SlashGear JP
HTC have confirmed that they are looking to develop an upgrade package to deliver HTC Sense, their latest UI as demonstrated on the new Hero smartphone, to earlier Android models. However, due to licensing issues, devices which are “with Google” branded – such as the T-Mobile G1 and Vodafone Magic – will not get the upgrade.
The limitation comes as part of Google’s three-tiers of Android deployment, and their insistence that anything branded with their name should deliver the full, unmodified Android experience. That insistence has meant that other HTC developments, such as Exchange support on the Magic, have not made it to Android devices officially on sale in the US and Europe. The upcoming T-Mobile myTouch 3G will also be a Google-branded phone, and as such not get Sense.
According to HTC, there are potential logistical and R&D cost issues that might scupper a more limited Sense roll-out to non “with Google” existing devices, however, so an upgrade is by no means definite. It may be that cracked ROMs are the only way for existing owners to beautify their Android device.
[via Android Community]
2 Responses to “HTC confirm no Sense upgrade for T-Mobile G1 or Vodafone Magic”
tartearer June 27, 2009
Man boy did I get sucked in. found out a couple of days after I got my magic, I got the suck butt vodafone magic version. But after seeing the new hero i was looking forward to upgrading with that but now google just want’s to kill the experience.
+2miki February 3, 2010
Licensing, licensing, getting sick of it.
Anything with a processor, RAM/ROM and I/O that I own is a general purpose computer (see Turing et.al.). Any general purpose computer that I own I want to decide which soft to put on.
Licensing, DRM and all that artificial scarcity is going to kill IT innovation dead.
NeutralLet me tell you, lots of companies in China don’t give a rat$ a$$ about licensing and DRM, and will swamp Western markets with cheap clones that will run about everything which fits the architecture.
They will flood the market with tens of thousands of devices per month, cheaper than the fuel to run the bulldozers used to crush those clones right on the loading dock. And then they will still keep coming.
Think Sentinels in the Matrix. The only way to survive is to make peace with them.