Vodafone UK puts a spell on HTC Magic, updates it to Froyo

Continued support from manufacturers for old Android devices has been a hot topic lately. So HTC is bound to win some good karma - they are updating Vodafone UK's HTC Magic droids with Froyo, not so long after the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and 3G Slide started getting their updates.

The HTC Magic was one of the first Android phones and getting updated to Android 2.2.1 Froyo is a big deal as Android has come a long way since 1.5 Donut - new and improved Gmail and Market apps, installing apps on the microSD card, tethering support and enhanced Bluetooth and camera UI.

The HTC Magic will also get a speed improvement and wider support for some of the coolest apps in the Market (which require Android 2.0+). Don't bet on the other big selling point of Froyo though - the Flash 10.1 plug-in requires a newer CPU than the Magic has to offer.

Anyway, Vodafone UK is beginning a staged rollout of the update and users should get a notification in the coming weeks. Once you get the notification, you can update immediately or put it off for later - it's a big download so you might want to wait until you're in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

We hope that updates for old phones become commonplace - though not all manufacturers are very enthusiastic about it. The idea that you have to buy a new phone just to get a few software updates is certainly putting off some potential Android buyers.

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