HTC backtracks to bring Android 2.3 to Desire smartphone

Firm compensates for lack of memory by cutting apps

HTC has confirmed that its Desire handset will receive the Android Gingerbread 2.3 update, 24 hours after claiming that it was not possible.

The Taiwanese manufacturer said originally that the HTC Desire did not have enough memory to support Android Gingerbread together with its overlay.

Upgrading would "compromise the HTC Sense experience", according to HTC's Facebook page.

However, after customers flocked to Facebook to express their disappointment, HTC took the feedback onboard and has confirmed that it will release a workaround.

"To resolve the Desire's memory issue and enable the upgrade to Gingerbread, we will cut selected apps from the release. Look for status updates starting next week. We apologise for any confusion," HTC said.

A number of HTC customers pointed out that the XDA Developers forum provides instructions on how to get Android 2.3 onto the Desire, which may have influenced HTC's decision to find a workaround.

"Come on HTC. You can definitely do better than this. Gingerbread offers some great new features and I'm sure it can be released on HTC Desire with Sense 2.0," said Dayle Fonseca.

"If developers on XDA can do it why can't HTC? It's difficult to recommend HTC to others if you keep letting us down like this."

Other users pointed out that HTC should learn from this and ship devices with more RAM. The original Desire shipped with 576MB and the firm has yet to ship a handheld device with 1GB. The flagship HTC Sensation comes with just 768MB.

V3.co.uk contacted HTC to determine which applications will be removed to make the update feasible and an expected release date, but the firm declined to comment.

This is not the first time that HTC has reacted to customer feedback. Chief executive Peter Chou announced that HTC will no longer lock the bootloader on its devices after "overwhelming customer feedback".

This will allow HTC users to customise future handsets, and load alternative operating systems and specific features more easily.

The manufacturer is also working on a developer community and will launch HTCdev.com this summer.

As part of this launch, HTC will release an OpenSense SDK which will allow Android developers to create apps that "deeply integrate" with the Sense 3.0 interface. The site will also feature a resource library of tutorials, documentation and support.