Difference between Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

At present, Android is one of the top selling smartphone OS and has almost dominated this domain. The latest release of Android(2.3) called Gingerbread is a upgrade of Froyo, the most popular Android 2.2 which is now on the most common Android in the smartphones release in market.

With the release of Gingerbread, most Android users are willing to upgrade their existing android to the latest one. If you are an Android user you may also be looking forward for the upgrade. But before this you must know the extra features and benefits you may get with the latest release and know the difference between 2.2 and 2.3.

Here are the key differences between the two releases :

Kernel:

• Android 2.2 – Linux Kernel 2.6.32
• Android 2.3 – Linux Kernel 2.6.35

Networking:
Android 2.2 supports Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi. On top of these, Android 2.2 supports Wi-Fi hotspot functionality that can connect 6 devices. In the sense, you can use Android 2.2 phone as a wireless broadband router.

Android 2.3(Gingerbread), in addition to all existing features, supports for NFC (Near Field Communication) which is a high speed data communication mechanism operates in high frequency within a short range (10 cm).

Communication:
In addition to standard voice calling, Android 2.3 supports for SIP audio and video calling. If you have a good 3G or Wi-Fi connection and a SIP account you can make internet calling. It breaks the boundary of regionalist concept and flies in the global domain.

Power Management:
Power Management is one the critical tasks in these kind of Mobile operating systems.  Even if you have all these fancy features, if the battery life of the device is couple of hours, then there is no use in the added features. Android 2.3 handles it in a better way than Android 2.2. Here in 2.3 the OS manages the applications and daemon application which are running at the background and closes the unnecessary applications.

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) supports the following important features in addition to 2.2:

•     Integration of Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application
•     Advanced Microsoft Exchange support
•     Wi-Fi hotspot functionality
•     USB Tethering
•     Voice dialling and contact sharing over Bluetooth
•     Support for file upload fields in the Browser application
•     Animated GIFs supported in browser.
•     Adobe Flash 10.1 supported
•     Support for extra high DPI screens