what happens. Here is a thread I created on the Nexus One support forums about the issue.