Update: HTC backpedaled on this issue quicker than ever before and announced plans to follow through with the Gingerbread upgrade after all.

Are you ready for some Tuesday morning bad news? If you own an HTC Desire, brace yourself -- it looks like your dreams of ever seeing Gingerbread officially hit your device have been crushed. I know it stings, but here is the official word from the HTC UK Facebook page:

Our engineering teams have been working hard for the past few months to find a way to bring Gingerbread to the HTC Desire without compromising the HTC Sense experience you’ve come to expect from our phones. However, we’re sorry to announce that we’ve been forced to accept there isn’t enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire. We’re sincerely sorry for the disappointment that this news may bring to some of you.

Of course, by "memory" I will assume they mean ROM, because the phone has more than enough RAM to run Gingerbread and Sense successfully. Sounds like just another point against manufacturer UIs.

Any chance of an official Android 2.3 update may be lost, but there's still hope. Root that thing, grab one of the many custom ROMs out there, and enjoy all the Gingerbread you can handle. If you've never used a custom ROM before, CyanogenMod is a good place to start. It's stable, supported, and... awesome.

[AC]