FroYo/2.2 Coming Week of April 11?

[LocalStain]

Thanks! I have a bunch more I will upload and share later. I was at the beach today as well so there are some really spectacular shots. The bird sanctuary was stunning. I don't have the words really to describe it.

Cool bird pic - that would be awesome for a screen wallpaper

 

[sholmes]

B&N won't go past android 2.2 for the Nook Color first edition. Only devs are making custom 2.3 roms and Google has shown they would have android 3.0 to be on dual core cpu tabs... at the moment.

For the near future BN isn't going past 2.1. I posted in a different thread here that BN just released SDK 2.1 a few days ago. If indeed the update was froyo, BN would be releasing SDK 2.2.

Also the official BN press release said an update in the spring. Spring is any time from 4/21 to 6/21 - so hold your breathe.

 

[rico2001]

^ what is your source?

 

[sholmes]

^ what is your source?

From the BN developer website. Note the date BN posted it... Simon Walker is a BN person.

"What version of Android is supported for development?
Simon Walker posted this on Apr-06 18:43

Your application should be optimized for Google Android SDK Platform 2.1 API 7"

Also read this sentence from the BN press release - as others have pointed out, the NOOK has to leverage profits to BN and "enrich and extend the reading experience".

"As we have previously stated, we want to work with you to extend the value of the NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet, with a focus on delivering reading-centric applications to customers – apps that enrich and extend the reading experience. We have also announced plans for a major update to the NOOK Color firmware this Spring which will offer customers the first new apps to discover and enjoy, along with email and other requested features."

On this one I do WANT badly to be proven wrong - but the clues seems to indicate otherwise.

 

[rico2001]

^ I meant a link

thanks.

 

[sholmes]

^ I meant a link

Here's the link...

What version of Android is supported for development? : Developer Support

 

[rico2001]

^that

and I guess this
xda-developers - View Single Post - Flash & BN App Store in April Update Official

Not a lot of info in those statements, but it does look like another sdk version. Perhaps another small update before os change. I've learned not everything coming out of nookdevelopers is accurate as well.

 

[rokky]

From the BN developer website. Note the date BN posted it... Simon Walker is a BN person.

"What version of Android is supported for development?
Simon Walker posted this on Apr-06 18:43

Your application should be optimized for Google Android SDK Platform 2.1 API 7"

Also read this sentence from the BN press release - as others have pointed out, the NOOK has to leverage profits to BN and "enrich and extend the reading experience".

"As we have previously stated, we want to work with you to extend the value of the NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet, with a focus on delivering reading-centric applications to customers – apps that enrich and extend the reading experience. We have also announced plans for a major update to the NOOK Color firmware this Spring which will offer customers the first new apps to discover and enjoy, along with email and other requested features."

On this one I do WANT badly to be proven wrong - but the clues seems to indicate otherwise.

1. I got a notice of the SDK being released Dec 3, 2010, although I do not know now which API level it was - would need to crank up PC with that installation, and getting too late for that tonight.

2. Major disconnect between:
A) " application should be optimized for Google Android SDK Platform 2.1 SDK"
and
B) "a major update to the NOOK Color firmware this Spring which will offer customers the first new apps [with 2.1 SDK?] to discover and enjoy"
IF that major update is FroYo/2.2. That is making me wonder if they are just "enhancing" 2.1 further - that would be a BIG disappointment for us all.

I hope my line of thinking in that second point is proven wrong, too, and that backward compatibility explains it away ...

 

[gadgetrants]

I have no Android programming experience as yet - I just recently finished an online Java intro course to get "re-acquainted" with that environment, and am thinking about digging into some self-learning books for Android programming with the Nook dev program as a practical application.

I do most of my programming at a fairly basic level, mostly in Matlab (machine-vision type stuff), but for fun I downloaded the SDK and worked on a few simple (i.e., "Hello World") apps. It was a little tedious to get all the components in the programming environment set up correctly, but I found it fairly intuitive. If I were a full-time programmer I can already think of the apps I'd like to write!

Shortly after, Google released their AppInventer environment. It sounded AWESOME but last time I checked, it turned out to be badly crippled. The good news is that it creates a highly intuitive visual interface for programming--including access to all the device's hardware (e.g., camera, accelerometer, etc)--but the bad news is you get 1 SCREEN to run your app! Really just a toy in the end.

Anyway, what I was trying to say is if you're OK with Java, Android will be a piece of cake!

Oh, and thanks for the financial report info! Please keep us posted if you browse the next report.

-Matt

 

[AnimaTechnica]

Well I'm an optimist...or was it an optometrist....the way I look at it 2.2 is backwards compatible with 2.1 apps

Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

 

[gadgetrants]

Well I'm an optimist...or was it an optometrist....the way I look at it 2.2 is backwards compatible with 2.1 apps

Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

OMG, now I have to share my cutest off-topic story: when I was 10 I took some kind of IQ test, and was asked, "What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?"

My answer: "An optimist is an eye doctor, and a pessimist is a bug killer."

-Matt

 

[AnimaTechnica]

RoFL - now i can go to bed with a smile

OMG, now I have to share my cutest off-topic story: when I was 10 I took some kind of IQ test, and was asked, "What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?"

My answer: "An optimist is an eye doctor, and a pessimist is a bug killer."

-Matt

 

[J515OP]

OK, even for ME that was ridiculously long! I'm putting myself on a no-respond diet for a few days.

-Matt

Man I have have missed so many good posts. Let me start off by agreeing with AT about well reasoned discourse and as much as I want to be in the other boat (the one with the hope and optimisim that B&N knows what they are doing and are acting according to a master plan) I have to put myself in this boat. I think that B&N understands that digital is the future and that app stores generate revenue like most companies do these days. However, I also think that the Nook was an accidential success and planned as a way to one up the kindle with features.

I don't think B&N really knows where they are going or what they are going to do and has many problems outside of the Nook to worry about like keeping their brick and mortars open and from going the way of Border's into bankruptcy. Their plan probably didn't extend much beyond "make a dvice competative with the Kindle and establish a digital foothold so we don't get beat out of the gate selling e-books."

I am also starting to worry based onthe things sholmes is posting that we have all gotten carried away with our enthusiasm for the Nook in planning what the update was going to be (2.2 with a pretty open market and flash). We can see by the feet dragging, lack of information, late release of opportunities to developers and otherwise mysterious behavior regarding what B7Ns intent is for the Nook Color that they are reacting and scrambling rather than creating their own path.

Whether you like Apple or not they are the market leader here and you never see them without a clearly laid out plath even if some features are not ready at launch and come later on (copy & paste, tethering, mms, etc.). The fact is the sdks and delveloper support was in place, the app store rules were in place, the ad software and strategy to use it was in place and the willingness to share their visions and steer the progress was in place.

Obviously B&N is not Apple and I don't expect them to be but I am not seeing enough of those sorts of things to think they really have a plan leading to an eventual Nook 5 at this point, let alone a Nook 2 that is all but ready to ship. I think they have achieved their goal of establishing thier foothold and a hit device but that a lot of work still needs to be done to take it to where some of you have made very good points about where it should be going and what their plan may be.

 

[LocalStain]

Well put AT. I wanted to point out two glaring discrepancies that have been over-looked here. After doing further reading here Nook Color getting Flash and apps in April update, according to Home Shopping Network (update: official) -- Engadget and here HSN details Nook Color update for 'mid-April': Android 2.2, Flash, apps and push email -- Engadget It is important to note that in the "Official" Press release(1st link) there is no mention at all of Flash or Froyo. Only in the HSN link is any mention 2.2 and Flash made. I have a funny feeling HSN may have put the cart before the horse on this one. Whether intentionally to sell more units or a legitimate miscalculation we'll never know.

I just wanted to point this out as several people have talked about the HSN announcement as if its gospel. HSN is not B&N, Flash, Angry Birds and native email are not Froyo. It is quite possible they have some internal hocus pocus going on to make this happen but from the rest of the evidence I've found and that has been posted here Froyo may be a ways down the road.

It certainly doesn't make much sense to have the appstore and development basically dedicated to 2.1. That's like opening a blacksmith shop to shoe horses next to a Nascar track. But who knows I guess we'll see....

 

[J515OP]

It certainly doesn't make much sense to have the appstore and development basically dedicated to 2.1. That's like opening a blacksmith shop to shoe horses next to a Nascar track. But who knows I guess we'll see....

Love the analogy, something else this forum seems to be particularly good at

JP