Vodafone users angry at HTC Desire 360 update

Vodafone's latest update not that Desirable
Vodafone's latest update not that Desirable

The Vodafone UK forum is alight with posts from angry owners of the HTC Desire who feel they have been duped with the latest firmware update for their handsets.

While most were expecting the firmware update that landed this morning to be Froyo – Google's latest OS – it turns out the update was something called 2.1-update1 which commenters are calling a "branding update".

We gave you news earlier this week that Vodafone is bringing Froyo to Desire "as soon as possible", with the phone company explaining: "We are working with HTC and Google to push the new 2.2 Android firmware out to Vodafone HTC Desire customers as soon as possible.

"We'll update customers when we have a confirmed release date."

Unfortunately, customers were told today that a new firmware update was on the cards, raising expectations only for them to get smacked down.

The new update actually brings the Vodafone 360 service to the Desire, which consists of the following apps: Music Shop, Shop and Web.

The web homepage of the Desire has also been changed to a Vodafone one.

Update woe

As a result of this, the official Vodafone forum is now filled with unhappy customers, one of which contacted TechRadar about the situation.

We got on the phone to Vodafone to see what the situation was and a spokesperson for the company told us: "We would like to reassure customers that the Froyo 2.2 update is on its way.

"When we announced the HTC Desire we said that the device would be pre-loaded with 360 services.

"Unfortunately, there was a delay in bringing these services to the Desire so that is what the latest over-the-air update brings."

While you can't blame Vodafone for updating its Desire handsets to bring 360 functionality, the timing of the update is a rather cruel one for customers waiting (im)patiently for Google's latest Android update - an update which has already been released to unlocked versions of the HTC Desire.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.