HTC, time to update past 1.5 on the Hero

[dcdttu]

Ok, today a Google Maps update came out, as well as Google Goggles. BOTH apps are 1.6 and above only. Even Google is releasing things that their own OS can't use. And the sad thing is, phones are STILL coming out with 1.5 at their core (Xperia, anyone?)...

They should really get companies to use the latest OS version, or what's the point? I know it's not Google's full fault that HTC or Sony decides to use such a out of date version of Android, but they are Google, so they can do something about it, right?

-end rant

 

[rockcrawler]

Ok, today a Google Maps update came out, as well as Google Goggles. BOTH apps are 1.6 and above only. Even Google is releasing things that their own OS can't use. And the sad thing is, phones are STILL coming out with 1.5 at their core (Xperia, anyone?)...

They should really get companies to use the latest OS version, or what's the point? I know it's not Google's full fault that HTC or Sony decides to use such a out of date version of Android, but they are Google, so they can do something about it, right?

-end rant

Preaching to the choir here buddy

 

[Kelmar]

Rumors are flying around that we'll see 2.1 on or around 1/13. If that truly is the case we'll be able to use all those apps in just over a month.

In answer to your question, 2.0 and 1.6 are both still fairly new, it's not like they've been around for years.

As a similar scenario, if I bought a computer a month or two ago that had Vista on it when I knew that 7 was around the corner I wouldn't complain too much. If that computer came with 2000 on it it would be a completely different ball game though.

 

[Thetaman]

Rumors are flying around that we'll see 2.1 on or around 1/13. If that truly is the case we'll be able to use all those apps in just over a month.

In answer to your question, 2.0 and 1.6 are both still fairly new, it's not like they've been around for years.

As a similar scenario, if I bought a computer a month or two ago that had Vista on it when I knew that 7 was around the corner I wouldn't complain too much. If that computer came with 2000 on it it would be a completely different ball game though.

Buying a computer with Vista is like buying a phone with Android 1.6.

We are using 1.5 (like XP) and it is getting ignored even though it shouldn't be. Maybe that's a different story in another 6 months, but for right now. The apps should be compatible with 1.5 forward, in my opinion.

 

[BiGMERF]

OOOOH, BOY.. Flame on

 

[romeosidvicious]

I an all honesty we all bought the Hero from Sprint without even a tentative date for an upgrade. Hell there wasn't even the promise of an upgrade. I would prefer to wait longer and have HTC/Sprint get it right rather than see the same sorts of issue we saw with the 1.5 image prior to the update. Software development isn't like taking a dump. HTC can't just demand their devs crap out a perfect 1.6/2.0/2.1 image and with the issues on the original image my guess is that they are taking their time and getting it right.

The problem is that folks seem to think they are entitled to a new version of the OS when they frankly are not. We all bought a Sprint Hero with 1.5 and no promise of an upgrade to anything. No promise of 1.6. No promise of 2.0. No promise of 2.1. To continue the computer analogy this thread is like someone buying a Dell computer that ships with Vista and whining that Dell isn't giving them Vista. We didn't buy an Android 2.0 phone and while we know the GSM version is getting the update we don't know if we are and frankly we aren't owed any damn thing from HTC or Sprint aside from security and bug fixes for the version our phone came with.

It makes me sick to see people who think they entitled to something that's not included in their contract, was never promised by either Sprint or the device manufacture, and then want to whine about their feelings of entitlement in public. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

[Thetaman]

I an all honesty we all bought the Hero from Sprint without even a tentative date for an upgrade. Hell there wasn't even the promise of an upgrade. I would prefer to wait longer and have HTC/Sprint get it right rather than see the same sorts of issue we saw with the 1.5 image prior to the update. Software development isn't like taking a dump. HTC can't just demand their devs crap out a perfect 1.6/2.0/2.1 image and with the issues on the original image my guess is that they are taking their time and getting it right.

The problem is that folks seem to think they are entitled to a new version of the OS when they frankly are not. We all bought a Sprint Hero with 1.5 and no promise of an upgrade to anything. No promise of 1.6. No promise of 2.0. No promise of 2.1. To continue the computer analogy this thread is like someone buying a Dell computer that ships with Vista and whining that Dell isn't giving them Vista. We didn't buy an Android 2.0 phone and while we know the GSM version is getting the update we don't know if we are and frankly we aren't owed any damn thing from HTC or Sprint aside from security and bug fixes for the version our phone came with.

It makes me sick to see people who think they entitled to something that's not included in their contract, was never promised by either Sprint or the device manufacture, and then want to whine about their feelings of entitlement in public. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Are you new to smartphones? Do you not know this community and its user base? We want the newest and greatest OS and phones. Things change rapidly and unfortunately it is hardest for providers to keep up.

I agree with you and I want a thoroughly tested OS update before released, but in this day and age providers have set the precedent in iPhone's OS, webOS, WM, and Blackberry that updates are made on current devices. So why should we be ashamed to want the newest and greatest thing?

Pretty sure if you took a poll and ask users if they wanted to stick with their current OS or have an updated one with new enhancements/features (that had been tested), they would chose option 2.

 

[nick325i]

You guys are all completely missing the boat.

Half the features that Sense UI provide are things that are native in 2.0. We've had these since before the Droid launches. So we can't use some certain apps, big deal.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Stop whining.

We will get an update. We are not entitled to crap. If you're sick of waiting go get a moto droid or whatever so you can enjoy crappy build quality, more expensive plans and the fact the a lot of programs don't work on 2.0 or don't display properly on the new screen sizes from the market place because they were developed for 1.5 or 1.6.

 

[cc82]

Buying a computer with Vista is like buying a phone with Android 1.6.

We are using 1.5 (like XP) and it is getting ignored even though it shouldn't be. Maybe that's a different story in another 6 months, but for right now. The apps should be compatible with 1.5 forward, in my opinion.

I wouldn't say we're being ignored is a fair characterization... it is pretty well known that the Hero/Eris will be upgraded to 2.1 soon... I'm sure Google was aware of this when developing apps, personally I'm fine waiting an extra month so HTC can work out the bugs from upgrading Sense UI to 2.0+

 

[pdragon]

Are you new to smartphones? Do you not know this community and its user base? We want the newest and greatest OS and phones. Things change rapidly and unfortunately it is hardest for providers to keep up.

I agree with you and I want a thoroughly tested OS update before released, but in this day and age providers have set the precedent in iPhone's OS, webOS, WM, and Blackberry that updates are made on current devices. So why should we be ashamed to want the newest and greatest thing?

And it's a completely unrealistic precedent and, as is being demonstrated repeatedly from everyone (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc) putting out software that is riddled with flaws and causing major inconveniences to their customers. It's a precedent that needs to be changed to stability from the manufacturer and patience from the customer.

Pretty sure if you took a poll and ask users if they wanted to stick with their current OS or have an updated one with new enhancements/features (that had been tested), they would chose option 2.

Of course people would want the "newer, better" software. But what people want isn't always what's best for them.

 

[Thetaman]

You guys are all completely missing the boat.

Half the features that Sense UI provide are things that are native in 2.0. We've had these since before the Droid launches. So we can't use some certain apps, big deal.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Stop whining.

We will get an update. We are not entitled to crap. If you're sick of waiting go get a moto droid or whatever so you can enjoy crappy build quality, more expensive plans and the fact the a lot of programs don't work on 2.0 or don't display properly on the new screen sizes from the market place because they were developed for 1.5 or 1.6.

That was helpful how?

And I wouldn't switch to Verizon even if they had the best device in the world because they are severely over-priced.

I know we will get an update...think you missed the point.

And it's a completely unrealistic precedent and, as is being demonstrated repeatedly from everyone (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc) putting out software that is riddled with flaws and causing major inconveniences to their customers. It's a precedent that needs to be changed to stability from the manufacturer and patience from the customer.
Of course people would want the "newer, better" software. But what people want isn't always what's best for them.

True I want the newest and greatest, but most definitely stable...and will wait for that. Unfortunately, too many people are impatient.

 

[sagle]

I just wish that android was more like a computer OS, and the Cell companies just provided the network and allowed us to control the software and install and version of google/android we wanted. Or let google manage the update process just like any other OS with automatic updates.

Sagle

 

[romeosidvicious]

Are you new to smartphones? Do you not know this community and its user base? We want the newest and greatest OS and phones. Things change rapidly and unfortunately it is hardest for providers to keep up.

I am not new to smartphones at all. I have been using them in a professional capacity when they were ugly bricks. I have been around this community since the launch of the Hero and spent quite a bit of time trying to help people understand things like memory issues. I want the newest and shiniest everything. You should see my wife's eyes roll when a new phone/netbook/laptop/nVidia card and so on is announced. The differnce in my addiction to tech is that I know damn good and well I'll have to pay for it if I want it most of the time. To be completely honest I'll replace the Hero with the first 1Ghz, AMOLED Android phone to drop on Sprint probably regardless of the OS revision and it won't be an upgrade price.

I agree with you and I want a thoroughly tested OS update before released, but in this day and age providers have set the precedent in iPhone's OS, webOS, WM, and Blackberry that updates are made on current devices. So why should we be ashamed to want the newest and greatest thing?

Because you act like you are entitled to the latest and greatest, on your timetable, with no effort from you. You want HTC/Sprint to develop a new load for you phone, test it, fix the bugs they catch, and send it to you less than ninety days after the phone was released. Are you insane? Do you have any clue about software development cycles? It is the whining and entitlement that folks should be ashamed of and not wanting the latest and greatest. I promise that annoying Sprint and HTC over twitter, email, forums, et al is not going to speed up the release. And you don't want it to. You want 2.0/1 for your phone and so do I but I think we want a fully tested 2.0/1 load.

Pretty sure if you took a poll and ask users if they wanted to stick with their current OS or have an updated one with new enhancements/features (that had been tested), they would chose option 2.

And I want the same thing. I am just willing to wait a reasonable amount of time for it. Of course it could be that I understand software development cycles and the folks whining don't. I also understand that HTC could never release 2.0/1 for the CDMA Hero and, while i would be annoyed, be within their rights as they promised us nothing when we bought the phone. Any inconvenience regarding not having 1.6/2.0/2.1 is not on Sprint or HTC, it is on us. You know the folks who bought the damn phone hoping for an unpromised upgrade? I am one of them but the difference is I don't believe that I am owed an upgrade.

 

[romeosidvicious]

I just wish that android was more like a computer OS, and the Cell companies just provided the network and allowed us to control the software and install and version of google/android we wanted. Or let google manage the update process just like any other OS with automatic updates.

Sagle

It is if you are willing to deal with rooting. There's work on 2.1 (maybe 2.0 I don't remember) on XDA as well as optimized 1.5 ROMs for the CDMA hero. Of course Google isn't handling the updates but there are options out there. It's the nature of open source.

 

[osli]

+1 fir Apple. I guess that's the advantage of being both hardware and software developer. Sure, you may have to wait for a new feature in a future update, but at least you know that you won't be left behind with those updates. This fragmenting of the Android os/hardware market definitely has drawbacks for the consumer.

And it is absolutely reasonable to expect that our phones will get os updates. They are full featured computers running Unix variant oses. Full featured enough to have bugs that need addressing. If more was perfect out of the.box you might have a point, but it Isnt and you don't. Besides, the leader In smartphone has set the stanard, and if android based manufacturers want to compete they'll have to live up to that.

I'm not demanding any timetables, but I do expect that an update will bring my phone into full compability with the "android community" which is a big part of the lure for these phones.

 

[romeosidvicious]

+1 fir Apple. I guess that's the advantage of being both hardware and software developer. Sure, you may have to wait for a new feature in a future update, but at least you know that you won't be left behind with those updates. This fragmenting of the Android os/hardware market definitely has drawbacks for the consumer.

It's the same fragmenting as exists in the WinMo market.

And it is absolutely reasonable to expect that our phones will get os updates. They are full featured computers running Unix variant oses. Full featured enough to have bugs that need addressing. If more was perfect out of the.box you might have a point, but it Isnt and you don't. Besides, the leader In smartphone has set the stanard, and if android based manufacturers want to compete they'll have to live up to that.

RIM (Blackberry) is still the market leader, followed by WinMo, then the iPhone. First point is the the iPhone wasn't perfect out of the box and minor issues still exist. Blackberry's updates are few and far between but do fix things properly. So if you are refering to the iPhone your point is rubbish in my opinion. Just look at how many revs it took them to get cut and paste, a standard smartphone feature. As far as issues on the Hero go they have already released an update to take care of many of them and could release more long before any update to the base OS. I assume iPhone was your incorrect reference to "leader in smartphone" and they don't update the base OS frequently and certainly haven't in the same time frame people are crying for a new OS rev on the Hero. So your point is invalid from start to finish.

I'm not demanding any timetables, but I do expect that an update will bring my phone into full compability with the "android community" which is a big part of the lure for these phones.

Most all of the Android phone in existence run 1.5 at this point. You are in full compatibility with the Android community at large. HTC/Sprint could release bug fixes and security updates only until the phone was EOL'd and be perfectly within any reasonable expectation. I doubt that's all they will do but, again and a point you haven't refuted, we weren't promised an upgrade path. We all bought a phone with last years hardware, no promises of OS upgrades, and yet some of us are whining about a lack of OS update in three months? In case you missed it that's the point I am making. I never said we shouldn't want an upgrade. I also mention that I want an upgrade. What I have said is trying to pressure HTC/Sprint won't do any good and the feeling that anyone is entitled to an upgrade is bollocks. Furthermore there are posts here and in other threads that clearly show some folks think are entitled to an upgrade yesterday and that's bunk as well. I never derided the desire for an upgrade I only pointed out the facts which is that weren't promised one when we got the phone, we haven't been promised one now, and trying to force the issue isn't going to accomplish anything.

Thanks for playing.

 

[dcdttu]

1. Android 1.5 is not like Windows XP: Android in it's totality has only been out a little over a year! XP is almost 10 years old, and still runs just about everything Microsoft puts out.

2. We should be entitled to an update: Sprint is a competitor in a very saturated, insane market we call cell phones. If they want to compete, they'll keep up, and they know this. Smartphones have caused wireless providers to stop providing stupid feature phones that Americans think they want because they know no better.

3. Apple has the advantage of a very similar hardware profile from phone to phone, causing updates to the phone to be much easier. Their problem lies there also. The screen size of the iPhone is locked by one hundred thousand apps. If they change it, they'll have to come up with something brilliant. Only thing is, they're Apple, and they probably will come up with something brilliant. Bravo for Android for working on many devices. Shame on Android for being so version specific just to get apps to work.

4. We ARE getting 2.0 or 2.1! Yay! I hope the CDMA Hero isn't the redheaded stepchild of HTC and gets pushed out months after the GSM one. I'll be ticked. Verizon has the Droid on 2.0 and the Eris is going to be 2.0 shortly (as they announced). Hopefully the Sprint Hero gets the Eris' love.

 

[Deleted User]

The thing is Apple changed the game. I do expect OS upgrades...period.
In the Windows vs. palm world M$ only offered .5 increments for Windows mobile. Then a new phone was the only way to get an upgrade. Thankfully Apple changed the game for us consumers. They contenue to upgrade the OS for their 2G phones. All be it some features are being stripped out. So the fact that I consider the Hero a Iphone killer for Sprint means they had better give us OS upgrades. Otherwise we will all buy IPhone for Sprint once they are available. Don't forget how valuable the greenback is these days. If HTC and Google can't satiate me they will lose my business. Palm and M$ could not instill the faith of free OS upgrades so they failed to earn my business. With all of the rooting and open source mentality Google seemed like the only viable alternative to Apple. They had better promise OS upgrades or it is game over for them.

I an all honesty we all bought the Hero from Sprint without even a tentative date for an upgrade. Hell there wasn't even the promise of an upgrade. I would prefer to wait longer and have HTC/Sprint get it right rather than see the same sorts of issue we saw with the 1.5 image prior to the update. Software development isn't like taking a dump. HTC can't just demand their devs crap out a perfect 1.6/2.0/2.1 image and with the issues on the original image my guess is that they are taking their time and getting it right.

The problem is that folks seem to think they are entitled to a new version of the OS when they frankly are not. We all bought a Sprint Hero with 1.5 and no promise of an upgrade to anything. No promise of 1.6. No promise of 2.0. No promise of 2.1. To continue the computer analogy this thread is like someone buying a Dell computer that ships with Vista and whining that Dell isn't giving them Vista. We didn't buy an Android 2.0 phone and while we know the GSM version is getting the update we don't know if we are and frankly we aren't owed any damn thing from HTC or Sprint aside from security and bug fixes for the version our phone came with.

It makes me sick to see people who think they entitled to something that's not included in their contract, was never promised by either Sprint or the device manufacture, and then want to whine about their feelings of entitlement in public. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

[Thetaman]

4. We ARE getting 2.0 or 2.1! Yay! I hope the CDMA Hero isn't the redheaded stepchild of HTC and gets pushed out months after the GSM one. I'll be ticked. Verizon has the Droid on 2.0 and the Eris is going to be 2.0 shortly (as they announced). Hopefully the Sprint Hero gets the Eris' love.

Above you said the only point that truly matters. Verizon has announced that that they will be updating the Eris (Hero) early next year. Verizon is one of Sprint's biggest competitors. Sprint needs to keep its shrinking customer base happy and to do this need to make the same update in a similar timeframe.

I am still whole-heartedly behind them testing the crap out of the update though!

Verizon is throwing down the gauntlet when it comes to Android and Sprint needs to keep up.

 

[romeosidvicious]

The thing is Apple changed the game. I do expect OS upgrades...period.
In the Windows vs. palm world M$ only offered .5 increments for Windows mobile. Then a new phone was the only way to get an upgrade. Thankfully Apple changed the game for us consumers. They contenue to upgrade the OS for their 2G phones. All be it some features are being stripped out. So the fact that I consider the Hero a Iphone killer for Sprint means they had better give us OS upgrades. Otherwise we will all buy IPhone for Sprint once they are available. Don't forget how valuable the greenback is these days. If HTC and Google can't satiate me they will lose my business. Palm and M$ could not instill the faith of free OS upgrades so they failed to earn my business. With all of the rooting and open source mentality Google seemed like the only viable alternative to Apple. They had better promise OS upgrades or it is game over for them.

But as you said yourself their 2G phones are 2G phones. They have not gotten a 1.5-2.0 style upgrade. The upgrades to which you refer are more like service packs for windows than they are the upgrade people want here. Apple didn't change the game. They are number three in the marketplace and have very little business acceptance and they are locked into a single carrier for now. No-one promises OS upgrades. Take a look at Apple: they release them, hell they announce them even, but they never promised them. All they promised was to fix bugs, which is what most of the OS upgrades you are talking about are. So in reality, in comparison to Apple we've already had one more OS upgrade than they got in the same amount time if you want to compare apples to apples. If you want to go over to a network that's so bad they released an app so you can tell them where their own network sucks then enjoy the iPhone. You weren't promised an update to 1.6 or 2.x with the Hero. You aren't entitled to it. If you want to wait for it I am sure it will show up but no-one, Sprint or HTC, owes you that upgrade. If you think they owe you something then I am sure you can point out the language in the contract so we can all see it.

 

[romeosidvicious]

2. We should be entitled to an update: Sprint is a competitor in a very saturated, insane market we call cell phones. If they want to compete, they'll keep up, and they know this. Smartphones have caused wireless providers to stop providing stupid feature phones that Americans think they want because they know no better.

I agree with everything but this. We shouldn't be entitled to anything other than what the contract we signed covers.

Main Entry: en

 

[tdieckman]

Rumors are flying around that we'll see 2.1 on or around 1/13. If that truly is the case we'll be able to use all those apps in just over a month.

In answer to your question, 2.0 and 1.6 are both still fairly new, it's not like they've been around for years.

As a similar scenario, if I bought a computer a month or two ago that had Vista on it when I knew that 7 was around the corner I wouldn't complain too much. If that computer came with 2000 on it it would be a completely different ball game though.

If we use this analogy, then in the PC world, it would be like when Vista came out, then all new applications would only run on Vista and when Windows 7 comes out, then all new applications would only run on Windows 7. Sure, this does happen on the PC sometimes, but it does irritate us, but usually software developers write applications that support older versions of Windows for years.

With the fast pace of the Android OS releases with new features being added, developers want to write apps that use the new features and there's no way for an Android user to even update their phone-computer to support new features without rooting and installing a custom ROM (if it's even available). When you buy a PC, you can install the new version of Windows so that you can get access to newer apps that only run on newer Windows versions--and that's what we're missing with Android since it's not easy to update the Android OS ourselves. And that's why we expect the phone manufacturer/phone company to do this for us.

But as others have put it, pushing an Android update isn't just something the developers can just throw together and send out to everyone. It takes a lot of testing and bug fixing to end up with a quality product after doing the actual work of putting the new features in. I'll be happy with an update sometime early next year, but I will start getting impatient after Feb since I'm sure there will be 2.2, 2.3, or maybe even a 3.0 expected in the coming months of 2010 and I want to be able to install new apps on my phone-computer.

 

[kennyidaho]

Twitter your thoughts to @sprint and @htc - even you romeosidvicious they need to hear both sides of the story.

 

[dcdttu]

I agree with everything but this. We shouldn't be entitled to anything other than what the contract we signed covers.

I'll change 'entitled' to 'they'd better or we'll leave Sprint.' Better? Geez, you broke out the Webster on me!

 

[romeosidvicious]

I'll change 'entitled' to 'they'd better or we'll leave Sprint.' Better? Geez, you broke out the Webster on me!

The problem with that is that only the semi-geeks are going to bail on sprint. The singer songwriter I went to see the other night who, much to my surprise, was sporting a hero won't leave Sprint over a lack of updates. My wife wouldn't but she might not count she's as big a nerd as me. Simply put most people won't even notice a lack of updates. If you gather up all the android forums for the Sprint Hero and look at the number of users it's a tiny, little bitty, insignificant sampling of the actual number of users and not even half of those are complaining. So left with choice of pushing out a buggy image to satisfy a small vocal few or waiting until the image is right even if takes a significant amount of time I would hope Sprint/HTC chooses to wait.

That said I also think it would be bad business for them not to provide an update. I have said over and over that I want the update as much as anyone else. My only problem is seeing the unreasonable demands, calls to bug whatever poor soul got stuck with manning twitter that day, threats to leave if it isn't provided within some arbitrary time frame, and the general attitude that the update is owed to us for some esoteric reason. I think they will provide an update. I don't think it will be much longer. I think they would be stupid not to in all honesty. But we aren't owed the update by any stretch of common sense or reason. If they make a bad business decision and decide not to provide one then there might be a reason to whine about it but the fact is neither HTC nor Sprint has said no. We see work on the GSM Heros from HTC and all indications are that we will get an update. At best the whining is annoying to HTC, Sprint, and the onlookers and at worst HTC caves and releases a shitty update which will only spark more whining from the exact same crowd. Some folks wouldn't be happy hung with a brand new rope.