Tipster Rob has pointed us to the HTC Australia website and word of a ROM update for Desire owners who bought their phone from Telstra. Sadly, it isn’t the Froyo update you may have been hoping for.
According to users on Whirlpool, the update adds native speech to text support to the phone, as well as fixing a few bugs and adding some superficial features like describing the number of SMS messages for each contact. It’s hardly revolutionary, but if you have a need for speech to text and don’t mind spending 20 minutes updating your phone via your PC, the update can be found here.
[HTC - Thanks Rob]
Adam
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 3:52 PMcan this be done OTA?
Dominic Cole
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 5:16 PMI downloaded it, but my backups didn’t work properly :( I AM loving having the whole speech to text button though
cut above
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 5:30 PMI feel sorry for you telstra network users. I really do. I absolutely love my Desire which I bought from the UK and imported and have froyo 2.2 running on right this second. It’s absolutely brilliant. I don’t have to put up with telstra application bulls**t pre-installed on the device and all the limitations they love to enforce on the device to “brand it for themselves”. Not only that, but I paid $650 DELIVERED from the UK as opposed to a branded telstra unit which they want to sting people for $770′ish. Even more though, I feel sorry for the iphone4 users who try fervently to justify their product against the desire. Yeah, have fun with that, I’ll do WHAT I want WHEN I want on my phone, you can ask jobs for permission first.
Whatever
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 6:37 PMEnjoy your generic desire on a pos optus network while I enjoy a rooted desire on a quality network.
Who feels sorry for who now? Cause at the whirlpool forums were laughing at you.
Nick Chaplin
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 7:16 PMUK desires dont support nextG so people that want to use Telstra need to get it from Telstra.
Telstra Desire owner
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 10:50 PMMoron – I have a Telstra one on a plan as i have a mobile account with them and I have froyo (T-Mod) and have been using voice search – from a downloaded app – since I bought it. So Good on you for wanting to import one. But it doesn’t mean that the rest of us have substandard units – their the same…. Idiot
cut above
Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 9:43 AMSorry, correction. They are NOT the same. The telstra desire is a 850mhz unit whereas the imported unit is 900/2100mhz unit, meaning it works BETTER on the optus network than the telstra one because it operates in the same frequencies. Not too bright over at whirlpool are ya’s ? Then again, not many people take much stock in what goes on on that particular site anyways. I’ve used optus for 13 years and wouldn’t go near telstra, I’m never far enough outside a capital to actually care about signal strength so it really doesn’t bother me.
Daniel Weaver-Koenigs
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 11:22 PMWhy feel sorry for Telstra network users? I’ve just had to go through the TIO to get out of Optus awful network, and Vodafone isn’t any better.
You don’t have to buy a contract phone from Telstra if you are a Telstra network user. Telstra’s new plans are also finally competitive enough that their far better network makes them a far better option.
ShuntR
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 7:44 AMI imported a Desire & used it on the Optus network as well & upgraded to FROYO as soon as it was available in Europe. But as luck would have it there was a hardware fault & the warranty involved a return to Queensland which as expected took well over 6 weeks for a return. Meanwhile my contract was up & I went back to Telstra for the same priced contract & instantly recognised the improved speed & reliability of the network. Far from being a Telstra lover I left them for Optus 2 years ago but found that when it’s good it’s good but when you have a problem they are the most impersonal telco out there. I went to an optus shop with a problem I was having trouble getting resolved from home & was directed to a phone which was the same hotline to India that I had already been speaking to. Both Optus & Telstra are big & impersonal but at least when I have a problem the person at the Telstra shop will resolve it while I wait. And as far as strength of signal, if you never leave a city area then you may not notice a difference but when you eventually let go of your Mum’s apron strings & go somewhere new you will be cursing the highly inadequate sevice outside major population centres.
Dylan
Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 2:21 AMI have froyo running on my Telstra Desire.. As do a large majority of the whirlpoolers in the Android section..
lukian
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 4:34 AMI also have a desire from telstra. Not only am I paying less than you – $550 thanks to the family and friends offer -I have a rooted device with froyo and can choose my carrier with more freedom as telstra phones are sold unlocked.
Generally I’m using tpg.
I’m currently deciding between open desire and defrost after having used several roms.
alistair
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 6:39 PMGood luck with your battery life, I have an iPhone and it leaves any android running device behind. It was jailbroken by visiting jailbreakme.com so that only took 10 minutes, now I CAN do what I want when I want.
I am not against android but its just not up to scratch, especially with apps.
lukian
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 4:38 AMSo what’s your battery life?
mr_crash
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 7:01 PMI gave up waiting. Rooted and installed Modaco custom Rom. Wanted cyanogen but got mystery boot loop with the experimental nightly and there’s no stable one yet.
What is weird about Telstra waiting so long is that there are at least some Telstra users who have gotten a proper froyo update OTA already.
Gerardo
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 7:26 PMWhy is Telstra so different to the rest of the world? Everyone else can get “proper” Froyo, so why cant we?
Bob
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 8:23 PMNot hard to de-brand the Telstra handset though. unrEVOked & then just flash a ROM, all Telstra’s crapware gone with the bonus of having a Froyo ROM :D
yenjaiken
Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 2:44 PMOptus vs Telstra. Who cares.
Let’s all remember the important thing. The Desire rocks!
yogy
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8:44 AMSo does anyone no when Telstra is going to get froyo?I’m so over waiting but I have 2yr warranty so I don’t want to root
Jarrod
Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 11:09 AMBoys, boys !!!!! It’s a free country, use whatever phone you want on any network you like.
I put a lot of effort into my decision and eventually signed up with Telstra on a NextG plan with a Desire.
The Telstra Desire came UNLOCKED and will work on any Australian carrier I choose. I chose Telstra because the NextG network works flawlessly in places that users of other carriers are desperately holding their phones in the air to get even a hint of a signal …. and the price I pay ($49 per month) gives me the phone, hundreds of dollars worth of calls and enough data to let me do what I need to do while I’m away from home.
It’s currently running Android 2.1 and when 2.2 is offered, I’ll take it, until then … I’m very happy with what I have.
Oh and the battery is lasting up to 3 days between charges.