And so the rumours begin
Personally, I'll believe the update is coming out when I see it on HTC's site. Having had a Hero for 6 months before I got my Desire, I saw the continued rumours of 2.1 for many months. Every time the supposed release date arrived, a new rumour popped up saying the actual release date was a month later. The Hero still hasn't got it's update .

 

Would by very nice if it is that soon, and of course the timing would steal a bit of iPhone 4's thunder.

 

The release schedule for newer versions of Android was one of the things that I worried about a bit before finally going for a Desire.

I did a lot of reading around as everyone was saying HTC were very slow to update, but it appears this was only really an issue with 2.1 and the Hero, everything else before that I read about HTC was that they were really good at delivering updates.

Hopefully they've learned a lot about making SenseUI work in the 2.* versions of Android and the Desire will get 2.2 sooner than expected, but I think because they've been stung by this before, HTC are playing it carefully and not promising anything before they're sure they can deliver it.

Would be nice if 2.2 came sooner rather than later though - it seems like a bit of an oversight to say the least that Apps can't be installed to the SD card by default, given they're a major selling point of smartphones these days, so fingers crossed we won't have to wait too long.

 

I doubt it will come in this update, but Google said that they plan to change Android so that the OS updates are separated from custom UI (like HTC Sense UI). I'm really hoping this will come soon, but I don't expect it until Android 3.0.

 

We always want promised technology and updates right as they come out. In reality it doesn't happen. I am sure as a platform for Android HTC have had the betas so could play around with their Sense layer. Well thats the sensible thing to do. No pun intended.

 

This is supposed to be coming this Autumn with 2.5 (gingerbread) and it will require a full rewrite of Sense which is why I think it highly unlikely that we will see 2.2.

As I understand it this autumn/winter we will receive 2.5 OTA like the N1 and then Sense is to be made available through the Market to be applied over the top as a home replacement.

 

Whilst I agree that, given HTC's track record, we should all be seriously circumspect about the above date, in the case of the Hero, we weren't dealing with a new release of Android the month after the handset launched. I think the situation with the Desire is somewhat different as it's being marketed as the "ultimate" Android handset and the one that can finally take it to the iPhone and win so, for them to drag their heels releasing a new version of Android which has arrived so soon after the handset's release, would be rather bad PR. We also have to consider that their competing with the Nexus One, although they obviously make both models.

 

this is already been discussed in hte official 2.2 thread sticky. Lets keep it all in one place