HTC has finally made an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update available for its Desire smartphone. The company warns that it is a development version only and is advising general users against downloading it. The release also so far isn’t compatible with Desire phones sold in North America, South Korea, and Japan, as well as phones sold in Germany by Telecom Deutschland.
The Desire hit North American markets last July running Android 2.1. Subsequently the company has frustrated customers by promising that it would provide an upgrade to 2.3, and then by continuously moving out the expected delivery date. In June, the company posted on Facebook that it had given up on the upgrade because the phone didn’t have enough memory to concurrently run the newer Android OS​ and HTC’s own Sense app concurrently.
Later in June, HTC announced that it would still be continuing work on rolling out the Gingerbread upgrade, but that it would cut select apps from the release.
HTC has issues several warnings about the upgrade. Any customization, including apps created by wireless carriers will be removed. “Several” HTC apps will be removed, the phone builder said. It’s unclear if this includes Sense. Facebook will be removed, but a replacement can be downloaded from Android Market.
