HTC confirms it has Android 2.0 handsets in the works

Of course nobody expects Motorola and Verizon to be the sole benefactors of Android 2.0's Donut-ey goodness in the long run, but in an age of increasing Android ubiquity it seemed odd to see them as the only ones with a more-or-less-confirmed Android 2.0 handset on the way. Well, Sascha Segan over at Gearlog did some digging and while Samsung wouldn't confirm any Android 2.0 work, HTC was forthcoming in saying that it's had Android 2.0 around for a while, and is working on it for future phones. Perhaps the HTC Desire (dubbed Droid Eris) or the Passion will be one of those phones? It would be odd to see Verizon introduce a 2.0 handset from Motorola and only 1.5 or 1.6 handsets from HTC, but we'll just have to see how it all goes down next month -- Motorola sure seems buddy buddy with Google on this one. But if Dell could track down a copy, we don't see how far behind HTC could be on this one.

[Via SlashGear]

[GeorgeAnthony Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:02PM]

Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but I thought the various versions of the Android OS were simply firmware updates? No? I thought if I bought a Sprint HTC Hero or Samsung Moment, I could simply do an upgrade to 2.0. Someone please educate me! Thank you and good day.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:26PM]

Anyone else tired of that stupid android logo, slow-ass GUI on the phone, and every day there's ten more companies announcing plans for ten more models to run it. It's like Linux fail all over again.

[Yoda Posted Oct 26th 2009 9:36PM]

1) Linux > You
2) Andriod Logo > You
3) Slow-ass GUI > You

[kazetsukai Posted Oct 27th 2009 9:19AM]

Yeah, which is why we're sitting here drooling for good hardware. I suppose WinMo with just ARM11 holds you over, with its archaic drawing APIs.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:33PM]

Yeah, I'm confused, too. Will current Android phones running 1.5 and 1.6 (G1, MT3G, Hero) be able to upgrade to 2.0?

[jakey Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:48PM]

It depends. The G1 is kind of iffy given the physical internal memory might not be able to fit it, but it still got 1.6 so it'll probably get it, though it's a question if it will get anything beyond 2.0. MT3G I can say will very likely get it, there is nothing stopping it from getting it and T-Mo has been good on doing the OTA updates so far.

For the Hero, since it runs on Sense UI you have to wait a bit for HTC to update their Sense UI to support 2.0, so it might not get it if HTC is lazy. That is the risk you run for having a custom interface vs vanilla Android.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:55PM]

Thanks, Jake. I assumed that my MT3G's slightly beefier memory would make this possible. FYI, I actually had my name as "Jake" because Engadget's awesome comments system actually allowed me to. Thus, JakeMG. You get license on "Jake." d-_-b

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:48PM]

Wait. I think I got it!!!! This just means that HTC is working on a 2.0 version of Sense UI. Maybe? That would make sense. (Pun accidentally intended)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:50PM]

We all know the Droid is shipping with 2.0 but it will be very interesting to see if the HTC Eris ships with 1.5 or 1.6.

[troyh72 Posted Oct 26th 2009 9:57PM]

The Droid Eris by HTC, will indeed ship with Android 2.0. I have been beta testing the phone for a few weeks, and love it. I like it better then the Droid (Motorola Sholes). Its just a bit smaller, but a much sexier phone.

[Y314K Posted Oct 27th 2009 6:28AM]

Gonna copy and paste my post from another site since it's so hard for you guyz to fact check a story on your Iphones.... lol

" Eclair = Android 2.0 / Donut = Android 1.6 / CupCake = Android 1.5 ...

This is what an Eclair looks like.. = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nwENZ388XY&feature=player_embedded

Next major release should be the Flan = Android 3.0... Wonder if Churro = Android 2.5, lol "