If you’ve been waiting for an official upgrade to Android 2.3 on your HTC Desire you’re in luck – it’s here. It’s still HTC Sense, but you’re getting a debloated version that removes all carrier-installed applications, all wallpapers except one and several HTC applications. The latter two category of things will be available for download on HTC’s developer portal. You’ll also see Facebook gone, but this application is available on the Android market.
For now, this one is only for handsets in the UK. Still, we’re glad to see HTC supporting a handset that is still pretty decent by today’s standards. Their willingness to get rid of their own applications and obliterate the ones of their carriers is a good sign that they’ll do whatever it takes to continue support for devices that haven’t been on the market for less than two years. The update is available via HTC’s developer portal. [Facebook, Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
The major changes in this update include:
- All customizations, including operator applications, will be removed
- All wallpapers, except the default wallpaper, will be removed and placed online on the HTC Developer website
- Several HTC applications will be removed and placed online on the HTC Developer website
- The official Facebook application will be removed and is downloadable on the Android Market.
To download this update, please visit... http://developer.htc.com/
Note: This Rom update is for development only and not for general public use. Upgrades to non-authorized phones may result in loss of functionality. In addition certain functions may no longer be usable after re-flashing the ROM, including but not limited to MMS and SMS and HTC also disclaims liability for any unusable functions. HTC disclaims liability for the loss and/or leakage of any personal data resulting from the re-flashing of the ROM.
Updated – The following regional variants are not compatible with this upgrade: Germany (Telekom Deutschland), North America, South Korea and Japan.
