Motorola DROID FRG01B (Froyo) Update Halted?

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Apparently Motorola and Verizon have encountered a problem with Android 2.2.

Monday brought the release of Android "Froyo" 2.2--aka FRG01B--to Verizon's dedicated army of Motorola DROID owners. Although it was reported that the rollout would reach most devices by the end of the week, additional news indicated that Verizon would distribute the update in limited quantities at first in order to "test the waters."

Now there are reports that the Froyo distribution has halted altogether due to "unnamed bugs." There are also sightings of a new Froyo FRG22 build making its rounds, appearing as an OTA 1.6MB "security patch" after users upgrade Android to FRG01B (thus changing the build to FRG22). For those who haven't upgraded to Froyo, it's believed that FRG22 will be the resulting OTA update.

Currently we haven't seen a downloadable FRG22 file for those who want to force-install the supposed patch. On a personal note, Verizon hasn't loaded DROID with an alert for the supposed patch. That may actually take place next week.

For those interested in manually installing FRG01B, complete instructions and file mirrors can be found here. There's also a notice that backs up the reports surrounding FRG22, saying that Motorola and Verizon have found an issue with FRG01B and may distribute the new build "next week."

But with all the hype surrounding Froyo, is it worth the upgrade? Definitely. The new build brings a huge performance increase to the Motorola DROID. And despite Verizon's claims, tethering does work for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Linux--users are taken to a subscription page for details on how to sign up for Mobile Broadband Connect.

Presently the "Move to SD" feature doesn't really fix the internal memory consumption issue, as developers (Gameloft, Google, etc.) need to incorporate the feature into their apps. Adobe and/or Google has also removed Flash Player from the Android Market--those who seek out the APK file will discover that it's a meaty 12.28MB that can't be dumped onto the SD card.

UPDATE: According to this leak, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 is expected to return to the Android Market on August 18, 2010, and will "require an additional download on original DROID by Motorola devices with Android 2.2 software." Let's hope Adobe has moved the chunky file over to the SD card.

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Kevin Parrish

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more. 

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • IM0001
    Will be interesting to see how Windows Phone 7 goes about working with updates. Having a more standardized hardware platform as well as all updates coming from only a single source, should help aleviate a lot of the hangups we have gotten for years for WM5,6,6.5 and so far, Android. I'm guessing similar to Apple's way, but still its covering much more than a handful of devices.
    Reply
  • borisof007
    That tethering crap is still pissing me off.
    Reply
  • fulle
    borisof007That tethering crap is still pissing me off.
    Don't get pissed. Get rooted.
    Reply
  • TunaSoda
    I'll stick with my FRF84B build ;)
    Reply
  • Stardude82
    12.28 Mb isn't that much.. doesn't the Droid have a 8GB memory?
    Reply
  • Hatecrime69
    the droid 1 comes with a 16gb sd card, but internal storage (where flash would be installed) is far less, i only have 172mb free on mine with only a few programs installed, so 12mb is pretty big
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Adobe and/or Google has also removed Flash Player from the Android Market--those who seek out the APK file will discover that it's a meaty 12.28MB that can't be dumped onto the SD card.
    So despite claims that flash was coming to Froyo, you can't download it from the market? If its not in the market, it doesn't have google support. Anyone can make an android app and let you download it off their website. I want apps in the damn marketplace, ones that I don't have to turn off security checks to install. I'm wondering if there were performance issues.

    I guess I shouldn't care either way, my G1 is stuck on 1.6 (donut), so, yeah, whatever.
    Reply
  • pooflinger1
    I forced FRG01B onto my Droid, and it practically bricked it. Did a complete wipe, (Cache, baseband, then Factory Reset), and then re-installed my apps and everything was good. I think the problem was with 2.1 and other pre-Froyo apps that weren't compatable and the update didn't correctly disable them or update them. I've been runing 2.2 now for a bit over 24 hours and I have to say that it is quite nice. They increased the number of home screens from 3 to 5. They added a sort of "taskbar" at the bottom center, that has a shortcut to the phone, apps, and web. Flash support of course. And a few other things that I probably haven't noticed. One thing I have noticed though is that my battery life seems to be better.
    Reply
  • DREAMER_ES
    fulleDon't get pissed. Get rooted.I would like to know if there will be a driver database to look for certain driver for certain model of Android phone in order to make pretty well working rooted Android distributions soon. :D
    That would be ground-breaking and make the custom builds possible! :D
    Reply
  • simplec1
    DREAMER_ESI would like to know if there will be a driver database to look for certain driver for certain model of Android phone in order to make pretty well working rooted Android distributions soon. That would be ground-breaking and make the custom builds possible!
    There is go get the SDK from google and install all the updates, if you are unable to locate drivers for a certain brand of phone look around on XDA. Trust Me it's worth it. I have a Nexus One and rooted it as soon as I got it..
    Reply