Incredible to Android 2.2

[Droid800]

Yea you're right. I didnt think about the HTC sense UI. So yea basically an update has three levels to pass through until it could get released to us.

Its even more than that with the latest round of Sense handsets though. Because Sense is an integral part of the OS on those phones, even the slightest change in Android could require a significant rewrite.

Combine that with Verizon's excruciating approval process, and you could easily have to wait six months for an update.

 

[drivie]

Keep in mind that even if HTC moves on to newer handsets, they will most likely adapt Sense to the latest version of Android at the time (at least that's what they've been doing). Now Google's focus (so they say) is to end fragmentation. That might be tough given the number of handsets with different specs (kinda like running Windows on PCs with different specs) but they probably want to be sure that HTC stays on top of things with Sense as well.

Of course all of this might be moot as soon as the Incredible is rooted and "power users" are able to load custom ROMs. Someone will just take a ROM from the latest HTC phone, running the latest version of Android with Sense and adapt it to the Incredible. Same thing has pretty much already happened with the Eris.

 

[mrmoe110]

well, even the moto droid's software has to be handled by motorola after being released to them by google to make sure it works with the particular hardware. google (aside from the n1) is very hands off with their OS regarding specific handsets.

however, the work on motorola's end should be rather simple compared to what HTC has to do, which makes how long it took 2.1 r1 to get on the droid kind of ridiculous.

i'm hoping since the inc has virtually identical hardware to the n1, it should make HTC's job fairly simple, coupled with the probable popularity of the device hopefully will mean more frequent updates.

Blame the Moto Droid 2.1 update delay on VZW.

 

[iamtone]

HTC is absolutely terrible about releasing updates. As soon as their latest and greatest phone hits the market, they are off working on the next bigger and better thing. Case in point: the Hero and Eris folks are still waiting for updates.

u really have a point there hahahah

 

[Adiliyo]

the global release of the droid/milestone shouldn't have much to do with an update for vzw customers, the international versions of the droid all got their releases at a different time from us.

being that the desire and incredible are essentially the same phone, it should help get something sent to verizon for testing faster.

as far as popularity, i'm more so talking about the incredible compared to the eris, since those are both HTC phones.

 

[apcman]

This may just be a thought but with more phones like the eris, hero, incredible, desire, legend updates may come more quickly. Before there was only two brands with sense now there are more, and many more on the way. HTC has to put more into keeping the phones current because Sense is such a big part of their line up. I do hope HTC does throw more resources into keeping the OS current and not let it fall behind. Another positive is also sense is the first to upgrade to 2.1. MOTO blur has not or the Sony UI. So it seems as the custom UI goes sense is on its game.

 

[apcman]

quick question

I was just wondering how deep does sense actually go into android. Does sense actually go real deep into the code or is it just a few tweeks and such. does htc have to spend alot of resources to keep sense current or is it a easy undertaking for HTC. Is it easier to update sense than lets say timescape or motoblur. I was just wondering. Also hopefully 2.2 will build off 2.1 so it will be a quicker update.

 

[Opsman]

Update what?

All this talk of updates leads me to believe people have lost any perspective of the components making up the smartphone.

Android can be updated without any changes necessary to Sense, Helix, Gmail or any other application. The same rules apply to application updates without updates to OS.

While Verizon may have caused some delays in the 2.1 update these were probably due to logistical problems in how the update would be delivered to customers. Without causing problems with service.

How much time was the update delayed by Motorola....who knows? May they speak up please. The ideal platform would allow all but major updates almost trivial. In most cases the update could be performed without Motorola's involvement period. Hence this would be called a minor revision and the android kernel most likely would not be touched so all hardware should function as normal. With a major revision 1.6 - 2.0 changes to the kernel and or core services may require hardware driver revisions which then may require the hardware vendor to get involved -in this case motorola.

HTC Sense.....should allow for minor revisions without the necessity for HTC to become involved. Surely hardware and software engineers for such a major company would allow for such problems.

So if a major revision is released it would seem that all of the above mentioned parties may get involved to keep their respective software and/or hardware running appropriately. Naturally the more parties involved the longer the update takes. To add or subtract from that time you would have to factor in Device Life, Popularity, etc.....

Just my two-cents.

 

[Adiliyo]

I was just wondering how deep does sense actually go into android. Does sense actually go real deep into the code or is it just a few tweeks and such. does htc have to spend alot of resources to keep sense current or is it a easy undertaking for HTC. Is it easier to update sense than lets say timescape or motoblur. I was just wondering. Also hopefully 2.2 will build off 2.1 so it will be a quicker update.

it should be about as complex as updating the other custom versions of android, it does seem as though HTC does indeed change a lot of the underlying parts of the OS, but with the rumored change to the update process in future builds of android, i'm really hoping for a speedy update process.

hopefully it's just verizon that is going to be the bottleneck, in which case, we should be able to at least get some leaked builds onto our devices.