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Adobe pushes Flash Player for Android’s last update; future proofed for Tegra 3 devices

Dustin Earley — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:33:20 +0000

Just two days ago, Adobe announced that they’d be abandoning Flash Play for mobile devices, like Android tablets and phones, and instead focusing on HTML5 and Adobe Air. In the announcement for the move, it was revealed that one more major update was coming. Beyond that, there will be some security fixes every now and then but that’s it. Today, that final update was pushed.

Other than being the final Flash Player update for Android, there’s really only one stand out addition to Flash Player 11.1. Deep down in the change-log on Adobe’s website is the mention of NVIDIA’s Tegra 3. Before Adobe went ahead and packed up shop, they made sure that the last release of Flash Player was compatible with 1080p video playback on Tegra 3 devices. When the Transformer Prime finally launches, there shouldn’t be any issues with Flash if you download it from the Market.

There’s also mention of a critical Galaxy S II audio patch, along with a handful of other security and bug fixes, but that’s all she wrote.

Adobe may be done with major updates for Flash for Android, but they are by no means done with providing services for the platform. The abandonment of Flash Player for mobile is seen as a good thing by many, allowing Adobe to move forward and place more attention on the web technologies of the future. Sure, this is the end of Flash Player for Android, but Adobe is really only just getting started.

Adobe Flash Player 11 Adobe Systems PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

News Flash: Adobe to focus on HTML5 and Air for mobile

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:53:04 +0000

Are you tired of Adobe Flash Player slowing down and crashing your Android browser? This morning Danny Winokur of Adobe made a blog post to announce the future of Flash Player for mobile. ”We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.”

Going forward, Adobe’s focus for mobile devices will be placed on AIR and HTML5, which they admit is the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. Adobe said they will continue to work with key players in the HTML community like Google in order to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.

Flash won’t be completely going away from Android just yet. Adobe will continue to “provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations”, but they didn’t say how long they planned to maintain support.

Will your Android phone support Adobe Flash 10.1?

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:03:14 +0000

Adobe just announced the release of Flash Player 10.1 to their mobile platform partners, but which Android phones will be able to run it? In order to install Flash 10.1 from the Android Market your phone must be running Android 2.2 and have at least an ARM Cortex-A8 processor (sorry first-gen phones).

According to Adobe, devices supporting Android 2.2 “Froyo” and Flash Player 10.1 are expected to include the Motorla Droid, Motorola Milestone, Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC EVO, HTC Incredible, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S and others. Adobe did not include them in their list (because they have not been announced), but the Droid X and Droid 2 will also be able to support Flash 10.1.

I’ve been playing around with Flash 10.1 for almost a month and while I don’t use it that much, it is nice to have when you need it. Performance has increased with the latest Beta 3 and Android 2.2 firmware and we should see that continue to improve as hardware partners utilize GPU acceleration.

If you are one of the lucky few with a Nexus One, you can check out Flash Player 10.1 Beta 3 right now. All you need to do is install Android 2.2 then head to the Android Market and download Flash 10.1.

Show Press Release

Adobe Announces Availability of Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile

SAN JOSE, Calif., — June 22, 2010 —Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the release of Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 to mobile platform partners. Redesigned from the ground up with new performance and mobile specific features, Flash Player 10.1 is the first release that brings the full Web across desktops and devices. Mobile users will now be able to experience millions of sites with rich applications and content inside the browser including games, animations, rich Internet applications (RIAs), data presentations and visualizations, ecommerce, music, video, audio and more.

Already one of the top free apps on Android™ Market today, Flash Player 10.1 will be available as a final production release for smart phones and tablets once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 “Froyo.” Devices supporting “Froyo” and Flash Player 10.1 are expected to include the Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC Evo, HTC Desire, HTC Incredible, DROID by Motorola, Motorola Milestone, Samsung Galaxy S and others. Flash Player 10.1 was also released to mobile platform partners to be supported on devices based on Android, BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS, and is expected to be made available via over-the-air downloads and to be pre-installed on smart phones, tablets and other devices in the coming months.

“We are thrilled that more than three million Flash designers and developers are now able to unleash their creativity on the world of smart phones, tablets, netbooks, televisions and other consumer electronics,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business at Adobe. “The combined power of the leading rich media technology platform with millions of passionate creatives is sure to impact the world in ways we haven’t even imagined yet.”

Broad Partner Support
Device and technology partners including ARM, Brightcove, Dell, Google, HTC, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung, Texas Instruments and others announced more specifics around their support for Flash Player 10.1 today.

Content publishers including AgencyNet, AKQA, Armor Games, Blitz, CNET.com, HBO, JustinTV, Kongregate, Mochi Media, Msnbc Digital Network, Turner, Nickelodeon, Odopod, Photobucket, RAIN, Roundarch, Sony Pictures, South Park Studios, USA Network, Viacom, Warner Brothers and many others have also started to optimize Flash content to deliver the best possible experience within the context of smaller screens, which includes larger buttons for interactions, layout adjustments for mobile screens and more.

For details visit www.adobe.com/go/flashquote_sheet_101 or m.flash.com, Adobe’s showcase site for optimized Flash content. For more information on how to optimize Flash content for mobile, visit www.adobe.com/go/fpmobile.

New High Performance Features
Completely redesigned and optimized for mobile, Flash Player 10.1 delivers new interaction methods with support for mobile-specific input models. Support for accelerometer allows users to view Flash content in landscape and portrait mode. With Smart Zooming, users can scale content to full screen mode delivering immersive application-like experiences from a Web page. Performance optimization work with virtually all major mobile silicon and platform vendors makes efficient use of CPU and battery performance.

The new Smart Rendering feature ensures that Flash content is running only when it becomes visible on the screen, further reducing CPU and battery consumption. With Sleep Mode, Flash Player automatically slows down when the device transitions into screen saver mode. Advanced Out-of-Memory Management allows the player to effectively handle non-optimized content that consumes excessive resources, while automatic memory reduction decreases content usage of RAM by up to 50 percent. Flash Player pauses automatically when events occur such as incoming phone calls or switching from the browser to other device functions. Once users switch back to the browser, Flash Player resumes where it paused.

Adobe showcases mobile optimized sites for Android

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:09:30 +0000

Google is set to unveil Android 2.2 this week at Google I/O and Flash 10.1 will be one of the major features that gets highlighted. Adobe is already gearing up for the launch by highlighting a couple dozen sites that are optimized for the mobile platform. The guys at TechCrunch were able to locate the landing page that users will be directed to after installing the new Flash 10.1 beta.

The early focus appears to be on video and games, the two cornerstones of Flash. A slew of games will be provided by Kongregate, MiniClip, and South Park Studios while video will come from Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers. TV shows will be available from TBS, TNT, and BET. Other suggested sites include Google Finance, Wall Street Journal, Justin.tv, and many more.

For a complete list of showcase sites, see the Nexus One and the Droid landing pages. Droid owners should be happy because I think this confirms our predictions that their devices will be among the first to taste FroYo Android 2.2.

Featured Flash sites include:

Kongregate (mobile optimized)
Sony Pictures (mobile optimized)
Nickelodeon (mobile optimized)
Miniclip (mobile optimized)
South Park Studios (mobile optimized)
Warner Brothers (mobile optimized)

Correction: Flash 10.1 for Android still on track for 1H 2010

Taylor Wimberly — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:08:47 +0000

Earlier this week we reported Adobe Flash 10.1 for Android had been delayed till the second half of 2010, but we were wrong. Adobe platform evangelist Serge Jespers was quick to point out that Flash 10.1 is still on track for 1H 2010 and users should be able to download it in the next couple of months.

The confusion came from an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen who said we should expect Flash for Android in the second half of the year. He was referring to new devices that would have Flash 10.1 preinstalled, but the plugin will actually be available sooner for those with supported devices.

Even though Flash 10.1 is right around the corner, Adobe is unsure on the exact distribution method. It could be available in the Android Market, on their website, or via an OTA update of the OS.

Android fans who want to participate in the public beta, should sign up now to be notified of its release. Keep in mind that Flash 10.1 requires an ARM Cortex-A8 based processor or greater so all first gen Android phones are ruled out.

If I was a guessing man, I would say to expect Flash 10.1 (and possibly Android 2.2) right around May 19th.

Adobe details Flash 10.1 installations

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:33:35 +0000

Let’s just start with the bad news. Adobe confirmed that Flash 10.1 will only be supported on Android phones with a Cortex A8 processors or greater (Droid and Nexus One). We reported this last week based on a forum posting and now it showed up on the official Flash Mobile Blog.

“To explain, smartphones have a typical lifespan that is less than half that of a desktop computer, and so hardware choices are made by planning for the future. Over the past few years we have shipped over 1.5Billion devices with Flash Lite using this simple rule.

Therefore the choice to target the ARM Cortex-A8 chipsets will result in greater efficiency, and most importantly a wider range of consistent experiences as uptake grows. To be clear, that uptake is already happening, and it will expand rapidly just like it does every other year.

It’s like a Moore’s Law of mobile phones “Flash Mobile Blog

So there you go early adopters. All those Flash demos on the G1 were just a tease. Adobe decided to skip all 1st generation Android phones to deliver a consistent experience. I guess they have every right to do that (and maybe it is a good thing in the long run), but the early indication from Adobe was that these devices would be supported with Flash 10.1.

Thankfully, it looks like most phones will have access to a version of Flash Lite. A new version of their optimized runtime (Flash Lite) will be used to fill the gap. Details are still limited so we do not know which features Flash Lite will be missing. The last version Flash Lite 3 was based on Flash 8.

Adobe also detailed the upcoming installation processes for Flash 10.1. Some new phones will come with Flash 10.1 preinstalled and older phones should be able to download it from the Android Market or via the browser.

Flash 10.1 will come in several ways.

No Flash 10.1 for 1st gen Android phones

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:48:17 +0000

We first saw Flash demoed on the G1 two years ago, but the software is not publicly available yet. If you believe all the rumblings, Flash 10.1 for Android has been delayed several times due to performance issues.

What is Adobe’s solution to the performance issues? Drop support for all first generation Android devices.

In a new post on the official Adobe forums, it was revealed that Flash 10.1 for Android will require at least an ARMv7 (Cortex) based processor.

“You can expect the final release for Android to be available mid-year. All Android devices that meet our minimum s/w and h/w requirements will be supported. Unfortunately, I cannot say a lot more publicly about our port to the Android platform at this time.

No, the HTC Hero will not be supported b/c it does not have the correct Anroid OS version and it’s chipset is not powerful enough. We require a device with an ARM v7 (Cortex) processor. Examples include the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets and TI OMAP3 series.”Antonio FloresAdobe

I’ll skip the lecture on ARM architecture and cut to the chase. The only U.S. Android phones on the market that meet this requirement are the Motorola Droid and HTC Nexus One.

Almost everything else is ARMv6 (ARM11) and will not support Flash 10.1.

U.S. Android phones that will not support Flash 10.1:

Sprint Hero
Sprint Moment
T-Mobile G1
T-Mobile myTouch 3G
T-Mobile CLIQ
T-Mobile Behold II
Verizon Droid Eris
Verizon Devour

Please note that some of these devices like the Eris and Devour include Flash Lite that was added by the handset maker.

Adobe responds to leaked ROMs and Flash 10.1 battery concerns

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:31:02 +0000

Remember that video from yesterday that showed Farmville running on the Nexus One? It was shared all over the web and many people bashed it for the poor performance they witnessed.

The video even caught the eye of Adobe and they felt a response was justified. In a post on the Flash Mobile Blog, they noted the leaked HTC Desire ROM actually included an alpha version of Flash Lite and not Flash Player 10.1.

The HTC Desire will eventually support Flash 10.1 when it is made available sometime in the first half of 2010 via an over the air update.

Adobe also took the chance to address the claim that Flash kills battery life on the Nexus One. To prove their point, they uploaded a 17 minute video to Vimeo and reported their tests show that “video can be played for well over 3Hours over WIFI from YouTube in H.264 (Baseline 1.2)”.

Battery Performance with Flash Player 10.1 on the Nexus One from Mark Doherty on Vimeo.

Why do we need Flash on Android? FarmVille.

Taylor Wimberly — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:44:46 +0000

Adobe Flash 10.1 is coming to Android in the first half of 2010, but several users are enjoying an early version that was included in a leaked HTC Desire ROM. One of the biggest uses of Flash is games and the most popular game right now is Farmville (75 million active users). I’ve never actually played the game, but I’m familiar with it from all the spam in my Facebook news feed.

Some guys from Redmond Pie loaded up FarmVille to see how it performed on a Nexus One and they captured it on video. Note this is leaked software and no where near final, but it gives an early preview of what we could expect. Hopefully, developers will take advantage of the Adobe Air platform to port these games down to the smaller displays.

Which Flash games do you want to play on Android?

Adobe teases us with Flash and Air demos on Android

Taylor Wimberly — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:41:51 +0000

Adobe has been promising Flash on for the Android platform over the last year, but they have yet to deliver (remember those demos on the G1?). We expected to get the first public beta for Flash 10.1 at last year’s Adobe MAX conference, but it was delayed.

The latest word out of Adobe is that Flash 10.1 will require Android 2.0+ and be available sometime in the first half of 2010.

While we continue to wait on Flash, Adobe has now begun showing off Air for Android. Adobe Air extends the mobile capabilities of Flash Player 10.1 by delivering applications outside the browser and across multiple operating systems. This allows users to play games offline and improves reliability and access.

Check out the videos below to watch Adobe employees taunt you with software you can’t access. Note the second demo which shows Flash running on the Dell Mini 5. Earlier reports suggest the Dell Mini 5 will ship with Android 1.6, so I’m a little confused why Adobe claims Flash 10.1 requires Android 2.0.

Who thinks Adobe hits their public release target of 1H 2010?