So I posted a tweeted the other day declaring that the majority of current Android phone owners will never see their phones ever getting the Mobile Hotspot feature despite Android announcing the feature first in Froyo, Android 2.2, which was released in May 2010.

Why did I say that?

It’s very simple. The majority of Android handsets simply do not qualify for Froyo updates, usually because the carrier can’t be bothered or they just want to push sales of their newer handsets that come with Froyo installed, like the hundreds of new handsets slated for release in the next six months in a world when Gingerbread already exists.

Some guy replied to my tweet, stating,”I don’t think that applies to SG. I’ve been able to tether internet access from my HTC Desire for months now.”

Right.

And the majority of Android-using Singaporeans are using the presumably fugly HTC desire as their phone.

That is simply not true.

While it might be hard for some geeks to see, the majority of Android users in Singapore, like the rest of the world, aren’t tech geeks who look at the specs of the phone over the looks or the price.

Many bought Android devices because they were and are cheaper than iPhones.

Many bought Android devices because they look different than iPhones, in other ways, they think the shape or the of that particular Android phone looks nicer than iPhones.

Suffice to say that the desire is neither. It was popular, sure, but only for a while before the Galaxy S launch ate its lunch.

Back to the Froyo discussion. So HTC, after its last HTC Magic/Hero 2.1 upgrade fiasco, decided to be the leader this time round and is one of the earliest manufacturers to push Froyo out to its customers, so naturally, desire owners are happy about that.

However, what about the other big name Android phones in Singapore? Namely the Xperias and the Milestones. Fact – they might never see 2.2 without rooting. And while the Galaxy S has Froyo released, there is no Over The Air update. You have to either install a Windows PC “program” to get the update done, or, as Samsung’s official stand, visit a Samsung service centre to get the update done. An informal survey of 35 Galaxy S owners in Singapore by myself indicates that more than half do not know the update exists, and almost all of them can’t really be bothered to update.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, due to the fact that the iPhone is so tightly tied to the computer or the Mac for syncing applications, music and contacts, almost every iPhone owner has their iPhones prompted for updates everytime an iOS update drops and will do the update since it is just a click away.

Suffice to say that when March comes and iOS 4.3 drops, the majority of Android phones which originally came with 2.1 will still be stuck on 2.1. Poor things. Exactly why real Apple haters should get the Nexus series of phones instead of sticking to one of the corny lazy slow inefficient Android partner manufacturers.