Sprint Hero & Moment To Get Android 2.1
| by Rob Jackson on December 18th, 2009 |
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Usually when a mobile carrier/manufacturer needs to “clarify” something in terms of dates or updates its about delaying, pushing back, or doing something else you don’t want them to do. For once, Sprint and HTC have made us very happy by doing what we DIDN’T expect them to do: they scratched the Sprint HTC Hero and Samsung Moment Android 2.0 updates and declared they’ll be updating directly to 2.1!
Pretty sweet. Unfortunately we’re still seeing 1H 2010 as the timeframe which means you could potentially be waiting until June until you benefit from this in any way, shape or form. This update, as you can see, came by way of Sprint’s Official Twitter Account. Interesting how they choose this medium for news distribution more and more, isn’t it?
1. Bobby wrote on December 18, 2009
lol the leaked rom is going to be completely stable way before that happens..pretty much everyhing is working except multitouch and camera
2. Brian wrote on December 18, 2009
Does anyone know if the euro HTC Hero will get the 2.1 upgrade?
3. davis wrote on December 18, 2009
anybody know when android will get adobe flash?
4. davis wrote on December 18, 2009
the new and useful version, obviously
5. Rob wrote on December 18, 2009
HTC really need to come up with a way to apply updates to sense without it taking 6-8 months. By the time we’re getting 2.1 there’ll be 2.2 or 3 or whatever and they’ll be behind again. It’s really putting me off of buying an android phone with a moded interface next time round which is annoying because I do like sense.#
It would be interesting to see an article comparing the pros/cons of google experience/sense/blur etc
6. deezle wrote on December 18, 2009
@davis
All indicators point to 1q 2010,I’m pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that they were shooting for flash 10 on all mobile os’s except mac.
7. jason wrote on December 18, 2009
Really, you didn’t expect it? Why would they launch the shoddy 2.0 version when 2.01 is readily available. 2.01 is technically a sub-version of 2.0, so it’s a perfectly reasonable expectation to think they would choose the latest stable release that isn’t being prepared specifically for a hardware launch (like 2.1).
8. jason wrote on December 18, 2009
blargh i’m an idiot
9. Jarl wrote on December 18, 2009
i dont even have sense on my belgian Magic and i’m still on 1.5!
decided not to wait any longer and installed a custom rom and will be ditching this phone the moment the X10 becomes available (and hope SE will do a better job of updating it)
10. SanzaBlancoAkA2C wrote on December 18, 2009
@Rob
It’s that exact reason why I’m not really interested in any of the Android skins. I’m fine with the Google experience versions anyway. Sony’s interface looks really good though.
11. Z-Liberator wrote on December 19, 2009
The reality is HTC does come out with updates, can you really trust other manufacturers will update their models? As a previous owner of a G1 i dropped it with a 1.6 to get a Hero with 1.5(Sense UI). I am not so sure some other manufactuers will do that for you, I pay for service + phone= a good deal. right?.
12. The Black Guy wrote on December 19, 2009
What happened to 2.0 for behold 2 and moto cliq? how about getting everyone on the same page instead of offering exclusivity of software to all these phone carriers? can we plz have that done? I want 2.0 and every update right when it comes out there after. Is it really that hard to update all these phones the same time?
13. Meezy wrote on December 19, 2009
Hi, I really can’t wait for the update, I wish HTC can get a move on already. I am from South Africa with Vodacom (Vodafone), does anyone know if we’ll be seeing an update? I really don’t know about carriers.
14. Martin wrote on December 19, 2009
Rob, you should really stop with these redundant stylistic devices:
“in any way, shape or form” and “in and of itself”.
It’s like saying I’ve got an e-mail, an electronic message and someone’s written me by way of the internet.
Sooo annoying. :P
15. mstarman wrote on December 19, 2009
This protracted, drawn out (Sorry Martin) release of OS updates is only going to hurt the app market. If the providers want a i-device competitive app ecosystem, they need to step up and get things on the same page within a shorter time period.
16. Babata wrote on December 19, 2009
I thought that HTC’s Sense on Android 1.5 pretty much does everything that Android 2.0 is doing without it… which would explain why HTC don’t feel the urgency to update it, but doesn’t explain why all these Android fanbois are rubbing their dicks while they dream of upgrading their Hero to Android 2.
17. ari-free wrote on December 19, 2009
well for one thing, app developers are sick of the fragmentation. Everyone should be on the same OS version since it is free.
18. maddmatt02 wrote on December 19, 2009
@ babata, HTC sense doesnt give me google maps navigation (although I do have sprints nav app), Im sure theres more…
19. grimdeath wrote on December 19, 2009
…still waiting to hear if I get any further updates on my G1, cmon we’re early adopters but should also be considered the biggest fans! let us know google!
20. 9ooyan wrote on December 19, 2009
after reading this post, i was nearby our local sprint store and decided to check these two phones out…man, that Moment phone seems so clunky after the droid came out. the Hero is real nice though, but with nexus 1 only a month or two (or 3?) away, i’ld holding off. but for existing users, this is definitely great news.
21. justin wrote on December 20, 2009
I’m intrested to see if my moment will change benchmark wise with 2.1. It already clocks higher than anything but the droid…we’ll see
22. maddmatt02 wrote on December 20, 2009
@ 9ooyan, I havent held the moment in my hands yet, but I have held the droid. I actually wanted the moment but if it is worse than the droid (feel wise), I dont want the moment. I would never want a droid. I dont like the feel of that slider, and I absolutetly HATE the keyboard. I dont think ive ever used a worse feeling hardware keyboard. every samsung Ive used so far, the keyboard felt FAR better.
23. 9ooyan wrote on December 20, 2009
@maddmatt02: i agree. the Moment DOES have a good keyboard, it’s just so thick and clunky compared to the droid. don’t get me wrong, i hated the droid keyboard too and didn’t go for it for that and some other reasons, but it was thin with a great screen (no AMOLED, but still pretty darn good). i mean, i’ve been waiting months and months to turn in my HTC hermes (aka ATT 8525), and for me, the moment just didn’t seem to be worth all that waiting. But then again, I’ve resigned myself to virtual keyboard at this point for the sake of the Nexus 1 when it comes out…so having a thin phone is a major plus for me.
24. StuKuz wrote on December 20, 2009
It seems that even when the Moment gets updated to 2.1, it’s hardware will be lagging. 3.2Mpixels vrs 4.9-8 on other machines, 320×480 vrs 800×480 screen res, and I don’t know how the Samsung motor compares with the Qualcom. Maybe we might see a new Samsung model coming out? Pretty crazy that a 2 month old model is lagging ….
Be well all
-Stuart
25. Pope Innocent II wrote on December 21, 2009
FFS, will Sprint/HTC just get this upgrade complete within 1st QUARTER and not 1st HALF? These posts are getting redundant, and, though the Hero is a nice phone, I’m starting to feel the bitter bite of buyer’s remorse when all these fancier phones equipped with the latest Android OS are being released within the same quarter as when the Hero was released.
26. juan wrote on December 29, 2009
Just one question… Can they open TIFF files? my moment doesnt.. the droid doesnt.. tried to open file from website and none of these great machine could do it.. i was able to do it with my treo 700p.
27. Cellular South HTC Hero to get Android 2.1 first half of 2010 | Android Phone Fans wrote on December 29, 2009
[...] glad you know it is coming? If you haven’t noticed, this is also roughly the same time that Sprint’s Hero & Samsung Moment should be getting their 2.1. Seems about right considering Cellular South’s Hero is basically the same as Sprint’s [...]
28. Sandmanwv wrote on January 6, 2010
I guess Nextel is the proverbial rear end of the horse. They have no plans to upgrade our HTC Hero’s that I can find, and I have searched for hours. Only thing I can find is “Hero is here and available”
I wonder if the Sprint upgrade would work and where I could get it?
29. lloyd wrote on January 22, 2010
The moment does have a lower res camera and only an HVGA screen, but I hardly think that means it is lagging behind other smartphones in terms of hardware. It’s 800MHz processor beats pretty much everything else out there (except maemo’s, which I think are competitive), the HVGA screen just looks AMAZING, and the keyboard is very well designed and well worth the extra thickness for me.
In terms of performance, I’m able to flawlessly tunnel encrypted RDP connections with bi-directional audio over already encrypted SSH connections (connectbot + Remote RDP Enterprise).
30. chrisleonard wrote on January 25, 2010
@madmatt – htc sense doesn’t give you google map navigation? I know it doesn’t come from the sense UI, but my 1.5 hero has google maps navigation. Can you clarify?
31. Kyle Poole wrote on January 29, 2010
Guess wat!!! I don’t know if its true… but I went to the sprint store to get the samsung moment cl14 update… and the sprint rep. Told me that android 2.1 WAS COMING OUT SOMETIME IN FEBUARY GARUANTEED… don’t qoute ME, qoute the sprint rep that EXACTLY WAT HE SAID… I HOPE HE’S RIGHT… I’M SO EXCITED.. GO ANDROID!!!!
32. Kyle Poole wrote on January 30, 2010
I just spoke with another sprint rep and he told me the same (sometime in febuary). He also told me that the moment 2.1 update was most likely complete because he spoke with samsung and that’s what samsung told him… he said the only thing keeping the moment update from being released is the fact that sprint is waiting on htc to finish testing 2.1 for sprint hero so they can launch both of there phones at the same time…I hope this is rite!!!
33. Justin wrote on January 31, 2010
I just switched to the hero from the iPhone and the only reason i did so is because my bill from att was extremely expensive… in my opinion nothing compares to the iphone for many reasons. My main reason is that apple is consistent with software updates i think it is ridiculous that a so called competitor has several phones out all with different running software versions. If google ever wants to stand a chance in this market they need to make constant updates and for all phones and carriers, i am actually considering switching back because of the lack of consistency
34. Kyle Poole wrote on January 31, 2010
Patience my brotha patience… when the update comes u will be satisfied beyond belief!! .. the iphone is a childs toy. . The android is a MANS PHONE!!!
35. Shuralee wrote on February 10, 2010
Hey all,
Any rumors on 2.1 having prper support for the Bluetooth keyboards? I mean, real Bluetooth support a.k.a. HID, not an SPP such as KeyPro?
It’s a shame – I had Bluetooth keyboard working with Treo 700WX years ago. The thumb typing just does no cut it with a full corporate email so we have to carry laptops. Like many, I am stuck with Sprint through my company’s account and I really need to use my Microsoft 6000 keyboard with the Hero.
thx!
36. Carl wrote on February 16, 2010
I don’t know what you are talking about saying the Moment is clunky. Sure, it’s a hefty phone. What do you expect with a qwerty slider? Sure, the Droid is thinner, but IMHO the thumb board SUCKS. The moment’s thumboard is much better. Trade offs. There’s always trade offs. I love my Moment. Except it won’t connect with my Freedom Pro keyboard, but the Android drivers are coming so all is cool.