Hasta La Gadget!

HTC has pulled no punches about the fact that it intends to bring Heros up to Android 2.0 (or is that 2.1?) spec at some point, though neither Sprint nor Verizon had quickly followed on to assure customers that there’d be upgrades ready and waiting for their versions (sure, technically, the Droid Eris is a different internal HTC codename than the Heros of the world, but they’re basically brothers from the same mother). Well, good news: Verizon has just announced that it’ll be bringing the phone to a “newer” build of Android with integrated Google Maps Navigation for release in the first quarter of 2010. Since Google’s nav app works on 1.6 now, that really doesn’t give us much of a clue which version the Droid Eris can expect to see — but seeing how we have leaked Hero firmwares running on 2.1 at this point, that’d seem like a probable target. With the Droid taking a baby step to 2.0.1 in the next few weeks, it seems at least possible that the shadow-dwelling Eris could end out ahead in the never-ending Android version game — crazy how the world works, isn’t it?

Verizon commits to ‘newer’ Android for Droid Eris with Google Maps Navigation in Q1 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know that leaked HTC Sense ROM with Android 2.1 underneath? Well, somebody did some digging and found a wild stack of HTC Android handset codenames buried within. It starts in the realm of the familiar, with mentions of Dragon, Passion, Dream and Hero, but then it starts to get a little wild. Here’s the full list: Bahamas, Bravo, DesireC, Dragon, Dream, Espresso, Halo, HeroCT, HeroC, Hero, Huangshan, Incredible, Legend, Liberty, Memphis, Paradise, PassionC, Passion, Sapphire and Supersonic. Pretty wild, right? There’s no telling what exactly this list implies, other than the fact that Passion and Dragon are indeed on the books, and that HTC’s naming department can really let the superlatives fly, but we’re sure all will be made clear over the next year or two.

Huge stash of HTC Android codenames found within 2.1 ROM originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC promised the world an Android 2.0-based firmware for its Hero line once it figured out the nitty gritty details of porting Sense to Google’s latest code, leapfrogging Donut altogether — but now, it looks like they’re gonna do one better. Screenshots found today show a Hero running Android 2.1, which would dovetail nicely with the fact that Google had teased a “minor update” to 2.0 before the end of 2009 back when it announced Eclair last month. The interface looks largely untouched from 1.5, proof that HTC was able to bring Sense up to speed with minimum drama; it’s unclear when this’ll all be available, but considering that Sprint’s version just got a super-minor update, some carrier-branded versions could be in for a wait. One more pic after the break.

Continue reading HTC Hero caught running Android 2.1?

HTC Hero caught running Android 2.1? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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