The Thursday morning session at the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco saw Google taking the wraps off its much-awaited next-generation Android operating system – the Android 2.2, which is better known by its codename ‘Froyo.’

Bringing about some significant core changed to Google’s increasingly popular Android OS for smartphones, Froyo will essentially add greater power as well as flexibility to the Android devices.

Four of the key features of the newly-unveiled Android Froyo include – speed; support for Abode Flash; tethering; and mobile hotspot support.

With regard to speed, the Android 2.2 is capable of 2-5 times more speed than the earlier Android versions, largely because it boasts a new Dalvik JIT compiler that enhances CPU performance. Moreover, the new Android OS will also be the first version with full support for Adobe Flash and Adobe Air.

In addition, the Android 2.2 will also feature built-in support for tethering; and will also enable the new-Android-based smartphones to become virtual Wi-Fi hotspots, spreading their 3G connection wirelessly to other devices.

With Froyo, Google will also allow users to benefit from apps available from the Android Market. The most notable among these advantages are - installing Google Android Apps via SD cards; auto-update and update-all functionality for apps; backup and restore of apps’ data; and cloud-to-device messaging capability for direct Web-based communication with the handsets.