From time to time, we receive questions and concerns from our customers regarding their options for installing and deploying the Flash Runtime components. This blog post will provide a high level overview of the options available. For additional information, please see the links below.
Beginning May 13th, 2014, we will be upgrading Flash Player’s extended support release from version 11.7 to version 13. This change impacts enterprise and IT customers that currently deploy Flash Player using the extended support releases available through our distribution channel.
Adobe makes available the extended support release to organizations that prefer Flash Player stability over new functionality. We will create a branch of the Flash Player code that we keep up to date with all of the latest security updates, but none of the new features or bug fixes available in our normal release branch. This allows organizations to certify and stay secure with Flash Player with minimal effort.
To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage IT organizations to thoroughly test our version 13 releases (currently available on labs.adobe.com) over the next couple of months before deploying.
Adobe is pleased to announce the availability of Adobe AIR 2.7 SDK and the Adobe AIR 2.7 runtimes. Adobe AIR 2.7 includes new features for both desktop and mobile applications with mobile support for Android 2.2+, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS 4+ operating systems. Companies can build and deploy AIR 2.7 apps using Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 with an upcoming update to AIR 2.7 later this month. (BlackBerry Tablet OS is scheduled to receive an OTA (over the air) update of AIR 2.7 by the end of June.)
Enhanced rendering for iOS: AIR apps for iOS render up to 4x faster in CPU mode. This change will improve the performance of many AIR for iOS apps, including those built with the Flex framework. Watch the performance improvements
Video: Adobe AIR 2.7: Faster App Performance on iOS (Renaun Erickson, Adobe Flash Platform Evangelist, demonstrates faster AIR 2.7 app performance on iPad)
Faster development time for iOS applications: Developers can now debug and build iOS applications faster than with previous versions using a new mode available within the AIR Developer Tool (ADT). During the development of an application, developers can now choose to use “interpreter mode” to streamline the testing and debugging development cycle.
AIR installation on SD cards for Android devices: This feature allows end users to install or move the AIR runtime onto the SD cards within their Android devices so they can free up storage space on the phone.
Integrated support for Media Measurement: The Adobe AIR 2.7 runtime now includes the same built-in support for media measurement as Adobe Flash Player 10.3, allowing companies to simplify the collection of real-time, aggregated reporting data for how content is distributed and viewed by users. With direct support for Adobe SiteCatalyst, powered by Omniture, developers can implement video analytics for existing or legacy video players with as little as two lines of code. For additional information, see the article on measuring video consumption in Flash.
Acoustic echo cancellation: With integrated support for acoustic echo cancellation, developers can now add real-time VoIP capabilities to games, enterprise, and other types of applications without requiring users to wear a noise-canceling headset. Users can now chat using the speaker built into their desktop or laptop computer. This new capability is also available in Flash Player 10.3.
Navigation Improvements for HTML Content: Enables seamless weblink-style navigation within desktop apps such as magazine viewers and ebook readers. Developers can now respond to a new event to be notified when content within the HTMLLoader control attempts to change the location of a page. This enhancement provides developers with a better way to implement intra-application navigation.
For additional feature and release details please read the AIR 2.7 developer release notes.
Although these apps are not currently using AIR 2.7, I thought I’d call to your attention to a few new apps based on Adobe AIR that recently hit the market.
iOS (iPad)
Rossignol Experience: Ski season is coming to a close, but this fantastic app from this famous ski maker provides a rich interactive branded experience to learn more about Rossignal skis. Video demo.
BlackBerry Tablet OS (BlackBerry PlayBook)
Comb Over Charlie: Comb Over Charlie was availble on the Android Market using AIR. This game is now available on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Soon to be on the iPad. 4.5 out of 5 stars!
Android
G20-G8: This is the official app of the French Presidency of the G20 and the G8. Get real time updates and access to all the latest developments from the Summits and the preparatory meetings, as well as video reports and photos on the G20-G8 website.
Finally, performance improves with each release of AIR and the Flash Player. If you checked out the AIR 2.7 on iOS video, you can really see the difference. If you missed it earlier, here are a few Flash Player 10.3 on mobile related performance resources to check out.
Video: Enhanced Video Performance with Flash Player 10.3 on Android 3.1 (Renaun Erickson demos Flash Player 10.3 video on the Motorola Xoom)
GUIMark3 by Sean Christmann – Sean tests Flash Player and HTML5 on various phones and tablets. Check it out.
“In terms of interactive content overall, it’s safe to say Flash maintains a 2x performance lead over HTML5 on average”
“The Flash VM performs really well on mobile chipsets and I don’t see any evidence here to support the idea that Flash is slow on smartphones and tablets.”
The Right Fit? Video Playback Performance on Android Handset and Tablet Devices Using Adobe Flash Player 10.2 and 10.3 By Tim Siglin. - Tim Siglin from Transition Inc., and Streaming Media fame recently published a follow up to his previous white paper testing Flash Player video performance.
“Our current testing finds that FP 10.2 on handsets and 10.3 on the Xoom: Provide a more consistent media consumption than Android’s built-in apps and services.
Adobe evangelist Christophe Coenraets recently made available an extremely helpful tutorial called Flex for Android in 90 minutes (.pdf). In around 90 minutes, you will learn how to build an Android application using Adobe AIR, Flex Mobile and the Flash Builder "Burrito" preview release.
The tutorial covers a number of important topics including how to create a basic mobile application, using mobile item renderers, navigating and passing information between views, creating an action bar, integrating with the device capabilities (dialer, SMS, email), using a RemoteObject, and using a local SQLite database. To get started, you will need to first download the Flash Builder Burrito release from Adobe Labs.
Below is a summary of the material covered directly from the document:
In this tutorial, you use Flash Builder "Burrito" and Flex "Hero" to build a simple, yet fully functional employee directory application for Android devices. "Burrito" is the code name for the next version of Flash Builder, and "Hero" is the code name for the next version of the Flex SDK. You don’t need an Android device to complete this tutorial: you can use the simple emulator available in Flash Builder Burrito to run and debug the application. The Employee Directory application allows you to: search for employees, view employee details, navigate up and down the org chart, and call, text, and email employees.
Of course, Christophe is known for pushing the limits. With the recent beta 2 release of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR, Christophe decided to see just how difficult it would be to port his Android application to the BlackBerry Playbook. How difficult was it?
"It turned out to be amazingly simple: I was able to run the application without changing a line of code, with a great and consistent deployment experience: You select the target platform, hit the run button, and the app is packaged, deployed, and started on the device you selected."
Below is a video demonstration by Christophe showing the application running on a Google Nexus One, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the BlackBerry Playbook Emulator.
Our team is fully focused on making it as easy as possible for developers to target applications that can run across different devices from desktop computers to smart phones to tablet devices and televisions. If you are building an application and would like to let us know about it, please leave us a comment!
Related Links:
Last week at the Google I/O conference, we announced the public availability of the Adobe AIR for Android Developer Prerelease program. This week, we wanted to highlight a few excellent examples of AIR and Android powered enterprise applications developed by two members of our evangelism team, Christophe Coenraets and James Ward.
Both Christophe and James recently recorded inspiring video demonstrations of some of the sample applications they have been working on lately.
Mobile version of Employee Directory application by Christophe Coenraets.
Trading sample application by Christophe Coenraets.
Example of a Flex and AIR application that includes multi-touch support by James Ward.
