We’ve just had a brief flurry of emails from users of the HTC Hero bought locked to the Orange network, suggesting the first part of the Android 2.1 update has just hit their handsets. If you’re on Orange and have been a little frustrated by the lack of an OS update for your Hero, check now and you might be in luck. Change the date on your phone to trigger a new check.
Happy days are IMMINENT and possibly even currently downloading for Orange Hero users. Although, remember, this is only Part One of the two-part updating process.
So that only leaves owners of the HTC Hero who bought the phone through Three without any sign of an update from Android 1.5, if we remember correctly. Any Orange users in the house able to corroborate these reports of the start of 2.1′s arrival?
Motorola’s latest flagship dual-core Android monster is a massive, original powerhouse, that’s a big improvement on previous MOTOBLUR mobiles – but still isn’t a total winner.
A slim and glamorous phone from Sony Ericsson, with the sharpest display around. It’s no powerhouse and the screen’s not the biggest out there, but we don’t mind. Because it’s cute.
LG’s first glasses-free 3D phone is a heavy, fat monster, with a clever 3D effect that works rather well. As a smartphone, though, it’s heavy and underwhelming.
A very shiny thing from Sony Ericsson, with a 3.7″ screen and Android 2.3.3 inside. But is it exciting enough to win fans in today’s spec-obsessed market? Can man live on one core alone?
INQ’s Android phone is an interesting “boutique” piece of hardware, packed with unique interface customisations that go far beyond the headline Facebook integration. We like it a lot.
Dougster
/ July 26, 2010Got the first part installed Gary.
I should have taken some images but no camera to hand and I couldn’t halt the process once it had started.
Gary C
/ July 26, 2010It’s OK, I understand these are exciting times :)
Dougster
/ July 26, 2010I may need to lie down now.
Still waiting
/ July 26, 2010Did not work for me… (Devon, UK)
Chris
/ July 26, 2010Put your date forward by a year.. this is only part 1 of 2.
Dougster
/ July 26, 2010You need to have the 2.73.61.66. ROM
http://www.htc.com/uk/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=283&cat=2&dl_id=864
James
/ July 26, 2010Just put date forward by a month and 30 seconds later I got a prompt to download the update! I nearly passed out with shock! Lets hope part two is ready soon and this isn’t just a way for Orange to shut us up for a few more weeks!
Ben
/ July 26, 2010Putting the date forward one month worked for me too – after two or three seconds it connected to the 3G network and the download screen popped up. You can ‘Download Now’, ‘Download when I connect to WiFi’ or ‘Remind me Later’.
Being at work I choose the WiFi option, so it’s just showing as a pending download in the top left corner.
Happy days!
En
/ July 26, 2010First update came through fine for me by forwarding date by a year!
cokey
/ July 26, 2010got mine to update no probs ,just hope second part comes in the same time frame as unbranded update came, come on 2.1 lets be havin ya.
Ben
/ July 26, 2010Put my date forward by a year, and by time i returned to the home screen, my phone was telling me that an update was available.
There is not a lot of difference, just a button to check for updates. however it did delete the data from my 3g monitor which i use to tell me how much data I can down load and I thought it deleted all my emails but that was just due to me settings downloading the last 30 days of emails and i set the clock a year ahead! Stupid me. I had a few issues with updates form the android market not downloading, but a quick restart sorted this out.
Now on build version 2.73.61.92
os 1.5 …. for the time being. roll on 2.1
Ben
ali
/ July 26, 2010got the update! Hoorah! Now stuck on HTC Splash screen on boot… What do I do? safe to remove battery and restart??
shawa2
/ July 26, 2010can someone please confirm the new build number… i had the update but the reboot was slow, my new build number doesn’t match the one on HTC website… Thanks!
Vikky
/ July 26, 2010Moved date to 2011 and connected to WiFi. Received update screen within 30 seconds. Took around 1 minute to download the entire update pack and another 3-4 minutes to install the update after reboot. First boot after update was slower than normal. No changes to Apps or Data were affected.
NOTE: Reboot after update wasn’t normal for me. The phone stopped responding at HTC logo during start-up for really really long time. So I had to pull out the battery and restart the phone- after which the phone worked normally. Might not be everyone’s case.
cokey
/ July 26, 2010does any one know how long the original hero 2.1 update took to come out after first update? went to htc site but neither has date of when they come out.
uin
/ July 26, 2010On 3, now running 2.1 thanks to the gold card trick. Worked a treat!
cokey
/ July 26, 2010i think orange will roll out 2.1 on 1st of august hopefully sooner but it was about two weeks for unbranded heros so fingers crossed :)
Tom
/ July 26, 2010At long last, were half way there. Just changed the date on my Hero and ive received the first part of the update.
The question now is. Would this have happened if there was no facebook group?
Dave
/ July 27, 2010Just installed part one – I had to upgrade to the .66 update first, then the prompt appeared immediately, even before I had set up wifi.
Seemed to hang on the HTC logo as mentioned above but whilst writing this post it has continued ok and looks good.
Impatient for part two now especially as I will be out of the country for a week from next Tuesday, I hope it comes before then!
Thanks Dave
/ July 27, 2010“Just installed part one – I had to upgrade to the .66 update first, then the prompt appeared immediately, even before I had set up wifi.”
Done the little .66 update when worked fine!
Woohooo
usbrit
/ July 27, 2010OK, messed up, went back to turn on wifi without selecting any option and now don’t see the message screen, what do i do to get it back!!?
Anonymous
/ July 27, 2010put the date forward again but to a date beyond what you used last time.
so if to trigger it you put it on a month, now knock it on 2 months and it’ll reappear.
usbrit
/ July 27, 2010Thx, fixed it!
usbrit
Jonny Pioww
/ July 27, 2010Yeah had to use an XP machine to get the Feb ROM upgrade cos it kept failing on Windows 7 but then it worked like a charm, immediately prompting me to get the latest update without changing any dates. The first OTA is only 3.1MB too so you can download it on your data tariff now worries rather than waiting for wifi.
Can’t see any difference with this though and I should imagine it’ll be a while before we see any sign of the next upgrade.
m
/ July 27, 2010it works, put the month forward to December and it downloads, i find this strange :-/
Ian Jones
/ July 27, 2010Had to update the phone to the .66 ROM from February before I got the prompt to upgrade. Look forward to part 2 becoming available.
Disgruntled 3 Customer
/ July 27, 20103 said we would get the update “mid to late July.” I’m going to give it ’til the end of the week and then do the gold card trick too…
Oranger
/ July 27, 2010Tried putting it forward a year no joy – put it forward a month and bang straight in.
Dougster
/ July 27, 2010Information: statement from HTC on Hero Android 2.1 delay
Please see below the following statement from HTC in relation to the delay on the HTC Hero 2.1 Android update for Orange customers:
“We apologise for the delay in Orange Hero customers receiving their Éclair update. Testing the update across European markets took longer than anticipated. However, we hope to receive final approval by the end of the week and Orange handsets should start updating from next week.”
To be attributed to a HTC spokesperson
This from the Orange Newsroom
James L
/ July 27, 2010Mine updated this morning, but the phone now keeps force closing many of the HTC Sense apps. Hopefully the second part of the update will fix this!
Dan
/ July 28, 2010Part 2 of my update just came through. o.O I’m installing it now, will let you know how it goes.
Dan
/ July 28, 2010Update failed first time, you need at least 25MB of internal storage. Trying again :)
OMG!
/ July 28, 2010Install part 2 update NOW!.. Do a check update now!
Kelvin
/ July 28, 2010Downloading Part 2 now. Stupidly excited.
Kelvin
/ July 28, 2010Patience is the key on this one – took about 30 muntes start to finish. Having it my first impression is that it’s great. A bloody BRILLIANT bonus is that it kept virtually everything – texts, email settings, apps etc. Only thing I’ve lost is my customised scene. No big problem – that’ll take all of 2 minutes to set up again.
Well done HTC on a well designed update.
Nick
/ July 28, 2010Just downloading mine now, good times..at last Orange
chris
/ July 28, 2010hi just got it great well done htc
David
/ August 3, 2010I got the first update at the end of last week by using the change-the-date trick to make it check. However, I’m still waiting for the actual 2.1 update. No amount of changing the date or clicking the “check now” button works – it still says “your phone is up to date” humph. When will it come? I’ve seen a few things online suggesting other UK Orange users are getting it, but I think they must be confused with the first update :(
Jack
/ September 13, 2010When i came home from work today i couldn’t get on my home wifi. It was working fine for 3 days ( I’ve had my HTC Hero for 4 days), but today it would connect fine, but i didn’t have any internet connectivity. I had an IP as usual and full signal strength.
I’m running the latest official firmware from HTC 2.1 i think. I also dropped back to 1.5 which didn’t fix the problem.
After about 3 hours or ripping my hair out i tried it with a static IP and it worked!
I plugged in:
IP: 192.168.0.175
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
DNS: 192.168.0.1
and that seemed to have solved the problem.
Now i am updating to the latest version again and i’m hoping that fix will work!
dhaval
/ September 17, 2010how to update htc orange hero 2.73.73.73
????????????????
shaun
/ November 12, 2010changed date, month and year. Nothing??