Android 2.2 mobile OS: Full Adobe Flash 10.1

The new Android 2.2 mobile OS will be the first to support full Adobe Flash 10.1, and Adobe sent us a Google Nexus One loaded with the new software to check it out. The good news is that Flash basically works, finally bringing the full Web to smartphones. Android 2.2 also includes some useful features, such as the ability to store applications on roomy SD cards rather than in cramped internal memory.

At last, full Flash support has finally arrived on Android. Overall, the whole experience is quite good, but I encountered a couple of issues in my hands-on. Video playback looked excellent on the Nexus One’s screen. I watched a couple of trailers on the Warner Brothers’ site and was impressed with how smooth the playback was.

Flash support brings some big gaming potential to the Android platform.

Of course, not all sites were so fast. While the kid’s educational site Ecoda Zoo looked gorgeous on the Nexus One, it moved painfully slow.

Interestingly enough, there’s a shortcut on one of the homescreens to a page with recommended Flash-enabled sites and games including South Park Studios, BBC, Sony Pictures, Armor Games and more. TechCrunch dug up the lists for both the Nexus One and the Droid and pointed out that the two are different. In fact, the list for the Droid is much shorter than the Nexus One’s.

Flash is about much more than video, though; it also powers interactive games, menus, and animations. Most Flash sites are optimized for mouse clicks, not finger taps. So Flash gaming was very hit or miss, because games are often very dependent on complex mouse movements that the mobile client didn’t perfectly translate into finger movements. Some games with very simple interfaces worked great, such as Assembler and Fly Away Rabbit. Many others did not, such as Demolition City and Moto Rush. A full listing of Flash-enabled sites for games that are optimized for the Nexus One can be found at Adobe.