Verizon: Android 2.2 Coming to Motorola Droid Next Week

Anything Sprint can do, Verizon can apparently do - though we're not going to say whether or not they're better. The nation's top carrier told us Friday that it will push out Android 2.2, also known as the "Froyo" operating system, to the company's Motorola Droid phones next week.

That announcement comes right after Sprint announced they're rolling out Android 2.2 to the company's HTC EVO phones next week as well.

The new upgrade will give the Droid many new features, including improved speed, voice dialing over Bluetooth, a faster browser, the ability to store apps on an SD card, and the potential to run Adobe Flash when that software is ready.

We have a hands-on with Android 2.2, otherwise known as "Froyo," from when it was first announced back in May.

Google has had trouble getting the company's Android partners to keep up with the blistering pace of software updates. Android 2.2 was announced in May, but for a while only the failed Google Nexus One phone (now off the market in the U.S.) could run the new OS.

Samsung, Motorola and HTC have all pledged Android 2.2 upgrades for more phones including the Samsung Vibrant and Motorola Droid X, but the company hasn't yet delivered.

Meanwhile, many phones on the market run even older versions of Android. T-Mobile's Motorola CLIQ and CLIQ XT are still running Android 1.5, to the rage of many owners who were promised an upgrade to version 2.1 during the first half of this year. Interactions between Google's software, manufacturers' overlays, and wireless carriers' approval processes all seem to play a role in the delays.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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