14 DAY TRIAL // Canadian mobile phone users who purchased an HTC Dream or HTC Magic from Rogers, the two phones the carrier delivered to the market earlier this year with Google's Android operating system on board, won't see the Android 1.6 version of the OS loaded on their handsets, it seems. The two phones have been launched with the older 1.5 flavor (Cupcake), and HTC's website states clearly that there are no plans for an update to the newer 1.6 iteration (Donut).
“HTC is not currently planning any Android 1.6 upgrades for Rogers Dream or Magic. Android 1.6 was only made available for “Google”-branded devices such as the G1. It is not available for HTC-branded products such as the Dream or Magic, which use Android 1.5. We believe that Android 1.5 is a stable and reliable software platform that delivers a terrific user experience,” is what Canadian users can read on HTC's support website.
Undoubtedly, Cupcake is an appealing flavor of the Android platform, but newer versions have been released mainly for making it even more attractive, that's for sure. This might be a major drawback for the performance of the two phones on the Canadian market, even if Rogers has lowered their price tag considerably. Especially since other carriers already launched Android-based mobile phones, and might not treat the updating matter the same way.
On the other hand, the support page states that “HTC is not currently planning,” and we might learn that things have changed at a certain point in the future. Not to mention that there is also the possibility that HTC will deliver the Android 2.0 or 2.1 update for the handsets, especially since the latter iteration is just around the corner. However, these are only suppositions for the time being, and we'll have to learn it from HTC or Rogers themselves before considering it a fact. In the meantime, Dream and Magic users in Canada are stuck with Cupcake.