Android 2.2 bound for HTC Desire
An update bringing Google Android 2.2 to the HTC Desire could reach owners on the Orange network within the next four weeks.
According to a statement on Twitter from Orange UK PR manager Conor Maples, Orange HTC Desire owners should have the upgrade before the end of the month. "We are working with HTC to bring the 2.2 Android update to Desire customers as soon as we can," he wrote. "This process normally takes about four weeks."
Meanwhile, Verizon announced on Friday that Droid owners in the US would be getting the over-the-air (OTA) updates starting on 2 August. Motorola could not confirm to ZDNet UK if or when the European equivalent, known as the Milestone, would be getting the upgrade.
However, the official Twitter account of O2 Germany tweeted last Friday that Milestone owners on that network could expect the new software before the end of September, and that Desire owners could expect to receive it from the middle of August onwards.
Closer to home, O2 could not confirm that its UK Desire customers would be getting the upgrade within the same time frame.
"We're working with HTC to bring the latest version of Android — 2.2 Froyo — to our HTC Desire customers as soon as possible," said an O2 spokesperson. "This will take a period of several weeks, and we will update our customers once the new software is available."
Android version 2.2 brings a number of tweaks to the OS, including a redesigned launcher, the ability to use a handset as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot — depending on operator policy — and support for Adobe Flash 10.1.
The update also includes new enterprise features such as support for multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts, support for Exchange calendars within the calendar app and improved security with the option of numeric or alphanumeric password entry and remote wipe functionality.
Google Nexus One owners have been able to upgrade to Froyo since 28 June, while Vodafone-tied Nexus Ones should have started receiving a prompt for the OTA upgrade from the last week in July.
HTC Hero owners on the Orange network were told last week that the long-awaited upgrade to Android version 2.1 (Eclair) would start at the beginning of August, although some found that moving the date forward on the handset resulted in an immediate prompt to download the first part of the update.