As expected, Verizon has started rolling out the second over the air update for Motorola Droid handsets this month. The first update brought Android 2.2 Froyo to the Droid. This update patches a few security issues, but the most noticeable change is that it adds support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1.

That means after you install the FRG22D update, you should be able to visit the Android Market, download Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for Android and view web pages with Flash content to your heart’s content. Well, as long as your heart has realistic expectations, anyway. Not every web site with Flash is optimized for viewing on a mobile device. But the update should still dramatically increase the amount of web content you can display properly on a Motorola Droid.

You can find more details about the update, plus step by step instructions for installing the update once it’s pushed to your phone, at Verizon’s Droid support page.

via Droid Life

Adobe has been offering a beta version of Flash Player 10.1 for Google Android for the past few months, but it only works with devices running Google Android 2.2. Officially, the OS isn’t available to the general public yet, but there are already a few folks running pre-release versions of Android 2.2 on the Google Nexus One and other phones who have been testing Flash 10.1 for a while. Today Adobe removed the beta label, announcing the final build of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile.

Adobe’s press release drops a few hints about phones that are expected to be updated to Android 2.2 Froyo soon, including:

• Dell Streak
• Google Nexus One
• HTC Evo
• HTC Desire
• HTC Incredible
• Motorola Droid
• Motorola Milestone
• Samsung Galaxy S

Adobe is also making Flash Player 10.1 available for BlackBerry and WebOS devices as well as “future versions of “Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo, and Symbian. Noticeably absent from the list of supported platforms is iOS, but that was Apple’s choice, not Adobe’s.

Ultimately, you’ll be able to download and install the app on phones running supported operating systems, but it will be up to device makers to make the software available. Adobe is also working with device makers to pre-install Flash Player 10.1 on smartphones, tablets, and othermobile devices.

I’m running Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta on my Nexus One and haven’t been prompted to update yet, but I suspect the new version should be available soon.

If a company launches a public beta of software that only runs on a platform that isn’t officially available yet… does it make a sound? In this case, the answer is kind of. Adobe has launched a public beta of Flash Player 10.1 for Google Android 2.2. The only problem is that Android 2.2 isn’t available on any devices today.

Google introduced Android 2.2 earlier today, but it won’t be available to OEMs for a few more weeks and it’s not clear how long it will be before you can download an over the air update for existing handsets such as the Google Nexus One. So while Adobe introduced Flash Player 10.1 beta for Android today, you can’t actually run it.

But a few developers, tech bloggers and journalists have been running Android 2.2 and Flash Player 10.1 beta for at least a few days. And reports are starting to show up around the internet.

Engadget reports that Flash Player seems to work reasonably well, but that the pre-release version doesn’t support hardware acceleration, which means that the phone gets pretty hot pretty quickly and that the battery runs down at least as quickly. Engadget also notes that Hulu doesn’t work on their demo unit.

Laptop Magazine reports that Flash Player 10.1 will support a number of existing phones including the Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid, HTC Evo, Incredible, Desire, Milestone, and Galaxy. While Adobe admits that Flash is a battery drain, the company apparently says you should be able to get about 3 hours of battery life on a Nexus One while watching video over a 3G connection.

Laptop Mag also confirmed that Adobe has built in support for touchscreen displays including multitouch gestures, proving that you don’t need a mouse to use Flash.

Gizmodo reports that Flash 10.1 will be generally available to the public on June 17th. That’s not just for Android, but also WebOS, Symbian, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry as well as Flash Player 10.1 for Windows and Mac computers.

According to Gizmodo, sites optimized for mobile browsers looked great, but standard web sites were a mixed bag, with College Humor working well, but ABC.com failing to play video.

You should be able to download Flash Player 10.1 from the Android Market come June 17th, but only if you have a phone running Android 2.2 by then.

Adobe may have been busy showing off Adobe AIR and Flash Player 10.1 on mobile phones in February… but the company isn’t quite ready to finalize things just yet. While we’d been hearing that Flash Player 10.1 would be available during the first half of 2010, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told Fox Business recently that Flash will be on mobile devices during the second half of 2010.

It’s pretty clear at this point that Adobe ain’t ever going to make it to the iPhone. Not if Steve Jobs has anything to say about it, anyway. And as it turns out, he does.

So what we’re talking about is Flash support for Google Android, Palm WebOS, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. There’s already a Flash Player Lite player for Windows Mobile devices, but the difference is that Flash Player 10.1 will be able to handle anything the desktop version of Flash can, including games and high quality video.

Update: Adobe says Narayen’s comments were taken out of context… and that while phones with Adobe Flash Player 10.1 pre-loaded won’t ship until the second half of 2010, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for Android, BlackBerry, and WebOS should be available for download by the end of June.

via Pre Central and Business Insider