When the Desire hit Telstra back in early 2010, it was their premier device, but Android has evolved and grown in size. As the Android OS matures, it inevitably has a larger device footprint, and older devices like the HTC Desire, don’t have the inbuilt ROM storage to support it, and HTC’s Sense UI. So many Telco’s, like Telstra, are preparing ROM updates that don’t include Sense. There’s a need to get around the 512 Mb internal rom storage on the phone, and while you would think that maybe apps could be stripped out of there, it seems like Telstra as removing what makes HTC’s android deployment special.

After a few days of bad press and dealing with the public outcry, HTC has changed their stance on the Gingerbread update.  In order to get around the HTC Desire’s 512 MB ROM limitations, HTC will be stripping out a few applications from the new Gingerbread build.

While some will say this is a second rate solution, it is the only way you can get a real carrier approved build of GingerBread on your Telstra Desire, Stripping Sense from the Desire will make a lot of users feel uncomfortable, the pure Android experience is very different, but let’s hope HTC can in the future, apply Sense as an application that can be installed to SD, so that older devices can still maintain that familiar interface.