While there's no official announcement from HTC yet, HTC's European customer service unveiled that the company isn't planning to release an Android 1.6 Donut upgrade for the HTC Hero but is skipping it in favor for an Android 2.0/Eclair upgrade instead! At least, that's the answer a user over at AndroidGuys received when he asked for the availability of an Android 1.6 upgrade. That's pretty straight forward and an upgrade to Android 2.0 is definitely more worth than having Android 1.6 available, especially with today's release of Google Maps Navigation.

Here the E-Mail the user received from HTC's European customer service:

Dear HTC customer,

Thank you for contacting our Customer Support Center. We are dedicated to providing you with the best quality service and answering all of your questions and concerns.

The Hero will not be receiving the Android 1.6 upgrade, it will however get the 2.0 one. Do note however that we do not have a confirmed release date for this upgrade, all I can recommend at the moment is that you keep yourself updated by visiting our website regularly as the latest information will be available to view from there.

Best regards,
HTC customer support team
HTC Corp. Global Service Division

No word yet if other HTC smartphone like the HTC Magic or HTC Tattoo will receive the same Android 2.0 love from HTC. Also there's still no official word available what Samsung plans for the Samsung GT-I7500 Galaxy.

UPDATE: HTC just confirmed via Twitter, that the HTC Hero will indeed get an upgrade to Android 2.0 aka Eclair:

"The rumors are true! Hero will be getting an Eclair update. We ask for your patience as we update Sense for the fancy new Android OS."

However, HTC hasn't given a release date yet but it's quite expectable that it will be definitely before year's end.

Cheers ~ Arne

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Is the g1 getting it

I have my doubts that the G1 will officially get the Android 2.0 Eclair love from HTC.

I don't know how reliable this is or not. I emailed HTC about Android 2.0 just a couple days ago and this is what I got:

Good Afternoon Chris,

Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail. I will be happy to assist you today.

First, let me apologize for the extreme delay in response to your original inquiry. HTC has recently released a plethora of new devices in several markets as well as software updates for several of our current models. The response to these devices and OS updates has been overwhelming but we are working diligently to provide the best support possible for our customers. Thank you for your patience.

As far as updating to 2.0, the upgrade must be requested by the carrier, then adapted and configured for each device model individually. This does take time and there is not an estimated timeframe or date for the release. If and when any updates or hotfixes are available, you can find them at HTC.com.

Chris, if you have any other questions about any upcoming HTC models please let us know! You can also visit www.hctwiki.com for self-help and more user information.

Thank you,
HTC America Technical Support