Looking forward to the release of Android 2 for the HTC Hero smartphone? Bad news: it may not appear until March, a month or so after the anticipated February delivery date. So says a representative of Irish network Meteor who claims to have heard it from the horse's mouth. HTC Hero HTC's Hero: successor out before original …

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Wednesday 27th January 2010 12:13 GMT Anonymous Coward

Lost focus...

IMHO, HTC have been too busy pumping out products (getting the Nexus One out there for example) than caring about existing Hero users/early adopters. There are some awful bugs with 1.5, ranging from the time it takes to delete multiple text messages to it's odd Wifi traits, but all in all it's a very good OS. Just needs a polish.

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1. Thursday 28th January 2010 15:43 GMT Greg D
  
  re: lost focus
  
  Deleting multiple text messages: go to Messages > Menu > Delete > mark the messages you want gone > Delete
  
  Why is that a bug? :P
  
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  1. Wednesday 3rd February 2010 17:12 GMT Christopher Rogers
    
    its not a bug as such...
    
    its another feature that is a victim of the slow response times seen on the handset. apparently 2.1 addresses these....
    
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Wednesday 27th January 2010 13:10 GMT Anonymous Coward

Bring it on!

I agree with AC 12:13. I think it is a great OS & the 2.1 upgrade will be icing on the cake. Orange might bring out the upgrade in about June?

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1. Wednesday 27th January 2010 13:28 GMT Paul Paul
  
  ooo by the way
  
  You probably all know this but I just thought I would see if HTC had updated their sync software so it would be compatible with Windows 7. It appears they put the sync update on a couple of weeks ago.
  
  http://www.htc.com/uk/supportdownloadlist.aspx?p_id=283&act=sd&cat=all
  
  Will be able to update with the new firmware when it arrives then. Er do you think we will have to install the Android 2.1 firmware whilst connected to the pc or might it be an over the air update?
  
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Wednesday 27th January 2010 13:28 GMT James Dunmore

Magic...?

Will, as originally reported, the update work on the HTC Magic. Us early adopters have been (pretty much) shafted.

I know I could root/mod my phone, but really that is not what I want to do (voids warranty), but seems increasingly like I'm going to have to.

Hate to say it, but if the current (bad) treatment of existing customers continues, I can only see the iPhone route as a viable option next time around (I don't want to buy a new phone, then 6months later find the software doesn't update).

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1. Wednesday 27th January 2010 14:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Erm
  
  The HTC Magic has already been updated to 1.6 by Vodafone, so not sure what you're talking about.
  
  And as for all this "bad treatment" rubbish, you need to consider the realities of business. New products and customers will always be more important than the overhead of supporting existing users. That's just life. If you really want 1.6 (or 2, or 2.1) then you can root and install yourself.
  
  And if you want a phone which is guaranteed to have timely updates of the later versions of the OS, ensure you don't buy a device with a custom-baked ROM (like the HTC sense UI stuff). All of the Google-experience phones (e.g., the Voda HTC Magic, the Nexus one, etc) will get the updates earlier than phones where the OEM has to build and test a new cooked version of the ROM with all their add-ons.
  
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  1. Wednesday 27th January 2010 18:44 GMT Olivier 2
    
    Existing customers are future new customers
    
    The Magic doesn't have any custom addition and is a Google branded phone. Vodafone say they have no control over the upgrade process and that it is driven by Google. Apple upgrade all the models they can because it helps the sale of new handsets. And customers have expectations. That's also business.
    
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Wednesday 27th January 2010 15:00 GMT Olivier 2

Magic ????

I don't understand why there is so little communication around these upgrades. I don't even need to know the date but why doesn't google/htc say which phone will or will not be upgraded ?

I am delighted with 1.6 on my Magic but as a google phone, I expect I will get more than just the 1.6 update.

I want to get a nexus but I am waiting to see how google and phone manufacturers will treat their customers.

Might have to go iPhone after all if that's the best they can come up with.

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Wednesday 27th January 2010 22:46 GMT CitizenErazed

I've given up hoping.

There are only two reasons I want the update - one, for the market app that's not a pile of something messy, and two, for whatever theoretical battery usage improvements I might get out of it. But I'd still like it, /because/. It doesn't help that everything that's mentioned is basically rumour and speculation - the most concrete evidence we've ever had is a tweet from HTC saying 1st half 2010.

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Friday 29th January 2010 18:29 GMT Anonymous Coward

The Nexus One experience....

...is that HTC clearly has the 2.1 code and has produced a nicely put together and polished phone, I've done some testing on it for work purposes and it really is rather nice. Makes my Hero seem a little behind the times, but only in terms of speed and the bigger display. Not all of the speed increase is down to the faster processor I think, the Android 2.1 code is understood to be significantly better than 1.5 was.

However, I don't think HTC are stupid, they know that having mentioned the updates in the US in 2H 2010 that this includes the delays of building customer specific variants. They have clearly had 2.1 a fair amount of time, and if they have the resource to update Sense UI (a major plank of their product portfolio after all across platforms) then I'm sure that they will have been ironing out the wrinkles. There are plenty of leaked 2.1 on Hero videos on Youtube, so they must be pretty close. I imagine that they would be quite happy to release around the time of MWC in mid-February, and there have been plenty of "early in the new year" hints too.

The one thing I really want it to have Bluetooth phonebook access profile so it works better with my car kit, but I have to say that the Sense UI means my Hero looks much nicer than the Nexus One.

And anyway, how much software actually makes it out when people say it will? I'll not notice the delay if I spend the timing sinking a pint or three :)

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