Today Is Your Last Chance To Download Flash For Your Android Device

Back in the days when Android was fresh off the streets, one of the big things that set it apart from iOS was its ability to run the mobile version of Adobe Flash in the browser. This was available for Android users once Froyo (Android 2.2) was launched. While watching YouTube videos in the browser was handy, at first the images were choppy and hard to view. As the hardware improved and Adobe continued to update the software, videos became smoother and easier to watch. Still, the app does eat a ton of memory and last November Adobe decided to stop development of the application for mobile devices.  

Over the last few months, Adobe has continued to send out updates even though the proverbial writing was on the wall. And with the Chrome for Android browser not providing support for Flash, Adobe has decided that it will pull the app from the Google Play Store on Wednesday. In other words, today is the very last day that you can install Adobe Flash on your Android model. Obviously HTML5 is the future and Adobe will be turning in that direction with its resources.

So is this a posthumous victory for Steve Jobs? The late co-founder of Apple hated Flash, calling it a "CPU hog" to the Wall Street Journal. On January 30 of 2010, during a famous verbal attack Jobs made on Google and Adobe, Jobs called Flash buggy and predicted that no one would be using it in the future, correctly predicting the ascent of HTML5.

Adobe Confirms It Won't Support Flash On Android 4.1

Adobe was very public about dropping mobile Flash last fall. In case that wasn't clear enough, the developer just drew a line in the sand: Android 4.1 doesn't, and won't ever, get certification for Flash. The company is stopping short of saying that Flash won't run, but it's evident that Adobe won't help you if the web browser plugin doesn't install on that Nexus 7. Just to underscore the point, the firm is also halting new installations of Flash from Google Play as of August 15th. Security updates and other vital patches will continue on for existing users. Any fresh downloads after that fateful day, however, will have to come from Adobe's mausoleum for old versions. The company had already said that HTML5 was the way forward on phones and tablets.

Firefox For Android Updated With Flash Support

Mozilla announced on Tuesday that it has updated its Firefox for Android browser with a new user interface, performance tweaks and support for Flash. I typically use Chrome on my Android devices because it’s lightweight and super smooth, plus I like that it syncs up with my bookmarks in my Chrome desktop browser. I decided to give Firefox a whirl this morning on my Samsung Galaxy S III and like that it also offers a sync option for Firefox on the desktop (although I don’t use that browser). I like the default option to search Google, Amazon, Twitter or Wikipedia for whatever you enter into the browser’s search box and it quickly and accurately loaded each web page I visited. It’s also super easy to add new tabs by tapping a “+” button to the right of the search bar and the tabs can be displayed in a drop down menu, each website complete with its own thumbnail. I’ll certainly be using Firefox for Android for the next few days as it appears to be a bit quicker than Chrome for now. The update is free and is available from Google Play now. Let us know what your favorite mobile browser is, and why, in the comments below.

Google Play Store download link

Windows 8 Release Preview Now Available

Microsoft announced today the availability of its Windows 8 Release Preview. The near-final build is offered in 14 different languages and is the final pre-release before the operating system is sent to manufacturing partners. The Preview includes Internet Explorer 10, support for Adobe Flash and new Windows 8 apps for connecting to Hotmail, SkyDrive and Messenger, among others. “Since our first preview release last September, millions of people now use the pre-release product on a daily basis and millions more have been taking it through its paces, totaling hundreds of millions of hours of testing,” the company wrote on its blog. “We genuinely appreciate the effort that so many have put into pre-release testing, and of course, we appreciate the feedback too. Direct feedback and feedback through usage contributed to hundreds of visible changes in the product and tens of thousands of under-the-hood changes.” Microsoft’s latest operating system is rumored to launch in October in three different versions, Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and the ARM-friendly Windows RT.


Follow the download link to download and install Windows 8 Release Preview

Google Confirms no Adobe Flash for Ice Cream Sandwich, for the time being

If you lucky owners of the Galaxy Nexus in these first days of its release complete with the first iteration of Ice Cream Sandwich, you’ll notice that you do not have Adobe Flash Player installed, nor do you have access to a download on the Android Market – Google has just confirmed with us that this is normal and that Flash support will only come once Adobe makes the call to update the mobile version for Android 4.0. You currently will not have the ability to load either a new version or one of the older versions of Flash Player for Ice Cream Sandwich until Adobe makes the call to update their app to be compatible with this newest version of Android. Don’t get too frazzled quite yet though, that’s not the whole story.

Those of you about to have a heart attack over this would do well to note that it was inevitable as Adobe announced that they’d be axing the mobile version of Flash in favor of HTML5 earlier this month. Then if you’ll go ahead and read what Google has let us know, you’ll see that the story isn’t necessarily completely over for Adobe’s mobile version of Flash. Even though the app and support for Flash will be ending relatively soon, Google had the following to say:

“Flash hasn’t been released for ICS yet so as far as we know, Adobe will support Flash for ICS.” – Google

Have a peek at the gallery below to see several signs that Adobe Flash Player isn’t active in Ice Cream Sandwich, and note that these screenshots are taken on the non-Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus. You can see the rest of our Galaxy Nexus coverage by heading to our giant and ever-expending Galaxy Nexus Portal while the same situation is true for Android 4.0 in our Ice Cream Sandwich portal.