Android 2.2.2 Froyo Update for Motorola Defy

The Froyo update for the Moto Defy is gradually rolling out. On June 7th it became available for my German retail version, so here is a quick report about the hurdles and the benefits.

The update is not available over the air (OTA). Instead you have to download a special software to your PC that installs the update into the phone using a USB cable. The download is available at
http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/support/update/

If your regional version is not yet available you can subscribe to the Motorola support forum to get informed about any new regional rollouts:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/401399

Improvements and new features

Froyo brings some major and many minor improvements. The hottest topics for me are:

• Inproved overall speed of the surface
  (see my comments deeper down)
• Adobe Flash Player 10.1
  Many videos on the web need this player version and are not available with Android 2.1 Eclair.
• App2SD
  Apps can not only be installed to the (rather limited) internal memory, but also to your Micro-SD card.
• Profiles
  Instead of 7 home screens you now get 3 profiles with 7 screens each. You can name these profiles (e.g. “office”, “home”, “vacation”) and organize your apps in each of them. Each profile can have its own background image.

The update process

Contrary to the readings in the download page the update will not destroy your personal data. So don’t panic. On the other hand a backup is never a bad idea – there are even apps for that.

Download the updater software, install and start it on your PC and follow the instructions. When the software asks you to disconnect and restart your phone you may still see the red pulsating Motorola sign on the display. If so: just wait – the phone is still processing the update. This can take several minutes. I was tempted to remove the battery as I thought the phone got stuck. DON’T do that. Just wait! After the phone has restarted you have to reconnect it one more time to the PC to finalize the update.

When all is done and your phone is up and running again, you will have to wait for several minutes until all your contacts and calendars are resynchronized. Obviously all cloud data has to be downloaded again. I also had to wait some minutes until K9 (my email client app) did show me all my emails and folders again. But basically it all happened by itself and I had to do nothing but wait patiently.

The benefit

The update rewards you with a much smoother performance of the surface. With Eclair I experienced laggy scrolling and unresponsiveness in several parts of the system. With Froyo it is all gone.

You will find many little improvements under the hood, like Telefone, Contacts, Favorites all being aggregated into one application now, a button starting the camera app from anywhere in the gallery, fresh designs for the gallery and many other items of the surface, and so on.

All in all the update is very much worth your while and I really recommend it. With Froyo your Defy will feel like it just got a CPU upgrade.