Today, The New York Times published an interview with Google’s VP of Engineering, Andy Rubin.  The topic of the day: Android.

While much of the conversation revolved around the philosophy of an “open” platform, there was some very specific discussion about Flash support for Android 2.2.

Here’s a quote from interviewer Brad Stone

He also promised that full support for Adobe’s Flash standard was coming in the next version of Android, code-named Froyo, for frozen yogurt (previous Android releases were called Cupcake, Donut and Eclair, and are represented outside Building 44 on the Google campus with giant sculptures of the desserts). Sometimes being open “means not being militant about the things consumer are actually enjoying,” he said.

There’s no mention if Flash 10.1 will be supported on Android 2.1 or which existing devices will support Android 2.2.  Frankly, I’m happy with Flash Lite support on my HTC Hero.  Occasionally, I run across a video that I can’t watch.  However, I can still play some games and view some web content.  It would be nice to allow devices that won’t support Flash 10.1 to use Flash Lite.

Rubin was also very candid about the openness of Android as compared to other “proprietary systems”.  He goes on to say “I don’t know when its might be, but I’m confident it will happen. Open usually wins.”, with regards to if/when Android phones will outnumber BlackBerrys and iPhones.

What features do you want to see in Android 2.2?

Source: NYT and (many) others

There has been a lot of talk in the last few days about Nexus Ones running the Desire ROM from Paul at MoDaCo, which includes Flash 10.1. We’ve seen demonstration videos, and lots of speculation about Flash’s drain on the battery. But Adobe caught wind of the hubbub and decided to clear a few things up. First of all, they say the ROM employs an alpha version of Flash Lite, and not Flash 10.1. They also put together a long test video to give us all a better idea of the battery life we can actually expect with the final version of 10.1, and if this demonstration is representative of the final product, we should be able to watch a full movie before the phone croaks. Vid after the break:

Adobe’s been in the news almost every week, in one way or another, over the last few weeks. You’ve heard, right? Adobe’s CTO, Kevin Lynch has certainly heard, and he’s pretty outspoken on the whole thing. He wants to set the record straight in regards to how people look at his company, and think about their product, and he’s got a pretty good strategy to make that happen: show it off. That’s exactly what Adobe did in Barcelona, during Mobile World Congress. They decided to show off to the world just what it was Adobe is planning for the mobile platforms of the future, and they did it all with the help of Google’s Android. While Adobe’s AIR software will be hitting several different phone models, the more specific Flash 10.1 was showcased on a Nexus One, the king of Android phones (currently on the market). Lynch wants to make sure that everyone knows Flash is still here, and with the help of Google, that may just be an option for the mobile industry. Plus, it does well to segregate them from the “i” competition.

via All Things D

One of the highlights of Sense UI gracing the Android Operating System, was HTC’s decision to include Flash player capabilities within the browser. Of course, as most things are, it was met with all sorts of reviews: some saying the idea and implementation was great, to others saying they wish it never would have happened. Well, hopefully your personal belief veers more towards the good, because it’s official that Google is pushing the software into their stock Android devices.

Erick Tseng was on scene at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday, taking part in Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s (keep the Eric(k)s straight, please) keynote regarding the presence and evolution of Google’s little green robot. Tseng and the rest of the Android teams plan to work closely with Adobe, so that they can “tie the Flash runtime directly into the high-end hardware in these devices.” Seems a lofty premise, unless the Android team believes devices like the CLIQ or Pulse are high-end devices. In which case, giving the Nexus One the “superphone” label wasn’t such a bad idea after all. No release date as of now, but you can be sure this isn’t the last time we’ll be hearing about this. What do you think? Is supporting Flash the best way to go?

via PC World

Adobe announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that Flash and AIR would be available for the Android platform in the first half of the year as part of a broader effort by the Open Screen Project to bring the software to a vast bevy of phones running the BlackBerry platform, Symbian OS, Palm’s webOS and Windows Mobile. Adobe also released the beta version of Flash 10.1 to developers and content providers worldwide.

My obsession with access to one particular program continues to dominate my take on any news that could possibly be tied to it. I am speaking of the AIR Twitter app, TweetDeck, which I’m hoping will finally be coming to Android.

Whatever happens with TweetDeck, I suspect AIR will open up a Universe of possibilities for social apps. Adobe simply says that it “allows developers to easily create contextual applications that are characterized by their ability to adapt presentation and performance to different application contexts while reusing code for each device or platform.”

Check out videos of Flash and AIR running on Android after the break: