If you picked up the HD2 and realized that you basically bought a WinMo lemon, never fear. Some charming Italian men have ported Android 2.2 Froyo to the HD2 and it seems to run everything perfectly. Basically if you run their hack, which is available here, you turn your WinMo 6.5 phone into the a Droid X or EVO 4G.

Check Video Below!

New rumor coming from Germany puts marketing names next to some Android code names - the mysterious HTC Ace for Vodafone Germany will be called Desire HD and the HTC Vision will go by Desire Z.

We don't know all that much about the HTC Ace - it will run Android (likely launch with 2.2 Froyo) and have an aluminum uni-body design like the HTC Legend. There are also rumors that the HTC Ace/Desire HD is a GSM flavored HTC Evo 4G.

 

Previously we heard that the QWERTY-enabled HTC Vision will be available on T-Mobile as the G1 Blaze. It’s not unusual for the same phone to have different names for the different carriers. And for Vodafone Germany, it seems that name is HTC Desire Z.

Also interesting is that Vodafone Germany is apparently stocking up on HTC Desire phones with S-LCD.

We still don’t know much about the release date of the two new Androids, except the old rumor that the HTC Desire HD (Ace) and the HTC Desire Z (Vision) will launch in October. We’re also interested to see how good a replacement S-LCD is for the AMOLED screen of the original Desire.

Android 2.2 is supposed to roll out to the Sprint EVO next week, but it looks like there's a direct download already available through HTC. Here's how to get it. 

First you need to download the update from here. Once done, you should save it to the root of your phone's SD card, boot the device in recovery mode, and select the option to install the update from the .zip file. Tada! That's all you need to do to enjoy all the new features Froyo brings to the EVO.

 

 

Download the Update Release Here

 

Here is some Simple instructions for installing the update:

1. Download the update file and rename it to update.zip. 
   Note #1: DO NOT UNZIP THIS FILE 
   Note #2: Make sure you didn’t rename this to update.zip.zip by accident, if your Windows is configured to not show file extensions.
2. Place in the root of your SD card (connect via USB and mount as a drive, transfer via bluetooth, download directly on the phone – pick your poison).
3. Reboot into recovery mode (hold the Volume Up button while your phone is booting).
4. You will be presented with the boot loader. The Volume Up/Down buttons navigate the menu, and the Power button selects. 
   Note: you may see the red exclamation (!) point at this stage. Try mashing the up/down/power buttons and wait for 10-15 seconds. The recovery should eventually come up.
5. Select Bootloader.
6. Scroll down to Recovery and select it.
7. The phone will reboot again, this time into recovery.
8. Select “apply update.zip” or “install from .zip” (depending on your recovery image).
9. The installation process will take 15-20 minutes and a few reboots.
10. Enjoy!

NOTE: HTC has tweeted a warning about this download

"Please, be aware any update.zip floating around for EVO 4G are not final and may cause problems. Official updates are coming OTA next week!"

Delicious Froyo will be hitting the huge and controversial EVO 4G starting in early August, according to Sprint. The update will begin its OTA rollout on August 3rd and they expet it to be done by “mid-August.” Once it goes public, I'm sure there will be a way to force it onto your handset if you don't feel like waiting. We'll detail that once it happens.

The improvements we've been talking about for weeks and weeks are forthcoming! But will it make the EVO last a full day on one charge? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, here's the full press release, minus a bunch of EVO review excerpts they included.

Sprint is the first wireless carrier to bring Android 2.2 to customers using the award-winning HTC EVO™ 4G beginning Tuesday, Aug. 3

Android 2.2 offers HTC EVO 4G feature enhancements including Bluetooth® voice dialing, built-in Flash, the ability to store apps to the memory card and much, much more

The award-winning HTC EVO 4G just got that much better. We are excited to announce that beginning the week of Aug. 1; Sprint will begin rolling out the Android 2.2 upgrade to its HTC EVO 4G customers.

Sprint will be the first wireless carrier to bring1 the latest version of Android to its customers. The Android 2.2 software release provides a significant number of feature enhancements, including:
• Voice Dialing Over Bluetooth.
• Application Storage on External Memory, giving users more storage room for all their apps.
• Camera 4-way rotation allows the camera icons to rotate with the camera.
• Improved Browser Performance including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash 10x Support improving the user's ability to view videos and available content associated with web pages.

“Sprint is thrilled with our customers' response to HTC EVO 4G and the innovative and exciting experience it offers,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development for Sprint. “It is exciting for us to lead the industry in bringing the Android 2.2 update to these customers and improve on the amazing experience they receive with America's first 4G capable phone.”

Easy Downloading
Sprint will begin sending update notifications to users in waves beginning Tuesday, Aug. 3 and the upgrade should be available for all HTC EVO 4G users by the middle of August.

The notification will let the users know that the update is available and it will provide the simple two-step over-the-air download process.

1. Users will receive a notification that Android 2.2 is available for download.
2. Once the user has downloaded the update, they will be prompted to install the update. The user will be notified that their device will be disabled during the installation process. The phone will be ready to use once the process completes.

For those who just can't wait to get Android 2.2, there will be an easy user initiated option to download the upgrade. Customers can access the software update through their HTC EVO 4G under the Settings Menu System Updates HTC Software Update. This will initiate the three-step process also.

There were definitely some mixed reactions with the surprise arrival of the first myTouch3G HD shots. Some loved it, some loathed it and some just thought they were plain out fake. While we can't say much, we know that both Engadget and AndroidCentral received the image so hoping someone wanted to spread the joy rather than spread falsehoods. That being said, this time we are back with our own addition to this story with the above image, the backside of the reported myTouch3G HD.

We will stay with the idea that the image is indeed real with the myTouch logo again appearing on the backside. Quite a few of you took notice of the myTouch logo placement appearing below the earpiece on the front side of the device, typically where the T-Mobile branding would go. As this appears to just be a rendering, it’s likely that a production run device would swap the logo placement with T-Mobile branding. Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough!