Google recently announced that they would be rolling out the Android 2.2 updates to Nexus One and OEM phones over the next few weeks, though there have been reports that some Nexus One users have already received their updates over the air (OTA). Well, for those who cannot wait (including yours truly), you can manually update your phone instead of waiting for the OTA update.

Here are the instructions to manually update your Google Nexus One to Froyo:

1. Download the new Android 2.2 firmware update.
2. Rename the file to update.zip. Note that if you’re using Windows, just rename it to “update” (no quotes, of course) because it’s already a zipped file.
3. Copy the update.zip file onto your SD card.
4. Turn your Nexus One off.
5. Hold down the “Volume Down” button as you power the phone back on.
6. A screen should appear showing your phone’s system searching for various files. Scroll down to “recovery” and press the “Power” button.
7. When you see the triangle with an exclamation point symbol, press the “Power” and “Volume Up” buttons at the same time.
8. From the menu that appears, select “Apply sdcard:update.zip.”
9. When the screen displays “Install from sdcard complete” select “reboot system now” and wait for the phone to power back up.

You now have Froyo (Android 2.2) on your Nexus One, making it much faster, automatic upgrading of apps, ability to define Google Search options, default phone & web shortcuts on every screen (instead of just the apps shortcut) and a whole lot more!

The best update for Froyo would probably be the auto lighting option – can’t wait to see how it would work in bright daylight! My Advanced Task Killer is also showing up to 271MB of free memory as compared to around 81M previously.