Motorola Droid May Be Getting Android 2.2, But It Will Not Have Mobile Hotspot Included

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We learned last week that Verizon had plans to begin the official Android 2.2 rollout for the original Motorola Droid this week. And so far we have not heard of any delays in that plan, but there may be a bit of bad news for some users.

First things first, the update is still expected to begin, however the rollout will be in phases. According to Verizon, the update will begin with a “small set of users first” and then assuming everything goes according to plan, the rollout will continue to all Droid users.

As for what Verizon users can expect in terms of the Android 2.2 update — improvements such as better security, voice dialing via Bluetooth, improved camera performance and Flash Player Mobile 10.1. Oh and what about the Mobile Hotspot support. Because many people are already aware that Froyo has support for tethering.

Well, this is where the bad news comes into play — that will not be included. No tethering for original Droid users. The official word comes by way of Brenda Raney who is a Verizon Wireless spokesperson;

“The Droid by Motorola doesn’t have [the] hardware to support a Mobile Hotspot. With tethering there is no Connection on the PC side that will allow you to tether the device so the answer is that option isn’t part of this update.”

And just like that many are likely left scratching their heads. No hardware support? Or maybe they realize how many Droid phones they have already sold and did not want to play the ‘will this topple our network game.’ After all, the Droid X and Droid 2 will both be able to tether. I guess there is always the alternative option — something like PDAnet. And as a plus, aside from buying the PDAnet app, the tethering is free as opposed to the $20 that Verizon charges.