Hero to get Android 2.1 in february (not confirmed

[delanvital]

It would be about time to get away from 1.5 for sure, hope it is true.

http://www.androidguys.com/2010/01/13/europes-htc-hero-to-get-android-2-1-mid-february/

• Android 2.1 is much faster
• One interesting option is a preview of desktops, you can zoom out two Finders as pages in your browser. Effect. Effectively reduce the deskop, brillant view.
• Icons have clear coat (Espresso perhaps?)
• At the bottom of the menu we have: phone, menu, contacts
• HTC added a nice transition when you quit the [COLOR=#EE145B ! important][COLOR=#EE145B ! important]application[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]
  and move around the options.
  
• Lock screen is not rounded.
• Faster-running HTC keyboard.
• New widgets from HTC (News and Weather, YouTube)
• Improved flashplayer. Operates smoothly.
• Graphic change in the gallery and video player (Cosmetic procedures)
• And the rest of the news, which introduces a new android. (Market etc.)
• We have more RAM.  About 130-140mb after killing the process. ââ,¬Å"

[smilodon]

I've seen that story as well. It sounds a reasonable time scale. HTC has been working with Android 2 while they have been building the Nexus One. So they have had the code long enough to tweak it for the Hero.

[Bob]

Just crossing my fingers that the rumours are true, cause I'm very looking forward to Android 2.1 :woot2:

[OldBloke]

2.1 now rumoured to be in March

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/01/27/htc_hero_android_update/

[OldBloke]

2.1 now rumoured to be in March

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/01/27/htc_hero_android_update/

Now April :taz:

http://www.htcheroblog.com/2010/03/11/htc-hero-eclair-android-update-now-due-in-april/

[delanvital]

Now April :taz:

http://www.htcheroblog.com/2010/03/11/htc-hero-eclair-android-update-now-due-in-april/

Well, the april deadline was first a rumour from HTC Belgium. That ended up being replaced by a new one, even later in April. Nothing official yet, and IIRC the latest offical was "first half of 2010" from HTC... I have been looking into changing ROMS, if nothing has happened ultimo april... since the phone is rooted, to a 2.1. There are still problems with them, but they are almost perfect now...

Edit: quite pleased with the 3.2 beta 5 of the Modaco Custom ROM (MCR) with the new technologist core. Combined with the fact that I disabled Sense UI and changed the autokiller settings in Android, the phone is soooo smooth. I also went for WCDMA only and browing is much, much faster. The new ROM also supports SSH and other goodies, such as google voice control, where you can speak instead og type. Also, it has the WaveSecure app built in, in such a way, that any thief cannot easily uninstall it, even with a wipe.

[Bob]

Well, the april deadline was first a rumour from HTC Belgium. That ended up being replaced by a new one, even later in April. Nothing official yet, and IIRC the latest offical was "first half of 2010" from HTC...

Starting to get kinda impatient with this myself :sideways:

Edit: quite pleased with the 3.2 beta 5 of the Modaco Custom ROM (MCR)  with the new technologist core.

I'm kinda interested in testing out a custom ROM myself (might do even when we get 2.1, as I suppose the custom builds might be faster?). I found this forum page providing info about installing MCR. Do you have any tips from your experience with this? Or are there any other good ROMs you could recommend for the Hero?

[delanvital]

Starting to get kinda impatient with this myself :sideways:

I'm kinda interested in testing out a custom ROM myself (might do even when we get 2.1, as I suppose the custom builds might be faster?). I found this forum page providing info about installing MCR. Do you have any tips from your experience with this? Or are there any other good ROMs you could recommend for the Hero?

That is the page I started out with first and also the ROM I went back to. I believe this is the best package out there, the MCR. There are faster ones, and some with the later features partly implemented, but this is the most worked-through ROM IMHO. I am a paying user so I can "bake" my own ROM with the features I fancy. Quite nice.  

Regarding how to go about it - rooting the phone is rather easy, while also being the most important step. When the phone is rooted, you basically do a special key combo when booting, which boots into this menu, from where you can backup the ROM, replace it from a zip you've placed on the SD etc.

What I do, when installing a new ROM, is bake it, place it on the SD-card called update.zip, boot into the custom boot menu, do a nandroid backup of the ROM from the menu, then select update from the zip-file... wait 2 minutes. reboot. voila! I have switched ROMs perhaps 10 times now.

I would recommend doing the nandroid backup, and also backup contacts and what you might have from the phone. Just in case. I have never had a problem though.

Note - if for some reason your version of the HTC ROM is too new, the regular rooting procedure is not possible. This was purposedly blocked. What you apparently do, is downgrade the ROM via OTA (don't know how) and then apply the rooting approach. It is called "gold"-something.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'd gladly help.

Edit: the rooting procedure using ADB, as mentioned on the site, are way more complex than what I did. I basically just ran a special type of application... like here (although it has changed since then, I have the old Cyanogen-version)

[Bob]

Thanks Delan, sounds like it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm not sure I'll get to it in the immediate future, but I'll remember to poke you if I end up needing help

and also backup contacts and what you might have from the phone.

Just a small question regarding this. I use all Google's apps for both contacts, calendar and mail (only  think I would really have to back up is text messages I guess). But how is it w.r.t. Google's apps in these custom ROMs?

A while back I remember there was a lot of fuzz when Cyanogen got a Cease&Desist-letter from Google because he included GMail, Google Calendar, Android Market and some other proprietary/non-free apps in the ROM. I think the solution Cyanogen ended up with to get around this, was to provide a backup application that users could use to legally backup their Google apps before they installed the ROM, and after the new ROM was in place these apps could be restored again. Is there something similar with MCR?

[delanvital]

Thanks Delan, sounds like it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm not sure I'll get to it in the immediate future, but I'll remember to poke you if I end up needing help


Just a small question regarding this. I use all Google's apps for both contacts, calendar and mail (only  think I would really have to back up is text messages I guess). But how is it w.r.t. Google's apps in these custom ROMs?

A while back I remember there was a lot of fuzz when Cyanogen got a Cease&Desist-letter from Google because he included GMail, Google Calendar, Android Market and some other proprietary/non-free apps in the ROM. I think the solution Cyanogen ended up with to get around this, was to provide a backup application that users could use to legally backup their Google apps before they installed the ROM, and after the new ROM was in place these apps could be restored again. Is there something similar with MCR?

You are like me, then it is only applications you might want to keep + texts + what you might have stored on your SD-card (MP3s, various downloads and so forth).

MCR includes all the regular stuff + more, nothing missing AFAIK.

[Bob]

Cheers Del :thumbsup2:
Hoping for some unexpected spare time so I can try it out.

[delanvital]

Cheers Del :thumbsup2:
Hoping for some unexpected spare time so I can try it out.

I feel I should note, that there is an odd chance that you might end up bricking your phone, it something goes wrong. Doubt it, but there, said it

[Bob]

I feel I should note, that there is an odd chance that you might end up bricking your phone, it something goes wrong. Doubt it, but there, said it

Yeah, I know. But if nothing else, that'll give me a good excuse to by a new and better Android phone, right

[delanvital]

Yeah, I know. But if nothing else, that'll give me a good excuse to by a new and better Android phone, right

Hehe... i like your thinking... same reason I have started to test more crazy ROMs. The phone is paid up and I really want 2.1, one way or the other :wink:

[Bob]

Now April :taz:

http://www.htcheroblog.com/2010/03/11/htc-hero-eclair-android-update-now-due-in-april/

More rumors and details pointing towards April... http://www.htcheroblog.com/2010/03/17/htc-hero-android-2-1-update-schedule-leaked/