This morning a welcome sight to Hero users everywhere popped up on the Sprint website; the long awaited Android 2.1 OS upgrade. Originally planned for release in February, 2.1 had been pushed back for various reasons but is now official.

The major upgrades as listed by HTC are upgrades to Android OS 2.1 Éclair, enhancements to Sense UI, enhancements to corporate email support, and a variety of minor bug fixes from previous versions. The upgrade totally wipes out all of the data fromyour phone, so make sure you back up your pictures and ringtones. There are programs out there like AppBrain to quickly reinstall your apps after the upgrade so take a look at those for a speedier recovery to the phone.

I have seen quite a few reports of slow download times for the upgrade, but with the popularity of his upgrade it's to be expected. HTC also ballparks your upgrade time at about 25 minutes after starting the .exe so allow some time to get this done. Find the download link here:

http://www.htc.com/us/support/hero-sprint/downloads/

Enjoy!