Want to test out Gingerbread, but don’t want to wait for your carrier/manufacturer to get on the ball and push out an update? We can do that. Or, I should say, the incredibly dedicated Android hacking community can do that, largely thanks to the open-ish nature of Android. Google releases Gingerbread source, the lovely modders do their thing, and whalah! You’ve got Gingerbread on your handset, long before you otherwise might.
Such is the case for the 9 different Android handsets that have gotten the Gingerbread treatment — but be warned, these are early, early days. You know your favorite feature? Yeah, that one that does all the stuff and the things? Probably doesn’t work yet.
The list of handsets that can run half-baked Gingerbread so far:
- HTC HD2
- Droid Eris
- HTC Hero
- HTC Hero (CDMA)
- HTC Desire
- HTC Wildfire
- HTC EVO 4G
- HTC Incredible
- HTC Sapphire
Again, be warned: these aren’t builds of Gingerbread that you’re going to want to actually, you know, use. They’ll turn on, and a few things might work here and there — but things that work are the exception at this point. Ready to get your flash on anyway? You’re braver than I. Find the download links right over here at (where else?) XDA-Dev.