28 Comments

• Techtotaller, 27th April 2010.

  To HTC: just be honest. The update has obviously been delayed to ensure that sales of the Hero don't cannibalise those of the Legend and Desire.
  
  

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• @news4android, 27th April 2010, via Twitter.

  HTC apologises over Hero Android 2.1delay: Owners of the HTC Hero have received an apology from its manufa... http://bit.ly/arJk2s #android

• Christian Freear, 27th April 2010.

  Nice one HTC, when you finally do get around to upgrading the Hero to 2.1, 2.2 will be out! Im a Desire owner so i can confidently say there is no problem with Eclair and Sense.

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• Daleos, 27th April 2010.

  It's entirely possible that the problem isn't necessarily with Eclair but with making the 'over the air update' work properly.
  
  It's a little frustrating waiting. But, hey, 1.5 isn't a terrible OS and there's nothing really in 2.1 that is 'essential'.

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• J Marriott, 27th April 2010.

  Sorry, even if this was true, not good enough HTC.
  
  We should be given a choice. Let us, the users, decide if we want to upgrade without the Sense UI. Personally I hate the Sense UI and would have been more than happy to upgrade and get rid of it.
  
  All HTC have managed to do is alienate a massive number of people that will never buy another HTC branded phone.

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• Jorawar, 27th April 2010.

  This is actually becoming really pathetic now. The absurd thing is that they have no problem releasing device after device after device with new OSes, as the article mentions.
  
  This is a quote from the HTC website:
  "As always, HTC is committed to providing customers with the best possible mobile experience."
  
  Are they for real?
  
  Hopefully there are more Android phones released in the UK soon, so I never have to buy from these invalids again, I'm actually considering rooting my Hero for the meanwhile.

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• Jeff, 27th April 2010.

  Would you all stop for one minute and face facts: No other phone maker, with the exception of Apple, would even bother bringing out an update at all.
  
  I'm pretty sure that if the phone was being made by Apple or Samsung, they wouldn't be getting a major update like this. HTC have got their sales from the Hero so us owners are lucky we're getting an update at all.
  
  And another thing, if you don't like Sense just disable it.

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• Wes J Price, 27th April 2010.

  So many people angry at HTC. They don't need to even provide a 2.1 update! You could always buy a Nokia / Sony Symbian phone that never gets updated.
  
  Jorawar: Your comments are totally uncalled for. Unless you have inside information about the exact reasons the upgrade is delayed you have no reason to call them invalids.
  
  Be patient. Android is a new operating system anyway. The fact the Hero is even getting a 2.1 upgrade shows HTC are a committed company.
  
  Sony / Nokia et al would almost certainly not support an older phone.

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• Herowoner, 27th April 2010.

  My understanding, which bothers me to no end, is that the inability to download picture mail, is due to the lack of the update. If this is the case Sprint needs to refund me my monthly Picture mail cost since about a week after I purchased the Hero it stopped downloading picture mail. I have re-set the phone and it works again, but this is getting old. I hope that 2.1 fixes this issue or what's the point in owning it?

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• Melvin, 28th April 2010.

  This is rubbish. I have been communicating with HTC about this mess for the past two weeks. The first email I got back was the usual 'HTC is committed' rubbish and the following emails have been little more than pathetic.
  
  In one of the emails they told me that they were excited about the developments!! This business model will NOT be an isolated incident. Desire and Legend owners will suffer the same fate. That's clear.

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• Mathew, 28th April 2010.

  Decision made: I’ve been waiting since the New Year for said upgrade. Correct, HTC are not obliged to give an update, and if they hadn’t mentioned that Hero owners would be getting an upgrade, I’d have been absolutely fine with that.
  
  The problem is that they did, so I believed them. In turn, I’ve kept my Hero and refrained from jumping into a new contact for a new phone, as a new version of Android would have kept me interested for another 6 – 12 months, whilst newer phone tech is developed & released (new range of HTC’s looking great).
  
  Then come the announcements from HTC (or lack of)! Now I can appreciate a delay, as people do make mistakes. But this, as agreed by 99.9% of Hero owners, takes the biscuit. 4months +, yet another date set, and still no information on why they can not make a deadline.
  
  Fool me once, ok, and fool me again, but sorry HTC, not a third time. And, I’m certainly not going to be buying a HTC Android 2.1 phone either (assuming this is the real reason they are delaying the update in hope of more Desire / Legend sales). It’s all about the honesty.
  
  As Sony Ericsson has also disappointed many in a similar manner (Xperia range), this is giving Samsung a chance to impress with their Android opening. A risk, yes, but a decision that HTC (and Sony Ericsson) have made for me. Galaxy S, here I come.
  

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• Natalee Shields, 28th April 2010.

  I broke my HTC Hero (Firmware v 1.5)and while it was being mended used my old G1 phone (Firmware v 1.6). When my phone returned - reset to factory settings - I had lost a lot of my apps and can no longer download them even though I have paid for them. Why?
  
  I assume it's because the app store has moved on and those apps no longer support v1.5. The list of possible apps decreases daily. This is, I believe, a very valid reason for HTC to upgrade the Hero to 2.1, or 2.2. I don't mind as long as it's SOON.

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• Uzair, 28th April 2010.

  I'm an owner of telus HTC hero. We have rogers htc dream and you know what, they got the update to 2.1 long ago without this drama. This month, next month etc, it wasn't for rogers htc dream. What did the dream have? a plain OS and they put the sense etc in it, but here we have hero which already has the sense yet they can't get it to run....
  
  It's not technical difficulties, rather something else. Once 2.2 comes in may, they will talk about 2.2 being realeased instead of 2.1 just like they did with 2.0.
  
  This is my last phone from htc. No matter how good the phones are, their support just sucks. Not to mention that they don't update links. On htc canada, they put outdated softwares. Today I download from global htc and the software worked without scratching my head all day.

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• JRod, 28th April 2010.

  There are many things wrong with 1.5: 1) No VPN 2) Exchange HTML e-mail is broken 3) Can't run USAA's check scanning app (killer app!!) 4) Youtube videos RARELY play 5) Market is horrible looking and of course missing tons of apps
  
  HTC, Google and the carriers need to get a clue and figure out this update process. They have an easy way to make the customer happy, JUST DO IT. Start a task force or working group or something. This is ridiculous.

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• HTC Blows, 28th April 2010.

  Shame on you HTC. You should reward the early adopters and not punish them.

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• Ferghal, 28th April 2010.

  Maybe they are skipping 2.1 and going straight to 2.2?

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• Jorawar, 28th April 2010.

  The people defending HTC clearly do not own a Hero. When Nokia and other companies release phones they would usually make sure they are not suffering from major flaws or else they would bother to update them.
  
  I pay a considerable amount of money for my phone and the fact that I had to wait what felt like forever for the first update which solved major lag issues, amongst other things, was annoying enough. There are still several fundamental issues, such as the inability to transfer a file via bluetooth (How many phones can't do this?).
  
  My comments may seem "uncalled for" but until you've owned a HTC Hero and had the problem that I have you won't understand what I mean. I've lost count of how many delays they've made, and this on a OS which is still teething and working out kinks.
  
  To falsely put people under the impression that their phone will be maintained well is the bigggest crime here.

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• Eric, 29th April 2010.

  After traviling a lot of asia all i can say is that they obiously run their company on rubber time. A little frustrating to say the least but i bought my phone not even knowing about the os.
  
  Not overly happy with it. I think at times you have to push a lot of buttons to do simple things, but at least im not falling into the majority that is apple and nokia here in Australia.

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• Twes, 29th April 2010.

  Agree, they can't make promises about 2.1 coming then one goes out and buys this phone with 1.5 because hey, 2.1 is coming and then it never comes.
  
  Fortunately one has a voice: Your $'s. So just don't choose HTC come the next contract upgrade - that's as simple as it is. FIGHT BACK!!!

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• Twes, 29th April 2010.

  I have a new theory: Microsoft is holding HTC ransom due to the intellectual property deal assisting HTC in their fight against Apple.
  
  So, we'll help you but don't suddenly make those thousands of HTC Heroes out there better with Android 2.1 - rather focus on putting our Windows Mobile onto your handsets.

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• Ray, 29th April 2010.

  What's with people who think other manufacturers don't issue updates? Nokia have been issuing updates to their Symbian S60 phones for years.
  
  True HTC isn't legally required to issue updates, but in a market led world, they have to do so to keep customers who paid good money for their phones happy, otherwise we will vote with our wallets and buy someone else come next time.

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• David Crozier, 29th April 2010.

  The commenter who mentioned about HTC mistreating their early adaptors is spot on. I was one of those early adoptors. I bought the HTC Hero purely because it wasn't an iPhone, or Windows for that matter.
  
  The fact that it was running Android was a risk for me as a buyer but I was happy to take that risk as it meant that the phone could be updated regularly with new Android versions as they became available.
  
  HTC benefited in sales volume and reduced s/w development costs purely because it was running Android and many people (now wrongly) believed this would lead to regular updates. HTC did nothing to dissuade people of that view.
  
  I liked the phone, I still do and recommended it to many. Unfortunately now because of the shoddy handling of this update I can no longer recommend HTC phones to anyone and will be looking at alternatives when its time to upgrade it.
  
  Google really needs to be aware of how issues such as this are ruining the Android ecosystem brand. Obviously HTC don't want to canibalise sales of the Desire and Legend. I'm happy with that principle. That being the case they should have issued a statement way back in Oct/Nov to say that they would not be releasing any further updates for the Hero. But they didn't. Instead they wanted to ride two horses making potential customers have that warm fuzzy feeling about future updates so they would commit to continue buying heroes until newer models were released. HTC shame on you.

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• Daniel, 3rd May 2010.

  Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice, strike three. I wish they just hadn't said anything. All this worry about nothing is just bad marketing for them.

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• Dkns, 4th May 2010.

  My first and last HTC phone. Love android and all the apps for it. But this is just ridiculous. Again, never ever will I purchase another HTC product. In fact I will tell everyone to avoid this brand.

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• shooter0784, 6th May 2010.

  i dont see why people are so mad at just HTC .. samsung is just as late as htc w/ thier moment 2.1 update
  
  if they think that thier gonna make more money off new phones just because the newer os's will be exclusive to new phones thier crazy
  
  i'll go back to my pre-paid straight talk before i buy a new contract phone just because i cant upgrade my moment .. which i've only had for like 3 months .. my step dad got his htc touch pro2 at the same time and he cant upgrade to windows 7.
  

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• Yuval, 6th May 2010.

  I am deeply dissapointed with HTC's approach. My wife bought an iphone late last year at the same time that I decided to buy the Hero. At the time I thought that the Hero would be the better deal especially with the more advanced OS and the free turn-by-turn navigation. I am now locked onto a contract with a less than satisfactory phone - I should have gone for the iPhone.

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• Luis, 10th May 2010.

  @Wes J Price You must work to HTC for sure. All information about problems concerning sense UI with 2.1 isn't true, because HTC was releasing others phones with 2.1 and sense UI.
  
  So, HTC is lying about the reasons about the delay. HTC: for your information nokia have upgrades to the symbian SO. Apple is better than HTC. I'm so sorry to make the mistake of buying a HTC Hero.

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• Vichet, 28th July 2010.

  How can i get Android 2.1 in my Htc Hero?

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