Possible Breakthrough for android 2.1 update on HTC Hero

[alinver]

Although I love the Hero and I'll be sad to see it go, I think HTC have shot themselves in the foot over this 2.1 update. I know the phone works fine without it but there are already apps on the market that I cannot buy or use because my phone is still running 1.5.

As far back as October I've seen a new date every so often and every single time the date has come and gone without an update. Now there are May dates and to be honest I don't even think it'll turn up in May and we'll have people predicting June and July dates.

Al

 

[jev]

As far back as October I've seen a new date every so often and every single time the date has come and gone without an update.

But those have never been mentioned by HTC, they always where speculation from others. HTC could have denied them or sent out a target release date but so far they didn't. Except for their twitter announcement by HTC Russia that is (and they mention April 16 for Nordic release, others will prolly follow in the weeks after that).

Maybe HTC got themselves a problem, dunno. We don't have any information on what the market expects, what we see on the forums may or may not be the "average" customer. If only a couple of fanboys are disappointed there really is no incentive to shift development focus from new models to support of an older model.

 

[Barretta]

The only thing that warms my heart is the logical assumption that the more time the update is taking the more performance optimization we should expect. But imagine an ugly picture where the performance of the new update is bad and HTC who are claiming that this is the best they can get of of the hero's hardware... and advise us to buy the Desire?!?

 

[Jaffa]

I

The only thing that warms my heart is the logical assumption that the more time the update is taking the more performance optimization we should expect. But imagine an ugly picture where the performance of the new update is bad and HTC who are claiming that this is the best they can get of of the hero's hardware... and advise us to buy the Desire?!?

If modaco can make 2.1 run fast on hero, HTC should do too

 

[Barretta]

I

If modaco can make 2.1 run fast on hero, HTC should do too

Am I missing something here? I've never seen a 2.1 ROM from modaco...

 

[Jaffa]

Maybe it was not modaco then, there are custom roms, based on 2.1

 

[vjprakashbe]

Am I missing something here? I've never seen a 2.1 ROM from modaco...

I think "Jaffa" meant:
Modaco can make faster 2.1 ROM in future once kernel source is out; why can't HTC?

 

[Barretta]

Modaco (based on 1.5) is very good.. can't argue here. But I've tried most of the 2.1 ROMs, including Villain 4 & 5, Legendroid & beHero... they bring functionality on the table but NOT speed. Actually the speed compared to Modaco (and stock) makes them unusable for me.

 

[aidan257]

Although I love the Hero and I'll be sad to see it go, I think HTC have shot themselves in the foot over this 2.1 update. I know the phone works fine without it but there are already apps on the market that I cannot buy or use because my phone is still running 1.5.

As far back as October I've seen a new date every so often and every single time the date has come and gone without an update. Now there are May dates and to be honest I don't even think it'll turn up in May and we'll have people predicting June and July dates.

Al

I think your spot on. I'm sick of 3rd party speculations why can't HTC just bite the bullet & say when they will release or @ least give us an official ETA & keep us up to date with whats going on.
The only official announcement i've heard is that we will be getting some form of 2.1 on the Hero.

 

[james]

Yeh definitely. Motorola may have set their release dates back for the 2.1 Droid update a couple of times but at least they put out ETA's and kept people updated!

I'm not too fussed anymore though since I gave up on waiting and flashed a 2.1 rom. I do miss the speed and awesomeness of Modaco though so I'm looking forward to the 2.1 release just for Modaco 4.

 

[Hoos]

The update will get here when it gets here.

We can't put all the blame on HTC either. The carriers have their own mods/branding that they do. For all we know, the hold up is on the carrier's end. Which, since Droid and a couple of others have received the 2.1 update, seems more probable.

And, honestly, all the "OMG I've heard something nooz!" updates on Android forums are more annoying than anything the carriers have/haven't said. Although, getting a realistic time frame from the carriers on when they'll be released would be nice.

 

[aidan257]

I totally agree Hoos & i've said it before, why can't these "updates" all be kept in one thread. Its annoying seeing several threads about 2.1.

 

[snox187]

yeah we all looking forward to 2.1 but seems to some its a matter of life and death to some here , all these threads are getting a bit boring now , remember folks the hero is still a great phone !

 

[Zbig]

yeah we all looking forward to 2.1 but seems to some its a matter of life and death to some here , all these threads are getting a bit boring now , remember folks the hero is still a great phone !

And still just a phone

 

[gminervini]

I hear ya that we bought this phone the way it is. But I bought a phone that cant view MMS? Sorrry but thats bush league.

 

[Barretta]

I personally bought a phone with an OPEN SOURCE OS. Considering that the OS is young and it will improve over the time... but i definitely didn't have in mind that HTC will withhold the update for so long, leaving us to suffer the disadvantages of the young and raw version of Android. And remember.. Sense is merely a SKIN with some functionality which can be dragged out from various other free programs from the market... it is not a different OS.

 

[jev]

I personally bought a phone with an OPEN SOURCE OS. Considering that the OS is young and it will improve over the time...

You chose an Android phone for the wrong reasons than. Open source means YOU can compile and modify YOURSELF. And actually, noone is stopping you from just doing that. Open source does not mean the seller is obliged to keep the OS sync'd to the latest and greatest sources.

Agreed, there are things that could be improved on in order to make it a fully functional phone. To me, the lack of full bluetooth support is the main issue, but I'm fully aware that if HTC would not update to Android 2.1 I would either have to live with it or do it myself (prolly the latter).

 

[Nodders]

I think posts like the one directly above are a tad disingenious and overly semantic. Yes HTC are not bound to provide updates, however one of the key attractions for Android for many many people are the apps.

The Android app store is still in its early days and so apps we may have on our phones are regularly replaced, changed and added to. Trouble is a lot of these new apps will not be 1.5 compatible - this is starting to happen now and will be I imagine commonplace in a few months time.

So without an update HTC are basically removing one of the raison d'etres (for many) for the phone - making the phone have a life of under a year, hardly ideal.

All this is moot of course - HTC have announced they are updating to 2.1 so arguing the pros and cons is pretty irrelevant.

What is relevant though is the utter fumble by HTC of the activity. It is beyond doubt that their customer management is severely lacking in terms of making people aware of when something is happening. Yes they are not bound to release updats but they have said they will, and are frankly fumbling the follow-through of this welcome announcement badly.

 

[trick202]

Although I love the Hero and I'll be sad to see it go, I think HTC have shot themselves in the foot over this 2.1 update. I know the phone works fine without it but there are already apps on the market that I cannot buy or use because my phone is still running 1.5.

As far back as October I've seen a new date every so often and every single time the date has come and gone without an update. Now there are May dates and to be honest I don't even think it'll turn up in May and we'll have people predicting June and July dates.

Al

I had the Hero back in July of last year. 2.1 update tweets were sent from HTC hinting at a "before Christmas" update.
I got tired of waiting and went elsewhere for a handset. I voted with my feet - I didn't pi55 and moan about it like some.
When Google stem the fragmentation of their versions, I'll be happy to come back to android as I thought it was an excellent platform. This particular community is certainly one of the best on the web too.
Not sure I'd go with HTC though - I felt abandoned in favour of the next big thing.

 

[alinver]

Even though I had the chance to walk away from my Hero today I decide against taking out another contract on a Legend or Desire.

I love this phone and I'll stick with it for now. Will 2.1 turn up in April or May? God alone knows, as I've always said the phone is fine it's problems with running newer apps on 1.5.

Al

 

[andy d]

I had the Hero back in July of last year. 2.1 update tweets were sent from HTC hinting at a "before Christmas" update.
I got tired of waiting and went elsewhere for a handset. I voted with my feet - I didn't pi55 and moan about it like some.
When Google stem the fragmentation of their versions, I'll be happy to come back to android as I thought it was an excellent platform. This particular community is certainly one of the best on the web too.
Not sure I'd go with HTC though - I felt abandoned in favour of the next big thing.

Doing the same at the end of the month.
All i was after were updated apps from the market.
HTC have a very good product if only their customer care was as good.

 

[Jaffa]

I hear ya that we bought this phone the way it is. But I bought a phone that cant view MMS? Sorrry but thats bush league.

Mine views MMS fine

 

[JimR123]

I think posts like the one directly above are a tad disingenious and overly semantic. Yes HTC are not bound to provide updates, however one of the key attractions for Android for many many people are the apps.

The Android app store is still in its early days and so apps we may have on our phones are regularly replaced, changed and added to. Trouble is a lot of these new apps will not be 1.5 compatible - this is starting to happen now and will be I imagine commonplace in a few months time.

So without an update HTC are basically removing one of the raison d'etres (for many) for the phone - making the phone have a life of under a year, hardly ideal.

All this is moot of course - HTC have announced they are updating to 2.1 so arguing the pros and cons is pretty irrelevant.

What is relevant though is the utter fumble by HTC of the activity. It is beyond doubt that their customer management is severely lacking in terms of making people aware of when something is happening. Yes they are not bound to release updats but they have said they will, and are frankly fumbling the follow-through of this welcome announcement badly.

Personally, I'd rather not be told anything, than be told an exact date when they don't know they can stick to it.

Giving a development estimate to the customers is what marketing bods want, but developers don't, as sticking to such a deadline often means cutting corners to achieve it. I'd rather they tell us, "it's done when it's done". That way we know it'll be done well. ...ish.

 

[stupendo]

I sent HTC support an email last night regarding the Hero update to 2.1 and this is the reply I received. Clearly its been cut and paster from maybe an internal email but fingers crossed Lee is correct!

New Response From [ Lee (UK - Ireland Support (Tech)) ]

hello sir

Thank you for your enquiry.

"Some of the phones in our Android line up including your Hero are due to receive an upgrade, and it is scheduled to be released starting at the end of April. Your phone should be upgraded Over-The-Air. You can expect a pop-up message on your phone when connected to the internet once it is ready. When the upgrade is ready, we will notify you via our website and on various social media networks including Twitter and Face book."



If these steps have not helped, please let me know by responding using the link provided and I will be happy to check again for you.

Best regards,

lee

HTC

 

[ripkord]

I had the Hero back in July of last year. 2.1 update tweets were sent from HTC hinting at a "before Christmas" update.
I got tired of waiting and went elsewhere for a handset. I voted with my feet - I didn't pi55 and moan about it like some.
When Google stem the fragmentation of their versions, I'll be happy to come back to android as I thought it was an excellent platform. This particular community is certainly one of the best on the web too.
Not sure I'd go with HTC though - I felt abandoned in favour of the next big thing.

I know how you feel. Cant go back to iphone after android though, seems so closed off :/