Will the Droid Incredible Ever See 2.2? Other Updates?

[Shadez]

We’re only days away from the launch of the HTC Droid Incredible, and while we’ve considered adding it to our list of devices to provide coverage and support for, we have one pretty major concern. As the rumors of Android 2.2 have already surfaced and many are predicting a May release date to developers with a rollout to consumers in just the few months thereafter, will the Incredible ever see Android 2.2 or any other major update?
The newest member to the “Droid” family hits the market on Thursday and will come pre-loaded with 2.1 which brings it up to par with the Moto Droid and Nexus One, but there is still that one major difference which should leave potential Incredible users hesitant. SenseUI.
In an email exchange this morning with a fellow blogger concerning the Incredible, it was quickly pointed out that the HTC Hero (running SenseUI) who launched as a top Android device, has now completed its year on the market without a single OS update. That’s right, the HTC Hero is still stuck on 1.5 after having been passed over by 1.6, 2.0, 2.0.1 and now 2.1.
While HTC hasn’t formally blamed its SenseUI for the delay, they did recently drop this apology to Tech Radar…

The integration of Éclair on the HTC Hero took longer to develop than anticipated and we apologise [sic] for this delay.
​

It’s all speculation at this point as to the Hero’s OS update delays, but after seeing 2 updates to the Moto Droid in just 6 months while running the standard “Google Experience” you have to point out the one major difference which still remains the Sense interface.
So what do you think? Should Incredible users be concerned? Will we look back after a year of Incredible coverage and see nothing but frustrated users watching other devices pass them by?
I seriously hope not.
Update: While I focused all of my writing efforts on the HTC Hero apology and update delays, I completely spaced the fact that the Droid Eris continues to sit at 1.5 and has been passed up for updates as many times as the Hero but in an even shorter amount of time. A second question should probably be asked: Is it an Android 1.5 or SenseUI issue? Stay tuned


Will the Droid Incredible Ever See 2.2? Other Updates? | Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

 

[Hugh Jass]

"took longer to develop than anticipated"

Well THAT is a novel idea isn't it...*facepalm*

 

[Romple]

I was honestly really surprised to learn devices still ran 1.5 when I took the glorious dive into Android ownership.

I'm glad I got a Droid since it's basically "The" Android phone right now and is basically guaranteed to get relatively fast updates.

 

[ytwokc5]

I cannot for the life of me figure our what is taking so long to release 2.1 for the eris. I put the latest leak on my wifes eris almost a month ago and it has been rock solid. Sense ui almost certainly adds overhead to development and testing.

 

[christim]

These devices that have not had an official OTA update and officially sit on 1.5 or 1.6 .....have they all been rooted and if so do they now have 2.1 roms for them?

For that matter....has every single Android based phone out there been rooted?

 

[takeshi]

So what do you think? Should Incredible users be concerned?

Well, they should factor in the fact that the less stock the OS is, the more likely there are to be delays in getting updates. It always boils down to this: do your due diligence before making the purchase. If something's important to you (e.g. getting timely and frequent OS updates) then make sure you research that aspect of the product.

As much of a Google experience phone the Droid is, people were crying and griping all over the place about delays. It's only likely to be worse if the OEM has put something like Sense, MotoBlur, etc on top of the OS.

 

[hookbill]

Moved to correct thread.

 

[cereal killer]

Sense interface could pose a problem down the road in regards to updates.

I know last year I was reading up on this very topic and the field of experts was divided. Most were leaning that Sense would be the weak link and could "harm" the constant support and updates from Google.

I haven't seen anything that makes this a fact but it is something to think about when buying an HTC device running Sense UI.

Devices with Moto Blur would also be effected if this stands true.

 

[Mojo]

Well way I look at it... this is the first device that's had some serious specs. I think the older phones hardware holds those phones back more then sense ui

 

[Darkseider]

Well now that Sense has been moved up to the 2.x tree with Sense UI it shouldn't be as big of a job to go from 2.1 w/ Sense UI to 2.2 w/ Sense UI as it was from Android 1.5 w/ Sense UI to Android 2.1 w/ Sense UI. Well at least that's my take on it. Seems Motorola has hit a similar stumbling block with Motoblur. Once they get motoblur moved properly over to the 2.x tree it should more or less a trivial matter going from 2.1 to 2.2, etc...

 

[INSANENEIVIESIS]

sense is more of an "official android ROM" form HTC in my opinion.

 

[gatorbait]

It's hard to say at this point. I think two points that other posters brought up earlier in this thread are relevant to a degree: 1) This is the first new Sense UI phone that has the specs to easily run Android 2.X versions; and 2) Android 2.1 has been ported with Sense UI, so other 2.X incremental updates can probably be optimized more quickly.

But the two above points are still somewhat speculative. The safest assumption to make with this phone is that updates will be delivered in a delayed manner, or possibly not at all. After you make that assumption, you have to ask yourself if the benefits to having Sense UI make up for the detriment of not getting timely Android UI updates.

At this point, most of my issues with Android 2.1 are merely cosmetic and integration issues, so I'm very happy to get Sense UI. I used to be a strong proponent of getting the strict Google Experience and previously had no desire for Sense, but I don't see any major updates coming down the pipeline until 2.5-3.0, so I'm not worried. I'll likely have a new phone by that time anyway.