Plenty of UK Hero owners were disappointed this morning upon hearing the news that free Google Maps Navigation had spread beyond the borders of the USA but required Android 1.6 as the minimum OS version. Stuck in their Android 1.5 world, they must have hoped that HTC would just hurry up and open the gates to Eclair heaven, but hurrying up is, regrettably, the opposite of what's happening. Tech Radar heard from a Google rep that the Hero's move to Android 2.1 won't be happening until June, and followed it up with HTC directly. The official response was that a free update for European Hero variants will indeed be provided "starting in June." At least this cloud of disappointment will only hang over Europe, as other territories -- like Taiwan -- might still get the update reasonably soon.

[Thanks, Paul]