Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) are Smartphone operating systems developed by Android. Android 2.3 is the later edition. In comparison between Android 2.2 and Android 2.3, Android 2.3 is a major update and there are number of differences between Android 2.2 and Android 2.3. Google, the internet giant acquired Android in year 2005. Basically Android did not start from scratch; it was developed from the versions of Linux kernel.
Android 2.2 Froyo was released in May 2010 and Android 2.3 the Gingerbread was released last week (6th Dec 2010). There are lots of improvements and new features in Gingerbread.
The considerable new features of Gingerbread are new UI themes, redesigned keyboards, new copy and paste functionality, improved power management, better application management, new download manager, NFC (Near Field Communication), support for VoIP/SIP calls, new Camera application for accessing multiple cameras and supports extra large screens.
Kernel:
Android 2.2 – Linux Kernel 2.6.32
Android 2.3 – Linux Kernel 2.6.35
Networking:
Android 2.2 supports Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi. On top of these, Android 2.2 supports Wi-Fi hotspot functionality that can connect 6 devices. In the sense, you can use Android 2.2 phone as a wireless broadband router.
Android 2.3(Gingerbread), in addition to all existing features, supports for NFC (Near Field Communication) which is a high speed data communication mechanism operates in high frequency within a short range (10 cm).
Communication:
In addition to standard voice calling, Android 2.3 supports for SIP audio and video calling. If you have a good 3G or Wi-Fi connection and a SIP account you can make internet calling. It breaks the boundary of regionalist concept and flies in the global domain.
Power Management:
Power Management is one the critical tasks in these kind of Mobile operating systems. Even if you have all these fancy features, if the battery life of the device is couple of hours, then there is no use in the added features. Android 2.3 handles it in a better way than Android 2.2. Here in 2.3 the OS manages the applications and daemon application which are running at the background and closes the unnecessary applications.
Android 2.2 (Froyo) supports the following features:
- Integration of Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application
- Advanced Microsoft Exchange support
- Wi-Fi hotspot functionality
- Voice dialling and contact sharing over Bluetooth
- Support for file upload fields in the Browser application
- Animated GIFs supported in browser.
- Adobe Flash 10.1 supported
- Support for extra high DPI screens
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) supports the following features in addition to existing 2.2 features:
- New user interface design with new themes (Black themes save power)
- Extra Large Screen Size supported
- SIP Communication Supported (SIP Video and Audio Calling, In an operator point of view, this is feature will decrease their voice calling revenue where as user can call each other for lower rates or even free if they have good data connection)
- Supports for NFC (High Frequency High Speech Data Transfer in short range)
- Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding
- New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost
- Improved Copy and Paste functionality
- Redesigned Multi Touch Software Keyboard
- Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers
- New sensors support (i.e gyroscope)
- Download manager for long running HTTP downloads
- Enhanced support for native code
- Improved power management and application control
- Support for multiple cameras
Related Links
- Difference Between Open Source Android Operating System (OS) Versions
- Difference Between Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Android 2.2 (Froyo)
- Difference Between Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- Difference Between Android 2.3 and 2.3.3
- Difference Between Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) for Tablets
- Difference Between Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) for Tablet
- Difference Between Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android Ice Cream
- Difference Between Android 2.3 and Android 2.4
Features included in Android 2.2 (Froyo)Kernel 2.6.32, API Level 8
1. Tips Widget – the new tips widget at the home screen provide support to users to configure home screen and add new widgets.
2. Exchange Calendars are now supported in the Calendar application.
3. Easy set up and sync an Exchange account, you just have to enter your user-name and password
4. In composing an email, users can now auto-complete recipient names from the directory with the global address list look up feature.
5. Onscreen buttons give easy access to UI to control camera features such as zoom, focus, flash, etc.
6. Wi-Fi hotspot and USB tethering
7. Multiple language recognition simultaneously
8. Enhance browser performance using Chrome V8 engine, which enhance faster loading of pages, more than 3, 4 times compared to Android 2.1
9. Better memory management, you can experience smooth multi tasking even on memory constrained devices.
10. New media framework supports local file playback and HTTP progressive streaming.
11. Support applications over Bluetooth such as voice dialling, share contacts with other phones, Bluetooth enabled car kits and headsets.
For Network Providers
12. Improved security with numeric pin or alpha-numeric password options to unlock device.
13. Remote Wipe – remotely reset the device to factory defaults to secure data in case device is lost or stolen.
For Developers
14. Applications can request installation on the shared external storage (such as an SD card).
15. Apps can utilize Android Cloud to Device Messaging to enable mobile alert, send to phone, and two-way push sync functionality.
16. New bug reporting feature for Android Market apps enables developers to receive crash and freeze reports from their users.
17. Provides new APIs for audio focus, routing audio to SCO, and auto-scan of files to media database. Also provides APIs to let applications detect completion of sound loading and auto-pause and auto-resume audio playback.
18. Camera now supports portrait orientation, zoom controls, access to exposure data, and a thumbnail utility. A new camcorder profile enables apps to determine device hardware capabilities.
19. New APIs for OpenGL ES 2.0, working with YUV image format, and ETC1 for texture compression.
20. New “car mode” and “night mode” controls and configurations allow applications to adjust their UI for these situations.
21. Scale gesture detector API provides improved definition of multi-touch events.
22. Applications can customize the bottom strip of a TabWidget.
New features included in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)(Kernel 2.6.35, API Level 9)
1. New user interface has a simple and attractive theme in black background, which is designed to give a vivid look while being power efficient too. Menu and settings are changed for ease of navigation.
2. Redesigned soft keyboard is optimized for quicker and accurate text input and editing. And the word being edited and dictionary suggestion is vivid and easy to read.
3. Multi touch key cording to input number and symbols without changing input mode
4. Selection of word and copy/paste made easy.
5. Improved power management through application control.
6. Provide user awareness on power consumption. Users can view how the battery is used and which consume more.
7. Internet calling – supports SIP calls to other users with SIP account
8. Support Near-field communication (NFC) – high frequency high speech data transfer within a short range (10 cm). This will be useful feature in m commerce.
9. A new download manager facility that supports easy storage and retrieval of downloads
10. Support for multiple cameras
For Developers
1. Concurrent garbage collector to minimize application pauses and support increased responsiveness game like applications.
2. Touch and keyboard events handled better which minimizes the CPU utilization and Improve responsiveness, this feature is beneficial for 3D games and CPU intensive applications.
3. Use updated third party video drivers for faster 3D graphic performance
4. Native input and sensor events
5. New sensors including gyroscope is added for improved 3D motion processing
6. Provide Open API for audio controls and effects from native code.
7. Interface to manage graphic context.
8. Native access to activity lifecycle and window management.
9. Native access to assets and storage
10. Android NDk provide robust native development environment.
11. Near Field Communication
12. SIP based internet calling
13. New audio effects API to create rich audio environment by adding reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost
14. Built in support for video formats VP8, WebM, and audio formats AAC, AMR-WB
15. Support multiple camera
16. Support for extra large screen
