Adobe launches Flash 10.1 for Android-based smartphones

Adobe has launched the latest iteration of its Flash Player (10.1) for smartphones running Android 2.2 (Froyo).

According to Adobe spokesperson David Wadhwani, the new Flash player was redesigned “from the ground up” with optimized performance and mobile specific features to bring the “full Web” across desktops and handheld devices.

“[For example], accelerometer support allows users to view Flash content in landscape and portrait mode, [while] viewers can scale content to full screen mode with smart zooming,” explained Wadhwani.

“[And] the new smart rendering [option] ensures that Flash content is running only when it becomes visible on the screen, further reducing CPU and battery consumption.”

10.1 also offers a “sleep” feature, which automatically “slows” Flash when a device transitions into screen saver mode.

Meanwhile, advanced out-of-memory management allows the player to effectively handle non-optimized content that consumes excessive resources, as automatic memory reduction decreases content usage of RAM by up to 50 percent.

Finally, Flash Player 10.1 pauses automatically when various events occur, such as incoming phone calls or switching from the browser to other device functions.

Android tablets and smartphones 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 and Samsung Galaxy S. 



Flash Player 10.1 was also released to Adobe’s mobile platform partners for use with devices based on BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS.