Android smartphone users appeased in about-turn move by Vodafone

HTC Desire owners on the Vodafone mobile network have reacted so angrily to a recent update to their phones that it has forced the provider to make an about-turn.

Vodafone unveiled an update a week ago, which many customers mistakenly thought was an update for the Android operating system on their Desire handsets. In fact, it was a revised version of the Vodafone branded 360 software for the Android 2.1 OS.

It resulted in anyone with a Vodafone HTC Desire who carried out the update to suddenly have all manner of additional and heavily branded apps on their handset. There was a new intro splash screen, plus a 360 services selection of tools, all of which were apparently impossible to remove.

Angry Vodafone customers have complained vehemently about the pre-loaded branding and apps, and the Vodafone forum area subsequently lit up like a Christmas tree as people wanted to know how to reverse the process.

As a result, Vodafone has given way to the criticisms and announced: "The Android 2.2 update for Vodafone HTC Desire users will be based on the HTC open market version of the software and we will customise it to ensure our network settings are installed."

"For customers who have downloaded the recent 360 update for Android 2.1, we can confirm that the Android 2.2 update will remove the 360 applications and will leave the homepage and bookmarks on your current settings."

Desire owners should therefore be able to carry out a firmware upgrade to the 2.2 OS, also known as Froyo, minus any branding baggage in the next seven to ten days.