Android 2.2 “Froyo” Officially Hits Nexus One, Some EVO’s Bricked by Latest Software Update

Compared to Apple’s iOS for the iPhone, Google’s Android OS for its smartphones tends to get updated more frequently.  Google and its OEMs also use over-the-air updates as a means of pushing down fast fixes to its phones.

The Nexus One may not have been a big seller, but for owners of the Google handset, there’s some good news to cheer about — an over-the-air update to Android 2.2.  Android 2.2 brings numerous updates including a Just-In-Time Davlik compiler for faster apps, Flash 10.1, the ability to launch apps from your microSD card, an improved HTML5-ready browser, and more.

According to a Google release:

In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone’s notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones – and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features.

The update had already been available to users in non-finalized form for some time.

In other not-so-good Android news, the popular Sprint-exclusive HTC EVO 4G has been suffering from some bricking issues (rendering the phone frozen and unresponsive) thanks to a separate over-the-air update that was supposed to improve Wi-Fi.  

The problems appear to be affecting both those that have gained root access by various means and those who accidentally install the update a second time (updates can be installed multiple times by clicking on and re-following the dialogue.

Sprint explains:

While the vast majority of consumers successfully downloaded and installed the most recent HTC EVO 4G software update, we have received a handful of reports from customers having some issues with the update. In light of this, HTC and Sprint have decided to temporarily halt distribution of this software release until we can investigate further. We expect to be able to resume software updates shortly.

Hopefully Sprint, Google, and HTC will get these issues resolved.  And hopefully they’ll get around to giving EVO owners some love in the Froyo department as well.