HTC Hero update to Android 2.1 on April 26th in home country of Taiwan

We're past mid-March and rapidly approaching the early Q2 launch estimates for the Android 2.1 update for HTC's Hero. Now Engadget Chinese has tipped us to an official HTC release date issued on Plurk (a very popular, Twitter-like social service used locally) in HTC's home country of Taiwan: April 26th. So we should see the update go hot globally, with the latest version of the Sense UI in tow, at about the same time. You know, if you haven't grown tired of waiting and already hacked it in.

[encrypt Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:14AM]

Finally.. but it's too late. Most people will get a new device.

[RincewindWiz Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:19AM]

@encrypt Define "Most People" - on the contrary I'd imagine most people who bought a smart phone last year will hang on to it for a while longer.

[linuxamp Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:57AM]

@encrypt I wouldn't say "most" but I'm certainly tempted to kick my Hero to the curb. So many apps require 1.6+ and HTC keeps pushing this date back. Not sure how much longer I can wait.

[kempcross Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:47AM]

@encrypt I got the hero in October. You think most people are dropping a few c-notes on phones every 5 months?!

[ai4281 Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:18AM]

@encrypt I know some people are ticked off about the whole upgrade situation, but let's look at the bright side. At least most devices ARE getting 2.1. I think this is where Google's Nexus One strategy is kind of working. If we did not see the 2.1 in the wild, we may not even be asking for it. The fact that they put out a 2.1 device themselves pressures manufacturers to speed up their upgrade process, and makes customers anticipate the upgrades.

Some people are saying how android is going to be fragmented and be like windows mobile, but Winnows mobile devices rarely got updates.

We will definitely see HTC and Motorola speed up their upgrade process in the future, and hopefully this fragmentation nonsence talk will go away.

-posted from a Droid.

[oawalker Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:30AM]

@encrypt
too late now i sold mine and upgrading to a htc desire :D

[electror7 Posted Mar 26th 2010 11:21AM]

@RincewindWiz
But seriously, plurk is still alive?? :O

[lv2bll54 Posted Mar 26th 2010 11:43AM]

In america, htc has already done what they need to do, the ball is still in Sprint's court and the shot clocks runnin' out

[One Love Posted Mar 26th 2010 12:41PM]

Please Wait (MORE):
0% [|||||||||||||||||||| ] 100%

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2010 12:54PM]

@One Love
Also hope that the status won't fall back like copying files in Windows lol

[gatdorfl Posted Mar 27th 2010 3:45AM]

@oawalker Ooh lucky! Did you go for the appeal of better hardware over the legend's hero-esque good looks? :)

[koocha Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:15AM]

Guess my Magic (32b) won't be getting a 2.1 update anytime soon :(

Or even at all

[weeandystheman Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:25AM]

@koocha

Nor mine. You would think a "google experience" phone would get updated pretty quickly. Must be the carriers not being arsed to do it

[Mike10010100 Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:17AM]

Thanks HTC! Been waiting a couple months for this awesome update!

[stsfin Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:31AM]

@Mike10010100

I have played around with the legend it really doesn't bring much more to the sense+hero experience. Since the only new things are Friendstream and the panel view.

There are no live wallpapers, no fancy nexus like appdraver. Mostly bug fixes.

[Mike10010100 Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:41AM]

@stsfin

That's fine though! That's all I really need as an update. Bug fixes and a supposed speed increase.

Can anybody confirm the speed increase in the Hero in 2.1?

[mikachu Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:01AM]

@Mike10010100 Couple of month? :D Android update for Hero has been on it's way for 6 months now... It's about damn time to get it out.

[abedinthehouse Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:49AM]

@Mike10010100
They've been busy fighting off Apple
lol

[Trick202 Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:57AM]

@mikachu I agree. I jumped ship back in December of last year when it became clear that HTC were concentrating on newer handsets for 2010, and leaving the Hero in the dark. I'll maybe go back to Android when a decent non-htc device comes out.
The Hero isn't a bad device, but it's a disgrace that "early adopters" (relatively) were sidelined in favour of chasing specs.
All I got from HTC fanboys was that the company never promised to give me updates, so I am lucky to get any at all.

FAIL.

[kempcross Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:49AM]

@mikachu "Android update for Hero has been on it's way for 6 months now." that's weird, considering the release date in the US was October 11th, which was just a little over 5 months ago.

[Mike10010100 Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:12AM]

@Mike10010100

So no speed increase confirmation?

[Exbloder Posted Mar 26th 2010 11:31AM]

@Mike10010100 I love you for that kitty in your avatar

[lv2bll54 Posted Mar 26th 2010 11:52AM]

@Trick202

but it seems to me that after only 3 months you expected a jump from 1.5-2.1 thats kinda overkill. Think about this apple gives you 1 major revision a year wimo and palm are up in the air all the time about updates. Android has been out two full years now and every phone has been updated(or one in the works) and you have a problem with that. Before i got my hero i had an envy that looked the same for 2 years and now i have a phone where i can literally customize and edit everything to my liking, how many phones can do that?

[dragossh Posted Mar 29th 2010 11:11AM]

@lv2bll54 Apple gives one update a year, but they do give it to me and I know my apps work. With Android, all the new apps require 2.1 and HTC is sitting on the update because, guess what, they want me to buy a new phone less than one year after I bought the Hero.

Let's just stop pretending these are phones. These are computers that we buy with faith that they will be updated.

[fais Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:18AM]

What is that a headless dog in the corner?

[ChazClout Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:20AM]

@fais
I think that is something to so with Plurk, not HTC but it did have me wondering at first.....

http://statics.plurk.com/6118c0d49e866f930e6995a6e951d27f.png

[smithey253 Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:19AM]

I found this the other day:

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/445947/android_21_dated_for_htc_hero.html

[misterhearn Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:20AM]

As a Sprint Hero user I hope it comes soon, I've been having a friendly race with the Droid users I know. I hope we get it soon. A lotta good stuff there, I could finally use some of the apps they've been gloating about.2.1 and Halo Reach beta a week later isn't bad but man where's the Hot Tub Time Machine when you need one?

[KAL326 Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:44AM]

@misterhearn I would join the race, but since I have a Sprint Moment we would probably finish at the same time given the carriers announcement. Either tied for first or last and neither of those sounds like a good option.

[qakgob Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:22AM]

Finally!
Hopefully this means there will be some fully working 2.0/2.1 roms for my magic soon.

[redblur Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:07AM]

@qakgob really? Sweeeeeeeet

[qakgob Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:30AM]

@redblur At least some of the drivers are the same for both the hero and 32a magic (they're nearly the same phone), so any roms should work a bit better using stuff from the final hero rom

[wasteoftime Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:31AM]

I gave up waiting for the update weeks ago. If there is anybody else on T-Mobile UK you will know that this means we will probably get the update sometime in June. So I went with root option :).

[fourthletter Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:23AM]

@wasteoftime

I was reliably informed the update would be released for vanilla Heros on 2nd April with T-mobile etc to follow on 16th.

[fourthletter Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:28AM]

@wasteoftime

Just out of interest since you are in the same boat as me, what ROM are you running at the mo ?

[wasteoftime Posted Mar 26th 2010 4:28PM]

@fourthletter http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=641786 very fast and stable ROM, tried a bunch of others, this is probably the fastest that has the new Sense UI.

[coollala Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:34AM]

Oh finally. I thought we will get it after 2012.

[qakgob Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:52AM]

As much as I'd like to be able to upgrade my phone every year, being a student, there is the small issue of money. So this is a good announcement for me.

[qakgob Posted Mar 26th 2010 7:54AM]

@qakgob That was suppossed to be a reply to the first post. So much for the engadget android app commenting system

[FreakNasty Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:14AM]

Pushing it back? The first notification stated 2Q 2010, and that was later updated to early 2Q. Now we might have it 1Q. You don't know what you are talking about do you?

[case Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:38AM]

Screw that. I'm not waiting another month I've been for bloody ages.
I'm gonna replace MoDaCo with VillainRom tonight..

[case Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:39AM]

@case
been waiting*

[guy3001 Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:00AM]

@case
Do it! VillainRom is great! Went from Modaco to Villain about a month ago and love it.

[Glock Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:48AM]

Oh Engadget...you know me so well...

Motorola has teased me far to long with their updates...So I updated myself...thank you Smoked Glass 6.0.1 :) 2.1 runs GREAT

[guy3001 Posted Mar 26th 2010 8:59AM]

Bear in mind that this official update may remove the ability to root your phone, so update with caution (when it comes..), if you intend on trying other tweaked ROMs..
Probably better to wait until this official 2.1 ROM has been XDA'd!

[Glock Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:24AM]

@guy3001 My rom is based on a leaked official Droid 2.1 update...so I probably will have no need to update through Verizon :)

[neo25 Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:01AM]

Any time soon for the us?

[matknny Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:02AM]

Must admit that updates from manufacturers need to be faster. But how long do people wait for mobile operators to push it out. Its too long. People shouldn't need hacks.

[joshl Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:36AM]

HTC Russia on Twitter said the HD2 will get a Windows Phone 7 Update too...

[Glock Posted Mar 26th 2010 10:22AM]

@joshl That would be odd considering Windows 7 Series is a COMPLETELY different beast...they rebuilt it from the very bottom up...But anything is possible