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Vodafone – HTC Desire Froyo Branded Update – Fail!

Vodafone released an update for HTC Desire owners this morning, who were expecting it to be the imminent upgrade to Android 2.2, or Froyo as it’s also known.

Froyo, which was rolled out on the Nexus One back in June in the UK, comes with a considerable speed boost, full Flash support, and device tethering amongst other goodies.

However, it seems that the 2.2 update isn’t quite ready yet, and this was the 2.1 Update1 patch, which many customers installed believing it to be Froyo.

It is, in actual fact, a package of Vodafone 360 bits and pieces, including new apps (a music store and web browser) and a new splash screen. What has really annoyed people, aside from the fact that there was no Froyo to be had, was that the update altered their home page and added various miscellaneous bookmarks.

And with some of these bookmarks and applications reportedly being for adult rated dating sites, there is plenty of noise being made about this being inappropriate for business users, or indeed anyone whose other half finds these links on their handset as well as young people who may be using a contracted hadnset from their parents, ironiclly in order to ensure there security.

Interestingly enough, the thread full of complaints highlighted by The Register which we were perusing moments ago on the Vodafone forum has just disappeared. This is not a new technique Vodafone have used on their eForum, this often occurs, this was seen more recently when Vodafone customers were upset once again, over the past 10 months when Vodafone decided to block all media streaming. Details can be found here.

At any rate, one poster on that thread said they asked Vodafone if this update would be required to receive Android 2.2 when it was made available, which Vodafone replied wasn’t the case. So you can certainly give 2.1 Update1 a miss. Whether or not Vodafone’s Froyo will come with all this stuff bundled anyway is, of course, another question. However, this is expected to be the case.

We’d imagine it will, as Vodafone told TechRadar: “When we announced the HTC Desire we said that the device would be pre-loaded with 360 services.”

“Unfortunately, there was a delay in bringing these services to the Desire so that is what the latest over-the-air update brings.”

However, in the original press release by Vodafone and HTC, it was advertised that the HTC Desire would be a vanilla, open source unbranded handset. The original press release available here stated that –

“HTC Desire
HTC Desire is the richest way to visually experience news, friends, photos, favourite places and whatever else is important on a mobile phone. With one of the most advanced displays available on a phone today, HTC Desire is designed with a large 3.7 inch AMOLED WVGA display to enhance and maximise content, whether it is pictures and videos, browsing the Web or checking on friends¡¦ status updates. HTC Desire is powered by a one gigahertz Snapdragon processor and is Adobe Flash 10.1 ready. As with the HTC Legend, the HTC Desire also includes an optical joystick.

Patrick Chomet, Group Director of Terminals for Vodafone said, HTC is a valued partner for Vodafone and has made a strong contribution to the growth of the mass market appeal of smartphones. Vodafone endeavours to offer our customers the widest and most compelling choice of smartphones and to that end the HTC Legend, the HTC Desire and the HTC HD mini will be ranged in selected Vodafone markets across our footprint. I’m particularly pleased that through our collaboration with HTC, Vodafone customers will experience a differentiated experience on the HTC Legend which will come customised for them with pre-loaded Vodafone 360 Internet services.”

You can make Vodafone aware of your concerns either via there eforum or by emailing Guy Laurence the Chief Exec of Vodafone UK Directly as well as making a complaint directly to the telecomms industry impartial ombudsman directly, either oFcom and Otelo who Vodafone are both members of.

You can show your support against the bloat ware forced on to HTC Desire customers by Vodafone by joining a Facebook group called “Say No To Vodafone 360 Spamware On The HTC Desire”

This story is currently being posted by various media outlets, including –

This entry was written by Zac , posted on Wednesday August 04 2010at 09:08 am , filed under Android, Mobile and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink . Post a comment below or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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