Sprint: Samsung Moment and HTC Hero Android 2.1 updates now coming 'in Q2'
By Darren Murph 
posted May 7th 2010 2:54PM
posted May 7th 2010 2:54PM
Ouch. Just a few days ago, it seems like a certainty that Sprint would be pushing out Android 2.1 updates to the aging Samsung Moment and HTC Hero, but now a company admin has stepped in to assure us that things aren't nearly that close to go. The full text is pasted in after the break, but the long and short of it is this: the long-awaited 2.1 update is now on track "to be available in Q2." The carrier did confess to wanting this out sooner rather than later, but hey, at least your patience is really, really appreciated. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
"Official Sprint Statement: Android 2.1"
Hello Community Members,
We wanted to let you know that Sprint continues to work closely with Samsung and HTC to deliver the highly anticipated Android 2.1 upgrade for Samsung Moment and HTC Hero. We are on track for the upgrade to be available in Q2. Sprint had hoped to have this resolved by now - we thank our customers for their patience as we work to bring them a positive experience with this upgrade.
Nice to see this roll out so quickly!
@MoonWalkerCTE
Yeah and I think with this update almost all of the popular android handsets are upgraded to latest OS version.
So fragmentation concerns become less of a concern now... good for the devs!
@MoonWalkerCTE
They're announcing this when Q2 is almost halfway done?
@MoonWalkerCTE i knew i would own an evo b4 they managed to roll this out. Maybe i'll be nice and update this hero to 2.1 for whoever buys it on ebay
@MoonWalkerCTE : Quickly??? You just wake up Rumpelstiltskin?
@One Love Considering the time other Andriod updates have taken this is relatively quicker..
@One Love
No, see, that's what we in the biz call "sarcasm."
Man, this REALLY pisses me off. Especially about the Moment...okay, with the HTC I can understand with Sense UI taking a while to get updated or whatever. But the Moment is a stock Android experience! FFS GIVE US THE DAMNED OFFICIAL UPDATE.
I was holding off on rooting my phone and putting an unofficial 2.1 ROM on it, but you know what? Screw it. I'm tired of waiting for something that should not only be an OTA update, but should've been out for a month now at least.
Way to drop the ball, Sprint.
@MoonWalkerCTE It is. The CLIQ, Mytouch, and XT are still rockin' 1.6.
@MoonWalkerCTE btw guys is it possible sprint is doing this on purpose so that they can in effect "force" us to consider getting the evo? i'm just saying, this is a business after all and who says they wouldn't employ such a tactic.
@MoonWalkerCTE
I say BS. I was just at my local corporate Sprint because my Moment has been acting up, and the guy said two/three weeks away for the 2.1.
This delay HAS to be due to new product launches. Never been unhappy w/Sprint, but this is a little annoying.
Granted, when I bought my phones in the past, I didn't expect them to be upgraded, I expected to have to buy a new phone. So keeping that in perspective, I really don't have much to complain about, and I've only owned my Moment for 3 months.
@thatdude Of course they are.
@thatdude evo isnt out yet
I think you mean Rip van Winkle...xD
I was just in my Sprint store as well here in Orlando. I was told that they just completed their training for it and typically the updates get released a couple months after that. I was also told I would have to bring it to the store, I couldn't do it. I don't think any of the Sprint employees have a clue!
@demonicpascal : oh yeah, lol.
@Dank Dillweed
I hope you realize that Sprint "reps" have "predicted" several release dates, some back in february, march, and april. In short, they know about as much as you do.
@clos1084 lol seriously.
As bad as I feel for the owners of these phones that aren't getting upgraded, I know l'll feel the same when they buy the new android phones of tomorrow and my incredible with 2.1 is waiting to be updated to froyo or higher.
@I Fling Poo That is why the Hero is my 1st and last Android phone. The fragmentation really suck. I know they say it is going to be fixed starting with Froyo, but I feel really let down with situation.
@I Fling Poo
Except that the incredible runs very fast and everything works perfectly on 2.1 . Unlike running the much slower sense on 1.5 or 1.6 without a snapdragon. So we can wait patiently :)
Sent from my incredible
@I Fling Poo And that is the primary reason I opted for the Nexus One.
@I Fling Poo
Well, I have been running 2.1 on my Hero for months now...There are developers with too much time on their hands all over Android and XDA forums you know...
@RandomGuy nexus isn't coming to verizon, and I want verizon so I'm very happy with my incredible.
@kapanak
Which one are you using? I'm on SlideVillain. Very fast!
@dgskydive
One word. Root.
Many Hero users have already been running a perfectly stable version of 2.1 for a while now. There are multiple 2.1 roms available that are working perfectly without any hiccups. Not only that, but my Hero runs MUCH faster and the experience is smoother.
There's really no downside to rooting your Hero at this point (it's so old that most of the bugs have been worked out already). I'm still getting the EVO day 1 and I'll root that too when Froyo comes out. Why wait for updates when you can get them yourself? Sure, the official release will be "perfect" but until then, at least you can get the latest apps and the newest features through rooting.
Eh, I'm sick of the rumors and the hopes, and the dashing and the waiting and the checking....
I just Followed their official Twitter account, and I'm not listening to anyone or anything else. *plugs ears* LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!
Honestly, it's not that bad, having 1.5. Sense UI makes up for the lack of other things. I still prefer my Hero to the Nexus One, or any other 1.6+ phone I've worked with.
@Kitten prepare to hear nothing but crickets. THe only time their Twitter feed says anything about 2.1 is when we really blow up the Sprint forums for answers................that they never give.
@dgskydive
At least I won't be heartbroken by rumors that don't come true and guesses gone wrong. I'd just as well rather be left out of the loop and not know than constantly track internet rumors, getting my hopes raised and then having them dashed.
If I get a tweet about it, I'll at least be pleasantly surprised instead of constantly disappointed.
That would be disappointing if I hadn't just rooted my phone and installed Android 2.1 over a month ago.
I don't know what all the problems are concerning -- I'm enjoying Android 2.1, with Sense and live wallpapers fine!
@GothamTommy How?????
@eveninspace My heros over at XDA. That's how :)
@eveninspace Here's how to Root: http://bit.ly/htcroot
Here's a really good Android 2.1 ROM: http://bit.ly/dc21rom
@GothamTommy : what about backup?
@One Love androidforums.com lots of info on how to root in there. just look for the sprint hero subforum.
@One Love Once you're on (this) new ROM, you'll have Apps2SD (this stores your apps on your SD card.
If your comfortable playing around with your phone and can read through the forums on those links then I'd suggest going through with it.
@One Love
What is there to backup? SMS/MMS messages maybe?
As for Contacts they sync to your gmail account so when you flash a new rom it automatically syncs your contacts.
I don't have any important SMS/MMS messages so I didn't need to save any of mine. There are some apps that will backup everything if you root your phone.
There is also an app that can forward your txts to GMail and will restore them once on your new ROM.
@Dubb
If you root, there is a chance things wont go so well. a full backup of your current device is critical when tryong out new ROMs. Nandroid backup has been the best for me.
i use fresh ROM 2.0d. Fresh has 1 button rooting ability. easiest way to do it, but you need to read up if you are even considering it.
@GothamTommy I feel the same way. I feel bad for all the folks waiting so patiently. I had my phone for about 2 weeks and it felt so lackluster I could not even wait longer, I don't know how people are waiting months for this update. With Fresh 2.0d I feel like my phone is decent now. It just blows me away that the folks at XDA working on their spare time and for free can put out a better rom at a quicker pace.
To anyone with a Hero, root, flash, and don't look back. Even when the official comes out the xda devs will improve on it in some way.
At this rate, it will just be quicker to replace my wife's Moment with an EVO 4G.
@MobileAppDeveloper
Funny, I'm thinking of giving my wife my Moment (she's still using a LG Lotus, which she loves), and me getting the EVO.
@MobileAppDeveloper Why do that to her. The EVO looks like it is going to be an awesome phone, but you watch. Your gonna be pissed, because 2.2 will roll out immediately after you get the EVO and then your gonna wait for the update just like we Hero owners are. If we buy the new phones, we are just rewarding them for not taking care of us now.
@MobileAppDeveloper
Don't fall for this. 6 months from now you'll be in the same trap Hero users are in now when you're waiting for your precious EVO to get updated to Froyo while the rest of the world is waiting for Android 3.0.
Sprint and HTC - this is a huge problem and while I love you both, this is my last phone from you until you figure this out in a more timely fashion.
@vansmack Google has stated that starting with 2.2 that updates and components to updated Android OS will be able to be downloaded from the marketplace and installed on all Android devices across the board.
So what are you talking about? Who's going to be stuck if we can all get our updates from the marketplace?
@HelghanSuperSniper The issue here is clearly the skinning, so while Google can say all they want about their approach to fragmentation, if their updates break something in HTC's Sense skin, are you going to manually update something knowing it will break a skin you can't turn off? It's a step in the right direction for Google, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions in Google's approach.
Given that scenario, how soon do you think the EVO will get 2.2? I think you should feel fortunate if you get it by the end of the year, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
@vansmack You say this assuming that Google would allow this option without testing it on all skins and models. Why would Google risk further damage to Android by haphazardly putting OS updates in the market? Think about that for a bit. It may mean that updates won't be as frequent as they have been but at least most, if not all, of us would get the updates at the same time.
@vansmack Dude, don't get me wrong, I understand the frustration. I really do. Let me just add that I was using a G1 for almost a year before I updated to the Nexus One. It was annoying as hell to sit and watch as a coworker was rocking Android 2.01 on the Droid while I was running 1.6. Rootd 1.6, but it was still a lesser version of Android. Fragmentation is an issue but it's not just as simple as a skin. What are MyTouch 3G owners are supposed to do knowing that Android 2.1 runs best with a 1GHz SnapDragon and 512MBs of RAM? Cliq owners? Backflip Owners, Eris owners...?
Even Droid users didn't get the full experience of 2.1 because they don't have the 3D app tray. It's minor I know, but it's still missing whereas the Nexus One has it. It's a spec issue as well. Thank goodness for people like Cyanogen because seeing the G1 run Android 2.1 further proves that not only is Google's plan possible but it's the best answer to the fragmentation problem. Your Sprint Hero's and Moments are better phones than the G1 and 2.1 runs great on it from what I saw. Google has no excuse as to why XDA gurus can do what Sprint, Tmobile and Verizon/HTC (with the Eris) just can't seem to get together.
Anyways, it's annoying as all hell, I know, but after seeing the beauty of root first hand on a G1, with Cyanogen and seeing how quickly he could roll out updates with the help of other developers and coders, there's absolutely no reason why Google can't make OS updates happen in the Marketplace.
@HelghanSuperSniper We're talking about 2 different things here. My first post that you questioned was simply warning the folks who were seeing the EVO as the saviour to their frustration to the update problems experienced with manufacturer and the carrier. I have seen nothing to definitively show me that the EVO will avoid this scenario to get to 2.2 and onward, and until then, I'm avoiding the EVO and holding out for similair specs without the unneccssary nightmares.
I agree with most everything else you said about Android, but rooting a phone can never be the answer for the general public. Sure, it works for us tech dorks, but for the casual customer is simply not going to be sufficient. While the casual customer might not know the full benefits of 2.1, they sure know when they can't download and app, and that's the root of both Sprint and HTC's public image problem.
Can anyone say EVO?
I don't need the update
@thesafecigarette
Anyone who bought the Hero is out of luck: The Hero isn't 2 years old, so none of us are eligible for discount pricing. So we're in for a penny, in for a pound.
Enjoy your Evo, though. I happen to LIKE the look and feel and weight and UI and layout of my Hero. It's a good feeling device.
@Kitten
I love my Hero. I must admit I don't run 1.5, but I did for quite a while. Luckily for me my wife doesnt care about phones so I can steal her upgrades :)