Resolved HTC Desire *will* Get Gingerbread after all

[*LTD*]

http://www.facebook.com/notes/htc-uk/desire-and-gingerbread-update/225607660802056

HTC Desire Won’t Get Gingerbread

HTC, on Facebook:

Our engineering teams have been working hard for the past few months to find a way to bring Gingerbread to the HTC Desire without compromising the HTC Sense experience you’ve come to expect from our phones. However, we’re sorry to announce that we’ve been forced to accept there isn’t enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire. We’re sincerely sorry for the disappointment that this news may bring to some of you.

----------------------------------------------------

So the cake is a lie?

The phone is barely 1.5 years old. Do note that HTC is careful to say that they don't want to compromise what (appears) to be the User Experience. Of course, what they're doing in the process . . . is compromising the User Experience. Because, as we all know and continue to see, you can't have an "open", unregulated or barely regulated platform without ongoing and often very deep problems with User Experience, consistency, security, and accord between Google+partners+carriers (more on these issues below)

What's interesting and a little sad, are the users begging for what appears to be the source code, so they can then turn around and do a hack-job on their phones in order to get what they should have been given in the first place.

Related reading:

http://www.neowin.net/news/virgin-mobile-usas-true-android-experience-forbids-rooting

http://www.neowin.net/news/popcap-android-is-a-struggle-to-develop-for

http://www.neowin.net/news/more-malware-infected-android-apps-removed-by-google

 

[maflynn]

That's a screw up on HTC's part. They should have realized that ram requirements were only going to go up.

It was one of their flagship phones that was to be positioned for the future in the sense that owners wouldn't have worry about the phone being terribly obsolete after 6 months/1 year.

You still can load Gingerbread onto the Desire though, just not from HTC. The problem is that Gingerbread with SenseUI takes more ram then the phone has. The custom gingerbread roms out there are much more svelte.

So why this is a bad thing for HTC, I think it highlights the power and flexibility for android.

 

[yg17]

This has nothing to do with Android itself. HTC screwed up by not putting enough RAM in the phone, knowing it was their flagship model. Stop using the mistake of one manufacturer to trash the entire operating system.

 

[*LTD*]

This has nothing to do with Android itself. HTC screwed up by not putting enough RAM in the phone, knowing it was their flagship model. Stop using the mistake of one manufacturer to trash the entire operating system.

Well that's the problem, isn't it. All these manufacturers and outside parties involved. No control. The manufacturers are a major part of the Android experience. HTC, Motorola, Samsung . . . they're all a part of the experience once the device gets into the user's hands. There's no getting around that.

Android is only worth as much as Google's partners. You're only as strong as your weakest link. Telling the user that they should otherwise be alright with everything because the OS itself is great, is worth about as much as pair of thermal underwear in Death Valley at high noon.

The User Experience process doesn't end when the OS or code is released. It's an entire process, from cradle to grave. Google simply has a fundamental disrespect for what they produce. A great OS that is universally licensed . . . is a contradiction in terms.

But as long as you can get to the ads, it's all good.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

This has nothing to do with Android itself. HTC screwed up by not putting enough RAM in the phone, knowing it was their flagship model. Stop using the mistake of one manufacturer to trash the entire operating system.

I do not think desire was even a. Flagship phone when it was released. It was middle low spec at release. This has LTD standard bashing with no understanding.
This is like saying people who bought 3G after the release of the 3GS and wondering why it has a gimped ios4 and not getting iOS5.
Oh and looks like LTD needs to update his tread title. That or a mod needs to http://m.androidcentral.com/htc-now...-gingerbread?utm_source=ac&utm_medium=twitter htc says it is getting. So much for the bashing goal.

 

[Cha Cha Desmond]

/Close Thread

Looking forward to your post about HTC's record profits.

As an aside: Why are Apple die-hards full of snark? Were the 90s that bad?

 

[*LTD*]

http://thisismynext.com/2011/06/15/htc-desire-will-get-gingerbread-after-all/

Ladies and gentlemen, I stand corrected!

Mods, please either close the thread or change the title (I'll try the latter myself.)

Good on HTC for doing what's right and frankly, what can be expected for a phone that is barely 1.5 years old.

Hopefully Gingerbread will run decently, or can be hacked to run decently on the Desire.

Android is still an absolute mess, and HTC in this particular case can serve as an example to others, and to themselves going forward: for instance, HTC dropped updates for the HTC Legend only 6 months after its release.

The result is positive, but it by no means solves the problem of manufacturers being allowed to run amok with the OS.

 

[neiltc13]

What is your favourite addition to Android in Gingerbread that you were upset HTC Desire owners wouldn't be getting, *LTD*?